Pinnacle Foods, The 41^st, And The Truth About DNREC

            I have been reading with great amusement, all the public outcry from the POD people, who are seeking to create another mountain out of a mole hill.  At this point and time, with our economy teetering on the brink of recovery.  The state and the people of the 41^st were not willing to let that parcel stay unoccupied and fallow that used to be the Vlasic Pickle Plant.  Allen Harim came forward with an idea, and a plan.  Deals were made and bargains struck to get jobs for the 41^st.

I believe that whatever the arrangements were, for the existing contamination to be dealt with, they were worth it in the form of the economic impact the building, and operation of a plant would bring to the 41^st.  Allen and Harim were not going to make anything that exists there now any worse, so why all the  “ hub-bub “.

Now on to DENREC.  I have had the displeasure of dealing with them on the supply side and the discharge side for going on 20 plus years.  That experience has led me to describe them as either: the beast, and or the seven headed hydra.  In relation to them being the beast, it is because they always have a hidden agenda and are very patient, and very subtle in getting what they want.  When talking about the hydra it refers to cutting off one head, and another grows right back.  It also describes the condition where one head does not know what the other heads are doing.

Possum Point residents are crying about the impact on the Columbia aquifer and rallying against the perceived evil.  They should heed this warning “ be careful what you wish for”.  DNREC is in the process of implementing the most prohibitive and restrictive water well and septic regulations on the peninsula.  When the new septic regs are approved, most of the septic systems in Possum Point will be in non compliance.  The great majority of water wells in Possum Point do not meet the minimum standards for 1986, let alone what is coming.

So the hidden agenda is that the more noise the residents make, it will only hasten the implementation of a new sanitary sewer district, and central water being provided by a private company.  Both of those infrastructure items will put a huge quarterly bill in the pockets of the residents, and the plant will still go through to production, with all the residents concerns having been addressed.

If you want to get in on the fight, it is important that you know what the real agenda is.

In a report released by “SPECIAL PROSECUTOR”, E. Norman Veasey, regarding the apparent illegal campaign finance practices of several Delaware candidates and elected officials in the 2008 election cycle, it is quite clear that Gov. Jack Markell and others, either knew about illegal campaign contributions, or actively participated in directing donors in how to hide the donations.

The “HONORABLE” Mr. Veasey listed in his report, numerous accounts of witnesses who stated that they had knowledge of these practices, and that candidates and their campaigns were also aware of the illegal donations. However, Mr. Veasey in his report has stated that no one will face any charges for these illegal acts, stating, that due to his inability to collaborate the accounts he would be bringing no charges.

Instead of charges against those named in the report and possible fines, Mr. Veasey has suggested campaign finance reform, WOW!

Slow down Mr. Veasey, don’t be so tough on those who break the law, maybe we could just call them all into the principles office and give them a good talking to about not doing it again.

In the report it is clear that the Markell campaign was playing fast and loose with the rules and the law. Other elected officials named were Sen. David McBride, D-Hawks Nest, received free cases of beer and vodka from Christopher Tigani’s liquor distributing company NKS, Mr. Tigani was convicted for illegal campaign donations. But I guess receiving illegal contributions isn’t worth prosecuting in Mr. Veasey’s view.

Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark, received tickets to sporting events in 2007 and 2008.  And Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover South, used two paid N.K.S. employees to erect campaign signs.

So I have to wonder why a former Delaware state Supreme Court Justice would not want to prosecute what on the surface seems to be quite a large-scale campaign finance corruption scandal?

Well maybe the answer is in some other campaign donation records.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane. Here are some interesting donations over recent years, 2007 to present.

10/03/07   $300.00  to Jack Markell

10/19/07    $300.00  to John Carney Jr.

11/20/07    $500.00  to Jack Markell

12/12/07    $500.00 to John Carney Jr.

8/16/08    $400.00  to John Carney Jr.

9/17/08     $500.00 to Matt Denn

10/21/08   $300.oo  to Matt Denn

6/21/10     $250.00  to Colin Bonini

5/15/11       $200.00  to Matt Denn

Notice that the one Republican listed above, Colin Bonini, was one of those named in the report as having, “POSSIBLY”, participated in illegal campaign finance practices. And while in this time period three other donations were made to other Republicans, the scale falls heavily to the Democrat side.

Oh! Did I forget to mention who made these donations? That would be the Honorable E. Norman Veasey, the special prosecutor who was named by the Democrat Attorney General to investigate illegal campaign finance practices by among others our Delaware Governor Jack Markell, Democrat.

This my friends is what we get with one party rule. It’s obviously also how we get one party rule.

                      The New Indentured Servant

Today the new indentured servant is the government-run school teacher.

Their ‘long’ summers off have been whittled down to about 8 weeks from 12.

They are told daily that they are responsible for how the child learns.

The parent is always right. Most administrators always side with the parent because it’s easier to do.

If a child makes any accusation, it is automatically ‘looked into’, no matter how moronic it is.

Today’s teachers do nothing more than collect data and provide assessments.

Consultant’s make a fortune based upon whose campaign they give to gain them access to DOE.

They have in-service training that ranges from the redundant to having a woman wear a rubber fish head while showing a video of some fish market in Seattle.

Children can demand to be placed in advanced classes although they failed last years courses.

Many schools have a safe room where administrators literally hide.

Government run school spending is close to 20% of the state budget and yet our test scores haven’t moved an inch…..in 12 years.

 Finally, in Delaware a new teacher quits after 5 years on average. Now you know why

Well it seems that A&E has decided, after a very short time, to reinstate Phil Robertson back into the cast of its hit TV “REALITY” show, Duck Dynasty.

We will all remember that Mr. Robertson was suspended indefinitely (which obviously means not long) for comments he made in a GQ interview, in which he said that homosexuality was a sin.

This all came shortly before Christmas, and one now has to wonder whether or not this was all a marketing scheme.

Were the producers of the show and the network, and maybe even the Robertsons, hoping for a Chick-Fil-A  like boost to the sale of the multitude of merchandise that is on the market?

Would that be so hard to believe? I mean we have seen how quickly the religious right can become inflamed over any idea that they are under attack by the liberal left. They were running around making claims that the suspension was an infringement upon their 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech. Tie this in with their annual battle against the “WAR ON CHRISTMAS”, and you have the makings of one hell of a good marketing ploy. So is it out of the realm of possibilities that some smart PR guy came up with this as a way to sell camo T-shirts?

It would be interesting to see if there was a spike in Duck Dynasty product sales after the suspension was announced.

So have the Duck Heads on the religious right been taken in once again by people they think represent them? I think that there is a good chance that is exactly what happened. If you think about it, the suspension didn’t even last over the holiday hiatus of the shows filming, Phil won’t even miss a single episode.

People on the right, and especially the religious right need to stop playing the martyrs all the time. Stop looking to be the victim in every story. It is time we become the warriors, and yes stand up for what we believe, but do it in a way that doesn’t make us seem silly and weak. Jesus died on the Cross so we wouldn’t have to.

Instead of becoming enraged that a multi-millionaire was fired, legally, maybe we should focus on finding good electable conservatives who actually understand the Constitution. Who instead of seeing an infringement of our rights around every corner, they understand that the Constitution protects not only our rights to be conservative in our views, but also protects the rights of liberals to be  liberal in their views.

Instead of becoming so mad about Phil Robertson’s firing, and sitting down and writing letters to A&E to have him reinstated, maybe they should be writing letters to their elected officials demanding that they roll back the crippling legislation that has been passed over the years.

But why get upset over unemployment and the high cost of energy? When we can get all self-righteous about poor Phil Robertson.

What a bunch of duck heads?

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

     And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

     For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

    And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

    And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

    Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

On behalf of all of us here at Delaware Right I would like to wish all our friends, guests, and associates a very Merry Christmas. May the holidays find you with loved ones, and if not may God keep them safe from harm. As always in this mortal life we live, the past year has seen many trials and tribulations for all of us, both as individuals and as mankind. We often find ourselves dividing ourselves based on who we think we are. Only God knows truly who we are. I would simply remind all of us to remember, we are all children of Abraham. May God Bless you and yours, and may we all find forgiveness in our hearts.

Well here we are again, another reason for the hard-core righties to get all up in arms, again, about something they are getting wrong.

It wasn’t so long ago that the hard Christian right became enraged over the fact that gays and lesbians were planning to protest Chick-Fil-A after it’s CEO made what they felt were anti-homosexual statements. Of course the uninformed cry rose to heaven that the CEO’s freedom of speech was being infringed upon.  Rubbish!

No one can have their freedom of speech infringed upon by other individuals, or for that matter by their employers. Which brings us to the latest misguided cause for the TEA types.

If you haven’t heard about the patriarch of the Robertson family, Phil Robertson, from the mega-hit, “Duck Dynasty” on A&E network, and the fact that he has been suspended from the show, again for what some feel were anti-homosexual comments in an interview with a magazine, then you should come out from under your rock once in a while.

Look, in my opinion it doesn’t matter a wit what he said, personally I have never watched a single episode of the show, but I do know that Mr. Robertson holds himself out as a Christian, and is very outspoken about his views. I am sure that this is what has made the show so popular with many on the right. So who is surprised that he would have views about homosexuality that would offend our more liberal friends? Well obviously A&E Network has been totally blindsided, so much so they felt the need to suspend Mr. Robertson.

Since the suspension, social media has been ablaze with the story, and the dominate theme has been that Mr. Robertson’s freedom of speech rights have been infringed upon. Again, rubbish!

Why is it that so many people on the right who claim to be constitutionalist, who claim to have read, and to understand the Constitution, seem to always get it wrong?

Let us first look at the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution where it speaks of our freedom of speech, it says,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Notice the very first word in this amendment, “CONGRESS”, shall make no law! Notice how it doesn’t say, A&E shall make no law, or A&E shall have no rules, or A&E shall have no policy.  You see, since A&E can’t make laws, A&E can’t infringe upon anyone’s right of freedom of speech.

Phil Robertson is an employee of A&E Network, or at the very least has a contractual agreement with the network, therefore if he behaves in a manner that the network feels will have a negative impact on their product, they have the right to sever that relationship to protect their interest. As long as the actions taken by A&E do not run contradictory to the contract between the network and Mr. Robertson, then they are within their rights.

I would ask my TEA time constitutionalist friends out there to explain how Mr. Robertson’s freedom of speech has been infringed upon? No law was passed by congress, he is free to say his mind anywhere and anytime he chooses, if he can find an outlet for that speech. The Constitution does not guarantee us an audience for our thoughts, merely the right to express them.

Imagine that you work for a company, and while representing that company you make comments that would have a negative impact upon the company, would that company have the right to discipline you? I believe so.

The other side of this equation is, if you believe that Mr. Robertson has a right to express his views on homosexuality, then shouldn’t you also feel that A&E has a right to express theirs? Mr. Robertson believes that homosexuality is a sin, and so he said so. A&E believes that homosexuals are a large enough market share that his statements could hurt their bottom line, and so they suspended him. It seems that once again the TEA types only see constitutionality from one side, they would defend Mr. Robertson’s freedom of speech, with extreme indifference to A&E’s freedom to run their business as they see fit. Hypocrites as always.

The same as the Chick-Fil-A dust-up ran its course, to the benefit of the fast food chain I might add, so shall this have to run its course. Those who think A&E has badly treated Phil Robertson can refuse to watch the network, and if after a time the network decides to reinstate Mr. Robertson, either from pressure from the right, or due to a financial consideration, then those who feel his statements were hurtful can choose to boycott the network, the show and or the sponsors.

I just wish our TEA time friends would take a little time to actually read the Constitution and to understand it before they go off on some tangent about the infringement of our rights. When they get it wrong on such a large-scale, they make all conservatives look bad.