Dover Citizen

2011-08-10T16:15:00.001-04:00

The fab 3 (just tweaking the critics) moved forward some changes which could save Dover taxpayers some money in the future. The News Journal did a good job reporting the story. It left out that we are also put all insurance programs out for a proposal. The previous meeting, we laid the ground work for a performance audit. There are 5 fine people on the legislative and finance committee it is too bad the media never mentions Dr. Jones and Mr. Shevok who happen to be civilian members and have no vote in full council. The fact is the entire council is looking fabulous this year. We just happen to be the tip of the spear.

2011-08-10T16:13:00.000-04:00

Who really owns your property? Does the government? Do you? Do you own it, but the government controls it?

I believe in too many towns that we have a lite version of feudalism, it is an insidious and frustrating system of government control and manipulation of private property. You own it and pay taxes for the privilege of keeping it, but do not try to do anything with it without the express permission of the overlord. If you want to relax with your family any time you want in a pool on your own property, you have a maze of conflicting regulations. If you want to have a few organic eggs for your health, too bad we are watching you. If you want to put a solar panel on your house, jump through twelve hoops. If you want to keep the litter of cats because all of your friends are too smart to take any, we want you to choose which ones may be killed. If you want to paint your home some unique color, that is not our liking. If you want a Bible study, have your neighbors walk to it. If you want to work from your home, did we give you permission? Every action seems proscribed and you have to pay for the privilege with your annual payments to the lords called property taxes and maybe homeowners association fees.

I believe it is time to restore balance to the property owner. That is why I was proud to lead in advocating , with my friend Sean Lynn, the passage of a zoing and permitting simplification in the City of Dover. Our planner, Anne Marie Townsend put together a work of art. When Mayor Carey signs this law, it will make Dover a much more efficient place to live.

I am pushing a homeowner’s bill of rights which will protect the right of people to have first amendment activities on their properties such as political yard signs, receive literature, fly flags, have Bible studies, and also protect their right to earn a living even if they belong to a homeowner’s association.

I led the way to block mandatory homeowner association membership in developments before there is a bill of rights.

Last night was a busy one in the various committees. I questioned efforts to ban shallow wells. There was an effort to ban fowl and place a strict 5 cat limit in residential areas. Folks if we have another Great Depression, we will rue the day that we could not have a couple of well maintained chickens. In certain areas of Dover, particularly in the Haitian community, this is common practice. Such an assault on their culture is unnecessary as there is no groundswell of complaints. People have found them less annoying than dogs and cats. In a few years, we may be joining them at the rate we are heading. The ban could have also hurt Del-State Research and Agricultural programs which would be bad for jobs.

I did help shepard through committee an effort by the planning office to simplify the pool regulations. It almost bogged down. I was also pleased we lighten the load on landlords by eliminating the requirement for onerous reporting of income for each property. Bill Hare led charge and I was pleased to support him every step of the way.

It seems every two weeks there is another proposal from the planning office to plan more of our lives. Every two weeks, I push back for the individual. I joked that Ann Marie’s staff likely has my picture up on their dart board. What pleases me is that so many other people who used to let it go through are now thinking critically when these issues are raised.

If we are to be a free people, then we must be able to control our own property. I recognize that is not an absolute right, it can be limited when your activity affects my property, but without that fundamental right, we are nothing more than feudal serfs.

2011-06-25T07:49:00.000-04:00

Our community can no longer depend on some big business rescuing us. I have nothing against big businesses, but micro and small businesses are the future of the American economy just as much as the large businesses. This is why I will work to make sure our local businesses including minority and women owned businesses are given a fair shot at knowing about city contracts bids.
Sadly many new businesses fail very quickly. Why they do not know what resources are available to help them with mentorship, business plans, financing, marketing plans, and expertise to move them through the maze of government regulations.
You do not need to fail. You can succeed. Call the Small Business Development Center before you do anything that you will regret. Whether you are planning a start up or wish to fix your existing business, they can help http://www.delawaresbdc.org/ or 678-1555.
I also encourage you to go to the Kent County Open for Business event at Levy Court near Target on the First Thursday of each month. 8 to 10 AM. "Kent County is Open for Business" is a series of FREE business development sessions . For more information, please call 302-734-7513 or email jdiogo@cdcc.net.
The Delmarva Black Chamber of Commerce is another resource. 302-8600. You will want to avail yourself of the networking opportunities available.

2011-06-25T07:47:00.002-04:00

A GREAT START
I am pleased to report that we are not raising your utility rates, taxes, or fees nor are we going to lay off city employees. We started with a 3.6 million dollar deficit. There were proposals to lay off 1/7 of our police force, slash almost a 1/11 of our workforce without regard to current levels of service and population increase. Another alternative relied on huge tax increases and fee hikes. The third alternative was more aimed at papering over the problems. Under new leadership in the city administration, there has been a new approach which will give us time to make long term changes.
The budget will be voted upon in our next meeting on the 27th.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to serve you. Together we will restore our city to being a model for the state.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
The top priority has to be helping Dover to be open for business. I am working on several areas which will contribute to more jobs and a better business environment. There are many areas to address. First, the cost of power and new dependable sources of
power. Keeping the fuel adjustment cut in the electric rates is important for the average citizen and the job creators, Second ,we need to find new ways for small business to prosper. That is why I brought an export initiative to the attention of our great economic development office. Third, we need to make sure our city looks vibrant and open for business not filled with empty stores large and small. That is why I am supporting a tax abatement program to give credits to fill empty box stores and other initiatives for downtown. We need to keep taxes low for resident and business alike. Fourth, we need to feel secure so bringing our community police units back is a tip budget priority. Fifth, we need to streamline our permit and zoning process so that we do not have unnecessary delays in building a new business. Our planning department proposed a terrific update to our regulations.. It is elegant and efficient. It will help us become the place for business in the long run.
All of this has happened in less than two months. I look forward to much more.

2011-06-25T07:45:00.000-04:00

JOIN ME ON FACEBOOK
You can see regular updates from meeting with seniors, to investigating the homeless problem, to attending job summits, to victories in replacing basketball courts in Capital Green to the budget hearings. It is all on Facebook. I have a public page on Facebook. Please “like” my page.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/DavidAndersonforCouncil
It gives me one more way to communicate to you and hear FROM you. I cannot succeed without the community. I am only one person. With your support and prayers, I will not fail.

2011-06-15T01:22:00.000-04:00

I am pleased that free market and fiscal restraint has taken hold in the Capital city. We are closing a 3.6 million dollar shortfall without layoffs, tax increases, or utility rate increases. We have reduced the amount taken from the electric fund and are giving back money in the fuel adjustment as scheduled.

I am honored to be part of some important committees right in the middle of the struggle to improve our future. Legislative and finance, Parks. Recreation, and Community Enhancement (which includes the federal block grants), and tonight the mayor appointed me to be a director of the Downtown Dover Development Partnership. I also chair the Construction appeals board.

Tonight we advanced some important items. We advanced some pro-growth development ideas. One was to reclaim empty box stores and keep the ones we have with an abatement program which gives tax abatement to improvements or new leases which create long term jobs.

Another which just pleases me to no end is a streamlining of the zoning and permitting process. The only disagreement I had with the final product worth talking about is a reduction of the notification of neighboring property owners in the staff proposal from 300 feet back to 200 feet. I think in the long run, more information builds consensus and it was a small trade off for automatic approvals if the historic commission did not respond in 45 days and extending the time that approvals are valid, and many other provisions. Our zoning process has been killing jobs and now we have a chance. Ann Marie Townsend is my new favorite bureaucrat. My favorites are changing daily because so many of the staff are stepping up. In reality, I have too many favorites to name but here is a start, Donna Mitchell, Bill Neaton, Traci McDowell and of course our new interim city manager, Scott Koenig. I look forward to working with Zak Carter as well.

We are off to a positive start.

There are still tough decisions. There were no raises in the budget except the ones for two unions contractually obligated. Non union employees received no raises. The Police are negotiating for raises this year, but I am not optimistic there is any money for that beyond the generous step raises in their contract. Tonight, we began the discussion about getting the other than pension post retirement benefits under control (OPED). I believe very strongly that we need to stop paying for Medicare Part B coverage. Current retirees do not need to worry. I think there would only be two votes to open that discussion up. It is a non issue. The question is should we continue to pay the premium for non-union future retirees? The unions gave that up and new employees do not get it. It is a two tier retirement arrangement that is patently unfair on its face as well as ever increasing in cost. When I look at proposed changes in Medicare, I get the feeling that premiums will go up an unknown amount and the city giving a blank check to pay whatever to a program that you have no control over is insane. The military doesn't do it. The state doesn't do it. The counties don't do it. The federal retirement program doesn't do it. Even Dover unionized employees do not have this benefit. It was an interesting experiment, but it has proven itself to be problematic. We need to cut our losses and focus on putting money aside to actually fund our future employee retirement benefits in the out years. That is my view. It may have gotten jeering from the employee peanut gallery, but in the long run it is best for both the taxpayers and employees.

We also approved in legislative and finance committee a review of the employee health benefits. Kent County pays less than we do per employee. We may be able to provide the level of benefits we desire to give our employees at a lower cost. We may need to pull out of the state system. We are actually subsidizing state employee's benefits because we do not get any refunds when the costs are actually lower than projected. The money once given to the state stays with the state. I would personally like to avoid degrading the benefit package. We need to find more cost effective ways to provide those benefits. The employees deserve our support, but so do the taxpayers who are often forgotten.

Tax and rate payers, you are forgotten no more.

Councilman David Anderson

2011-04-12T13:03:00.000-04:00

In this economy, jobs are disappearing and our budgets are tight. This is true of families, businesses, and even governments. We face the challenge of generation. I believe we are up to it. We just need faith, vision, an action plan, and a willingness to work with each other. It is sounds simpler than it is, granted, but we are Americans. We can handle it. My experience serving this great country assures me of this fact.

I am in consultation with an economist to find some innovative ideas to make our city a better place to do business, but it does not take a PH. D in economics to see what we are doing needs to change. Unemployment continued to rise in Dover even when the national trend stabilized. We are now above the national average. My goal over the next year is to make Dover open for business.

I want to turn this city into a viable enterprise zone. I want to see us take advantage of programs that only a city or locality can administer such as the export grants to businesses through the SBA. I would like to see the community reinvestment money mandated by the Federal government from the banks stay here instead of flowing to Wilmington by setting up our own reinvestment fund. I want to see us streamline regulations and paperwork. I want to see us expand our tax credits for businesses that expand or locate here so we stay competitive with other localities in the state.

I am concerned that we are wasting your money instead of putting it in our community. One example is our water system. A top priority needs to be updating the well heads and repairing the leaks. I still believe we should have lined the pipes for a fraction of the cost and time of replacement. Our declining infrastructure is hurting our job creation. When our water system can only operate at 80% design capacity, it keeps industry from locating here. The infiltration in our waste water system or runoff is costing us $1,000,000 a year to pay the county for water that shouldn’t have been in the system.

That is $1,000,000 not helping our community. It could be paying for community police, youth programs, or repairing our streets. Maybe it could be helping us bring jobs here. Instead it is literally being flushed down the sewer.

This has to stop. Please help me stop it next Tuesday April 19th by honoring me with your vote for city council.

Sincerely,

David Anderson

P. S. If you would like to help, go to davidandersonforcouncil.com and contribute or volunteer.

2011-04-02T03:36:00.001-04:00

It is time for change in Dover. Go to http://davidandersonforcouncil.com and tell me what you think.

Ron Paul: Crotch Groped by TSA, Calls for Boycott of Airlines

2010-11-24T10:22:00.000-05:00

2010-10-24T03:25:00.000-04:00

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding," Justice Louis D. Brandeis.

If you have ever believed it was time to stand up for Americanism, believe it now. Free enterprise, free political expression, freedom of religion, and a free and independent America are at stake in this election.

I believe that American freedom has not been under such an assault since the height of the Cold War. What is worse is that the threat is not from agents overseas, but our own leaders. It is not from those who mean us harm, but those who mean us well.

Hyperbole, No. Let me make my case.

The Regime in Washington has taken every turn to shackle the American economy. The appointed admitted Marxists and Maoists to the highest positions not requiring confirmation. They are trying to impose new restrictions on the Chesapeake watershed which could devastate the Delaware economy. They are pushing new EPA rules on carbon dioxide which would give dangerous unconstitutional power to the EPA to run every aspect of American life in an effort to scare Congress into some form of Cap and Trade. Cap and Trade would cost 2.3 million jobs and each family $1769 to make their rich cronies billions upon billions. They are pushing a tax bill which would cost Delawareans 20,ooo jobs.

They are working overtime to dismantle America's nuclear deterrent while at the same time eliminating the missile shield which was the result of two decades of work and innovation. We are a weaker nation and more vulnerable than anytime since Jimmy Carter and maybe Peril Harbor.

The courts are being packed with ACLU types who have unleashed a religious cleansing. We are on the verge of a secular/religious apartheid. The courts are trying to wipe America clear of any tradition of based upon faith. They assault the definition of marriage, they assault the right to post the Ten commandments, they assault the right to have a cross at a Veteran's cemetery, they assault the military's ability to maintain order and discipline in the middle of a war. Courts threatened to jail Americans for praying over a meal. Nativity scenes are challenged at Christmas. The mere criticism of the distortion of the so called separation of church and state is treated like a crime against the state.

They have raided the middle class to bailout their billionaire friends. We are stuck with the highest sustained unemployment since the Great Depression. The national debt is skyrocketing. We are no longer loaning it to ourselves. What foreign powers are not loaning us, we are printing. We have replaced monetary policy with the insanity that bankrupts nations.

Even the rule of law itself is under assault. The regime in Washington is trying to find backdoor ways to give amnesty to illegals and our own Amnesty John Carney has just declared his intent to back them.

Our values are under assault, our economy is undermined, and the rule of law is undervalued.

My friends it is time to get motivated. We need to fight for our country, our liberty, and our children. We need to tell our friends and our families that they need to get off the fence and in the trenches. This election is not about personalities. It is about survival. We can no longer afford the luxury of Coons, Carney, Flowers, Korn, or your local go along Democrat. The day to make a difference is November 2. If you are going to throw your vote away, stay home. If you are going to be serious, then you will vote for candidates who support the Constitution over those who would undermine it.

Those who won our independence... valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. --Justice Louis Brandice

My fellow patriots, where ever you are join with me in showing that courage necessary to secure that gift of liberty. Let the ring of freedom be heard loudly across America. Let it be heard so loudly that it will be an hundred years before the clanging of the chains of socialism is ever heard again.

Forget the odds. The Voice of Truth says trust, believe, and work for victory. The day is ours.

2010-06-21T02:58:00.001-04:00

5 Votes that is it. 5 people willing to think out of the box of higher taxes and slower economic expansion. I hate that we are one vote short on City council in the city of Dover. I pointed out some time ago that we needed to adjust spending because we were on a path that could not be sustained without tax increase. It has cost us millions. In good times the city budget soared, now it is time to pay the bill. Some council members have come to the realization that we need to reign in spending. Some still have not.

It appears that we are one vote shy. We need to change that fact. I believe we need to manage our money better. We need to partner with the municipalities throughout the county to expand libraries accessible to all citizens of the county. We don’t need to go it alone. It makes no sense to duplicate the expenditures when we can be partners. The same is true of parks. I was glad to be part of helping save taxpayers 10 million dollars by opposing the original 13 million dollar Schutte Park facility. I was a vocal advocate of a metal building which fit in the budget. As part of the parks and recreation committee, I participated in the change so I know it is possible. We can have everything we need just not everything we see. We not only have to set priorities, but we need to find the most cost effective way to achieve them.

Quite frankly, I think this applies across the board not just to city government.

2010-06-21T02:53:00.002-04:00

Sorry I was too busy enjoying Father’s day to really concentrate on writing a post. The kids are in bed and my favorite shows Army Wives and Ice Road Truckers are over. I enjoyed the fact that my children are at the top of the heap with state testing. My son even made that rare distinguished grade. The coveted 5 not garnered by more than 1 in 200 in Math. My wife credits the Singapore Math curriculum. That is definitely part of it because he has improved, but it also has to do with his hard work and using his GOD given talents. He scored well across the board. My daughter likewise. This year she lost bragging rights, she is only a 4 again. She is just in the top group. I had better be careful with my joking she may read this. Without a doubt, I am proud of both of them. She is one of the most incredible people, I have met. She is intelligent, civic minded, spiritual, and loves people of all stages and classes of life. What gets me more impressed is the character that they show. They are people of compassion, strength, and character. They are the people who will shovel out an elderly person and not take money because they believe they should look out for their elders. They will make sure that relatives know they need to come back in time for church at a sleep over. They understand the idea of civic obligation. It is not always about you. They know that our duty in life is to love GOD, love your neighbor. They are not the only kids that I am proud of. My stepsons are in their 20’s now. I am very proud of them. They are not only fine upstanding individuals, but they are beginning to transfer those same values to their very young children. They will help people who can’t help them back. They obey the law, live responsibility, and bring their families closer to GOD. A man couldn’t be happier with the quality of his family than I.

I think it comes honestly. My father, Levi Anderson, was a person of character who loved GOD and loved people. He held nothing back. His own comfort, reputation, or convenience mattered not if it conflicted with the larger picture. He loved his GOD, family, and country. He spent time in Haiti, on short term missions, he spent time in Delaware migrant worker camps (I was privileged to accompany him sometimes.) He supported an orphanage in Haiti until he died. He ministered the Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who cared to listen. He loved the cross enough to literally carry it. He saw himself as just a country preacher.

When he passed away, it was the first time many people found out that he was a World War 2 disabled American Veteran. He worked in the Executive Office of the President and personally met three Presidents. He was well educated coming back from dropping out of high school to fight in the War to go all the way to Seminary while working full time. He ministered with nationally known ministers that many would recognize in the media before they became household names in Evangelical Christianity. It struck me how many people were impressed with obituary. They came up to me and said why didn’t we know about this. The answer was that outside of his military service, he considered all of that good, but secondary to the greatest priviledge he ever had, ministering to people.

Since this is a political blog, I will deal with his politics. He was the Chaplain of the 32nd district Republican committee. He was a big Colin Bonini fan and a strong Bill Roth supporter. He thought Mr. Castle was a liberal. His father was a small business man. My father was also pro-business. He was involved in local anti-tax movements. He was an ardent anti-communist. Carl McIntyre was a regular staple in our home. I would say that the issues that most motivated where the cultural issues. The abortion tragedy, the rise of the counter culture with drugs, fornication, homosexuality, and soft on crime attitudes where major concerns. The oppression of religious liberty especially the religious apartheid pushed by the secular left designed to reshape a new generation with situational values. He spoke at pro-life rallies. He believed so strongly in the cause that even though he was sick and recently hospitalized, he made sure to call and eventually walk his area to get out the vote. He wouldn’t let a little thing like a broken hip socket from a winter fall and walker get in the way of that. He loved this country and always believed in its betterment. One year he had complications from dialysis and was too ill to vote that day. What did he do? He voted. He just borrowed a wheel chair and made sure to get out even though he was so affected that he had to have my mother read the ballot to him. He wanted to be sure that Colin Bonini got his vote in 1998 (if my memory is correct). It was an off year and no big races were on the ballot, but he wouldn’t let his friend down. He believed that Colin was one of our future leaders and needed support no matter what it took. I think he was right. What it showed me was his that he represented the best American citizenship. Politics was not his passion but he believed in participatory citizenship. They used to call it being a good American before we became self absorbed.

In his early life, things were not always easy. He and his brother were raised by a divorced mom. She worked for $.40 cents a day plus left over food and chicken bones at the Wayside Inn in Smyrna during the depression. She was a woman and black so the typical dollar a day was not given to her in segregated Delaware. She sent him to school at 4 1/2 so he could get another good meal. They had beans for lunch to help the nutrition of the children. It got tougher with more children and a new family. It was doing this time that he was inspired to one day join the ministry by Elder Mann. His father came down and took the brothers to Wilmington. All of a sudden his life changed. They weren’t rich, but there was always enough. All was not perfect in Wilminton. He was assaulted by a neighborhood gang that was pushing him to join. He resisted. He was hit on the head with a brick while sitting on a curb. Eventually he did join. His natural leadership ablilities took him to the top. Unlike now when gangs are little organized crime syndicates, it was more like a group protecting its turf. He was almost heading the wrong way, but those Japanese bombed us. He found a better reason to fight. His brother signed up. My recently departed Uncle Austin was awarded metals including the Purple Heart for being wounded in the European Theater. My father did not want to duplicate his brother so he joined the Navy. It changed his life. He was paid only 2/3’s of the pay of white sailors because that was the way it was. He served honorably. He returned and thanks to the G. I. bill and Veteran’s preference, went an entirely different direction. He moved to D. C. for the next 25 years. While working in Washington, he was saved. His heart changed for the better and he rediscoverd the passion that first burned in his heart at age 4.

His new passion did not sit well with his wife. She did not want to be married to a preacher and filed for divorce over his objections. Eventually he met and married a lady from his hometown of Smyrna, my mother. They were married 31 years. Together they built a life and family centered upon devotion to GOD. GOD, family, and country were the trio of values they stressed. They both lived a life that was centered on something greater than themselves. When may father was days away from dying, he could not get out to visit people who were discouraged or sick so he called them. He wanted people to know that the best days are ahead for a believer and even death itself can’t change that. He has been departed 10 years, but his impact is still alive in the family and friends he influenced.

It has been a happy Father’s day for me. I hope the same has been true of you.

2009-12-15T22:21:00.002-05:00

Reverend Oral Roberts went to be with our Lord today. Few people have affected Christianity in their generation as did he. The healing revivial, the charismatic movement, the mainstreaming of the Pentacostal movement, seed faith, the prayer language, emphasis on the goodness of GOD, and the restoration idea of each person communing with GOD as a two way experience were all areas in which he was a leader globally. He transformed not only the Penatcostal movement, but impacted modern Christianity.

Just bringing to the world's attention that "GOD is a good GOD" is worthy of a life's work. He was a modern apostle. While he will be missed, he will not be forgotten.

2009-10-01T21:52:00.000-04:00

Blastoff will be the new wave on the Net.

2009-10-01T21:47:00.001-04:00

Virginia McDonnell surges to a new lead in the polls going over 50% with a solid lead among independents. DNC chairman and part time governor Kaine is still on the road.

New Jersey Jersey City and other towns have passed pay to play bans in a great statement against corruption even those currently under indictment favored the bill. And Democrats wonder why they are losing.

New York Both Republicans and Democrats held their annual conventions this past week. The Republicans have a new leader, Mr. Cox, which was a minor defeat for the Giuliani hardliners. The two parties are geering up for next year's election. People are starting to position themselves for an anticipated Democrat primary between Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Governor David Patterson.

The Club for Growth is the war path against big spending Democrats and Republicans.

Maryland The State is knocking around drivers for more money. Speed Cameras and and a Texting while driving ban are the news along with new restrictions on teens.

Maryland insists on impoverishing some of its citizens with a mandatory 25% cut in "Greenhouse emissions" by 2020. The bill at least makes more sense than the overall energy cut demanded by Markell. At least other ways of finding energy will be entertained whether or not the goal is realistic. Where is the Maryland GOP when you need a loyal opposition? Speed cameras and energy rationing seem like winning issues even for such a moribund organization.

Pennsylvania is no longer Obama friendly territory. Not only is Gov. Rendell in trouble but the President's numbers have sunk to a new low. Senator Specter may have picked the wrong couple to help him.

The budget deal that was struck still hasn't passed due to rebellious Democrats who hate oil drilling and want the people to suffer with higher taxes and energy prices.

Delaware H1N1 is running through the state, including my home just like Maryland, but most cases are never tested for and therefore are unreported. You have to ask for testing like we did. What is the agenda? I am finding a lot of cases of something like it but most were never tested even though they went to the doctor. Is there a wink not to report the disease? What is the public health effect? Why does it take a week or longer to get results? No significant upgrades in testing have occurred since last year. Is the state failing the public?

U. S. Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell is up there with the big boys pulling 40% in the latest poll. Is it time for HuckPac and Sarah Pac to pay attention?

2009-08-05T12:28:00.001-04:00

The Democrats are losing ground according to the polls and evidenced by the disquiet at town halls from Oregon to New York to Texas to Delaware. They have decided not to address the issues the people have passionately brought up. They have decided to characterize people who differ with them as a staged mob. This is so outrageous that it is beyond the pail.

Since when are people not suppose to express their agreement with a speaker by cheering? Are they not allowed to express their collective disagreement with a proposal with a collective response to a question by saying just say no? When did peaceful seated people giving support to one another become a mob? Funny Democrats did the same thing back in the Civil Rights Movement and they did the same thing in the 1990's to the peaceful rescue movement.

If we let them get away with declaring legitimate reasoned petitioning of the government as as a mob, our liberty will go down the proverbial toilet. They are attacking our freedom of assembly, right to petition government for redress of our grievances, and our freedom of speech, while mocking religion in the same ad (poking fun of the person who was quietly holding a Bible while standing outside of a meeting). Let's just shred the first amendment completely. Oh, and they attacked freedom of the press by tossing in Rush Limbaugh as an inciter. I never complained about their expressing disagreement with him, but I will say enough when they want to accuse him of inciting mobs that never existed. This is the same tactic used by a President in South America whose name rhymes with Chavez.

Here is my email to the DNC. I encourage you to contact them.

What are you guys doing? This latest ad sends chills down my spine. The idea that peaceful seated people cheering a speaker is now a mob in your eyes is an affront to freedom of speech and the right of the people to assemble and seek redress from their government of grievences. I protest your attack on the First Amendment and respectfully request that you stand down.

2009-07-21T03:28:00.000-04:00

2009-07-15T03:39:00.001-04:00

Delaware Civil Rights Icon, Littleton Mitchell passed away in an auto accident Monday. The AP had this as an obituary.

Littleton Mitchell, 90, a Delaware civil rights activist, died Monday.

Mr. Mitchell, who was killed in a crash near his Delaware City home, was pronounced dead during surgery at an area hospital, state police said.

The crash occurred around 3 p.m. Monday when Mitchell's Toyota Prius crossed the centerline and collided with a GMC Savana. The driver of the Savana was treated and released.

Mr. Mitchell, who served as a Tuskegee Airman, led the state NAACP chapter for more than 30 years and, along with his late wife, Jane, was a key figure in eliminating segregation in Delaware hospitals.

The Milford, Del., native was the first African American to teach white students in Delaware and labored to get the state police force to hire its first black trooper.

The AP obituary does not tell what made him special. Instead of merely being happy with being first, he wanted to ensure that he wasn't the last. Instead of allowing injustice to to embitter him, he led the way to marginalize the voices of anger and embrace the call of hope. Instead of trying to be a celebrity, he brought together a team and mentored others.

He served our country in War. He worked to advance it in peace. He is a true testament to the dignity that God allows the human spirit to reach. Sir, one final thank you for your service.

This interview says more about him than I ever could, please read it.

2009-07-15T03:26:00.001-04:00

2009-07-15T03:19:00.002-04:00

Lessons from Japan's Lost Decade
What are the policy do's and don't's of which we need an awareness. I want to put a particular emphasis on lesson 5 of the Japanese scholars, "Until the focus of disease is removed by surgery, no macroeconomic medicine will be effective."

Do work with other nations to allow an increase in money supply without panicking them. Japan only came out of the "Lost Decade" by an aggressive monetary policy.

Only a comprehensive monetary policy which allows the market to clean up the bad assets and provides enough liquidity to do so will achieve it. The financial institutions need to be able to borrow at near zero rates from the Fed not at the rates in the TARP. Instead of merely tossing money at the banks, we need to reform the valuations of assets. Mark to market needs to be permanently buried and replaced with a more objective income based evaluation for income producing assets. Even though Americans hate to admit it, South Korea showed that aggressively dealing with troubled assets is vital. It had a rough couple of years, but it returned to strong growth while Japan remained mired in difficulty.

Keynes is dead. Lesson 4 of the Japanese scholars was that fiscal stimulus does not work in these circumstances. We have to make economic policy based first upon if it helps business to flourish not based upon some left wing social engineering. The Great Depression became long because "Others say government did not do enough to restore business confidence, or did too much to damage it, piling on taxes, regulation and labor unions," as Howard Jenkins put it. I believe that a good fiscal policy helps to blunt the trauma and is desirable. I believe that tax cuts, aid to states to prevent more unemployment, accelerating existing projects, increasing food stamps, unemployment, medicaid, tax credits for purchases like fuel efficient cars and first time home buyers, and other safety net programs are desirable. They help keep the economy from collapsing while we allow a couple of years for the monetary policy and the markets to work their magic. Otherwise the public panics. When that happens the sanity of the market could be endangered. What I do not believe is that we can spend our way into prosperity. The stimulus money should have been closer to the GOP version and less like the Democrat version. It could have been a little more than half what it was and the rest of the money should have addressed foreclosures which goes back to lesson 4.

We need to address foreclosures. We should have a window where no doc modifications of ARM's (adjustable rate mortgages) convert to fixed rates. Then we could give banks tax credits to compensate for the opportunity loss. Trying to deal with the bank balance sheets first without dealing with the problem which caused the balance sheets to be in trouble is backward. The second step seems to be bankruptcy reform. We have to allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages in Chapter 13. It used to be allowed until the Carter Administration as a trade off for the Community Investment Act and other bills. It also protected the banks when they were forced to give out 21% mortgages. The only way to save the banking industry is to allow real value to set the assets and income to start flowing on half of the non performing loans. That is by loan modification inside and outside the bankruptcy court. Those who won't take the second and third chances will just be foreclosed upon. We can allow big government to intervene and try to redo the balance sheets of 80 million people all of whom are different, or we can allow people to do it themselves. Not taking the former approach will lead to a decade's long reliance on the government by millions at a staggering cost.

A final difference between today’s bust and most other big banking crises is the importance of household debt. Historically, serious banking busts have mainly involved overborrowing by firms. In Japan, for instance, corporate borrowing soared in the 1980s against the collateral of rising share and property prices.

Today, however, household profligacy, which underpins much of the other debt, has been the problem. After the dotcom bust, American firms held back. Virtually all the rise in non-financial debt since 2000 was among households, as Americans tapped into the rising equity in their homes. Although troubled business debts, such as commercial property, are rising, households are the worst hit.

That has important implications. Household balance-sheets are more difficult to restructure than corporate ones, which involve far fewer people. Politically, the process raises questions of fairness. How far, for instance, should taxpayers bail out reckless homeowners who bought mortgages they could not afford? On the other hand, the economic dislocation from unwinding a household-debt binge may be less disruptive than restructuring swathes of firms. As Anil Kashyap of the University of Chicago points out, one reason Japan was so loth to acknowledge the depths of its banking problems was the knowledge that a banking clean-up would require a large-scale restructuring of Japanese firms which, in turn, would throw many people out of work. Restructuring household debts may be political dynamite, but it would not require a wholesale remaking of corporate America.
Nonetheless, the rebuilding of American households’ balance-sheets is likely to force a reliance on government demand that is bigger and longer-lasting than many now imagine.

The don't's are simple. Don't raise taxes as the Democrats plan to do when the Bush tax cuts expire. Instead let's have comprehensive tax reform (pt 3). The Japanese tried raising taxes twice and each time triggered real recessions. Don't keep Zombie businesses on the public dole. Don't pile up public debt in the vain hope of spending your way to prosperity. Don't discourage the markets from reshuffling resources to the efficient. Don't engage in anti-growth energy policies like Kyoto.

2009-07-05T00:38:00.000-04:00

2009-07-04T13:16:00.002-04:00

No matter where we are, the GOD of creation (Nature's God) gave humans the ability to dream. No government, business, or any other person can steal your ability to dream In America, we are free to live our dreams.

The question that I have is will it be harder to live our dreams in post modern America. The President gave a well spoken address today. He spoke of remembering the indomitable spirit of our founders. The fact that throughout our history we have been able to face down any trial and live up to any challenges. Then he started rattling off a host of government programs that we needed. All of a sudden we are not up to meeting the challenges that face us by unleashing our dreams rather by unleashing our government.

I have a great deal of respect for our President. He is living the dream. I am concerned that the very policies that he advocates such as energy rationing and putting on the hook for 99 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities risks discouraging Americans from reaching their dreams by undermining their ability to take risk.

The more failure regulators have, the more regulation we are told that we need. The truth is regulators rarely have the ability to keep up with the targets of their regulation. When they are pressured to prevent failures instead of catch criminals, they act as if everyone is a criminal. The result is that they preemptively punish everyone. Innovation becomes something to be feared instead something to be honored. Risk becomes a proverbial four letter word instead of a literal one. America ceases to be unique.

I don't believe this is the time to give up on liberty. Setbacks are opportunities for comebacks. If your child takes a spill on a bike, do you ban bikes? We do not need a nanny state rushing to take our bikes away. We need to understand that price of greatness is temporary pain. Your child doesn't give up bike riding because it will take him/her to more places in a faster and more efficient way. It is about fulfilling the dream of the wind in your face as you and your friends expand your world.

America, this Independence Day one little citizen says, let's cast aside the voices of doom which tell us that our best days are behind us. We need to reach down within ourselves and understand that the greatness of America is not found in expenditures of our government. It is found within our souls. When we allow each other to turn our dreams into reality, then we shall be better than our dreams.

Happy Independence Day.

2009-07-03T00:10:00.002-04:00

It is almost Independence Day. Our Founders sought to give us a free nation rooted in Christian Principles. They succeeded. Now the secular mindset is undermining our heritage and threatening our freedoms. When a people no longer trust GOD, they look in vain to some other organizing force. The leftist fringe has made that an out of control, extra constitutional government.

It is why the Government is proposing to take over everything including our lives (health care), our liberty (CAFE, FACE, gun control, PC hate crimes restrictions, radical education, and more), and even our pursuit of happiness with its war on prosperity through higher taxes, energy restrictions, and neo-corporatism.

Rejecting this trend is vital. That is why I am intrigued with the 9/12 project. I am watching it to see if it goes in the right direction, but it sure has started with the right principles and values.

2009-06-10T11:45:00.001-04:00

What insanity would possess a person in a small state to support DE HB 198? It is The abolishes Federalism and insures Delawareans don't matter Act or at least that is what it would be called if we applied truth to labeling.

The Act would disenfranchise Delaware Voters by insuring that regardless who they vote to support in a Presidential election, their electoral votes would go to whomever has the plurality vote in the country not even the majority is required to over ride the wishes of the people of the state. Recounts are not required to be complete in the legislation; it takes a snapshot 6 days before the appointment of the electors.

One has to wonder about the Constitutionality of the measure. It would not allow voters to select the electors, but institute a plebiscite on election day. It allows the voters of other states to bind the voters of our state. It binds the electors to vote a certain way (which has been challenged in other settings) regardless of the intentions of the people who voted in the state.

Imagine if 60% of this state voted for Joe Biden and President Obama but the electors had to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. The right of the people to vote for their own Senator to be VP would be gone. Your voice as a state would be eliminated.

In a practical sense, it would be the states handing over their identity and the concept of federalism. We would no longer have the 50 states and D.C. voting as the United States of America. We would have the Republic of America. The states would no longer matter in the Presidential election. This continues the assault which we already see on state primaries. Instead of having to campaign in the states, we now have huge Super Tuesday votes. This has decreased voter contact with the candidates and outrageously increased the cost of the Presidential election. Public financing reform is dead in the primaries and special interests are more influential (this by the very people who promised the opposite.) The two Bushes campaigned in Delaware and so did the Obama-Biden ticket. Do you think that would happen in a national plebiscite? State issues would matter a lot less. The elections would further fall into national media ads and manipulation.

Even more objectionable to me is the fact that it would not take a majority vote to over ride our voice. The vote of the people could be divided into the smallest of factions and their would be no mechanism to have a run off. The current system blunts a divided vote by requiring support all across the country. This would risk minority factionalism. 60% of our state could vote one way and be forced to support a 25% candidate. It would make us Britain. Even most parliamentary governments do not undermine legitimacy by tossing the vote to a small plurality candidate with no input to build a coalition. The current toss into the House of Representatives does that. Such a scenario would lead to unbelievable gridlock and disunity.

This bill is unAmerican in the sense that it is contrary to our traditions and structure. It needs to die in committee today.

2009-05-27T22:14:00.000-04:00

My Testimony to the Dover Human Relations Commission
Mr. Chairman and Commissioners,
Thank you, for the opportunity to address this body since I was mentioned by name in a letter to the editor by a member, I decided to personally make my case.
I am concerned that the resolution before you though well intentioned is based upon a flawed premise. It is based upon the belief that love is something to be legislated and in the absence of legislation there is some sort of injury. I am sympathetic to the historic proscriptions often found in law against homosexual couples. However the recognition of marriage as a mixed sex institution which ensures the stable continuation of humanity, is not one such proscription. We did not recognize marriage even before written history because it was the only way people could love one another. We did it because a married family takes on a unique responsibility for all of us by committing to form a stable family. That family unit continues to be the basis of civilization in societies of all different religions, ethnic groups, and geographic locations. Marriage unites humanity. In spite of some differences, it is a mixed gender institution recognizable around the world.
The reason certain “benefits” are given is not to reward one group of people over all others. It is not to idealize love. It is to compensate for the high cost and sacrifice realized by families. Since society benefits to the degree of its very survival in its current form based upon the family, recognizing the contribution of people who make a lifelong commitment to children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren is not unreasonable. Since humanity is dependent upon the procreation celebrated by marriage, enshrining its unique and noble status into law is only natural.
People should be free to choose their relationships, and they are. I believe there is a difference between demanding legal recognition of a relationship and allowing people to choose with whom they have relationships. Recognizing a person’s right to choose does not mandate a right to recognition. The Supreme Court of the United States already addressed this issue in Lawrence v, Texas.

“The statutes do seek to control a personal relationship that,
whether or not entitled to formal recognition in the law, is
within the liberty of persons to choose without being punished
as criminals.
This, as a general rule, should counsel against attempts
by the State, or a court, to define the meaning of the relationship
or to set its boundaries absent injury to a person
or abuse of an institution the law protects. It suffices for
us to acknowledge that adults may choose to enter upon
this relationship in the confines of their homes and their
own private lives and still retain their dignity as free
persons.
Another issue is does homophobia enter into a person’s position on marriage? It can. If someone has an intense distrust of homosexuals, then obviously that person would not favor same sex marriage. My personal view is that the mere holding of that view does not make a person “homophobic”.
Margaret Sommerville who is known to be for laws favoring gay rights, wrote the following in a court brief in Canada:”Recognizing that a fundamental purpose of marriage is to engender respect for the transmission of human life provides a corollary insight: Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is not related to those people’s homosexual orientation, or to them as individuals, or to the worth of their relationships. Rather, the exclusion of their relationship is related to the fact that it is not inherently procreative, and, therefore, if it is encompassed within marriage, marriage cannot institutionalize and symbolize respect for the transmission of life. To recognize same-sex marriage (which is to be distinguished from same-sex partnerships that do not raise this problem) would unavoidably change and eliminate this function of marriage. ”
She further stated:”Being against same-sex marriage is frequently alleged by proponents of same-sex marriage to be proof of homophobia (See “Same-sex hearings rife with ‘gay- bashing,’ critic says”, Globe and Mail, 11 March, 2003, A6). A useful comparison can be made with people who take the view that being against infant male circumcision (IMC) is proof of anti-Semitism. (I, personally, have been subject to both sets of allegations in the public square.)
The strategy adopted in both cases is to shame those who are against same-sex marriage or IMC into silence. The choice of language and framing of the issues is carefully crafted to achieve this result. (See William Eskridge, who has articulated important insights in this respect, through his analysis of the techniques used by identity-based social movements to place courts in the position that they see their only alternatives in reaching a decision as being either to find discrimination or to believe that in not doing so they would be approving of discrimination and themselves engaging in it. In the same vein, see Halpern et al v. Canada and arguments considered by the judges.) “
Respectfully Submitted

David Anderson

2009-05-22T09:22:00.000-04:00

Dear editor:

My concerns about the spending spree of local and state governments have come to fruition. Since 2001, I have been steadily showing how this problem would one day cost us. It has cost us the last couple of years in increased electric rates and fees in the City along with this year’s painful furloughs which will ensure elimination of some policing programs downtown. Even so the city is better managed than most governments in this state.

At the county level, we are going to have a tax increase as if on cue after the election. Proposed reforms by Commissioner Eric Buckson were not adopted even though they would have avoided a tax increase on an already hurting population.

At the state level, we have a crisis. While most of the attention has gone to huge proposed pay cuts, senior centers are facing a loss of a third of their funding, and taxpayers are facing significant increases.

As Sussex County showed, not going wild in the good times means that you can not panic in the bad.

With governments at all levels raising taxes in the next couple of years, the state has a responsibility to use our money wisely. It is not.

The Delaware Financial Management System has been shown to be highly inefficient to say the least. It may very well be siphoning 10% of our tax money through its inefficiencies. Its inability to pay vendors in a timely, but quick system is costing us more in fees. Its incomprehensibility is costing us unnecessary paperwork. Learning the system is like learning a foreign language. Its bulky nature is forcing workers to do expensive work arounds. Its inefficient structure is so burdensome that the cost of writing a check is estimated to be $50 by comparison it is $6 or less in the private sector. The dealings with vendors alone have been documented to cost $200,000,000.00 a year by the Wilmington News Journal. A patch on the vendor portion was suggested in 2004 and it will not go live until 2010. That is 1.2 billion dollars tossed away.

A financial management system is designed to save money not cost more money.
This system has literally cost us Billions of dollars. DFMS is Bernie Madoff of financial accounting.

The best budget reform legislation that anyone could introduce would be a joint resolution to establish a commission to find a new financial management system. Whenever I hear a hybrid approach being discussed, I get concerned. Let’s study this and see if we can go world class instead of poverty class.

2009-05-08T00:13:00.001-04:00

I wish I were wrong, but right after the election Kent County Democrats proved themselves to be tax raisers as I predicted. They balked at spending reforms and raided the surplus. They join their Democrat counter parts in New Castle and likely in the Capitol. The good news is that every (all one of him) Republican (Hi Eric Buckson) stood strongly against this and he was joined by two Democrats who thought of the people.

Elections have consequences. Welcome to one party rule. May it soon expire.

2009-05-08T00:10:00.000-04:00

First the man proposes tripling our taxes with a single payer/player health scheme and now he thinks that taxpayers need to sacrifice more because it is unfair that state employees have to give back to balance the budget.javascript:void(0)

Rep. John Kowalko proposes massive tax increase in the gas tax, personal income tax, and just so that you don't have a job to pay those business and corporate taxes. The man is a walking job killer and a threat to the economic well being of Delawareans. At least he didn't buy into the temporary sales tax proposed by one of the unions just to insure we are ruined for years. These types of protect government at all costs proposals ignore the fact that State spending increased under Democrat rule with few checks. Efficiency and prioritization were not important factors. We ignored reforms in medicaid, education, employee benefits, corrections, and other areas. Now the Blue Hens have come home to roost.

Rep. John the taxpayer mugger Kowalko solution is to feather their roost with what little money you have left.

2009-04-13T08:29:00.000-04:00

Do you want real answers to the economic turmoil? Financial expert Dave Ramsey is hosting a nationwide town hall on April 23rd. Go to http://www.townhallforhope.com For site locations follow the link. I have been to other Dave Ramsey events. They worth your time. The Dover Location is The Pentecostals of Dover on West Denny's Road.

2009-04-13T01:33:00.000-04:00

Do you believe in power to the people not the plutocracy? You have plenty of company. Attend a tea party to show your support for fiscal sanity. This event is non partisan. Of course I think that after you get educated you should make it count and be partisan for those who stand up for you. Have a great tax day. I hope that you had no unpleasant surprises.

Dover
Legislative Mall on the Green
4:00 - 6:00 PM

Georgetown
The Circle
12:00 - 2:00 PM

Laurel
Janosik Park
4:00 - 7:00 PM

Wilmington
The Riverfront
4:00 - 6:30 PM

Middletown
Middletown Town Square
4:00 - 6:00 PM

2009-04-12T14:56:00.003-04:00

America is still a Christian Nation. A certain news magazine (the name of which is not worthy of my mention) had a sensational cover declaring the Decline and fall of Christian America. As usual the secular left can't understand the rest of America. It was timed to coincide with Holy Week while 70% of America is honoring Christ. It was typical liberal nonsense. The actual article seemed measured and worthy of discussion. The author is serious scholar who is grappling with societal changes. He points out that the near universal Christian consensus this country had is no longer universal. Of course most of us knew that for 40 years. Just turn on MTV and you can see that is true. When porn fills our society like an open sewer, when we push games and entertainment which celebrates killing, when babies are aborted, when giving out Bibles in school causes fear in the hearts of administrators, but condoms are dispensed daily, when public prayer is controversial in school but blasphemy is common place, when people think that marriage is about any two people getting together, then it seems obvious that a Christian consensus no longer exists.

Where I completely disagree with the author of that survey (see its link here) and certainly the headline writers is that Christian America is on the rise. Church attendance is not down. The fervor of the faithful has increased. Evangelical Christianity is sweeping America. The Catholic Church likewise is finding a resurgence in people wanting to learn about the faith they took for granted. The conversion rate is higher than the birth rate. While some of those who are not serious have finally stopped misusing the label, I find that a positive. The worst thing that can happen to a faith is when it is defined by the outliers and not the faithful. I would rather have the Ten Commandments in posted in every home of the faithful than be unread in every courthouse (I do favor keeping the Ten Commandments in public displays.) I would rather have meaningful prayers than symbolic emptiness. It is only by allowing the Living Lord to be shown that meaningful change will occur. That doesn't come from a casual affiliation.

For the fun of it; let's refute those numbers. How do you look at a nation in which half of the people attend church regularly and 44 to 46% attend church weekly to be in religious decline? Those numbers have been consistent for 3 decades. The rise in secular identification stopped 8 years ago after the 9/11 attacks. The article should have been written in the late nineties. The survey showed a marked increase in a fundamental view of Christianity. As for political involvement, exit polls show no evidence of a lack of will among the faithful in public policy. In fact one political party wouldn't even be a major party without the votes of the faithful and the other had to pretend to have found faith.

Other surveys bear out my contention from Gallup to Rasmussen to Pew. We even had one published in our own News Journal. As found in previous years 92% of Americans believe in God. What is even more interesting to me is that half of self proclaimed agnostics and a fifth of atheists believe in a God as well. What has changed is that more and more people are increasingly finding a belief in the supernatural, miracles 80%, demons, and angels.

Pentecostalism, which hearkens back to an Apostolic experience is not only on a rise globally, but in the U. S. as well. It is one of the reasons traditional values are becoming a profound issue. Americans who pray tend to be more conservative as defined in American terms. As a side note Christian conservatism is also the engine of the resurgent Canadian Conservative movement. PM Stephen Harper is an evangelical Christian. This is also true in Latin America, Nigeria, and other areas of the world.

While there is no question that the worldview of the faithful is under its greatest assault, the faith is meeting the challenge. Christianity is more vibrant today than it has been in a long time. All of the wishful thinking of the secular progressives in the world cannot change that fact.Thanks to Watermark Productions for the Video.

2009-04-12T13:43:00.000-04:00

Happy Resurrection Day! Because He lives, We shall live also.

2009-03-18T17:54:00.002-04:00

Yes, there are pants of panic from a new UN study which says that the global population will soar to 9 billion by 2050. I say great. That's more people we can teach the Gospel to. (I had to toss that in so a couple of liberal heads would explode.) I welcome the change. We have become more prosperous globally with fewer incidents of starvation and famine since our population has increased. Why, we have developed new technology especially in medicine and food production. Population is not a problem, it is just a challenge.

Still there is way too much poverty in the world. A billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day and may never take a shower in their life times. There is too much suffering in the world which is needless. Why is it needless? We have the ability to end run most of it.

The Korean peninsula was a place that was torn by decades of war, starvation, and poverty. Half of it had godless socailism imposed upon it. The other half was allowed to experience free markets, religious freedom, Christianity, and sensible tax policy. Which half is starving and which half is one of the wealthiest nations in the world?

I believe the great enemy of the poor is secular progressive socialism. Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations on earth. Why? It has long had some of the highest marginal tax rates on earth. When you look at all of the world's poorest economies, you see that they impose some the highest tax rates at very low incomes. One African nation has the 35% rate kick in around $430 a year. Bangladesh had the 60% rate around $7000. When ever someone tries to get ahead and save so they can start a business or birth an invention, they are slammed by the government. That is why so many of the people come to America and become successful.

I believe one of the keys to solving the third world issues is a flat tax or progressive national sales tax like the Fair Tax. People would become free to save, invest, and trade without excessive restrictions. That is the only way new technology will transform their lives. It has worked for us. Then again maybe we will abandon what made us successful while they transform themselves. That would be a sad irony.

The next key is the adoption of certain values. These nations are being held back by certain customs that the Christian nations have escaped. Many of them do not have as stable of a family situation as they could. Many young men are not focused toward productive paths. They do not have women and fathers to civilize them. As a result those nations often end up in civil wars and unrest. The AIDS and other epidemics are destroying their society because monogamy is not valued. The talents of the women are under utilized by depriving them of education which puts them at an even greater disadvantage to the West. Social structures lock some in to being privileged and others into being forgotten. Culture matters. You can not have a strong society without a strong culture.

It seems the solutions to the most difficult problems of the world can begin with tax cuts and Christian Principles.

2009-02-04T23:37:00.000-05:00

Trillions for symptoms, but not one dime for root causes. Back in the early 1800's there was a saying "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute". It spoke of America's determination to stand strong in the face of terror and extortion. Unfortunately today, we are seeing that we would rather throw money at the economic problems we are facing than address the root causes of these problems. Some of the solutions do not even cost money to implement. It was a fool hardy approach taken by the Bush administration and it seems like the Obama administration is willing to continue it. I guess it is more of the same instead of the change we need.

There are many myths about the economy including that the last stimulus bill and its payments didn't work. They did. They worked in 2002 and they worked in 2008. They helped delay the downturn by several months and should be part of a new package. The problem is that unlike 2002 this downturn was more than cyclical. It had some stubborn root causes which went unaddressed.

This writer called for us to address the housing crisis back in February 2008. It is still not done. We don't need to buy toxic assets. We need to give the banks compensation for modifying mortgages and entice them to mass modify ARM's and troubled mortgages of people who are not literally on the block. Economists estimate that federally guaranteed 4% mortgages done this way would cost us 300 billion dollars. Yet it would save the average family several hundreds of dollars a month for as long as they keep that mortgage. That would do more than any one time check. Let's do it. We could use the second half of the TARP or use it in the stimulus bill. We should also extend the temporary credit to first time homebuyers. It would cost 20 billion but as an interest free loan paid back over 15 years it would really cost us nothing but the interest we pay.

We should give aid to the states so they don't raise taxes and layoff workers which would worsen the economy. I would say pick up 95% of Medicaid for two years and give block grants for "shovel ready projects". We should also pick up unemployment, federally mandated student testing, at 100% for two years federally.

Energy policy should be in the stimulus because it will help create a long term recovery. It is also a national emergency.

Cut the corporate tax rate and give accelerated depreciation to small and medium size businesses. Give a $1000 a person rebate this summer and cut the payroll tax for two years in half so businesses are rewarded for each person they keep and people have more money every week.

Taken together these steps would save and create millions of jobs without socializing and regulating the economy beyond recognition.

Tell me, would that type of policy work better than putting down new sod, giving out contraceptives, and funding starving artists?

2009-01-22T22:28:00.001-05:00

America is the greatest nation in two thousand years. No one nation has advanced the cause of human dignity more in that time. It is the place where human rights such as life, liberty, and universal right to own property emerged as central governing principles. It has served as a beacon to the world. Unfortunately, there have been times where we have allowed some portion of our government to undermine our core principles. One such time was the Roe v. Wade ruling.

It is bad enough that Roe pretended not to know what is self obvious in science, logic, and religion, that life begins at conception. The ruling pretended not to know when life began at all. The ruling violated legal reasoning, precedent, constitutional restraints on the federal government, the 5th and 14th amendments, and the laws of all 50 states. Even the 5 states which disgracefully declared they would close their ears to the cries of the most vulnerable of citizens, did not go as far as the runaway Burger Court.

Since Roe became case law, new technology has put a virtual window on the womb. We can see in real time and in living color the children we denied. It is time for us to come to grips with the fact that we have created an environment of callous disregard for the weakest of humans. Even worse we have opened the floodgates for human cloning and genetic engineering. We have a federal government which denies sick people marijuana to get well, but allow others fatal prescriptions to be offed in the renewed Eugenetics movement.

I disagree with the Obama Administration. There is not a specter of man made global warming hanging over America. There is the specter of abortion haunting what is left of the soul of America. There is a culture of death which is robbing us of our heritage of human dignity. There is a lawless judiciary, which is undermining the Federal Constitutional Process and amassing dangerous power unto itself. It took the greatest of global wars by launched by mad men to equal what our court accomplished January 22, 1973.

Any administration which supports the slaughter of 48 million innocents, is unworthy of the executive office. It is refusing to faithfully execute the Constitution of the United States for over a million citizens a year. Thankfully, under Republican rule, the number of abortions dropped from a high of 1.6 million to a little over a million. Unfortunately, this administration seems hell bent on reversing what little good has been done not only domestically, but globally. President Obama said he would support unconstitutional federal legislation, which would overturn the few protections the states have been allowed to establish for women such as informed consent and parental involvement laws. It seems that the administration will bend over backwards to give new rights to terrorists caught on the battlefields yet rush to spit on the graves of the unborn.

All responsible Americans must raise their voices at this crucial time. No issue defines us more as a people. No issue is more important to our national culture.

2008-10-09T17:44:00.002-04:00

I believe that local government is a vital but often overlooked factor in our daily lives. It will be even more important in the troubled times we now face. I don't believe our county government is serving our needs today. It has failed us in managing our money, emergency/disaster management, providing a positive business environment, and even failed in following its own procedures.

Unemployment has soared even faster than the national average, up by a third. We have lost 40% of our manufacturing jobs over the last decade. The banks are suffering, yet we have slashed the economic development outlays from $1.6 million to $73,000 in the last two years since Mr. Angel and company have taken over Levy Court.

I propose an entire agenda laid out on my websites, which include tax credits to new and expanding businesses. I want to use the unique position of the county to allow local businesses to access federal grants to help them with exports and other activities (businesses cannot apply directly—a local government has to participate). I want us to coordinate with existing business development programs better so people will have a one stop information resource. I would like to follow also some of the recommendations of the study we paid to get.

Now is not the time for tax reassessment. It would slam our seniors when they can least afford it. Everything else is going up. Can't Kent County look out for us? I also oppose a property tax increase. My opponent has a record of raising taxes 43% while on the Capitol school board and stated at a Levy Court budget hearing that we may need to raise taxes.

I believe we need to manage our money better. We need to partner with the municipalities throughout the county to expand libraries accessible to all citizens of the county. We don't need to go it alone. It makes no sense to duplicate the expenditures when we can be partners. The same is true of parks. I was glad to be part of helping save taxpayers 10 million dollars by opposing the original 13 million dollar Schutte Park facility. I was a vocal advocate of a metal building which fit in the budget. As part of the parks and recreation committee, I participated in the change. I see the same spendthrift instincts with the county. It is seen in the spending of 12,500 on trips by Mr. Angel to Hawaii and elsewhere when everyone else did it for a fraction of the cost. We need to reform our thinking.

Disaster response is a disaster. We remember the Rico spill debacle, and the poor flood responses. The untold story is that Mr. Angel approved County Emergency Management Agency goals which said that It would strife to notify us 90% of the time and respond 80% of the time. I think 100% is the only goal when it comes to my family's safety.

Please allow me to make Levy Court work for you.

Go to my new website http://www.andersonforlevycourt.com

2008-09-11T10:44:00.000-04:00

Noontime, September 11th 7 years ago, found almost all of us praying. There is a movement to pray in all 50 State Capitols and D. C. called Cry Out America. The gathering for Delaware is on the Green. Those so inclined are hereby invited.

2008-09-09T16:37:00.001-04:00

Get the best in Primary analysis on channel 12 or WHYY.org. You also can get my perspective between 8 and 9:30.

2008-09-04T09:59:00.001-04:00

Backlash--10 to 1 Press unfair to Palin Americans told pollster
The Presidential tracking polls were closing even before last night as the non-Democrat voters started rallying behind Palin. Unaffiliated (Independent voters) see her equally or more qualified than Senator Obama. This quote from the Rasmussen Reports is stunning because it is based upon results before the speech. Governor, this looks like an Isaiah 54:17 moment.

Last night’s polling shows that, by a ten-to-one margin, voters believe reporters are trying to hurt Palin’s campaign rather than help. Republicans and unaffiliated voters strongly believe that a double standard is being applied to Palin because she is a woman. Democrats disagree. Perhaps most stunning is that, among unaffiliated voters, just 42% believe Obama has better experience than Palin to be President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say Palin has the edge on experience. Again, most of the interviews for this survey were completed before Palin’s well-received speech last night.

2008-08-30T21:32:00.002-04:00

With McCain, Palin, and Biden supporting our troops is something very personal.
Got to http://stoptaxing.wordpress.com and click the Sarah Palin catagory to find out more about the woman who may become the next Vice President.

2008-07-28T17:02:00.001-04:00

I officially filed for the 3rd district Levy Court seat in Kent County, Delaware. I have a lot on my plate, but I am concerned enough about this county to invest my energies to making it better. The other party is involved in a hotly contested primary.

We have some challenges ahead. Unemployment is up 25% over last year, but just as important so is underemployment. I have been talking with people working 3 jobs and still not able to make ends meet because the 3 jobs don't pay as much as the one they lost. Others are paying 20 to 50 dollars a day to get to work. It is clear that we need a better business base here. We need to treat the businesses we have better and attract new ones.

The lack of emergency preparedness concerns me. The Rico Chemical incident was a wake up call and our county leadership seems to have hit the snooze alarm. I testified before the state and city governments about our concerns, but I don't see enough movement on the county level.

I know from my duty providing Katrina Relief with the National Guard that local government matters. Whether the relief operation went smoothly or was a source of frustration was directly related to the competence of the local officials. I saw elected officials who rose to being local heroes selflessly serve their community. They were models of leadership. I saw others get in way, and even divert aid to their friends. I saw first hand that local government matters. My family lives here and I am not comforted by our lack of coordination between first responders and the local government.

I am not pleased with the way our county spends some of our money. I have detailed that elsewhere on this site. The Government needs to act like our money is a precious resource. When I am elected, we will have a constant voice asking the right questions.

Please forgive me if my posts get less frequent.

If you would like to help in a no cost way. Follow this link to sign up for Revolution of Money. It is the new pay pal (and better without the high fees). It won't cost you anything to sign up but the campaign will get 10 dollars.

2008-07-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

Delawareans should heart Christine. I wrote a post on another blog entitled "I heart Huckabee" which gave detailed resources showing the strength of Mike Huckabee as a person and a candidate. The title played off the movie. I wrote "I also heart Sarah Palin" because it was a fun play itself. Now for the most important of the three. I believe Christine O'Donnell is a rare find in cynical world. She has the fire and heart to make a difference in D. C. That is why I hope Delawareans listen to her message. If they do, Delaware voters may say, I heart Christine--politically speaking.

Christine O'Donnell represents a rising tide in America. She represents Americans who are tired of a mounting federal debt, a dollar which seems worth less every day, a sham excuse for an energy policy, and a political system unwilling to open its eyes to an entitlement crisis. Christine believes in the value of Freedom, Faith, and Family. She stands for the freedom and dignity of the human spirit.

If we do not reform entitlements, in not too many years, we will have to radically cut programs or radically increase taxes. Last week the Executive Director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition testified before our Senator Tom Carper's committee in the senate.

Robert L. Bixby, Executive Director of The Concord Coalition, testified before a subcommittee on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee regarding the 2007 Financial Report and the nation's future fiscal challenges. Bixby emphasized that the 2007 Financial Report, which shows future "fiscal exposures" with a present value of $53 trillion, demonstrates that future promises cannot be sustained and improving the nation's long-term fiscal outlook will require hard choices on spending and taxes.

That amount is what-- 4 times our economy. That is based upon present value of money not future value. We can not sustain charging into the coming storm. We have to change course. I don't fear the future. I don't believe the sky is falling. We as Americans can meet any challenge. As the Concord Coalition said, the result is not inevitable. It begins by following leaders who are willing to turn the ship of state in a safe direction.

Senator Biden is not proposing change. In my opinion, we no longer have the luxury to wait for him to see the light. I respect his years of service, but business is business.

Whenever someone has clear ideas about reforming government that the critics have a problem countering, the name calling starts. Senator Biden, who has drifted to the far left of the Senate likes to call anyone with common sense an extremist. I think we need to drop the name calling and debate policy. The challenges facing Americans because of a bipartisan policy of fiscal neglect is truly extreme. What we need are bold and visionary answers.

The fiscal crisis would be bad enough. We also face an energy crisis. Senator Biden has blocked upgrading Salem. He was missing in action during the Blue Water Wind debate. He opposes oil and gas exploration on the Continental Shelf well off shore. He is oblivious to the pain experienced by his fellow Delawareans caused by his policies. Here too Christine stands in stark contrast. As a bonus she understands that the most immediate effect we could have on energy prices is to stop inflating our currency and strengthen the dollar. As far as energy policy, there is only one sensible choice.

Christine O'Donnell understands that some of newest challenges are the ones in the pipeline. She opposes human cloning. Senator Biden joined the filibuster against bipartisan legislation ending cloning. She stands for the dignity of the human being from conception to natural death.

Another problem 21st Century is the undermining of national self determination. Senator Biden seems warm to allowing the U. N. to access alternative financing, In other words, global taxation. This would be the ultimate taxation without representation. Christine stands for National Sovereignty.

I urge you all to look to the future when you vote in November. I urge you to cast a vote for Christine.

2008-07-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

39% of Americans think the Constitution doesn't restrict the government enough. Only 2% want to see government expanded. The rest think it is about right. 59% of people like to keep the Constitution as it is and only 5% want major changes. 1% would like to scrap it. The rest want minor changes. I am with the minor change group. I would like to see a few changes to protect us from the courts, and a spend thrift government.

What was even more interesting is that Americans in this Rasmussen Survey find an expansive government dangerous. While only a minority thought that true of a restricted government. I am encouraged this Independence Day. Americans seem to appreciate the gift of Liberty. We often hear the snake oil salesman of control trying to get us to trade our freedom for whatever solution they are peddling. It is nice to see that when the debate is framed freedom vs. control, Americans trust freedom.

The brilliance of the Founders in framing the Constitution makes me marvel. I am sure they had some Divine help in answer to their prayers. America was the first nation founded on the basis of the sovereignty of the people. That concept has changed the world.

Government is important. It exists to protect our Life, Liberty, and Property. After that everything else should be viewed with skepticism. Happy Independence Day.

2008-06-07T17:48:00.000-04:00

This baby must have a purpose for being. This child survived an abortion attempt on his life at eight weeks. By the grace of God, he is expected to live a normal life. It reminds us that we are talking about real human beings not abstract choices.

This story shows how some prey on the fears of mothers to achieve an eugenic outcome. Her first son died soon after birth. Even though her second son has a normal life with one kidney, she was made to fear the third pregnancy. Where is the counseling and practical support? Why should that family have feared facing this difficult situation of a possible life threatening defect in their child alone? We have to do a better job supporting one another in society. Then we will be better able to bring out the best in each other and celebrate every life for its value whether handicapped or not.

2008-05-27T03:39:00.001-04:00

When I reflected upon the price paid for our freedom yesterday, I wondered are we getting the value out of our sacrifice? Are we surrendering what people paid with their blood to preserve? My father was a WW2 Disabled American Veteran. We often talked about his concern that we were slowly but surely losing our freedom.

He distrusted the growing control of government over our daily lives when it wasn’t about protecting the innocent. Where in the Constitution did government gain the right to say what kind of toilet you had? What about what color you paint your house? Set up massive phone monitoring? Seize and keep your property without convicting you of a crime? Become the arbiter of art, religion, and science? Tell you how to deposit your money into your own accounts?

I admit that I am not happy that we have been operating under emergency rule. Our government has not declared war, but claims we are in one which may last generations. War has been the single biggest tool by government to abridge our civil liberties. I fear that this war may be no exception. I admit that I was hoping for the expiration of the Patriot Act (which I never favored) and a lot of other nonsense. We have secret courts by which we deport people. We send agents into religious services and can pour through phone records and library records without evidence of a crime or a warrant. We sweep people up in the middle of the night and don’t let them call counsel. We hold people far away from their families and don’t notify anyone of their arrest. It seems like the fourth amendment has been repealed and I didn’t even know we voted. I am not referring to people found on the battlefield, but people who live here. It is like the Alien and Sedition Acts were never repealed but expanded. The founding generation would have never tolerated this travesty.

This is not a partisan issue, unfortunately it is a bipartisan problem. We seem governed more by fear than inspired by freedom. We have forgotten that Liberty is a moral issue. It seems we must once again convince our fellow Americans of the moral superiority of Liberty and due process of law, even for immigrants. The laws said to be for non-citizens have been applied to Americans. We have no liberty if the government can imprison us at length without trial, question us without counsel, and seize our property without conviction. Even worse, it wants to be able to execute people without a jury trial.

Sometimes I wonder, why we squander our freedom away to fight those who are trying to destroy our freedom? Sometimes I wonder will my children ever know what it truly is to live in a free country? This Memorial Day, I not only remembered those who paid for our freedom, but I tried to remember what it was when we had more of it.

2008-05-16T02:35:00.000-04:00

Coast to Coast Insanity is here. 4 justices count more than millions of voters and thousands of years of human wisdom. The California Supreme Court has found that it is discriminatory to give civil unions to same sex couples and recognize marriage of only mixed sex couples. That is like saying it is discriminatory to require an insurance agent to know about insurance and a lawyer to know about law. Why can’t the lawyer just pass the insurance exam? Isn’t there some law involved in it? That’s silly, you say. They are serving different functions and they don’t do the same thing.

Neither do same sex couples and mixed sex couples. Forgive me for having to go back to basics. Nature says a man and a woman fit together in a unique way. They complete each other. Sexually their organs are made to compliment each other. Emotionally, they are made to balance each other. Spiritually, they are made to complete each other. Biologically, only a man and a woman can perpetuate the species. The species is one in which the offspring are best raised in a mixed sex environment. Unsurprisingly, thousands or millions of years of experience (I am not arguing origin theory here) has led to the evolution of an institution to best channel that reality. It exists in the most advanced of cultures and the most primitive of cultures in one form or another. We call it marriage. It consists of a mixed sex relationship or relationships for the purpose of raising families and bonding between the sexes.

Marriage over different cultures has different variations. Some have more than two partners. Some are exclusive for life. Some have an escape valve. Yet around the world, it is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. It is not a confusing proposition. It is not open for judicial guessing.
Yet, again and again some on the far left insist on “progressive” social engineering. They place the feelings of some over the strength of society. The fact that an institution exists in a basic form throughout written history in thousands of different cultures is not a reason to keep it, but evidence of the need to change it according to these people. Everything done in the past was not based upon the wisdom built up as we went from herding nomads to farmers to manufacturers to information engineers. It is based upon prejudice and discrimination. The will of God is considered a repressive scam which must be overturned.
I reject the premise and the goals of the secular progressive left. I proudly stand for tradition, the Bible, and the collective experience of billions of people over the nonsense of a radical elite. I call for a return of a common sense conservatism.

I understand what is at stake. In the few countries which have tried this brave new world, marriage rates are already declining. The stability of the family has worsen. We already see the wreckage caused by a society based upon single parenthood. It causes disconnected males. It gives higher crime rates, higher poverty, a lack of commitment to anything, and a dispirited youth. It causes government to expand to make up for the lack of family and gives a corresponding decline in freedom. If even the tradition of marriage is not sacred, then all others are weakened. A society without tradition is no society at all. It is just a collection of people who happen to live at the same time.
Marriage and family are basic building blocks of civilization add in civil government, organized religion, and economic exchange (business) then you have a strong society. Take away any of those and you tragically weaken the ability of any people to function as a community.

My critics are going to say that I am claiming gay people are destroying civilization. No, I am saying the secular elite is destroying our civilization. Gay people don’t hurt us by being, loving, or discovering their own institutions. It is not the business of government to involve itself in emotional or economic relationships unless all of society benefits from it. Therefore government should not interfere with gay relationships, but neither does it have an obligation to pretend they serve the vital function that marriage does. I don’t have a problem with gays. I have a problem with those who wish to use gays to advance their radical agenda. They don’t care about gays or straights. They care about building a new social order as a shrine to their enlightened wisdom. I say it is time to care about the common good and stop them in their tracks. It is time for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

2008-04-17T17:33:00.002-04:00

I'll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon that cross. How true of a statement that is. As we approach the Passover, we reflect on that perfect sacrifice made once and for all. By one sin entered the world and death by sin, and by one we are reconciled to righteousness and walk in life. (Romans 5: 11-17)

When our Lord took our death upon and within him, it was an unnatural act. The resurrection and the life was made sin and death. The spiritual suffering and sacrifice exceeded the physical one. I think the reason he allowed such an inhumane execution as the cross was so we could relate to what our sins were doing on the spiritual level. The God of heaven descended into hell. The good news is that he didn't stay there. He offered up his blood in the heavenly temple for all humanity. Every sin past, present, and future was forgiven. Death was defeated.

As surely as He was partaker in our death, we shall be partaker in His Resurrection. That is what baptism is all about. We are buried by faith and resurrected in His Name. It is such a glorious thought that I cannot but help to say "Lord, here I am to worship you".

2008-04-16T16:26:00.002-04:00

Planned Parenthood which is the recepient of hundreds of millions of are tax dollars, apparently needs donations so badly that they took designated gifts. Gifts designated to pay to abort black babies only.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/308723.html

This is even more outrageous when you hear it.

2008-04-16T16:21:00.000-04:00

Is time for us to recommit to ending the insanity of the American tax code. It inhibits our freedom, manipulates our lives, muzzles our churches, drains hundreds of billions from us just to figure out how to comply, inspires fear and loathing over inspiration, subsidies the export of our jobs, and siphons the life out of our corporations. If the British would have proposed our tax code on the founders, they wouldn’t have even bothered to send envoys to negotiate. They would have just declared the King and Parliament mad.

The tax code is corrupt. It is not based upon sound economics. It is based upon the sound made by the chatter of lobbyists. In a global economy in which other countries are migrating to simple, flat taxes, we can no longer afford this anchor on our economy.

We don’t need to reform the tax code. We need to abolish it. We need to replace it with a simple, fair tax system which encourages investment in America. We need to take the power from Washington D. C. and return it to the people.

2008-03-16T23:43:00.002-04:00

Today is Palm Sunday. Mark 11:1-11 gives us the portrait of a crowd excited about what they believed Jesus, our Lord, was going to do. The Lord was more interested in showing them what they could do. Little did they know that he was less interested in a parade than in making disciples.

So many times we look to a leader to do something while we go about our lives. Pastor pray for us not with us. Politician solve our problems don't empower us to fulfill our own destiny. Businessman fulfill our every whim, don't give us choices. Dad or Mom take care of me, don't show me how to care for myself. Teacher give me the answers, don't teach me to research. Our Lord had none of that. His Gospel was one of commitment. Take up your cross and follow me. You speak to the mountain. You take the Gospel to the world and heal the sick. The Holy Spirit will teach you, pray for you, and empower you. He raised up preachers to equip us to do the work of the ministry. Notice, Eph. 4 said we do the work not the pastor, evangelist, prophet, teacher, or apostle. They equip us.

The true worship of God is when we have our lives transformed by him, not when we say good things about him and go on about our normal lives.

David Anderson

2008-02-21T16:33:00.002-05:00

John Flynn's Dover

I disagree with him on the policy of pictures. It was misreported. The pentagon is right to let each soldier receive proper honor with their families and not have their bodies and caskets be part of a media circus.

As for his song and sentiment, Keep up the good work. May God bless the American Serviceperson.

2008-02-05T08:12:00.000-05:00

Vote Huckabee

I can hardly wait for the opportunity to vote for Governor Mike Huckabee in the primary on Feb. 5th . He speaks of hope and optimism. He speaks of faith and family. He spent his early life building people not wealth. He is a man from mainstreet in the mode of Lincoln.

To understand Gov. Huckabee, you have to watch him. Go to his web site. He is intriguing. He relates to people and taps into the concerns of middle America. He is following the Gingrich model of Republicans winning. Speaker Gingrich points out how a member of the ruling party won in France because he was the agent of change. Governor Huckabee is a change agent even though his party is the incumbent party. He is not afraid to propose big ideas like the FAIR Tax which has recently been endorsed by 80 influential economists including Delaware’s own Eleanor Craig. He wants to challenge the status quo and focus the nation on a real energy policy not one made by the big energy corporations. He is a solid opponent of earmarks and unnecessary deficit spending (he balanced 10 budgets in a row and took the state from a deficit to a surplus). He is unabashed in his desire to move the nation back to its heritage of protecting the sanctity of Life and the very definition of marriage.

Some Republicans are uncomfortable with the idea of adjusting the appeal of the party. President Reagan had the same problem with the party. He brought “Joe Six Pack” to the country club. Reagan was right then. Huckabee is right now. The Republican party has to be the party for all of the people.

The best hope for America this year is the other man from hope.

2007-12-25T19:35:00.001-05:00

by David Anderson

This post is in honor of my brother -in- law SGT Roy Jones USMC who is spending this Christmas hospitalized from Iraq related complications.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071224/ts_nm/iraq_christmas_dc

Thank you all who spent this Christmas on duty so the rest of us can celebrate. You are my heroes.

I was encouraged by a Christmas story from Iraq. A church, which was bombed earlier this year by the terrorists, was rebuilt in time for the Mass of Christ. What was unique is that is was rebuilt by the Muslims for their Christian neighbors as a statement both of love and solidarity against the extremists. People loving people. That is what makes this world worth living in.

This act was made possible by the new security brought about by the sacrifice of American and Iraqi forces. We are doing some good. Thanks again.

2007-12-18T01:51:00.000-05:00

Join the FairTax Revolution! Support Mike Huckabee for President.
https://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Contribute.Home&r=2342

2007-12-17T00:39:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

2007-12-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

On this day in history the Brown vs. Board of education case was argued.
The Republicans supported Brown. The lead counsel in opposition was the Democrat 1924 Presidential candidate. Today there is a broad consensus for Civil Rights. Let's remember how hard won it was.
http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/

2007-10-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

Vision for Our City

Many years ago, packaged items were weighed on a balance. On one side was a true standard and the other was the goods you were buying. If short, it was said to be weighed in the balances and found wanting. When I look at city government today, I weigh it by asking are we getting our money’s worth? Is our money well spent? Can we go out for an evening jog or walk in any neighborhood safely? Can our children play safely in our parks while we talk with our friends? Is this a good place to find a good job or start a business? Truthfully, I don’t think we are up to standards. We are better than many places,but if you weigh us by the standard, we are weighed in the balances and found wanting.

Shootings are a regular news event. Drug houses are a neighborhood fixture. The city budget has nearly doubled in 4 years yet our quality of life hasn’t. Two years ago, the city budget was 93 million dollars now it is 150 million dollars. Government administrative salaries have skyrocketed while ours haven’t. Rent, electric, trash, water/sewer fees, and property taxes have all gone up. Some of our water is still brown. It has gotten to point where I joke about bottled water - I am from Dover I don’t trust water I can’t see and smell.
It is time someone took up the cause of the citizen.

It is time we had real problem solvers back in government. I have worked on the outside and on city committees, but I am tired of trying to affect change. I want to bring change.

Three fundamental challenges face us. To improve our quality of life we need to address these; regaining control over city finances,keeping our families safe, and improving the business environment. A fundamental principle is that government should not treat your checkbook like it is a blank check for its use. Our budget has mushroomed. Our general fund has doubled in the last 5 years. Let’shave a performance audit of city government. Let’s find efficiencies which we are over looking. I don’t like this 13.5 million dollar city hall expansion. I was an early opponent of the 10 million dollar building at Schutte Park. I was an early advocate of a steel building for 1/3 of the cost. As part of parks and recreation committee, I helped it to come about with no debt or tax increases.

Frustrated with the expense and time of correcting the brown water, I was among the first to propose at an open session, lining the pipes like the Air Force Base did.

I favored traditional neighborhood design and zoning, and advocated changes which would make it easy to equalize open space requirements with developments. I favor simplifying Transfer of Development Rights (TDRs) so that they can be traded like any other commodity or banked. I would also like to see the city and county cooperate so Dover can be a receiving area. We could use it to revitalize areas of our city.

Crime is a persistent problem. I would like to see a comprehensive approach taken. We need a summit of community leaders representing faith groups, counseling and social services, community action organizations, law enforcement, schools, and neighborhood watch organizations. Dr. Glasser is correct when he advocates a comprehensive public mental health model. We need to take people who are seeking help to the services they need. We can cut off domestic violence and substance abuse before they get out of hand. Faith based groups can help us combat the corruption of our culture which is leading to a no snitching mentality (this only takes us back to the law of the jungle because people who don’t go to the law will get tired of being victimized).

Of course, we need a law enforcement component. We need to put cameras in our parks, utilize homeland security grants to get better video and communication equipment to neighborhood watch organizations, and we need to suspend the rental license of nuisance properties. We need to keep up enforcement of parole violations. What we don’t need is spending endless amounts of money.

Our economic development needs to be different from the crowd as still we keep the tried and true formulas. We should look at what it would take to be a hub for alternative energy. We should take advantage of the new federal incentives and make our own. Why not take advantage of the new energy bill and the President’s competitiveness agenda, which already has 60 senate co-sponsors (assuring its passage) and make our high-tech park (which is nothing but a field) focus on energy. We could start a corporation modeled on our Downtown Development Corporation, which gave us the Blue Hen Corporate Center, to facilitate moving small start-up firms here by finding investment and federal dollars and credits. I would like to see us follow a southern China model of attracting these firms large and small.

Let’s take advantage of export grants from the federal government to help local businesses, but only if the city or a local agency sponsors them. Utilize the local colleges for studies on new trends for job growth, have a 3-year tax break on the expansion portion of existing businesses, and a one-year property tax holiday for new businesses. Give Mainstreet Dover as much power to advance downtown as we do the Historical Society to stop advancement. Encourage home ownership by connecting people with existing programs on financial counseling, saving and getting a mortgage and grants.

This is our city. Let’s make it the best.

2007-09-29T14:15:00.000-04:00

The real solutions to the world’s problems don’t come from the barrel of gun or the treasury of government. They come with dealing with the root causes. The broken part of the heart of humanity. What we need is to have the Glory of the LORD Revealed in hearts and lives.

Oh LORD, hear the prayer of your humble child. Our city is hurting. Shootings, fear, and increasing pressures from spiraling costs are weighing on our people. Our own sins are weighing on our souls. Let your Glory be revealed in our lives. Let my life be an example of your Glory. Let us be anxious for nothing but in everything give thanks to the Lord. Let us have faith in you and wisdom to follow your path. It is only when the glory is revealed in us will fulfillment come.

I ask this in the name of my Lord Jesus, Amen.

2007-09-04T22:48:00.000-04:00

Reflections on the Dover killing.
Sep 4th, 2007 by David Anderson

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770901016

Kenneth Riddick will forever be 16. The Dover community is in mourning. Spontaneous memorials are popping up like fall flowers of affection. It is the number 1 topic of discussion. Kenneth was a well adjusted and well liked young man. He stayed far from trouble until one day it found him while he sat in a suv. The killer was a convicted rapist who was wanted by the police for not registering his address.

What is chilling to the Dover community, unlike the other recent crimes, is the fact that it shatters the illusion which says if you do the right thing you can avoid being a crime victim. It makes us all feel a little unsafe and unnerved. I hear parents talking about keeping their teens from downtown. If that comes to pass, it will severely hamper renewal efforts.

I would like to ask what can we do. It doesn’t seem to matter where you go. We are slipping backward on the scale distinguishing between civilization and barbarism.

I am going to take a page from my liberal friends and suggest we start tackling root causes.

I submit there are 5 root causes. The despair of poverty, the breakdown of the family, the legacy of racism, ineffective dealings with repeat offenders, and a lack of a public mental health policy.

I will justify each of these later. Here is a quick pitch. People commit crimes from every station of life, but those who grow up thinking they don’t have a future do not develop ties to the broader community and commit a disproportionate number of crimes. We have no strategy for public mental health. This means we do not invest in helping people deal with their hurts before they explode into anti-social behavior–Virgina Tech. How many articles have been written on the impact of the never formed family? Institutionalized racism stole hope and opportunity and replaced it with despair and anger. Its legacy is still felt and used by the smart criminal to convince people they have no skin in the American game therefore they have to take what was stolen from their ancestors. The remnants of racism still affects lower education, employment, housing patterns, health care, and criminal justice. Most crime is committed by people who committed other crimes. We haven’t much of a clue about rehabilitation.

What are your solutions?

2007-09-02T18:45:00.000-04:00

Once in a while a movie inspires you. A few recent ones I have seen are Pay It Forward, Five People I Met in Heaven, and The Ultimate Gift.

The Ultimate Gift was one to add to my favorites for sure. It speeks to what is truly important in life. The greatest gifts are not financial. They are the gifts of love, caring, and character. They are the gift to dream, the gift of friendship, the gift of family, the gift of work, and the gift of gratitude. This was a story about one young man given the ultimate gift by his grandfather.

I encourage you to watch this one. It is a great story which goes beyond a tried and true story line.

2007-08-31T02:14:00.001-04:00

Academy of Dover is 2015 today

Why wait until 2015? The state of Delaware has yet another educational vision. 2015 promises significant reform and results within 10 years. 8 years from now we should see great results. My daughter will be graduating by then. I want to see significant results now. That is why I am privileged to have my children in the Academy of Dover.

There are a few schools who already meet much of what is being proposed by the experts. The Academy of Dover is one. It offers more instructional time. It has more computers for the children than any district by far. It is accredited which is a rare feat for an elementary school. It is contracted with Innovative schools, which is supported by the same people who proposed 2015.

The Academy of Dover is one of the first schools to have much of its curriculum mapped to the state standards ahead of state mandates. It also is implementing individualized learning plan strategy. Each student will have their own learning program and be taught to compensate for any weaknesses which are discovered during the school year. It was an ambitious plan and it has come to pass. We didn't have to wait. At this school we are in the future.

Under the leadership of New board President; Mrs. Mary Scott who was an administrator for a local school district, the school is rising to level of professionalism and accountability. She is not the only jewel on the new school board. The vice president Dr. Watson is a college professor who teaches biology. The board has people with a diversity of skills including a treasurer who is an expert in state finances. The school also has an attorney who works with an educational institution on the board. In addition, the board has another sharp former public school administrator and to fulfill the state board's "suggestions" a person with a marketing/public relations background. We also have people knowledgeable about buildings and grounds and personnel procedures. The crucible of criticism was unfair, but out of it a stronger school has emerged.

Despite dire predictions of the school running out of money last year, it ended the year in a surplus and will be sound financially again this year. The final tally on student achievement is going to show the school advanced students significantly over their old school. The school is a well ordered and disciplined environment but not a stifling one. The leadership of Mr. Litzi as CAO has been praiseworthy. He showed a smart, steady leadership style befitting his 30 plus years experience in school administration and education. Now we are seeing innovation. The school is freed from the shackles of the previous management firm and is working with the same organization which aids the best charter schools in Delaware.

I would encourage everyone to rediscover the Academy Dover. You may find out that you don't have to wait for 2015 for your children to obtain that quality education.

David Anderson

2007-08-25T14:42:00.000-04:00

Delaware Government: Weighed in the Balances and Found Wanting

Next year term limits mercifully mandate we find new leadership. It is time for a review of our successes and failures so we can map our course for the future.

Successes
Unemployment is low. The state is not in any crisis. We have moderate crime and foreclosures and poverty are not worse than average. We have made some gains in education such as in reading. Property taxes are still some of the lowest in the region and we still have no state sales tax. Income taxes are stable. Tourism is stable. We have a healthy rainy day fund. Our bond rating is high. We are continuing some of the positive trends from the last 30 years.

Challenges
High infant mortality rates are a plague on our state. We don’t even seem to have a handle on the causes. Let alone have a plan of action. We have an exploding prison population—eight highest incarceration rate in the nation. We have several challenges with the deterioration of our cities and towns. Downtown areas are dying. Wilmington is facing crime problems a crisis of confidence. In spite of relatively high education spending and the fact we are 10 years into our reform plan, we have modest results. The drop out rate is too high. We have too high of an illegitimacy rate. A growing population is starting to put pressure on rural infrastructure. Housing costs are such that on an average wage a person cannot afford to rent an average apartment and only 35% of homes for sale are affordable to those making median income. In other words, the local working people are being priced out of the housing market. The mergers of the banking industry have changed the dynamic. We can no longer count on new banking jobs in fact we hope not to lose too many more of the ones we have.

Failures
The transportation trust fund has been poorly managed under this administration. Money intended for transportation projects has been siphoned off resulting in a huge short fall. The band aid fix offered no reforms; just higher fees we hope won’t be mismanaged.
Livable Delaware hasn’t made us more livable. It imposes a failed land use strategy which pressures us to violate property rights and discourages the revival of our cities and the building of affordable housing. It is causing an explosion of exurbia.
Power infrastructure issues had been kicked down the line and only because of General Assembly leadership are we starting to address it. We still have no strategy for consumer choice and adequate, affordable local power.
We are actually going backward in some respects when it comes to education. We are trying to impose unnecessary regulations on charter schools such as prevailing wage and dozens of other mandates to make them like the schools we are trying to escape. Test scores are stagnant. DOE regulations are forcing schools to waste money which could be in the classroom. School districts are not allowed to build adequately for future growth and are forced to go back to referendum every few years to fund projects which should have been covered under the previous expansion. Alternative schools are under-funded.
We have not reformed sentencing guidelines adequately. Our prisons are understaffed. We have no plan to reform petty criminals before they become career criminals. We are imposing barriers against people reforming their own lives such as regulations barring many ex-cons from hairdressing.
The Economic Development strategy has resulted in one of the slowest growing private job sector in America. The EDO is consumed with its own management soap opera. The milking of the franchise fee is starting to cost us business.

Medicaid reimbursement cuts are almost bankrupting St. Francis and forcing many doctors to stop seeing poor patients. Providers actually lose money on some procedures. Medicines are being denied patients by the program. So much for thinking the state is the solution for the health insurance problem. State health care facilities in the prisons and psychiatric hospital are wanting. The response to inquiries is to stonewall.

Overall, I think this state can do better. The current leadership has no strategy to deal with the coming storm represented by the challenges listed. They have failed in some of the areas they already have the tools with which to work.

2007-08-18T19:44:00.000-04:00

Apologetic No More: A defense of Modern Conservatism

There is a movement sweeping the world. It is one based individual dignity, freedom of the marketplace, innovation of ideas, piety, and family. It is about advancing the best of human race, yet it is the most understood movement in the world.

Part of the confusion is due to the fact that conservatism is such a popular label. Racists, sexists, tyrants, and others have tried to claim its banner as their own. To a degree, you have to ask what are you trying to conserve? Such confusion has emerged that someone needs to take up the banner of defining for the people today’s conservative movement. I hope this will inspire someone to do so.

In the past conservatives have been thought of as preferring institutions over the individual. Yet modern conservatism is as much about conserving the18th century liberal values of individualism. We are conservative in the use of government. This is not some reflex reaction. Limited government is a core value because we understand that the degree to which government intrudes into an area is the degree individual sovereignty is compromised. We believe government power not only comes from the consent of the governed, but is the collective expression of individual rights of self defense.

The government is charged with protecting people from the illegitimate use of force. You have a right to your life, liberty, and property. This is regardless of strength, wealth, or influence whether you are pre-born or aged or whether you are in a minority position in society or a majority. The first job of government is to prevent those who would take those rights from you whether a foreign or domestic source. No one even the government can take those rights from you without cause.

Modern conservatives would say the next job of government is providing an infrastructure for the advancement of its people. Patents encourage innovation. Copyrights protect intellectual property (though recent changes are abusing this). Roads and frequency spectrum facilitate commerce. Education facilitates a citizenry which can prosper and govern itself.

Modern conservatism rejects bigotry as inconsistent with individual rights. If all individuals are equal, why would we have government banning some from participating in the marketplace? Why should some not have equal justice in the courts? Modern conservatives know that once you accept the demise of some one’s rights, you sow the seeds of undermining every one’s rights.

Modern conservatives tend to distrust concentrations of power. The movement has expressed this with its anti-monopoly business policies; the rise of the evangelical movement in the Christian Church, which distrusts big religion; the call for deregulation and hands off by government; the effort for school choice, and the get back to family over the village movement.

Modern conservatism recognizes the value of societal institutions. The family, business, the church, the government, and charity/social organizations are vital. Each of these institutions has a role in advancing the human condition and must be protected. Modern conservatives believe today’s liberalism is about government growing beyond its bounds and gobbling up these other institutions. Government is a poor substitute for any of them. History has shown that a society is more than government though it can rarely operate on a large scale without one.

Modern conservatives value science as a great tool but distrust it as a governor of our values. We believe science should be subject to values. Human cloning, human hybrids, genetic manipulation, human experimentation, and other controversies in science are addressed from how effect human dignity.

This is why modern conservatism so defends attempts at government to redefine marriage and family. This is why it believes business should be about doing business and government should be about governing. When a modern conservative wants to advance charity in the private sector over government entitlements, it is about the most effective expression of compassion.

Modern conservatives want a government which is honest, efficient, fiscally responsible, and limited in scope. Why? Government like any other enterprise works best when it is on purpose. If government is trying to substitute for family, church, charity, and run businesses, it will not be governing. This will cause havoc and universal distress.

When looked at in this light, it is easy to see why this new century will become the conservative century. It is easy to say, “I am proud to be a modern conservative”.

This will have to be continued. I hope this philosophical discussion inspires a vibrant discussion of vision for the next century.

2007-08-17T09:05:00.001-04:00

Is it off to Iraq for my unit?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/16/bidens-son-to-deploy-to-iraq/

Now that the senator has mentioned it to the press, I can confirm that my unit the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware Army National Guard is readying for deployment to Iraq.

What is noteworthy about its membership is that it includes AG Beau Biden who appears to have shunned transfering out. The unit will be locked this month coming (you can go in not out) so he appears to be willing to let what ever happens happen. For those who think I am a partisan (you may be right sometimes), mark this down. I have been impressed with the steadfastness of our Attorney General. He refuses to seek special treatment even though he is in a special circumstance (we have only one AG). I think no matter what happens he will be stronger as a statewide office holder. It takes courage to be willing to go when you are a true believer, but it takes honor and duty when you are not.

GOP pray that Beau doesn’t have to go so we don’t have to run against a war record (just kidding).

If he does get activated around the early primaries, I wonder how will that affect the flagging Biden campaign. Will it energize it in New Hampshire and South Carolina? Are the activists in the Democrat party so anti-war that nothing matters?

Oh, well next year I may be blogging from Iraq. I would like Perry and Jason to tell me then that I should believe them not my own eyes.

May God bless America.

2007-08-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

Brookings Liberals tell us surge is working for now.

In Case You Missed It: Perceptions Of Iraq War Are Starting To Shift
From Real Clear Politics
By Michael Barone
Op-EdAugust 6, 2007
PDF Format
It's not often that an opinion article shakes up Washington and changes the way a major issue is viewed. But that happened last week, when The New York Times printed an opinion article by Brookings Institution analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack on the progress of the surge strategy in Iraq. ...
Their bottom line: "There is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008."
That's not what almost all their fellow Democrats in Congress want to hear. Freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda of Kansas, who unseated Republican Jim Ryun last fall, bolted from a hearing room when retired Gen. Jack Keane described positive developments in Iraq. When she came back, she explained: "But let me first just say that the description of Iraq as in some way or another that it's a place that I might take the family for a vacation -- things are going so well -- those kinds of comments will in fact show up in the media and further divide this country, instead of saying, here's the reality of the problem. And people, we have to come together and deal with the reality of this issue." ...
[I]t is also reasonably clear that Boyda's "reality of this issue" -- that our effort in Iraq has definitively and finally failed so clearly that there should be no further discussion -- may no longer be operative. That, instead of accepting defeat and inviting chaos, we may be able to achieve a significant measure of success. ...
Gen. David Petraeus, the author of the Army's new counterinsurgency manual and the commander in Iraq, is scheduled to report on the surge in mid-September. The prospect of an even partially positive report has sent chills up the spines of Democratic leaders in Congress. That, says House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, would be "a real big problem for us."
The Democratic base has been furious that Democrats in Congress haven't pulled the plug on the war already, and Democratic strategists have been anticipating big electoral gains from military defeat. But if the course of the war can change, so can public opinion. A couple of recent polls showed increased support for the decision to go to war and belief that the surge is working. If opinion continues to shift that way, if others come to see things as O'Hanlon and Pollack have, Democrats could find themselves trapped between a base that wants retreat and defeat, and a majority that wants victory.
To View Entire Article, Please Visit: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/08/perceptions_of_iraq_war_are_st.html

Great video
http://www.gop.com/Multimedia/player.swf?var1=1034" />http://www.gop.com/Multimedia/player.swf?var1=1034" width="443" height="264" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" />

2007-07-19T02:33:00.000-04:00

Apologetic no more: a defense of the war for Iraqi Freedom

At work recently, a friend asked me if I still supported Bush’s foolish war. I laughed and said of course, we may as well continue disappointing Bin Laden. Some other people jumped into the conversation and all of the silly moveon.org rhetoric started to dribble. Bush lied and people died. Bush is the largest shareholder of Exxon Mobil and started the war to raise oil prices. No weapons of mass destruction existed. We can’t win. We are wasting American blood and money for no reason. I of course disagree. I make no apology for supporting an honorable war. My fellow soldiers did not die in vain unless the American people defeat themselves.

Did George Bush lie us into war? No, according to the same David Kaye Report that critics love to use to say there were no weapons of mass destruction (which is not a totally true representation). In fact, Iraq did have weapons programs, illegal missiles, parts for a nuclear program, and alliances with terrorists who killed Americans. They launched attacks on our planes hundreds of times while we were covering the no fly zone demanded by the U. N.

Have we forgotten how evil Saddam was? He was the worst tyrant in the history of the Middle East. He was responsible for the deaths of a million of his own people. He took money for these huge palace estates from money dedicated to food and medicine and a half million Iraqi children died. That alone makes this a worthy effort. Remember the ethnic cleansing and systematic murder?

Unfortunately the distortion of the war has reached such a level some Republicans are wavering. It is time to stand up and set the record straight with no apologies for our goals and resolve.

What is the end game?
Iraq is a land which needs rebuilding, security, and reconciliation. I pray they get it. Our soldiers and marines have done yeoman’s work. 80% of the country is relatively secure. They are however undermanned. They can't clear and hold the trouble areas. Now the capital is starting to descend into disorder. It is time to send more troops for 6 months to secure the Baghdad. We need to start training the Iraqis with better equipment and then start leaving.

Our first phase was to give them a new start. We have done that. Now let's start rebuilding so we can have another independent ally in the region.

How do we succeed? Condi Rice was right and Rumsfeld was wrong. We do need to clear, hold, and build.

When Sec. Gates went over to Iraq and spoke with the troops, he received one consistent message...We are undermanned.I am disgusted by the Webb/Biden democrat party opposition to the requests of the troops on the ground for more soldiers. We tried the Iraqify the war approach. Yet the people who campaigned that we need change want to stay the course.We need more American troops to provide order and security for at least 6 months to give these guys a chance to train. You can't train in full battle. We wouldn't train our troops that way (we tried it in WW1 with disastrous results.), and it is wrong to train theirs that way.

Is opposition to the war unpatriotic? No, it is perfectly reasonable to think we should not have started the war or that we have made mistakes and now we have to cut our losses. The key is to support the troops who have no choice, but follow your elected leaders’ decisions.

Are the Democrats offering the best hope for ending the war?
The Dems want either to stay the course in Iraq or cut and run. Bush, Gates, and the troops want to win. We have a new commander who is exercising a strategy consistent with classic military doctrine. It is his request and not some dream President Bush had in the middle of the night. Play politics with the stuff at home not the lives of my brothers and sisters in arms.I love my many Democrat friends, but I am so disgusted with their party. It has less leadership than a Girl Scout troop invited to a gang fight. They run around scared of the world. I think it is because they honestly don't understand the importance of victory. They stay up all night making a spectacle of themselves and can’t say one encouraging word to our troops.

In my father's war (WW2), the country was suffering loss after loss. We saw our allies fall like cornstalks in a hailstorm. We were defeated on our own soil in Peril Harbor. We had a very small army about the size of one division while our rivals could field a million men any where in Europe. We lost the Philippines and had to send a sub to rescue our greatest general. What did we do? We decided to do whatever it took to win.Doolittle did the impossible raid and America took heart. The whole country went to war. Today, we are allowing factories to shut down while there was not enough capacity to armor hummers. We complain about how much the war costs and are allowing equipment to wear out. We suffer some set backs this year and we want to pull out instead of step up to the challenge. We want to claim the badge of patriotism while not respecting the sacrifice of those who died (we need to live the love we feel for this land).

Terrorists believe we are corrupt and decadent, and that with a few hard blows they can force us to retreat. They are mistaken," Bush remarked in a recent interview. Well if we don't, it will be because of his leadership. Just like Lincoln and FDR before Him, he is attempting to rally America to win a very winnable war.We have made some grave errors under Sec. Rumsfeld. We did not restore our Armed Forces to a level sufficient to be the superpower. During a surge of interest after 9/11, Rummy insisted on low military levels. He rejected calls to increase our military to fulfill the two front war. He thought technology could replace numbers. Sounds like a plant manager not a Sec. Def. We did not have enough troops to secure the peace. These and other errors have given the opposition ammunition to paint a fine war effort as a fiasco. Sen. John McCain is right.

There is hope. Victory is not a dream; it is an objective we have to work to obtain. Unfortunately, it will take many more tears and American blood. We are indeed tiring, but we will not falter. We will dig deep and show we what makes Americans special. We have always risen to the call of history.The problem is that the Democrat leaders are predisposed to accept American failure. Lincoln heard the same voices. He determined to win before the next election. President Bush must do the same because the next President will not be able to.

2007-07-15T00:12:00.000-04:00

It's summer. Time for family reunions. We had fun at the Lawerence house last weekend with the (alphabetical) Anderson, Handy, and Lawerence family barbque.

2007-07-14T17:45:00.000-04:00

Exclusive: The Dover mayor's race sparks a legal challenge

It is nothing personal, but the ruling of the city solicitor that the city charter's requirement that sitting councilmen resign to run for mayor does not apply in special elections has now been appealed to the state AG. Former Council Bill Daisey filed the appeal after Councilman Carlton Carey filed for the Mayor's post.

"I have nothing against Mr. Carey", he told me, "but if they want to change the charter they should do so and not try to get around it". Mr. Daisey regards the provision as silly and opposed it on council, but said the majority rules and we should abide by it until we change it.

I was personally affected by a similar restriction when I ran for city council in the special election caused by Mr. Pitts death. I was told the resignation I submitted from the Dover Human Relations Commission was effective retroactive to my filing. This is a very interesting ruling in regard to the mayor's race, but may stand do to the fact that it says May election and does not mention a special election. It is an obvious affront to the intent of the charter provision adopted in 1992, but the technicality may prevail. Time will tell.

2007-07-14T17:43:00.000-04:00

This week Senator Colin Bonini-R who represents Kent County’s 16th district, filed for the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor. This action allows him to build organization and raise money for a likely run. Senator Bonini has been well known over the years as fiscal watchdog. He has voted against every budget in which the spending exceeded inflation and population growth. While he was the lone hold out for years, now his stand is the majority position of the GOP senate caucus and has spread to some house members. He gave an exclusive interview to STOP. (http://stoptaxing.wordpress.com)
“I filed for Lt. Governor because we need a common sense conservative somewhere on the ticket”, he stated. We need to get our message out, and get another taxpayer advocate in statewide office, he continued. Senator Bonini has focused on a message of more freedom and less government intrusion in our lives since entering the state senate in 1995.
Our STOP chairman has called your stand against increased state spending over the years Churchillian, do you think people will respond? I like that analogy, Churchillian because before World War 2 Churchill stood almost alone warning the people of the problems ahead. This state is heading for big trouble if we don’t get our fiscal house in order, he stated. I want to take a message of common sense conservatism all across this state. If you do it in a postive, upbeat way, it will appeal to people who haven’t considered it. If people can find the messenger likeable, they will give him a chance.
Senator Bonini believes he can compliment whomever gets the GOP nomination. I hope I am fortunate enough to get nominated at the convention, he said. We need someone who will build the party for the future.
Senator Bonini entered elected politics in 1994 as the underdog in three way senate primary. He was outspend by multiples but won about half the vote or about as much as his opponents combinded. He went on to win a contentious general election where he was outspent almost 10 to 1 with a positive issue oriented message despite almost daily attacks launched against him. He won his last reelection bid with around 70% of the vote.
For those interested in contributing or getting more information contact:
Bonini for Lt. Governor276 Banning RoadCamden Wyoming, DE 19934

2007-07-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

Apologetic No More: A defense of American Exceptionalism

I love the United States of America. Not just because I happen to live here, but because it is an exceptional jewel in history of human achievement. Many seem to want to deny this truth in the schools and in some media outlets. This is why we must proclaim it without apology. America is the best thing to happen to human government. I would go as far to say one of the best things to happen in the history of humanity.

232 years ago the 14 Bostonians inspired by a black man went to their deaths confronting an empire for violating their rights. A year later 56 courageous representatives risked everything to help build the new nation. From this auspicious beginning came the world’s champion of human dignity.

The American experiment showed the world that we the people can govern ourselves with no king but “King Jesus” as the early revolutionary slogan. America made government the servant not the master.

We showed the world that Justice is not just for the rich and powerful.

We are that light to the world. We are the place that shows all humanity can get along. We have people from virtually every nation here.

We proved that we could overcome our own seeming self interest and stand for human dignity.

People came here creatures of their times, but grew to become the future of humanity.

America is the place where poverty is not a life sentence of desperation. It is the place of free market where free people can change the destiny of humanity.

America freed people to be creative and rewarded ingenuity. We spurred more advances than the last 5000 years combined.

America became the inspiration for universal education. Knowledge and prosperity were no longer locked away for the privileged few.

Before America, the normal condition of humanity was quiet desperation with occasional explosions. Poverty, ignorance, disease, hunger, slavery, and oppression were all most people could ever aspire to know in this life.

The words of our Declaration of Independence have inspired souls in many tongues and every ethnicity. Before America, the powers that be ignored that self evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…. Now no one can ignore it.

No, all we have done with the gift of America is not Divine. Slavery, the trail of tears, the long walk, segregation, abortion, the Japanese internment, and taking prayer and Bible reading out of the schools are some of the failures of our society. We fell on our knees in Jamestown and then brought slaves to their knees 3 weeks later. America has its original sin like humanity, the sin of racism.Yet, to act as if America is somehow a corrupt land and unworthy of admiration because of its sins is to deny that greatness exists in humanity. Every nation of people has had its share of sins. Slavery was not invented by Americans. It was imposed upon us by the colonizers. Slavery has been a condition of humanity for most of recorded history.What makes America unique is that we are the land which promoted the principles of human dignity and equality which have helped blot out this curse in most of the world. The greatness of America is its principles.Some people would say we are hypocritical. I say so what. You have to be willing to live beyond your current actions. Those are the only ones with the courage to change. It is when we recognize higher principles that we become higher beings.That is why God brought the rejects of the world to this land. The stone that was rejected became the head of the corner. America is the place where those thought to be losers came. The debtors, the religious outcasts, the losers in the African wars and refugees from European ones, and the starving in Ireland, China, and elsewhere came to be the winners God intended. America was the place where the chains of class were removed and unprecedented prosperity emerged.In America you could be the master of your own destiny under God. No one told you where to work or live. No one told you how to worship or what to say. America was a land of high principles. It was the city set upon the hill as founder John Witherspoon put it.America was the land where we had “no king but King Jesus”. It was the land of minimal government and maximum freedom. It was that grand experiment or the proposition as Lincoln put it that was "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people".Unfortunately, not everyone has appreciated the exceptional nature of America. Some in power hate or hated it. If we allow the blame America crowd to strip us of our history and principles, the entire world will lose. We have had to defend this experiment with our own blood. Those who critique America on websites, over the airwaves, with a free press, or in public education systems which they get to by comfortable transportation seem to miss the irony that the do so only because of America. The world is a better place for the first week of July in 1776.

Today, let's not just reflect. Let us rededicate our selves to that glorious proposition that it may not perish from the earth.

2007-06-24T15:55:00.000-04:00

Apologetic no more: A defense of Social Conservatism

Those of us who believe in traditional American values are often lampooned, derided, and made out to be relics of an evil past. We are told that we are out to impose our morality on everyone else. We have no respect for liberty. We are religious zealots who need "to keep our rosaries off other people's ovaries" and other such nonsense. We are expected to stay silent when our tax money is used for things which are anathema to us while some working families among us go with out basic needs, children lack health care, and homelessness is a growing problem.

My father spent 50 years in the ministry right up to his passing. He and my mother taught me American exceptionalism, anti-communism, and traditional Christian values. Just as importantly, they taught me never to apologize for what is right. Our values are what is right and they need to be defended. Here is my defense of my 7 pillars of social conservatism. Let the debate begin.

I believe abortion on demand is the bloody slaughter of pre-born children. Therefore, I do not believe that sweeping it aside as an issue is virtuous. The abortion procedure is nothing less than brutal and the abortion pills are nothing more than human pesticide. Now if that is what I really believe, what kind of scum would I have to be to say, "I don't believe in abortion, but it is not my place to say you can't have one". I don't like coffee, but I will get you a cup. I don't like to drink anti-freeze, and I promise I will never give you a cup to drink. Abortion is anti-freeze not coffee. Every abortion stops a beating heart and sacrifices a little piece of the heart of all those involved. I have been friends with post abortive women; most would not wish the aftermath on anyone. Every abortion has three victims, the child, the mother, and the father. America can do better than defend such a travesty.

I believe that the only "gay" marriage is a happy marriage between a man and a women. Marriage is not a social construct that we recently invented to be amended by some guy in a black robe who thinks he is wiser than God. Marriage predated government, business, schools, farming, and other fine institutions. It is the very tool which civilized humanity. We tinker with it not only at our peril, but that of all future generations.

I believe that science should be subject to basic human dignity. Science is one of the greatest tools humanity has ever exploited. Like any powerful tool it can amplify our vices as well as our virtues. Destroying helpless human beings and cloning them for body parts is a objectionable as using atomic weapons as population control. We can not use our superior position in life to make the vulnerable among us some sort of slave race to be used at our whim whether it is the embryo, a disabled person, or a genetically engineered clone.

I believe God should be as much part of the public square as any one else. Ms. Murray-O'Hara gave us a religious apartide in which it became acceptable to talk about any thing in the schools but GOD. It was a censorship of traditional values which has leaked into every sphere of public life and we are paying a very heavy cost with our youth. Despair, substance abuse, domestic abuse, crime, and suicide are a way of life for too many. Families are broken. Lives are shattered. We sowed the wind of secularism and reaped the whirlwind of disenchantment.

I believe that Liberty is not license. Liberty is the freedom to fulfill one's destiny not the right to self destruct. People need to free to achieve and contribute. People need government off their backs and out of their wallets. People don't need teenagers being fed dope. We don't need drunk drivers and children who never know family.

I believe that children should be protected from the worst of humanity. The ACLU would tell us that child porn is somehow covered under freedom of speech. No WAY. The only things enduring about humanity are posterity and tradition. The attack by popular culture on are children and our tradition will destroy this country if not stopped. It is said that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Yet, we are told that endless streams of violence, illicit sex, and disrespect for fellow humans should be celebrated. We do so only if we are fools.

I believe that the dignity of human spirit is the basis for civilized society. We are created in the image of God. This God who gave us life also gave us a hope for our betterment. The God who gave us life gave us liberty. When we operate within the ideal that each person has innate value, we behave better. We don't kill, steal, covet, or bare false witness (pervert the system of justice to get what we want). We love the down trodden, respect the disabled, and reach a hand out to those who are fallen. We see the best of humanity within ourselves. We have a society worthy of cherishing. That is the goal of social conservatism--can anyone debate that?

2007-06-02T23:47:00.000-04:00

Depressing indeed: Hammer calls for troops to come home.
In a moving and touching music video which was obviously from the heart, Bush supporter and rapper Hammer called upon the President to bring the troops home. I love MC Hammer. He is an independent thinker and a voice of reason in the Pop culture. He is one of the early voices of hip hop and a man of God. The fact that he has joined the chorus to bring the troops home is indeed depressing to those of us who support the troops and the mission.

It is my lowest day as a believer in the War. It seems those of us who understand the necessity of defeating this enemy regardless of the cost are a dwindling number. I pray that General P. was not brought on too late because we only have to October 1 to show real progress on this war. Otherwise we may as well cut our losses and supply our side in the coming Iraqi civil war.

Thank God that those of us at our country's call have a commander in chief who does not wavier. He is our Lincoln and like Lincoln he needs to go about to win this war by any means necessary because the next President will not be able to.

http://www.vh1.com

2007-05-28T21:57:00.000-04:00

Before we get to Memorial Day reflections, an update on the HB 4 open government petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/123165418 It is almost to its launch goal of 1000 signatures. Let's put it over the top. An open budget process and controlling taxation go hand in glove. Please sign both the tax petition and the open government petition.

What can one say about today? I visited my daddy's grave today as I have the last 7 Memorial Days. He was a DAV from WW2, and a true patriot. He loved America. He taught me that America was a land of Divine destiny.

No, all we have done with the gift of America is not Divine. Slavery, the trail of tears, the long walk, segregation, abortion, the Japanese internment, and taking prayer and Bible reading out of the schools are some of the failures of our society. We fell on our knees in Jamestown and then brought slaves to their knees 3 weeks later. America has its original sin like humanity,The sin of racism.

Yet, to act as if America is somehow a corrupt land and unworthy of admiration because of its sins is to deny that greatness exists in humanity. Every nation of people has had its share of sins. Slavery was not invented by Americans. It was imposed upon us by the colonizers. Slavery has been a condition of humanity for most of recorded history.

What makes America unique is that we are the land which promoted the principles of human dignity and equality which have helped blot out this curse in most of the world. The greatness of America are its principles.

Some people would say we are hypocritical. I say so what. You have to be willing to live beyond your current actions. Those are the only ones with the courage to change. It is when we recognize higher principles that we become higher beings.

That is why God brought the rejects of the world to this land. The stone that was rejected became the head of the corner. America is the place where those thought to be losers came. The debtors, the religious outcasts, the losers in the African wars, and the starving in Ireland, China, and elsewhere. America was the place where the chains of class were removed and unprecedented prosperity emerged.

In America you could be the master of your own destiny under God. No one told you where to work or live. No one told you how to worship or what to say. America was a land of high principles. It was the city set upon the hill as founder John Witherspoon put it.

America was the land where we had no king but King Jesus. It was the land of minimal government and maximum freedom. It was that grand experiment or the proposition as Lincoln put it, that was "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people".

Unfortunately, not everyone has appreciated the exceptional nature of America. Some in power hate or hated it. We have had to defend this experiment with our own blood. Today, and one the real Memorial day (30 May) let's not just reflect. Let us rededicate our selves to that glorious proposition that it may not perish from the earth.

David

2007-05-25T03:25:00.000-04:00

Bloggers uniting to save the Delaware taxpayers from Minner! Stoptaxing, Firststatepolitics, digital federalist, dovercitizen and others are joining in a stop the tax petition drive.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/950061677

For more information visit the brother blog http://stoptaxing.wordpress.com . This may be our last chance to stop the largest state tax increase in 30 years.

2007-05-19T19:43:00.000-04:00

Levin vs. Protack
Could there be two primaries? Should the Republican party push the former Roth aid and businessman into the Governor's race. Mr. Protack who was fresh off a strong primary showing is still disdained by the party establishment. Protack is a good man with fresh ideas. He has become a serious candidate as opposed to the well meaning gadfly of the past. This party needs to sit down and find a place for him. He is a key to the party's future. His 50 ideas may triumph over the establishment. The man may have found the pulse of the public.

Mr. Levin does have a serious policy mind and an enviable business record. He is grew Happy Harry's from 17 stores and 250 employees to a regional player with 2600 employees. He has created jobs and served the public with a quality business operation. He could be the type of person we need, but do we know were he stands? His issues may or may not connect. B Gary Scott's shellacking showed that issues matter more than money and consultants. Mr. Levin has time to develop some cutting edge positions. I am anxious to see if he is the leader in the public policy forum he was in business. If he is, he may be the next governor.

The Democrats are desperately trying to avoid a primary. They want to push aside their best candidate (Markel) for the hand picked successor (Carney). One has to wonder if we have not suffered enough from that syndrome. This failed administration has wasted our money so much that we are 4th in per person spending yet we can't build schools and roads. 1800 people are homeless on a given night. We don't want to prevent mortgage foreclosures with a revolving loan fund. We want to impose a massive commuter tax hike(gas tax, toll hikes, and DMV fees) on working families. Livable Delaware has done anything but make Delaware livable. Only 35% of the population can afford a new median price home. Our prisons suffered a management crisis. Del Dot is broke because of mismanagement. St. Francis hospital is in financial jeopardy because of a broke medicaid reimbursement formula. We talk about holding kids accountable by testing for graduation in the tenth grade, not the twelfth. In other words, we want them to be accountable before we teach them. It took over 6 years to get a good State Police Superintendent, Sec. of Transportation, and Prison Commissioner. The News Journal was right in 1996 when they predicted that Minner would be incompetent. If we do not change course, we will undo the good done by DuPont, Castle, and Carper. We and our kids will be the ones to suffer.

Let's encourage all of the potential candidates to get out and listen to the people. Let's encourage all of them to present their solutions. Then let's forget about our past prejudices and judge with an open mind. May the best person win.

2007-05-03T23:00:00.001-04:00

Governor Mike Huckabee and Rep. Tom Tancredo may have launched the most significant shift in the tax debate. Stop tinkering and abolish the IRS. Replace the current broken tax code with the FAIR tax. John McCain wants a flater, fairer tax but won’t say what it is. Rep. Ron Paul wants to eliminate the income tax and restore Constitutional government. Rep. Duncan Hunter leaned toward tax reform.
Governor Gilmore just talked about the VA flat tax. Governor Romney wanted to eliminate the AMT (alternative minimum tax). Gov. Giulianii wanted to abolish the death tax and keep the level of the Bush cuts.
On Abortion and Life issues, Gilmore and especially Giuliani were out of step with the party’s position protecting life from conception through natural death.
On immigration there is a definite divide. Hunter and Tancredo are hardliners. McCain, Brownbeck not so much. The other candidates seem to take positions in between.
The war is supported by all but Rep. Ron Paul though most seem to think mistakes were made with Senator McCain saying the clearest it was mismanaged and Sen. Brownbeck being the only one to outline a new course–the 3 state federal solution.
Go to http://www.politics.msnbc.com

2007-05-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Is it time to bury the N word?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18390539/?GT1=9951 The NAACP buried Jim Crow 63 years ago in a symbolic funeral. In 2o years against all odds, we had comprehensive civil rights laws. Now they wish to do the same to the "n" word. This word is a holdover from slavery. It was a deeply pejorative word. We were not even considered worthy of being referred to as Negros. It was usually accompanied with worthless, dirty, lazy, dumb or some other degrading term. Our words are a reflection of our reality.

Even though the barriers of Jim Crow are gone, the damage done to our (black) community lingers. Words like nigger are a Jim Crow of the mind. They are becoming a self identifying, self imprisoning Jim Crow. The worst part is we pay money for the privilege in music and entertainment.

I hope in the next 20 years, we will see the end to the "n" word except in history. Way to go NAACP, may this effort be successful.

2007-04-23T20:10:00.000-04:00

War funding is the big issue in Washington. The Democrat Party is in full retreat. Not politically, no they are launching their biggest assault yet against the big enemy of all left thinking Americans (George Bush). Militarily, they are in full retreat. The latest compromise between Democrats (Republicans need not participate) is an flabbergasting abdication of leadership. Moveon.org is now in charge of the Congress. General Petraeus' plan has not even been fully implemented, yet the Congress is ready to undercut the expert they demanded and approved without one negative vote. This is no way to win a baseball game, let alone a war. You demand a new manager and 10 games in you decide to give up and trade away every starter. We would wonder about that owner or GM's sanity. Yet the left has us believe Bush is the problem.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267802,00.html

The so called war funding bill would cut off funding by April of next year except for training and fighting Al qeada if certain benchmarks are not met. Sounds good. If those Iraqi's don't get their act together, we are out of there. We are tired of spending our blood and treasury when they won't even try to sit down and work it out. How can we referee a civil war?

I will state something unpopular. The surge is working. The Democrats and Moveon.org so hate President Bush that they are unable to see any progress. One bad day and they pounce on it to leave. I imagine that is why Winston Churchill was so despised by the liberals of Great Britain. Like Bush he called upon our rugged determination. Churchill said, I can promise you nothing but blood, sweat, and tears. Bush said, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. The Democrat mantra is no sacrifice is worth it and no victory is attainable. All is lost so why try?

I have heard that so many times. Doctors told us that my father was likely dead by morning. We prayed all night and he lived another 17 1/2 years. I am told that I have to jetison my deeply held beliefs on abortion and American security to be successful politically, I say why not just lose my soul--there no success if you don't accomplish something. I heard that I could not make the military at 33. I was told we would never get any pro-family legislation in Delaware; it happened. Excuse me for not accepting the defeatism of Ried and Pelosi. I hate defeatism. American can not afford the misleadership of the Democrats at this time. We are in a fight for civilization. The Europeans are failing and the Democrats are joining them.

Terrorists believe we are corrupt and decadent, and that with a few hard blows they can force us to retreat. They are mistaken," Bush remarked in a recent interview. Well if we don't, it will be because of his leadership. Just like Lincoln and FDR before Him, he is attempting to rally America to win a very winnable war.

We have made some grave errors under Sec. Rumsfeld. We did not restore our Armed Forces to a level sufficient to be the superpower. During a surge of interest after 9/11, Rummy insisted on a low military levels. He rejected calls to increase our military to fulfill the two front war. He thought technology could replace numbers. Sounds like a plant manager not a Sec. Def. We did not have enough troops to secure the peace. These and other errors have given the opposition ammunition to paint a fine war effort as a fiasco. Sen. John McCain is right. There is hope. Victory is not a dream; it is an objective we have to work to obtain. Unfortunately, it will take many more tears and American blood. We are indeed tiring, but we will not falter. We will dig deep and show we what makes Americans special. We have always risen to the call of history.

The problem is that the Democrat leaders are predisposed to accept American failure. Lincoln heard the same voices. He determined to win before the next election. President Bush must do the same because the next President will not be able to.

2007-04-18T15:18:00.000-04:00

Gruesome Partial Birth Abortion Procedure is officially a crime.

We have taken a baby step back from our national insanity. The next step should be an effort to end all late term abortions.

In this afternoon's Wall Street Journal Electronic Report the following appeared:
THE AFTERNOON REPORT (IN FULL)An Abortion MilepostBy TIM ANNETTHanding a major victory to abortion opponents, a divided Supreme Court ruledthat a nationwide ban on so-called partial-birth abortions doesn't violate the constitutional rights of women.Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the court's majority opinion that opponents of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases." The 5-4 ruling broke neatly along the court's ideological faultlines, as President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, joined Justices Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The ruling was the first time thatthe high court had upheld a ban on a specific abortion procedure. Other abortionbattles before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Roe v. Wade case, havecentered on the question of whether, not how, a woman should have the right to terminate a pregnancy. Three federal appeals courts struck down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, finding that it violated a 5-4 Supreme Court opinion in 2000 that invalidated a similar Nebraska law because it made no exception to preserve a woman's health. The ban was signed by President Bush after two previous bills passed by a Republican-controlled Congress were vetoed by President Clinton.Government lawyers had argued that the federal ban had avoided the flaws of the Nebraska law by officially finding that the procedure, which involves removing the fetus intact, was never medically necessary and by defining the procedure itself in a precise fashion. Solicitor General Paul Clement maintained that the2003 law renders a clear distinction between legal abortions, where the fetal demise is induced in the uterus, and those where the procedure takes place "when the living fetus is over halfway outside of the womb." He argued that since safer alternatives were in place, the ban wouldn't deter abortion, merely end what opponents call a grisly practice. But advocates say the procedure is sometimes the safest for a woman seeking to end a pregnancy and that upholding the ban would effectively threaten most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.Of the more than one million abortions that are performed in the U.S. each year,more than nine in 10 take place in the first 12 weeks.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing in dissent, called the decision "alarming"and said that it "refuses to take ... seriously" previous Supreme Court decisions on the abortion issue. She wrote that the decision "tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists." Before the ruling, proponents on both sides of the issue appeared to agree that even though the procedure accounts for only a small proportion of abortions, it may lead to broader curbs. But voters have recently rebuffed other measures to limit abortion. Arguments in the case last November took place just days after voters in three states rejected ballot measures to restrict abortions. Voters in California and Oregon rejected measures requiring parental notification before pregnant minors could obtain abortions, while South Dakotans repealed a law that banned all abortions except when the woman's life is in jeopardy.

2007-04-15T23:40:00.000-04:00

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson--a real sports hero.

60 years ago Baseball season opened a new season in life of minorities in America. A military veteran named Jackie R. Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. He became the first Black man (African American in today's parlance) to play in the Major leagues. He broke down the apartide of professional sports. Mr. Robinson was someone who refused to sit in the back of a Texas bus when he was a warrior for this country in 1944 and he refused to take a back seat to those who persecuted him in 1947.

For just doing his job he was ridiculed, spiked purposefully, hit with baseballs, and had beer bottles thrown at him. He was cursed and threatened. Yet he did his job anyway. He represented us well just like Jesse Owens in the 1933 Olympics. He made America's past time open for all Americans at the professional level. He drove a spike in the icy heart of the doctrine of separate but equal--No more separate leagues--just a merit based system of excellence.

His self control and professionalism inspired a nation whether those looking on were black and white. His character made him a hero. His athletic abilities made him a star. He proved the former mattered more.

2007-04-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

The Unspoken Threat to Human Dignity is Cloning combined with Genetic engineering.

The greatest threat to human dignity since slavery is designer people. People who are patentable property. There was a ruling which allows Human DNA alterations to be patentable. We could see in the near future humans being altered to produce multiple organs and then killed before it reaches term. This is allowed in SB 5. We heard testimony during the SB 5 debate that we are on the verge of combining human and rat DNA. That is considered an advance! Forbid it, Almighty God! We are experimenting with humans and mice, humans and pigs, and whatever else comes to the fertile mind of our Brave New World purveyors. This must be stopped.

We are opening the door to diseases currently unknown. Just as disturbing, we are inviting the dehumanizing of innocent people. We already see unprovoked attacks on the homeless. What would we think amount rat and pig modified people? Would we understand that these people are victims of our insanity and should not be vilified? Would we attempt to deprive these people of legal personhood and constitutional rights? If we do so, we would also dehumanize ourselves.

I am not against gene therapy or cloning organs. I am not against ethical stem cell research (which is the only type which currently works). I am staunchly opposed to turning the keys of the very code of humanity to those who care only about today's dollar and nothing about tomorrow's posterity.I am disgusted that no ones seems to be listening to the testimony. Too few care about protecting human dignity. Senators Charlie Copland, John Still, and Colin Bonini on the Republican side get it. Senators McBride and Bunting on the Democrat side get it. Unfortunately, we need to educate some of the fine people who don't. I think they just don't understand the future they are voting to create.

I am not surprised at the state senate vote in support of so called therapeutic cloning. Just dismayed at the dullness of attention by some of our leaders so let me us a sledgehammer.How can you consider apologizing for slavery discontinued a hundred and forty years ago (which is good) and open the door to the slavery of the 21st century with another vote. Don't you have one bit of the common sense God gave you left?

What do you think will eventually happen if you institutionalize into the law the debasement of humanity? Allowing these cloning techniques would allow these hapless embryos to be created and developed here and then shipped elsewhere to be implanted or incubated. Have you not read the bill you support? You good folks are being sold a bill of goods with no goods in the shipping box.

What is the answer? Support House bill 76. It is a bipartisan bill which guards the freedom and dignity of the human spirit. It does not affect stem cell research. It does prevent three major problems. It prohibits human cloning. It prohibits human/non-human hybrids. It prohibits the sale, donation, or transfer of a cloned human embryo, human/animal chimeric embryo or a human/human chimeric embryo.

Let me ask you. Which version of the future do you support? If you support my view that safe guarding the freedom and dignity of the human spirit must be the top priority of society, then don't shake your head and say what is the world coming too.

Stand up and be counted. Here are the sponsors of House bill 76--the cloning ban: Prime sponsors are Rep. Miro & Sen. McBride & Sen. Copeland ; Co sponsors are Reps. Spence, Lee, Atkins, Blakey, Booth, Carey, Ewing, Hocker, Lavelle, Lofink, Outten, Short, Thornburg, Brady; Sens. Bunting, Bonini, Cloutier, Simpson, Still. Is your senator or representative a sponsor? If not call or email them (go to delaware.gov or call (302) 739-4114 to get contact information). You can even find out who your legislator is through your county department of elections New Castle County: (302) 577-3464Kent County: (302) 739-4498Sussex County: (302) 856-5367.

The future of humanity is in your hands. No excuses are acceptable. Act today. The future will come, but we can shape it.

David Anderson

2007-04-08T21:23:00.000-04:00

The Death of American Compassion

Yet another case of a group of teens beating a homeless person is in the news. These people are being targeted just because they seem to be a good target. If they die, who will miss them, and who will care? It is time we stand up and say I care. Every human being has dignity. We did not give it. It came from God. Mankind's body is from the earth, but his spirit is from God. We are created in His image and none of us has the right to an unprovoked disregard of another's rights.

We all have the right to be secure in our persons, property, and papers according to the constitution. Not just those of us who make 6 or 7 figures. A person may have more influence because of wealth, but wealth can not buy you one shred of dignity.

I am sadden by the lack of commendation of these acts and the underground videos which show abuse of the homeless. I for one will condemn them. Let us move toward a society of compassion. I want us to forget about a person's social status and treat people like children of God. I consider it as much of a privilege to invite a homeless person over for dinner as having dinner with Senator x. That is what the scripture tells me to do.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Apr08/0,4670,PreyingontheHomeless,00.html

2007-04-02T23:46:00.000-04:00

2007-03-27T04:29:00.001-04:00

I support the Academy of Dover’s charter renewal. Unlike the ridiculous sound off in Monday’s paper, which blamed the school for 4 children in special education, my children have done well. Of course my wife and I always educate our children from their earliest days, but they have been enhanced at the AOD.

My daughter had to have alternative schooling arrangements this year and tested 1 to 2 grade levels higher than her age. The point is that she was not harmed. Many other children have also done well. The proof is in the objective evaluations of the accrediting authority. Unlike those with a political vendetta, the out of state professionals made it one of the few charter schools in the state to be honored with accreditation.

Every parent knows where there children start and finish the school year because the school tests each child using the Iowa standardized tests (recognized as a national standard). The purpose is to see if the child is making progress during the school year. The teachers are held accountable for the aggregate advancement of the class. This accountability led to the replacement of a few teachers and much of the political vendetta and smearing of the school. Merit pay and teacher accountability are feared by the education establishment and quite frankly some will do and say anything to stop it.

Another problem with the school is that it is getting positive results. Let me repeat. A big problem with the school is that it is getting results with minority children. This school has eliminated the achievement gap in state testing with minority children. The school has one of the highest free lunch rates in the state, but it is well disciplined and meeting the same testing standards as the regular public school. (No, that is not the whole of the schools population, but it should be proud that well over 40% participate and it has no bearing on the quality of the students.) This is an embarrassment to educational establishment because it begs a question, what are they doing wrong?

Another problem is family involvement. Problem, yes well you see the problem with education is the detached parent the establishment tells us. Parents don’t care. At AOD parents are regarded as more than a fundraiser; they are partners. The result is they are involved. You think the school gets credit for

This little school should be featured as a success story. It implements many of the reforms the establishment says it wants. It has technology in the classrooms (with an amazing low computer /student ratio), it has award winning enrichment activities, it has a low student to teacher ratio, it has an extended school day and year, and it has very few (if any) serious discipline problems. Students go to school without fear the bully.

Did some management problems exist? Yes. Those have been resolved. The state of Delaware has many complex and arcane accounting procedures which are burdensome and counterproductive. It has caused problems even in the school districts which have full time people trained to deal with the Delaware system. The out of state management firm originally used by the school was good, but they never got Delaware’s system. Money would go to wrong accounts and bills would be late. One incident gave the appearance at one point that the school was missing money, but it turned out not to be. The problem is once that hits the papers images of a past charter school (and should I say a couple of school districts) come back to the public’s memory. That was not the presses fault; it is just the way it is. These problems have actually allowed the school to become stronger by assembling what I believe is now the most qualified board in the state. I would compare the knowledge and experience of this board to any school district.

Contrary to some analysis you may have read, the school is solvent. Once the rumors of closure are behind the school enrollment recruitment will start again. The biggest obstacle to enrollment is not the quality of the school, but uncertainty. I call upon the state board to ignore the politics and give the community choice in education. The school will rise and fall by its service to the children. Let that be the standard not how politically correct the school is.

David Anderson

Knights of Prosperity -- Movie Trailer

2007-03-22T14:09:00.001-04:00

My daughter Rebecca appears in this trailer. I am hoping this airs. She appears in the Knights of Prosperity episode.

2007-03-13T09:45:00.000-04:00

TECHNOLOGY ALERT from The Wall Street Journal.March 13, 2007

Viacom sued Google and its YouTube unit, claiming the popular video-sharing siteengages in "massive intentional copyright infringement." The suit seeks morethan $1 billion in damages, as well as an injunction. Viacom claims there arenearly 160,000 unauthorized Viacom clips on YouTube and said settlement talkswith Google have been "unproductive." FOR MORE INFORMATION, see:http://online.wsj.com/technology?mod=djemalert

2007-03-13T09:33:00.000-04:00

Time to ban Human Cloning.

We are trying to make as big an impression as possible tomorrow (MARCH 13). Put on your finest and come out to Leg Hall in Dover for our 1:30 press conference. Our good friend, Joe Miro, would like to have 100 people behind him when we announce Delaware's first true ban on cloning.

We need as many people as possible to come tomorrow. If you are coming, invite some friends to ride with you.

There will be a short prayer service led by Rev. Kenny Foster, a pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Dover, following the press conference at the same location.

Bishop Saltarelli will offer Mass at 5 at Holy Cross in Dover.

Thank you.

Ellen Barrosse

2007-03-09T18:22:00.000-05:00

A big victory for the right of self defense
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117346917183732456.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

6 inner city citizens sick of being sitting ducks to the gang bangers stood up for their rights with the help of the NRA. They won a big victory for common sense and self defense. The DC circuit court of appeals ruled the right to bare arms is an individual right and the D. C. gun laws are unconstitutional.

Join the NRA like I have. It is the black thing to do.

2007-03-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

We can make changes. Here is something from my recent activities in January I started a process. Here is a page of minutes from the Dover Human Relations Commission. We are currently getting a united front of community organizations formed so we can do a need assessment and get the resources needed to meet those needs.
For other community reactions click. http://www.newszapforums.com/forum4/24523.html

Comments from Members of Community: Commissioner Hoff allowed three minutes time for members of the public to state their interest or concern.

Commissioner Hoff received a letter from David Anderson addressed to the Commission requesting the opportunity to come forward to address the Commission on the issue of homelessness in Kent County.

David Anderson addressed the Commission by thanking the Commission for making the community a better place. Mr. Anderson’s proposal is to aid in betterment of the community. He stated the problem in particular is that Kent County has a problem with transitional housing. At the County level it is suggested: 1) get people together, 2) to assess the need, 3) and to find out what programs are going on. With some good going on, Kent County is experiencing severe cutbacks. A program that addresses the need for help paying utility bills is needed. He portrayed an example that if an individual is earning $7-$8 an hour and is faced with a layoff or divorce or illness, their life becomes in danger. Money for grants is needed for transitioning, i.e., help with an electric bill when keeping their housing is in danger. Mr. Anderson talks to people and everything seems to be on a dollar symbol. The Commission could serve as a point to gather people and compile an assessment to DHRC Mtg. MinutesJanuary 31, 2007Page 2 improve the standard of living. He requested that the Commission highlight the problem. Mr. Anderson composed a “Letter to the Editor” putting the issues of homelessness on the radar screen, and there was an outpouring of public response from about 100 individuals. Mr. Anderson further states that when people are alerted, they are interested. So far homelessness has been a silent issue. He feels that someone needs to take leadership and bring awareness and find a solution. He wants to define the problem and present the problem to the Joint Finance Committee. Furthermore, Mr. Anderson states that shelters are being lost and that homelessness is on the street, leading to the deterioration of the city. In conclusion, he feels that homelessness is the core of it. Commission Chair Hoff thanked David Anderson for his input.

Further public comment included: Speaker #1: He stated that he is a 46 year old recovering addict and a graduate of the House of Pride. He is presently working. Before he entered the House of Pride, he felt like leaving this world. He was raised by his mother with his father being absent from the home. He had become homeless. People were turning their back to him. He asked the state for help. He entered the House of Pride where he gained spirituality, set goals and learned how to live again. He stated that the House of Pride is a non-profit entity and asked for anyway possible to lend a hand. All he had known were the streets. He has attended the Mt. Zion church where Commissioner Johnson presides. The speaker noted that he doesn’t want to give up and that now he can live and leave the past being. He has led a rough life that included drink, drugs, stealing and that now he has turned his life around with no help except for the House of Pride. He is holding on and that’s all he has left.

Speaker #2: He stated that little resources are available and that state government needs to intercede with in-patient programs for substance abuse and asked that grants from the state be made available. He feels that with in-treatment there would be less crime. He states that “Gateway” in Delaware City has a two month wait. He lives on the streets and has to call Gateway every morning for help. He further reiterated a need for inpatient drug abuse treatment programs. He has been a heroin addict for 10 years and has seen problems like this in other states such as Maryland. In his opinion, Maryland has a good network but 90% of the crimes there are from drugs. He stated that only two facilities are available to him, the House of Pride and Gateway. He is requesting intervention for people who want and need help and said it is very hard to get into programs. He feels that the state should look into inpatient clinics for Delaware to be located in Sussex County, Wilmington and Dover. Commission Chair Hoff thanked the speaker for coming forward.

Speaker #3: He had come out of Baltimore City with a drug habit. He turned his life around at the House of Pride. He is learning to help deal with people that are homeless. He added there is no space available. When the facility is filled to capacity it is hurtful to turn people away. The homeless population needs help when there is nowhere to go. They need help to get space to help get people off the street. The House of Pride is volunteer run. Help is needed for the facility to run. There is no facility for women. The House of Pride only accepts men. There is only so much he feels can be done.

Speaker #4: He lives at the House of Pride. He is a college grad having attended grad school and earned his doctorate. He is doing very well. He was struck with dystrophy and has become depressed and despondent. He also is bi-polar. His life took a nose dive. A drug problem caused a loss of everything. He stated that homeless people are not bad people. For one reason or another they have lost everything. He states that it is easy to fall to the bottom of the social strata. It is difficult to pull out of this. Drug or alcohol or gambling or a run of bad luck or bad choices and one may be stuck on the bottom for the rest of their life. Personally he has been in the House of Pride program for one year and is facing many obstacles to see his way out.

2007-03-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

Andersonian Principles

On God

1. God is the God of purpose, order, love, faith, hope, righteousness, and justice.
2. God is a good God. (Oral Roberts)
3. God does not care about fairness. Fairness is man’s substitute for God’s justice. (Steve Phillips)
4. God is patient.
5. God’s love is characterized by its redemptive nature.

On people
1. Friendship is the elixir of life.
2. Love and loyalty are the twin pillars of great human relationships.
3. Don’t judge people by their worst moments.
4. Every person is both a hero and a zero so feed the hero.
5. Expect the best from people; they might live up to it.

On Bureaucracy
1 The most important point of filling out a form is filling out the form in good faith.
2. It is better to fill out a form wrong than not fill it out.
3. Bureaucracies reward promptness more than competence.
4. The fuel of a bureaucracy is paperwork. It is the basis for evaluation, decisions, and actions.

On economics

1. All life is economics or politics.
2. Economics is the science of human choice.
3. The invisible hand of the markets is superior to the visible hand of bureaucracy.
4. We make choices because we can’t have everything.
5. The principle of scarcity is God’s way of limiting our depravity.

On Business

1. The purpose of business is business (Milton Friedman).
2. Profit is profitable to society.
3. Any proper business is a service to society.
4. A business is part of the community and should act like it.

On Politics

1. Politics is the art of human influence between people.
2. All organizational relationships are political.
3. In politics, you have your word, your friends, and your principles. Don’t go back on any of them.
4. It is better to take a side than be left alone.
5. The only one who drives in the middle of the road all the time is a drunk.

2007-03-09T00:42:00.000-05:00

A big cheer for International Women's Day is in order. I have often said America's original sin is racism. It is a scab blighting the otherwise beautiful American body of dignity for all. I would also add that world wide we are impoverishing ourselves by handicapping the human race by undermining the contributions of women. No wonder we cannot solve the great problems facing the human race. We are fighting with not only one hand tied behind our back, but one leg, one eye, one ear, and half our brain. Men have nothing to fear from women advancing in the world. We can benefit greatly.

The Scripture says two are better than one and a three fold cord is not easily broken. I will call therefore for men and women to join God's plan for humanity, and the three fold alliance will triumph.

I would expect this not to be one of my more controversial posts. In concept most people would agree with me. My wish is that I would see it put into action more. Men, how do you treat the women around you? Do you honor your wife, your mother, your female friends or female co-workers as equals?

I hope you are not on the wrong side of our societal hangups. Do you dismiss their ideas? Think they are more interesting as pictures because you don't have to actually hear them yap their nonsense--just enjoy look at their bodies?

Women are different from men in some ways (not just the obvious). Not greatly different, but enough to give us a synergy if we work together. That slight difference in perspective can give us a more complete picture. Women need to understand that men are invaluable as well. If we move beyond stereotypes and into unity, there is much we will achieve. Not the least of which is a happier personal life.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTERNATIONAL_WOMENS_DAY?SITE=DEWIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

2007-03-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

How will we get our power? The answer will have a tremendous impact for 25 years. Tonight’s PSC (Thursday’s) hearing is 7 p.m., Carvel State Office Building auditorium, 820 French St.
The best way to be informed is to show up.

On a related matter, my family is now taking advantage of the city's recycling program. There is no separation of recyclables except for glass. All others go together. It has no cost and is as simple as calling 736-7035.

2007-03-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

Lies, Damned Lies, and Documentaries.

If Mark Twain were around today, I think he would amend his famous quip. From an Inconvenient Truth to anything by Michael Moore we are being subjected to hype and farcial evidence on a continuing basis to promote agendas. The half truth and emotion hype have replaced scholarship and logic. Now here is the granddaddy of them all--The Lost Tomb of Jesus. It is billed as the documentary which can change everything and if it were true it would. It is not. Most scholars came to the conclusion decades ago that this was not the Biblical Jesus.

Dr. Habermas just decimated this so called The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary on his blog. I copied a few paragraphs to give you a taste of his work, but you need to follow the link.
http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/The_Lost_Tomb_of_Jesus/losttombofjesus_response.htm
"One of the leading Jewish archaeologists who worked on the burial site, Amos Kloner, did not link the tomb to Jesus at all and has declared firmly that this recent effort is totally off-base for a number of reasons. Virtually no other critical scholars have evaluated the evidence positively, while many have criticized the conclusions. Why is this the case? What are some of these scholarly reasons?
Why are the majority of scholars, both conservative and non-conservative, responding so negatively to the Jesus tomb hypothesis? For one thing, the generic names "Mary," "Joseph," and "Jesus" are among the four most popular names in the ancient Jewish world. For example, studies have shown that "Mary," or a derivative of that name, may have been used by one-quarter of Jewish women at his time! If we multiply this frequency of usage over the more than 100-year period of ossuary use (Ossuaries are "bone boxes" used to re-house the bones of the deceased.), there would be many, many people with these names and family connections. In addition, "Joseph" is only found in the tomb as a nickname, "Jose." And some scholars have said that the name "Jesus" in the inscription is unclear, and may actually be a different name. This alone would obviously change everything.
Of course, since these names were so common in that society, many individuals would be the son or daughter of others by these same names. For example, Richard Bauckham, perhaps the major scholarly source on this topic, has said that the name "Joseph" is written on 45 burial ossuaries and the name "Jesus" is found on 22 ossuaries. Even "Jesus son of Joseph" has occurred on ossuaries at least 3 or 4 times.
So how rare can a small group of burial boxes with biblical names be? And this is only one major problem among many (see the list above). These are some of the major concerns that critical scholars have had. Although we are only at an early point in the research, the consensus so far has been that this tomb is not Jesus' burial site."

Here is a link to find out about two documentaries which stand up to peer review standards on the subject of the Resurrection of Our Lord. http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/177722359.html

Want more?

Ten Reasons Why The Jesus Tomb Claim is Bogus
Leading Scholars Say Discovery Channel 'Documentary' Makes for Good TV, Bad History and Bad Science

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/457272336.html

2007-03-02T10:40:00.000-05:00

Illegal immigration the new slave trade? You look at people being forced into sex for housing. People being smuggled in trucks. Big business would rather hire cheap labor with no references than Americans looking for work. Maybe we should approach this as a civil rights issue.

Generations ago, my ancestors were brought over to Americans wouldn't do. What eventually broke slavery was the fact the working class realized slavery was devaluing labor and depressing wages. The Free Soil and Liberty parties were absorbed into the new GOP.

We need more immigration, but our current illegal problem is creating an underground of second class people who are being exploited. Opposing this is the pro-civil rights position.

2007-03-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

Toward a pro-growth environmental policy

We can deal with these issues without a sense of panic. If we panic, we do things which create other problems which may be worse than the original. Poverty is the real crisis in the world and environmentalist solutions will create more of it. It is nice for the rich Europeans and Americans to worry about such things while people suffer in the 10/40 window from their policies. Environmentalism is the new colonialism. It does not have to be that way.

A sound sustainable ecology benefits all of us. We can have a clean ecology and a growing economy with protections for property rights.

Here are my top ten economically sound environmental solutions.
10. More Nuclear power -- clean air and cheap power (no net CO2 either)--put the waste back in secure locations in the ground like the site in Nevada.

9. Make it a national energy priority to find the better battery. The biggest problem with solar, hydro, and wind power is that we can not store huge amount of electricity for long.

8. Zealously guard our water supply. Give foreign aid credits to poorer countries which must be redeemed for clean water programs. It would save more lives and increase productivity more than anything.

7. Tie a portion of Farm Aid to sound environmental practices such as run off prevention.

6.Give Investment tax credits for green R & D programs and exempt them from AMT.

5.Include a basic environmental protocol in any trade agreement, for replenishing trees, clean water infrastructure, scrubbers.

4.Biofuels--mandate all new cares to be duel burning and give tax credits if for factories retooled in America --regardless of manufacturer.

3.The next generation of infrastructure should include more mass transit. We subsidize roads why not tracks.

2. Encourage Energy Smart homes with interest rate credits.

1. Push develop of clean trash to steam. Slow down the landfill crisis and generate cheap energy.

Have we found a sensible middle ground here?

2007-03-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

There are Lies, Damn Lies, and Blasphemy.

At least the DaVinci Code hid behind the label of fiction. Titanic film maker James Cameron is attempting to pawn his trash piece as fact. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/305771_tv02.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595232,00.html

There are so many obvious problems with his theory. The DNA evidence he claims does not hint that the body belongs to Jesus our Lord, but that the husband and wife found likely had the son buried there. If Jesus merely retired and had a family, the apostles would have been laughed out to the temple as kooks. The Sanhedrin would have merely said go to the suburb of Jerusalem and ask him what he thinks. The translations he claims are not agreed to by most scholars which is why this was not considered an important find in 1980. There is more to discuss and this will be continued after the broadcast Sunday.

2007-03-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

News from the Sudan from Dr. Frist

My trip to Darfur is on my mind. The humanitarian situation there remains on the brink of crisis.
I am including links for two of my blog posts related to my trip into Darfur and a link to some video as well. See below.
Looking back, America was late in responding to Rwanda's call for help, the UN was late and close to an estimated 800,000 Rwandans died. Two hundred thousand have already died in Darfur. No more should die. Let’s mobilize to end it.
I encourage you to comment on my blog and let me me know what you think.
My blog post "In Sudan" provides background information on my trip. To view this blog post, please click here.
My blog post "Humanitarian Situation On Brink Of Crisis," discusses a deadly new trend in Sudan. To view this blog post, please click here.To view a video clip from my trip to Darfur, please click here. More to follow in the days ahead... Bill Frist, M.D.

2007-02-28T01:15:00.000-05:00

There is hope for reclaiming our cities. I found a good book by Jane Jacobs entitled The Death and Life of Great American Cities which gives part of the answer. I encourage you to go on Amazon and purchase it.

The cities would naturally attract certain economies. They have infrastructure, population, and easy access to a wide variety of resources. The Rudy years of New York and the Reclamation of Atlanta show it is possible to begin a turn around without even getting to some of the root cultural causes. These natural advantages are being destroyed by misguided city planning, high taxes, poor security, and a culture of despair.

The first step is to restore common sense to a community. We need to support our authority structure. We have to enforce quality of life rules. For that approach to work, we have to admit the authority structure undermined its own legitimacy. Of course we recognize Bull Conner and his ilk as undermining it, but we also have to come to grip with the fact that if Sen. Obama, Speaker Gingrich, and Vice president Gore had to cope with the same drug laws that we have today, we would have been deprived of our most popular leaders. The drug laws are not set up fairly, they do not target drugs based upon their danger to others, but based upon a political apartide which adversely affects minorities. People should not have their futures ruined because they went through a period of despair in their lives. As people are being disenfranchised by the millions from mainstream society (jobs, voting, educational opportunities), they become segregated from the institutions which in the past reclaimed them. We create an underclass which is resentful of all the institutions of authority that make up society family, police, government, schools, etc. We can’t just turn loose the drug lords in our cities. We need to dry up their market. The faith based initiative fought by numskull Dems in Congress needs to be passed immediately. We need to stop mandatory minimums for non drug king pins and repeal felony laws on drug abuse for users except for those few drugs proven to spark violent behavior. We need to use misdemeanor laws as a tool to encourage treatment. Those who do not respond should be placed in work camps and not traditional prisons. Those work camps could teach new skills, offer education and treatment, and give a sense of accomplishment and worth. The dealers are a different story. They should be harassed OUT OF BUSINESS.

The second step is to work with the free market and not against it. The entire template of city planning taught in our colleges is wrong. The places with the least planning--like Houston are doing the best. Suburbia did not have the same planning until recent decades (it prospered) and now we are seeing decaying cores in much of it. So people are moving to exurbia and rural counties to escape the problems. The solution is complex and will take its own essay to get started.

The third step is to make security the first priority in our cities. Basic economics says that people trade to get what makes them happy. You trade your time to get money to buy a house because you are happier watching digital TV in a climate controlled house than sitting outside in nature. Money does not matter as much as perceived happiness. If I think I will be killed in a year running a business in the city, it does not matter how much money they say I can make. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs; we need to fulfill the basic requirements and then move up the scale. We need to teach skills of relating to one another and human relations in the schools. Those start with communication. We need to start being judgmental again. The person who starts a fight is guilty not the victim. This goes back to common sense. If someone starts pounding on my face because he wants my lunch money and I defend myself, I should be praised not punished along with him. That undermines authority. We should not let crime be in the open. Once you allow criminal enterprises to flaunt the law they become bolder. They think they can run neighborhoods. Next we need to target those who enable the active criminals. We need to give landlords tools to evict people who run criminal enterprises out of the landlord’s property then we need to hold them accountable if they don’t use them. The same houses become drug houses again and again with different tenants. These places become criminal hubs for all sorts of gang crime. If the landlords won’t seek help then we should shut them down and pressure them to sale. We should place cameras in our parks and at streets in need of help. We have to make public crime not pay. Singapore is the best example of how to make a successful modern city.

Next you get into changing the economics. Then you go into the changing the culture. The cities have failed governments which have to be replaced. These could use essays on their own.

2007-02-25T01:11:00.000-05:00

Fair Tax Primer
Introduction
Imagine a tax system that:
• Allows you to keep 100 percent of your paycheck, pension, and Social Security payments.
• Frees up the time wasted on filling out cumbersome IRS forms.
• Wipes out the income tax code and shuts down the IRS.
• Makes taxation of income unconstitutional by repealing the 16th Amendment.
• Exempts all taxpayers from federal taxation up to the poverty level, through a monthly rebate.
• Ensures that all Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
• Dramatically lowers tax rates for low-income and middle-income Americans.
• Makes taxes visible by eliminating hidden income and payroll taxes in consumer prices.
• Enables families to save more for home ownership, education, and retirement.
• Protects and ensures the funding of Social Security and Medicare.
• Leaves unchanged the amount of money raised by the federal government.
• Makes American products more competitive overseas.
How? This tax system is the most researched, and we think you'll agree, the best tax reform plan. It's called the FairTax.
The problem is the current income tax code.
A. The current tax code is unfair, costly, and unreasonably confusing.
• Because the tax code is so complex and easy to evade, many of us pay more in taxes per year than we should! The IRS estimates that over 40 percent of Americans are out of compliance with the current tax code! This makes the rest of us pay about 30 percent more in taxes.
• Over half of American taxpayers seek professional help simply to prepare their returns. And according to Money magazine, chances are 99 percent that you will pay someone to file an incorrect return!
Talking points to use when presenting the FairTax plan Page 2 of 5
• Compliance with the tax code is not only very difficult and complicated, consuming a total of 6 billion hours, but unreasonably expensive as well. It is estimated that it costs taxpayers $265.1 billion for tax filing, tax record keeping, and tax reduction advice. That's just shy of $900 for every man, woman, and child in America! We have taxation without comprehension!
B. The current income tax code unfairly hampers personal financial opportunity.
• When citizens are taxed on their earnings and on what they produce, hard work is discouraged.
• The current income tax code inhibits economic growth, capital formation, and, most importantly, job creation.
• The current income tax code punishes personal savings and investments, and sometimes these are unfairly subjected to double and even triple taxation.
C. The current income tax code tax is grossly unfair to all wage-earning Americans.
• Payroll taxes are taken out of our paychecks, and we all have no control or choice over when we pay or how much we pay in taxes. They are deducted from our paychecks before we can save or spend them.
• The payroll tax is the most regressive and unfair feature of our current tax system. The current payroll tax applies to the first dollar of wages earned, effectively stifling the most important tool to improve one’s economic well-being.
D. The current tax system allows for massive loopholes encouraging politicians and lobbyists to pick winners and losers.
• The tax code is filled with loopholes that are manipulated by high-priced lobbyists for their clients and by other special interests.
• The complexity of the current income tax code is an open invitation to those with the means to manipulate the tax code.
• There are more lobbyists registered in Washington, D.C. for taxes than for any other issue.
The solution is the FairTax.
The FairTax is fair to all Americans and simple to understand. Under the FairTax, all wage earners keep 100 percent of their paychecks and Social Security and Medicare funding are more secure.
The FairTax frees up financial opportunity by restoring choice in spending, encouraging savings and investment, and dramatically reducing tax evasion. With the elimination of 90 percent of compliance costs, over $238 billion is restored to the economy. The FairTax offers an unprecedented opportunity for lower- and middle-income wage earners to get ahead, to save to buy a house, to educate themselves and their children, and to save for a dignified retirement. All Americans, regardless of their income level, are better off with the FairTax.
Talking points to use when presenting the FairTax plan Page 3 of 5
• Everyone is subject to the same consumption tax rate (23 cents of each dollar of spending) with no exceptions and no exclusions, and those least able to share in the cost of government carry no federal tax burden at all.
• The FairTax increases individual purchasing power, making it easier to get ahead financially by eliminating:
o the individual income tax
o the payroll income tax
o the estate tax and the gift tax
o capital gains taxes
o the alternative minimum tax
o the self-employment tax
o the corporate income tax
The solution we propose involves two actions:
• Passage of legislation that institutes a single-rate FairTax on all final sales of new goods and services. This tax becomes the chief source of revenue for the United States government, replacing all federal income and payroll taxes, yet generating the same revenue. The legislation provides for a tax rebate equal to the consumption tax paid on essential goods and services. The rebate ensures that no American pays tax on the purchase of necessities.
• A constitutional amendment (HJR 16) that repeals the 16th Amendment and makes a federal income tax unconstitutional.
We can win!
Bringing the FairTax to a vote only requires 31 members of Congress! If eleven members of the Senate Finance Committee and twenty members of the Ways and Means Committee support the FairTax, they can bring the FairTax bill out of their respective committees and onto the floor of both the House and the Senate. At that point, it is the leadership's decision to go to a full vote by the entire membership. It can be done, and we are well on our way there.
Polling shows that the American people understand and favor fundamental reform such as a federal consumption tax. The national groundswell of support is growing in leaps and bounds. Thousands of Americans are expressing their support for the FairTax through phone calls, e-mails, letters, and faxes. FairTax volunteers are growing by the hundreds. The possibility of bringing about peaceful change is one of the great strengths of the American system. It is obvious that the FairTax is a reasonable solution whose time has come.
Let me repeat the tremendous benefits of the FairTax plan. The FairTax plan:
• Allows you to keep 100 percent of your paycheck, pension, and Social Security payments.
Talking points to use when presenting the FairTax plan Page 4 of 5
• Frees up the time wasted on filling out complicated IRS forms.
• Wipes out the income tax code and shuts down the IRS.
• Makes taxation of income unconstitutional by repealing the 16th Amendment.
• Exempts all taxpayers from federal taxation up to the poverty level, through a monthly rebate.
• Ensures that all Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
• Dramatically lowers tax rates for low-income and middle-income Americans.
• Makes taxes visible by eliminating hidden income and payroll taxes in consumer prices.
• Enables families to save more for home ownership, education, and retirement.
• Protects and ensures the funding of Social Security and Medicare.
• Leaves unchanged the amount of money raised by the federal government.
• Makes American products more competitive overseas.
As Americans come to understand that the FairTax closes tax loopholes and makes everyone pay their fair share of taxes, it will be passed into law. Fully 85 percent of Americans informed about the FairTax are likely to support the tax change that makes the closing of these loopholes a reality. And the FairTax offers not only this, but many other benefits:
• You never pay another hidden tax again. The FairTax is printed on every receipt for every purchase.
• All taxpayers are treated fairly. No loopholes for anyone.
• Individuals have more control and choice. People can make choices about how much to pay in taxes, by deciding when to buy and what to buy.
• Virtually all economic models project a much healthier economy under the FairTax. Real investment will grow by an estimated 76.4 percent. Exports will jump by an estimated 26.4 percent. Interest rates will drop between 20 and 30 percent.
• Small businesses never have to track tax withholdings or deductions.
• Tax evasion dramatically decreases. No more income reporting means the end of "hiding" income from tax authorities.
• Compliance costs are slashed. Compliance costs drop by over 90 percent, from $265 billion.
Concluding remarks
It is time for the FairTax. For nearly 100 years, we have carried the burden of an oppressive and counterproductive tax system which has punished work and achievement, savings, and investment. The current tax code has been grossly manipulated to reward elite political interests and it hurts the average American. The current tax code has hidden the true cost of government from the very taxpayers who pay for it.
Talking points to use when presenting the FairTax plan Page 5 of 5
Americans are not obligated to accept a tax system that penalizes the average working American while giving special consideration to those who buy favors and perks in Washington, D.C. To be competitive in the next century and to renew the American dream, we must change the way we fund our national government. It is time for the FairTax.
The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks, protects and ensures funding of Social Security and Medicare, empowers low-income taxpayers, and puts choice and control back into the hands of all Americans. All the crucial elements are in place: A public eager and ready for a tax system that is fair and a Congress seriously willing to consider genuine tax reform. It only takes thirty-one members of Congress, and we will win.
To learn more about the FairTax, read The FairTax Book by syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder, sponsor of the FairTax legislation. To get your copy go to www.FairTax.org and click on the FairTax book icon.
What is the FairTax plan? The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a rebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar revenue neutrality, and the repeal of the 16th Amendment. This non-partisan legislation (HR 25/S 25) abolishes all federal personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes and replaces them all with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax – collected by existing state sales tax authorities. The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend, not on what we earn. It does not raise any more or less revenue; it is designed to be revenue neutral. So it is also cost neutral – the final cost for goods and services changes little under the FairTax. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.
FairTax.org is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to replacing the current tax system. The organization has hundreds of thousands of members and volunteers nationwide. Its plan supports sound economic research, education of citizens and community leaders, and grassroots mobilization efforts. For more information visit the fair tax link on http://stoptaxing.wordpress.com or call 1-800-FAIRTAX.

2007-02-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

Three Little Bakers added to art and culture in Delaware.

My wife and I visited the Dinner Theater for what looks like the last time Sunday. It was always a fun experience. Great food, wonderful entertainment and good conversation with friends and total stangers alike. The perfect night out.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702220363