Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 03-09-26_MONDAY_8AM

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Dr. Powers and the Latest Where Past Meets Present. Bill Thorndike of Medford Fabrication is the profile, and then into the news, lawfare, what we agree and disagree on.

This hour of the Bill Meyer Show podcast is proudly sponsored by Klauser Drilling. They've been leading the way in Southern Oregon well drilling for more than 50 years. Find out more about them at Klauserdrilling.com. Now more with Bill Meyer. Great to have you here. Every Monday we have an enjoyable pallet cleanser. We always call a pallet cleanser. We get away from just pure politics in the news and things and talk about somebody or an institution here that ended up forming history in Southern Oregon.

and it's where past meets present. Dr. Dennis Powers, retired professor business law of Southern Oregon University, joins me. Dennis, welcome back. Good day, have you on. Always a pleasure, my friend. Always a pleasure. And as a matter of fact, I was just thinking that we both came here around the same time. And you, of course, have been very much immersed in the political world as to people coming in and going away and the way the trends are.

I was lucky because I was able to get into more of the business community places here in Southern Oregon when I came here, geez, 1991. Bill Thorndyke was one of the first people I met that were profiling today. And Bill Thorndyke, of course, met for fabrication, right? That's how he knew him best. And he passed away, what, a little more than a year ago today, if I recall, right? That's correct. absolutely right. And Bill graduated from Medford High School, 1972, earned a bachelor's degree from Lewis and Clark four years later, and then started working full-time for the family business.

So they had a operation based in White City. Now, Medford fabrication is a privately held company. It is really well positioned because it goes into custom steel fabrications. with really large companies that are clients, for example, Caterpillar Pacific Power, Erickson, Aircray, Boise Cascade, Adroit. And in there, Bill, along with his brother, Dan, whose attorney, were really running Medford fabrication. Dan was very much involved in Crater Lake and environmental, as was Bill. But Bill, on the other hand, was the go-to person. What he did was underneath the radar. Many people probably when they read when he passed away saying he is an interesting person.

But he was more than that because what he did was centered into education. He was chairman of the SOU's Board of Trustees from his 2015 inception, received numbers of awards, including he was the vice chair of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. He was a vice chair of the Federal Reserve, really? At that bank? You're kidding. I didn't know that aspect of his background. The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, Director slash Vice Chair. and what he did was that he was such a supportive person for this community.

If there's something that someone, whether it was politically or not, needed to be done, he did it. I mean, for example, back in the 90s, SOU's business school needed classrooms. And he opened up different offices after 5 o'clock at Medford Fabrication, Medford. actually went ahead and taught students in business law at Medford Fabrication. He was always supportive, and what he did was a legacy of community support. As a matter of fact, Bill, he was named Person of the Decade in 2000 by the Jackson County Community Service Consortium. And when we go through what he did. It was really someone that we missed. He fought tirelessly to try to keep SOU independent. And the thing about it is that I just really treasure the times that I had to be

able to talk with Bill to go into different things with being part of the school of business community. And he was someone that really left a legacy. But many people, my friend, are probably saying, Oh, Medford Fabrication, I haven't heard of them, or the Thorndykes. And they really have made a contribution to it. Yeah, but he wasn't one of the noisier families, I guess, is the one way of putting it, right? Would that be a fair assessment of what the Thorndykes were about? They really were kind of behind the scenes, the sort of people, from the sounds of it. Yeah, very, very well said.

And for example, because of the fact that they worked underneath the railroad, underneath the horizon. Well, a little bit of out of sight, out of mind kind of thing, right? Well, he also got the Glenn Jackson Leadership Award from Willam University. And he also received other ones from different educational institutions here in this area. and he tirelessly worked to try to keep SOU above water. And, of course, the legislature totally didn't help with the way that they shifted monies instead of going to the school systems in college like SOU and for institutions, but they went to illegal immigrant health care and things like that.

Yeah, well, that was the real. Everybody who wasn't deserving of love got a lot of love in this latest legislative session, is what it sounded like to me, Doc. But as far as his politics, though, moderate Republican, kind of, would that be where you're putting it? I don't even know he was a Republican. Do you know? He probably was a Republican.

I have a feeling that, you know, he was socially liberal, but very fiscally conservative. I had a feeling. I know that he liked candidates that I didn't really like. I mean, we would have disagreed politically on something. I know that. But all right, we'll set that aside there because still he passed away a little more than a year ago, but still has left a real lasting impact here. And I'll post that, this latest one about Bill Thorndyke.

And he is missed by the constructive sectors of this region. The other thing I would add is that, you know, given that kind of fabrication that they do today with President Trump's agenda of getting more. more of that return here. It seemed to me that Medford fabrication may have a brighter future than one might have thought. I don't know if that's true or not, but you could wonder if maybe this focusing more at home might be helpful for Medford Fabrications business in the future. Well, it found a niche. You know, way back when Bill Thorndyke's grandfather set up Medford fabrication, because to have custom steel fabrication here in Medford. That is really brilliant, but also it's one to where you

wouldn't really think about this industrialization, which it is. And they were able to continue to design and fabricate for very large American and worldwide companies. It's a testimonial not only for the Thorndykes, but also for Medford fabrication. Bill Thorndyke, community and business leader. That's the profile today on where Pass meets present by Dr. Dennis Powers. Doc, we've got plenty more to talk about. We'll delve in after this, okay? Right back here. 770 KMED on the Bill Myers show.

You finally decided to switch to a gas dryer or range. Now comes the important... ...Mire show on 1063 KMED. 770KMED, 826. Dr. Powers, where Pass Meets present. Now we're back in the present here, Doctor. Hey, have you been keeping track of the Fonnie Will? this story here, Dennis, in which Solomon and others reporting that essentially the Fannie Willis,

you know, the prosecutor ended up colluding with the Biden administration to continue going after President Trump's campaign and President Trump. Oh, yeah, that's one to go into, especially in the fact that our friend Fannie totally was biased and by having an affair with the prosecutor that she brought in. I mean, there isn't anything that she hasn't done that normally a person would be, you know, disbarred for. Is there anything that will happen to her, in your opinion? Well, you know, that's the problem because there are always political deals being made. Basically, you know, we're looking here at Georgia, and it's certainly in play.

the overall legal system is one that for those of us who have been around for decades are very, very concerned about with the way that Obama, when he ran the Biden term, was getting in, along with his initial two terms, the best fundraisers for the far left that he could with the fact that in a civil war that we're in, these attorneys, who are now judges are leading the forefront, even though Trump had won the election. I get that. Is there any evidence, though, that accountability will come to any of these people who broke the law? Because that's been one of the biggest concerns, I think, that most people have had, is that stuff gets brought forth, whether it's Epstein files, whether it's, you know, prosecutors doing what they shouldn't. And very few, if any, people ever seem to have any kind of come up, other than maybe being embarrassed in the news for a while or embarrassed in a hearing. And then that's about it. Any thoughts on that? Yeah. You know, accountability is the

first thing to go when you have an actual legal civil war that we're having here. I mean, you can even look at, I love this, Bill Clinton, 26 times, pictures of him in luxuriating in a hot tub with Epstein, and with Hillary getting away with trashing her server. And there's no accountability. Why? Because the far left, which is actually anti-Semitic when you go into it, the far left that's taken over really, I'd say a third of the Democratic Party is also intimidating the courts and the judges so that I have a doubt as to whatever will ever happen in terms of accountability

just because of what's happening. You know, would it be fair to say that one of the reasons that there was such reticence, even from the Trump administration, even though he ran on the, you know, on releasing the Epstein files, remember that it was one of the big campaign things, right? Talked about it a lot. I can't help but think that this is mutually assured destruction kind of information. Isn't there enough on both sides of the political aisle, and it would be a mistake to think that it's just Democrats that are stonewalling this or not? What do you think?

Well, because of the way that Soros, Obama and the far-left crowd has taken over the moderate Democrats, and you could see it every single time there's a decision coming out that we could go into, which is really amazing. is what they're doing. That itself is putting a kibosh on a lot of different things. Well, what I was getting at, though, that isn't this, you know, both sides of the aisle destructive device of sorts, because, you know, let's say that President Trump mentioned all sorts of times within the files. Of course, lots of people get mentioned in the files. Oprah Winfrey was mentioned in the files, okay? No report about her getting it on with perverts, right? Nothing like that. All right. But everybody,

gets mentioned in it. And I can't help but think that there must be some in, you know, some some juice on some, some incredibly powerful people with incredibly powerful motivations to keep things redacted, you know, as it were. I can't help but think that. And that's both sides of the aisle territory, like the UNA party. It was until the far left in the Democratic Party decided that they had do whatever they could to block Trump's ability in the Senate to go ahead and get judges confirmed, to block him with every single issue they could. Epstein is perfect because the fact that they threw the Clintons underneath the bus, because the far left doesn't care about who they throw under the bus, as long as they can get their political will put across on and control all Americans.

So the problem we're seeing here is that the, I am sure, the Republicans will join in saying, yes, we want to have all the truth in Epstein. But they're just following the chorus because the chorus is being directed. Everything you can see where, you know, for example. In other words, this is a, in other words, you're right. I'm right, though, when I say this is a uniparty response, right? I don't think it's a unit party response. You don't? No.

I think what it is, part of the thing is that I see the Republican Party as an independent using these words that are somewhat hollow because they would certainly rather have other things going on than bringing up this morality approach having to do with Epstein. Of course, it was immoral. But every time you go ahead and keep the nation looking at these types of issues, you're not there in terms of what Trump is really trying to do, which is to reverse the course of socialism. All right. Well, he's going to have a tough time here looking at the price of oil and various other things. Why do me dig into that here in just a little bit and talk about some of the other news too, all right?

That's for sure. Yeah, it's going to be interesting times, of course. Price of gold, price of silver, haven't checked it this morning, but maybe you have. But either way, I'm still a continued bit of a stacker. That's just my point of view. You talk with your financial advisor and then see what he or she says. And then when you're ready to buy or sell, talk to the recognized experts. Jay Austin and company, gold and silver buyers at Ashland, 1632, Ashland Street, and Ashland, 6th and G in downtown Grants Pass.

Protecting wealth long term is a big part of the focus on precious metals. the buying is still going on with central banks too. Things are looking a little strained at the moment, but one way or the other, just kind of sit back and let it right, I guess, right? I'll talk more with Dr. Powers about that. But if you want physical gold and silver, want to sell physical golden silver either way, call them up at 482-37-15, 4-8-2-3-715, whether you want to stack or sell. They'll help you accomplish this.

1632, Ashland Street and Ashland-Sixen G in downtown Grants Pass. Fortune Reserve.com. That is fortune reserve.com. Rhonda talks about her experience with Klausur drilling. Kevin came right out. Webb, reach out to Jared Hockinson at 541772Sold.com. Good morning. This is News Talk 1063, KMED.

And you're waking up with the Bill Myers Show. Dr. Dennis Powers, we're past meets present. We're in the present side of things. Doc, how do you think things are rolling in the Iran War? I know they don't officially call it the Iran War, but everybody else is calling it that. It looks like a war, acts like a war, and like a duck, it walks in and quacks like a war. So I don't think we can call it.

Oil markets, of course, are crazy this morning. Let's see. The Dow is down, what, 5, 600 points, I think this morning. At one point they were talking about 700. Is this, you're looking at this as kind of temporary, or will it depend on how temporary this action is in the Middle East? How do you see it? Well, time is a very difficult one to assess when you have a war going on as it is as to when it will end. As a matter of fact, even talking about an end to it, I think, is missing the point.

The objectives that the U.S. has is militarily. And then people say, well, we'll get regime change. Well, the problem is basic economics and basic facts. Well, as far as regime change, I don't know if we're going to get regime change out of this. Cominese son ends up being the one that is proposed to. Of course, everybody else that was going to be the leader ended up getting killed on the lead-up to that.

That's true. But you know, Bill, you've got 90 million people that's in Iran, 10 million in Israel. When you look at the guard that is running it, it's a standing army, if you will, that's all throughout the entire country of 150,000. So to talk about regime change is really something that the far left is going to go ahead, as already they're now saying, well, look how expensive this war is. Well, it's a billion a day. That's not a little, that's not a small amount of money, is it? No, but on the other hand, if we look at the fact of what has happened by Iran, the number of Americans that have been murdered, and also something, Bill, that I wanted to bring up my one to get your wisdom on, is the fact that in the enriched uranium, that where they do have it being the Iranian guard, that they have enough to make 11 atomic bombs, but these are Hiroshima-type. bombs. Well, look what Hiroshima bombs did all those decades ago to the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Well, I think you and I are probably going to disagree on this a bit here, Doctor,

because I tend to look at this not about the bombs at all. And or else if it is about the bombs or the potential of nuclear bombs or nuclear weapons, I think it's only a side show. I think this is really about tightening the screws on China. I've always thought. thought this right from the beginning that were being sold a bill of goods. Because remember back in July, we were told it was all destroyed. And it went from being all destroyed to a couple of weeks ago an imminent threat. That doesn't make sense to me. It looks to me like there's something else going on.

Now, it might have just dovetailed with BB wanting Iran taken out because BB wants Iran taken out. It always has. It's his number one rival in the area. But am I unwise to even bring that up? That's what I'm thinking. Oh, absolutely. As a matter of fact, when we look at the arguments that you're bringing up, which are good ones, if you go ahead and look at what and where the administration has been focused, and you put together Nicaragua in terms of that as an oil supplier. Or are you thinking of Venezuela? I think of Venezuela. Yeah. Also, I'm thinking about the embargo in Cuba.

and when we look at Iran where Iran is the big shadow supplier of oil to China, you're actually right on that being a factor in the decision. However, I think that the overall decision was one to where Biden and Obama and Clinton just kicked it ahead and gave plain loads of cash, which then were used idiotical you know, for funding Hezbollah and Hamas. And if we, I'm lucky in a way to where I have folks that I can talk to, Bill, that are in France, in England, and some classmates that are in Germany. And the, the inroads that have been made by the Muslim radicals is frightening in these European

in countries. As far as strategy goes here, now, of course, we have Homone's son. Kamene's son has been now appointed by the, what do they call it, the international or the something, something of experts, okay, right? Yeah, okay, so we got the Muslim experts that are, what do you think President Trump's going to do with that? Because here is something that I read, which is counterintuitive. I read some analysis. I think it was on Epic Times over the weekend. I think of that was a pretty good source. And they were talking about how the challenge you run into is that every time you kill one of their leaders, it's essentially considered an honor, right? And I know that sounds

really weird to us in the West. Oh, boy, you know, you get killed, you know, how Patton was. Patton was, you know, the way to glory is to make the other bastard die for his country. Remember that? You know, that movie. But in the Muslim world, this tends to be a great honor and tends to coalesce people around the government. And I'm wondering if continuing to kill the leaders, even if they are radical Islamists, might be counterproductive. Any thoughts on that? And it was an interesting read that kind of struck against me, because normally I would think,

well, can your leaders keep getting taken out by the so-called Great Satan, right? And then you're figuring that you're going to be depressed about that, but they're not. And I'm wondering if that might be the case here, if they keep going after them. What do you think? Well, that's the reason why I think the argument is saying that the administration must go ahead and get regime change is missing the point, because the entrenched theocracy of radicalism in Iran is one to where if you have military objectives, such as neutering Iran as to ballistic missiles as to their weapons of war.

Now, that would make sense, actually neutering the military capability so that they couldn't close the Strait of Hormuz, as an example, right? Okay, but even if the Straits of Mammuz are stopped, the next thing to do is the island offshore, you know, offshore of Iran, that's bottled up where 90% of Iran's oil, including to China, is located. And if you could neuter that, along then, let's say, two or three weeks out, or how long this administration. will be able to continue what is trying to do from the propagandized that's going on from Iran through the Times, the San Francisco Chronicle that we know about. How much time do you think that the Trump administration has before it becomes a, I mean, because if he sacrifices the midterms, if the midterms are sacrificed on the altar of regime change

or removing Iran, it might be nice to have. All I'm saying, though, is that if he ends up losing the midterms, I'm talking about the Republicans, there's really not much left of a Trump second term or the rest of the Trump term. So you know what I'm getting at here? I mean, there's a real issue here. You have to pay attention to both. Yeah, I agree with the arguments you're making with a modification that would be one of if they keep the Senate being the Republican party so they can get some judges and be able to start. neutering, you know, the far-left control of the court systems. So that's a big if.

Now, this is about keeping, so in other words, you think politically defend the Senate at all costs. The House your chances are you're not going to keep that. Is that what you're thinking? Yeah, except for the fact that the person who is the wild card is Trump because... No kidding. It's kind of funny to have anybody. You talk about wild card. Of course, the president's a wildcard.

We know that. Yeah, but I'm going to a different point, though. Okay. Because my point in terms of the wild card is that he has control over just saying when he thinks that Iran is neutered, and then he's going to start doing what he can to whip up the Republicans to start standing up for themselves. Or could you see something like happened with President Trump in which you declare victory and go home? I don't know. Well, by going home, they can leave what's there, and they can really neuter it.

neuter what's doing on there because they got these aircraft carriers. Of course, the way that the media comes in is talking about overkill and costs and things like this because of the far left that would do anything for power. Now, if we were talking about SNAP benefits, we would never be arguing about how much it costs. It doesn't matter. How many illegal aliens can we fund? That's all that matters. All right. You know, I'm being sarcastic, Doc. You know that. I know you're being sarcastic, bill and that's fine. But you see, after nine to ten days of doing what they're doing, and you're having all these arguments coming in to try to stop because you really feel, I think that from what I've read, that there's a good proportion of the far-left Democrats

that are anti-Semitic, period, and yet the media will not say Bocou. Well, what do you mean by anti-Semitic? Because, you know, there are a lot of Republicans that aren't real happy with us being, well, more or less doing the work for Israel half the time. There's a good portion of that, and that gets defined as being anti-Semitic somehow. I get concerned about that. Yeah, but part of the problem is with the Republican Party, because I am an independent, and I'm registered that way, and I vote that way. The problem with the Republican Party is the fact that they want to have power in their own little places,

whether it's southern Oregon, whether it's Oregon, whether it's nationally. And so what the Republicans are doing, this is an easy way to join the Democrats and say, we're against war, even though I think for our grandkids that if this war can neuter Iran, I think there's going to be less Americans murdered who are overseas and in Europe. Okay. Dr. Dennis Powers with me, retired professor of business law. we're talking about some of the news this morning. Happy to take your call.

Let me grab a call here on line, too. Hi, good morning. Who's this? Hey, deplorable Patrick here, Bill. Good morning. Morning, D.P. You want to talk with Dennis about something here? Go ahead.

Oh, I think you ought to talk to Bill because he and I have been really flushing this out. Patrick, how are you doing? Not too bad for a kid. What's up? I just wanted to, since it's disagreement day, I want to disagree with Bill, which rarely happened. Okay. He spoke of considering Iran to be a rival.

I think that's quite an understatement. I would use the word threat. Okay. To Israel and threat to the world. Okay. Do you agree with the Secretary of State who, not the Secretary of State? I want to say Mike Huckabee, who was on the record of talking about that you'd be actually okay with Israel running the whole shabang over there. Do you think that would work?

I didn't hear that, and I wouldn't necessarily jump to that. Okay. I think they need to be left alone to live in peace and nothing to be attacked by enemy. If they will live in peace, of course, I guess is the big if, though, right? Wouldn't, I would think that they, I would think they would if they don't have missiles raining down on them. Okay. All right, Patrick, I appreciate the call. All right, Doc.

Doc, I want to shift the gears here before we take off this morning since it is 10 to 9, okay, so we're running out of time. You got it. $15 million ended up coming or plopping out of the state legislature, a bailout for Southern Oregon University. Did you keep track of that one? Did you hear about that story? Yeah, I've heard about it. Let's go into that.

Well, what I wanted to find out, though, is if you think that what the long-term future of a Southern Oregon university, a small and or regional college is. I was looking at analysis over the weekend because I've been concerned about the wokeness which just infests every level of higher education. And at the same time that higher education is unfortunately becoming less economically advantageous. You know, it's not as advantageous to go into $100,000

or $200,000 college debt, you know, these days. And what I am kind of wondering is that if we're going to be seeing some real shrinking going on in a lot of these smaller and regional colleges and universities such as Southern Oregon University and that the $15 million bailout coming from the state legislature maybe too little too late or just kind of rearranging the deck chairs and that you may get to the point where only the colleges and the universities with huge endowments will survive here over the next few. years and that, you know, maybe that this is the opportunity to, to rebuild an education system that's not controlled by the hard left, because the entire institution is controlled by the left with very, very rare exception. I don't, as to the argument of 15 million, the budget bill for, that was approved for Oregon in the 2023 to 2025 biennium is $125 billion. million.

You mean $125 million, right? No, $121 billion. That's two-year budget. That's general fund, lottery fund. Oh, I thought you were talking about the SOU. I thought you were talking about the SOU budget. No, not at all. Okay.

That is minuscule for education. 15 million. That's just minuscule. Now, in terms of woken, SOU is less of that argument, much less than other schools, which I don't want to go into at this moment, because of the fact that the current president is an excellent, excellent manager of the financial aspects that are going on. Now, another thing is that the economic position of SOU is much better here in southern Oregon. It's the only real major university here, so you have people who are attracted here because of the institution.

And rather than having it become the University of Oregon-Ashland Branch, all the decisions then would be made in Portland and in Salem. Yeah, and that's true. You're right about that. My concern is, though, is it really as unwalk as you say, you know, as long as you still have a department of, you know, directors of equity and inclusion, you know, it seems to me you're still, you're still, you know, dancing with that devil, as it were, and I'm just saying that's an issue. Well, my own personal take, my friend, is the fact that it really is true at SUU that the professors are totally for, education of the students with what they're doing. It is education. And that is how you have people that come in there. The problem is, is that you have the legislature that, you know, Bill, in the three and a half decades that I've seen, it's gone from two-thirds help to the different educational institutions to less than one-third and putting a big push on from, Bill, from Salem for whokeness. Until we stop that, we're going to have these arguments that come in. You need

SOU to be independent. Okay. All right. Well, SOU being independent would mean really being out of the state university system if you really wanted to be independent. Wouldn't that be the case? Well, these are very good arguments you're making. My personal feeling, though, my friend, is that SEO does not have the ability or the wherewithal to be a private university, like the University of Denver, for example, or Yale. They just don't have the money. Okay. All right.

Well, I'll send you that article that I was reading here. I thought it was quite interesting in which maybe you can take a look about it and we'll kick it around next week. But what they were trying to push is that the only way we're going to be able, we're not going to be able to reform the educational institutions from within because they are impervious to it. And I would certainly say K through 12 has demonstrated that, unfortunately, quite nicely here in Southern Oregon that, you know, you get on the school. school board, and yet you find out how little you can really control, because the system is still controlled from an ideology from within. And we'll talk about that next week. Okay? You'd be well. Well, that's very true. SOU, however, really has been much more independent with the professors than the way that Salem tries to come in with his tentacles throughout our entire state.

Okay. Go fill your tank up today, though. It's not getting any cheaper. Okay. Thanks, Doc. We'll see you then. Take care. Be well. Dr. Dennis Power is retired professor of business law. This is the Bill of Meyer Show.