text:
MacIver News Service | March 2, 2012
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely young daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
About a month ago...
Groundhog handler John Griffith holds famed weather prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil up to the crowd before Phil makes his annual weather prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the 126th Groundhog Day, February 2, 2012. Phil saw his shadow predicting six more weeks of winter. Photo: Reuters.
"The groundhog's seasonal forecasting accuracy is somewhat low. Phil's Winter prognostications have been correct only 39% of the time."
Crocuses are covered with raindrops on Feb. 28 in Dresden, eastern Germany. First signs of spring come up across the country. Getty Images
Wasn't Germany just creamed with a ton of snow?
A bee collects pollen from an almond blossom in early spring at park in
Then again...
One of the greatest sports stories of all-time, with no live TV, no video, no e-mail, no Twitter, no Internet.
If you haven't read the latest city of
This is very good news for the police department and the citizens of
Congratulations, Officer Harrison and best of luck to you.
It's noteworthy that Officer Harrison began his new full-time duties in August of 2011. At that time, the city of
What if he's elected county supervisor? Would David Clarke's sheriff's department be next?
"As always, we wish you love, peace and soul."
Don Cornelius' catch phrase on his TV show, Soul Train
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
Tonight, the Philly Sound of the 70's.
Last month, Don Cornelius shot himself to death. He was 75.
Cornelius was the host of "Soul Train," the black version of "American Bandstand," from 1970-1993.
The show featured a popular theme song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff who created the Philly Sound."TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" opened the weekly program geared towards black music, fashion and dance. Performing the theme was MFSB, Mother Father Sister Brother, an ensemble of dozens of studio musicians. 70disco.com writes this about MFSB:
"Quality craftsmen were allowed to explore, expand a song's inner meaning while galloping from a smokin' jazz quintet to a 30-piece orchestra in a heartbeat. The group was velvet with a spine, a Love Unlimited Orchestra with grit. They consistently surprised with a theatrical flair."
Tonight, we feature some of their best instrumentals.
MacIver News Service | March 2, 2012
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it's DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Snow showers. High of 34. Snow-covered streets and sidewalks. "F"
SUNDAY: A few show showers. High of 28. "F"
Here's my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week's main blog:
Long-time readers of The Barking Lot know that I have written about many aspects of canine psyches. I find it fascinating to learn new insights into the animal that is truly our best friend. Every week Kevin has news items highlighting how amazing, how noble, how incredible our pets are. I'm sorry but you just never see a news item about how iguanas wake their families to save them from house fires or how a cat dialed 9-1-1 for its owner having an epileptic seizure. Dogs are special. Period.
I've blogged about the science of a dog's brain; that dogs express emotions like humans; and wondered if your dog loves you. Now a new book by author and pet behavior specialist Sarah Whitehead seeks to enlighten owners with ideas of what is going on in their dogs' minds.
For pet parents scratching their heads at their fur-baby's behaviors, Clever Dog could be just the thing they need. Judged an insightful and easy read by Amazon.com customers in the
Monica Cafferky, a writer for the Mirror, took the book to the test with her own pooch Tilly. She shares her own experiences here.
Hopefully our dog won't be a "head case" that mystifies our family. I like my dogs like I like my people: uncomplicated, low-maintenance and easy to be around. But if Fischer's Future Fido seems to have one up on us, I'm sure I'll turn to a book like Ms. Whitehead's.
---Jennifer Fischer
Thanks, Jennifer!
Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
We begin with my good friend, Charlie Sykes, his wife, Janet, and Reggie.
Cuddle a dying pet? Think again.
Dog that mauled newborn is given reprieve.
WI officials revoke dog breeder's license.
Inmate allowed to publish book on aggressive dogs.
Dog yelps for four days before rescue.
Well-trained dog keeps teen on top of her diabetes.
Dog custody cases on the rise.
Can a bad dog change its stripes?
New rules in
Dog rescuers never give up.
Iditarod dogs go to the doctor. What's it really like out there?
An excerpt from,"Soldier Dogs."
Albuquerque dog becomes registered voter...MORE.
Oreo was put in the trash last month. The update.
Can Dog TV make a profit?
What is America's favorite dog?
Americans spend a lot on pets.
Opinion: Dog shows should be more like "American Idol."
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Andrew Breitbart
Frank Hall...MORE...and MORE.
Dr. Mohammed Jawad
Michael King
Jessie Lee Donathan-Howard
Readers of the NY Daily News
AJ Hawk
Batman...I'm not so sure.
Liberals in celebration
California teacher (scumbag)
Adoptive father in Ohio
Jail managers in Texas
Dating sites
Adrian Kline
Jimmy Ray Goodall
The New Orleans Saints...MORE
"The system, we are told, worked. That's always the second-last refuge of scoundrels. The system, we were told after the Watergate scandal, had 'worked,' even though it hadn't, not fully. The system had been truncated by a cheap political pardon, thereby allowing the main miscreant to spend 25 years walking on the beach, fashioning his own myth of persecution and redemption. In the case of Ryan Braun, whose suspension for allegedly taking one of those drugs of which baseball disapproves was overturned by an arbitrator last week, the 'system' did not 'work' because there should never have been a system in the first place, and Braun does not have his own San Clemente in which to hide. He will have to go out in public at least 162 times this year and own somebody else's dreadful mistakes. I do not envy him that job."
Charles Pierce, staff writer for www.grantland.com
"An expert hired by Braun's camp says a 'motivated' person could have easily interfered with those seals. Braun rather sinisterly claimed his legal team learned 'a lot of things' about the man who had possession of his urine for roughly 44 hours. The brain ponders what that man might have done. Put the sample in the fridge between curdled milk and leftover enchiladas? Left it next to a window cracked open?"
Lisa Olson of the Sporting News
"On February 24th, Ryan Braun stated during his press conference that "there were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way that the entire thing worked that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened." Shortly thereafter, someone who had intimate knowledge of the facts of this case released my name to the media. I am issuing this statement to set the record straight.
I am a 1983 graduate of the
October Baby opens March 23 at the Ridge Cinema in
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Braun's story flunks test, too
"We are apparently supposed to believe that the man who collected Braun's sample went home, and began the process of altering it in what would have had to be a rather brilliant scientific way. Added synthetic testosterone to both A and B samples, resealed the sample without the lab detecting that he'd done that, then fooled lab testing as sophisticated as there is in sports. WikiLeaks wasn't nearly this brilliant. We keep hearing these vague suggestions that he, Braun, might sue somebody. He ought to make sure he doesn't get sued himself by Mr. Laurenzi, and have to face the discovery phase of a trial like that."
How I came to admire Andrew Breitbart
Unlike many of Breitbart's friends and admirers who initiated a relationship with him, I was forced to relate with him. And I don't like being forced to do anything.
As I post every Sunday, here are the ten most read blog entries of mine from the previous week. NOTE: some entries may have been posted prior to the past week.
3) Photos of the Week (02/26/12)
4) Great news from the Franklin Police Department
5) Sometimes blog ideas fall like manna from heaven
6) Daddy, can we talk about Ryan Braun?
7) Culinary no-no #266
8) When Mother Nature spoils
9) "So much for that recall effort"
10) Week-ends (03/03/12)
1) Students comfort each other as they leave the scene of a shooting at
2) Doug Gasper, a ninth grader at
3) Alleged gunman T.J. Lane is escorted out of the Geauga County Courthouse Annex by deputies, Feb. 28, 2012, after his court appearance for shooting and killing three students and wounding two others at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. Another student has died from wounds suffered in Monday's shooting rampage at the
4) In this Thursday, March 1, 2012 photo, Chardon High School students form a heart with their hands as a Chardon player attempts free throws during a Division I sectional semifinal high school basketball game at Euclid High School, in Euclid, Ohio. The students showed their support for the victims of a school shooting Monday at Chardon. (AP Photo/The Plain Dealer, John Kuntz)
5) Steve McDonald stands in the debris of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman's home. Osman was killed after a tornado touched down on Feb. 29 in
6) Tony Sherrard searches through debris that used to be his home for family keepsakes March 3, 2012 in
7) Robert Elliott sits in his damaged kitchen after a tornado struck his home in Harrison, Tenn., Saturday, March 3, 2012. Emergency crews desperately searched for survivors Saturday after a violent wave of
8) A school bus is crushed into a business on the east side of U.S. 31 in Henryville, Ind., after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people Friday, March 2. Photo: C.E. Branham / The News and Tribune via AP
9) A marijuana themed belt adorns the victim of an apparent drug-related execution in
10) A South Korean presidential body guard shoots a net at a "terrorist" during an anti-terror drill at the president's residence on Feb. 27, showcasing security preparations for an upcoming nuclear summit in Seoul. Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan / AFP - Getty Images
11) Nicholas Vollmann, a guide with BAM Marketing and Media, leads tour-goers down S. 2nd St. near National Avenue in Milwaukee describing the area where Jeffrey Dahmer used to find his victims. There were more protesters than paying customers. Journal Sentinel photos: Rick Wood.
12) An aerial view of an eastbound VIA passenger train that derailed in
13) Passengers alight from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at Mahe port in
14) The
15) A famous portrait of Jack Nicholson adorns a fake ID with the name Joao Pedro dos
16) U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner honoring Iraq War veterans on Wednesday night. Photo:Joshua Roberts / Reuters
17) Demi Hines kisses her husband airman Michael Hines on the return of the USS Stennis to Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton on March 2 in Bremerton, Wash. Airman Hines finished his first deployment aboard the ship. Sailor Thomas Crawford greets his 6-week-old son, Casey Crawford, for the first time after arriving to the Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton aboard the USS Stennis.Photos: Elaine Thompson / AP.
18) Makpal Abrazakova trains her golden eagle Akzhelke outside her home
19) A wild turkey peeks inside a Bayside home on Saturday. Wild turkeys were reintroduced in
20) Strollers look at the green colored Grone creek near Goettingen, central
21) The northern lights shimmer over Kangerlussuaq in
22) This view of the Orion Nebula, incorporating infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope, highlights fledgling stars hidden in gas and clouds.
23) Backdropped by the historic
24) New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez poses for photographer Nick Laham on photo day during baseball spring training, Monday in
25) Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols signs autographs as fans push one another to get something signed by Pujols after he finished up with his workouts at spring training baseball practice Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, in Tempe, Ariz.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
26) For all you leg men, actress Angelina Jolie arrives before the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Photo: Amy Sancetta / AP
27) Revellers celebrate Clean Monday by participating in a colourful "flour war," a traditional festivity marking the end of the carnival season and the start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter, in the port town of Galaxidi, some 125 miles northwest of Athens on Monday. Photo: Panayiotis Tzamaros / Reuters
28) A man lights his self-made cigar during a cigar rolling seminar at the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday.This year focuses on the Cohiba brand and its famous El Laguito factory and the Romeo y Julieta brand. International sales of luxury Havana Cigars rose 9 per cent in 2011 despite the world financial crisis and antismoking laws, according to Corporacion Habanos
29) Donald Driver rehearses for the upcoming "Dancing with the Stars" with dance partner Peta Murgatroyd. Driver joins other athletes who have competed on past shows, including Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This season's lineup of stars will perform either the foxtrot or the cha-cha for the first time on live national television with their professional partners during the two-hour season premiere. Journal Sentinel photo: Rick Rowell
30) Marquette head coach Buzz Williams leaps as his team plays Georgetown during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 3, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)
31) Base jumper Jeff Provenzano leaps off the top of the The Water Club hotel in
32) People wait in beds during the The World's Biggest Breakfast in Bed Guinness World Record Attempt at Martin Place on March 2, in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images
33) Artist Ben Wilson paints on a piece of discarded chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge, in London on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
34) From the New York Daily News: "Celebs love to experiment with their hairstyles, but there are some bad hair days that are so ridiculous, these stars will never live them down. From Mohawks to mullets and everything in between, take a look at the 'dos that will live on in infamy ... Ke$ha finally has a glam look ... sort of. In an attempt to prove that she's tougher than you, Ke$ha glued gold studs to the side of her head."
35) A model wears a creation for Comme des Garcons as part of the Fall-Winter, ready-to-wear 2013 fashion collection, during Paris Fashion week, Saturday, March 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
Yuko Sugimoto looks at the damage caused by a tsunami and an earthquake in
And you've probably never heard of Stan Stearns, but no doubt you've seen his work.
Ahh. The avocado.
The wonder fruit.
All green and healthy.
And one of the handful of food items Kevin Fischer's taste buds aren't all that crazy about.
I mentioned this last December during Culinary no-no #255, a newly discovered Fischer factoid that caused some conversation amongst a few of my colleagues. One, whose name I won't mention so I'll just call her Dawn, was somewhat incredulous that I didn't devour guacamole as gleefully and as often as she does. I also was the recipient of a mild, brief talking-to about how good avocados are for me (By the way, WORST possible argument to attempt to persuade me to sample something).
In my minute or so of research on the avocado, I learned that in some countries, it is mixed with chocolate to concoct…
That ain't no grasshopper.
The same colleague whose name I won't mention so I'll just refer to her as Dawn insisted I try some of her Chinese last week, tofu dripping in brown sauce. It tasted like week-old french toast begging for flavor, any kind of flavor.
Little did she realize that she had served as inspiration for this blog at that least a baker's dozen will be talking about Monday morning around the water cooler.
Play along with me, folks.
That is a quintessential culinary no-no. The naked hamburger. A complete and utter sacrilege.
Who eats a nothin' burger? Even my guacamole-lovin' colleague who I won't name so I'll just call her Dawn would never fathom such a meal passing her lips. You gotta load that lonesome beef up!
(Think you know where this is headed?)
Let's see. In no particular order, I could easily adorn that bare beef with:
Onions (Raw or fried)
BBQ sauce
Fried egg
Hello, another burger
A brat patty
That great bastion of unbiased, common sense journalism, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
When it comes to burgers, the perfect patty is crucial but really just a starting point.
... Hard-hitting TV, radio and newspaper ads to be run just before each vote, detailing the horrors of abortion and mobilizing the American people. UPDATE FROM KF: There is tremendous interest in this database, so much that the group's two servers have been inundated (and that includes hackers) to the point they've taken all the requests they're capable of handling. WTMJ TV, Channel 4 has a preview. For Immediate Release: March 8, 2012 Contacts: Kim Simac, 715.479.8784 Rush Limbaugh's words have given the radical left the opening they needed – and they have pounced. Rush has apologized. But the radical left will never accept it because they despise him and want him off the air. To the left, this is simply an opportunity to put their attacks on religious liberty in a feminist frame, and an opportunity to try and shut down Limbaugh and end his career. It is all about censorship and hypocrisy. Great News! Previously on This Just In… Recommended Reading Candidates in attendance: Aimee Schlueter, Don Petre, and John Thompson The following appears in the latest edition of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and is re-printed here with permission of the publisher. Friday, March 16, 2012 Bureaucrats Controlling Your Access to Care The following appears in the latest edition of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and is re-printed here with permission of the publisher. Ron Johnson: Republicans must embrace 5 principles to conquer Democrats Preliminary Solution Cost Estimates-- A Trail of Broken Promises Rarely do we see a high school bomb scare in March. This year was different. The recent culprits in Here are some key notes from the report, "Bomb threats in Wisconsin schools," posted on the Wisconsin Association of School Boards website: The MacIver Institute District Report Card takes an innovative look at the Wisconsin's fifty largest public school districts and offers a vigorous analysis and traditional letter grading system in this unique analysis. It rates districts across several different measures to create a comprehensive look at how teachers and administrators are performing in their schools. The Report Card goes beyond the typical parochial comparison of neighboring communities to also focus on how children compete on a global level. With a dynamic global economy perpetually in front of us, a broader focus was needed to better understand how our districts stack up across many metrics. It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In. The shooting death of a 17-year-old is horrible, whatever the circumstances and no matter their race. But progressives seem to care about this case only because of the race of the victim. There are thousands of murders that don't 'fit the bill' for exploitation and thus are ignored by these self-appointed 'justice seekers'." "The state recall process begs for change such as the bill proposed by state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), which would have limited recalls to cases of misconduct in office. Vos says he will continue to push for such a bill; we hope he succeeds in getting one passed." By Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director Remember, purchasing and renewing your season tickets or single game seats has never been easier! Just click on TICKETS, find your seat, and enjoy the game! "We should be outraged by this decision. Today, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments about the constitutionality of ObamaCare's individual mandate. If upheld, the Supreme Court decision will forever impact the way health care is run in our country. Please RSVP by April 9th for the VIP Reception/Remarks and Q & A by sending check to MacIver Institute. To pay by credit card, email email@example.com. Please include the name(s) of those attending and email address for confirmation. Previously on This Just In… Very enlightening. March 30, 2012
From Pro-Life Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Right To Life:
Important Right To Life Links
Sign the petition to bypass Roe v. Wade
Dear Friend,
For 39 years, nine unelected men and women on the Supreme Court have played God with innocent human life.
They have invented laws that condemned to painful deaths without trial more than 56 million babies for the crime of being "inconvenient."
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling forced abortion-on-demand down our nation's throat.
In the past, many in the pro-life movement have felt limited to protecting a life here and there -- passing some limited law to slightly control abortion in the more outrageous cases.
But some pro-lifers always seem to tiptoe around the Supreme Court, hoping they won't be offended.
Now the time to grovel before the Supreme Court is over.
Working from what the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade, pro-life lawmakers can pass a Life at Conception Act and end abortion using the Constitution instead of amending it.
That is why it's so urgent you sign the petition to your Senators and Congressman that I will link to in a moment.
You see, while the national media has talked a lot about the impact of economic issues on this past election, the untold story is just how well pro-life candidates did.
So it is vital every Member of Congress be put on record.
And your petition will help do just that.
Signing the Life at Conception Act petition will help break through the opposition clinging to abortion-on-demand and get a vote on this life-saving bill to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A Life at Conception Act declares unborn children "persons" as defined by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, entitled to legal protection.
This is the one thing the Supreme Court admitted in Roe v. Wade that would cause the case for legal abortion to "collapse."
When the Supreme Court handed down its now-infamous Roe v. Wade decision, it did so based on a new, previously undefined "right of privacy" which it "discovered" in so-called "emanations" of "penumbrae" of the Constitution.
Of course, as constitutional law it was a disaster.
But never once did the Supreme Court declare abortion itself to be a constitutional right.
Instead the Supreme Court said:
"We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins . . . the judiciary at this point in the development of man's knowledge is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."
Then the High Court made a key admission:
"If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [i.e., "Roe" who sought an abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."
The fact is, the 14th Amendment couldn't be clearer:
". . . nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law."
Furthermore, the 14th Amendment says:
"Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
That's exactly what a Life at Conception Act would do.
But this simple, logical and obviously right legislation will not become law without a fight.
And that's where your help is critical.
You see, it will be a tough fight, but I believe with your signed petition it is one we can win.
Please click here to sign your petition right away.
By turning up the heat through a massive, national, grass-roots campaign in this session of Congress, one of two things will happen.
If you and other pro-life activists pour on enough pressure, pro-lifers can force politicians from both parties who were elected on pro-life platforms to make good on their promises and ultimately win passage of this bill.
But even if a Life at Conception Act doesn't pass immediately, the public attention will send another crew of radical abortionists down to defeat in the next election.
Either way, the unborn win . . . unless you do nothing.
That's why the National Pro-Life Alliance is contacting hundreds of thousands of Americans just like you to mobilize a grass-roots army to pass a Life at Conception Act.
The first thing you must do is sign your petition by clicking here.
They are the key ingredient in the National Pro-Life Alliance's plan to pass a Life at Conception Act. They'll also organize:
Wisconsin, Your Voice is Needed: Contact Your Lawmakers Today!
Wisconsin's 2011-2012 legislative session is quickly nearing its end. On March 15th, Legislators will drop the gavel signaling the end of perhaps the most successful free market reform session in state history. But, before our leaders leave Madison, there is still work that needs to be done. Two important bills hang in the balances and we need your help to support these bills that will make Wisconsin a better place to live and work.
A radio talk show host calls a woman a "slut"
He's liberal talker Ed Schultz. It happened in May of 2011:
Is voter ID racist?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in its coverage of a biased Dane County judge's ruling temporarily striking down the photo ID law in Wisconsin writes:
"(Judge David) Flanagan found the impact of the law hit disproportionately hard on the elderly, indigent and minorities."
It's really unfair.
A tremendous burden.
Totally discriminatory.
Not according to the American people.
Mamas don't send your babies to Georgetown to major in math
"Forty percent of the female students at
"Although Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke testified to the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee last month that contraception can cost a law student $3,000 over three years and that some of her fellow students could not afford it, a Target store only 3 miles from the law school currently sells a month's supply of birth control pills for only $9 to people who do not have insurance plans covering contraceptives."
Scott Walker - Promises kept
New ad tells what liberals and the news media would like us to forget: Under Jim Doyle, the state lost 150,000 jobs.
A radio talk show host mocks the deaths of tornado victims
He's liberal talker Mike Malloy.
The next time you're in ...
Speaking of Disney...
254 miles per gallon?
Good luck, Professor.
Amanda Clayton is what's wrong with America
A poster child for the entitlement crowd.
Verify The Recall Database is ONLINE NOW
UPDATE from Wisconsin State Journal
"After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?"
One of the recurring topics I've addressed while filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN has been what I see as the growing disturbing trend of a total disregard for human life. A new entry in the Journal of Medical Ethics clearly falls into this category.
It's chilling, despicable, heartless, evil. Written by Alberto Giubilini (Department of Philosophy, University of Milan, Milan, Italy) and Francesca Minerva( University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia) the article's title is outrageous enough:
After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
After-birth abortion? That would be cold-blooded intentional murder.
Here are some excerpts:
"Severe abnormalities of the fetus and risks for the physical and/or psychological health of the woman are often cited as valid reasons for abortion. Sometimes the two reasons are connected, such as when a woman claims that a disabled child would represent a risk to her mental health. However, having a child can itself be an unbearable burden for the psychological health of the woman or for her already existing children,1 regardless of the condition of the fetus. This could happen in the case of a woman who loses her partner after she finds out that she is pregnant and therefore feels she will not be able to take care of the possible child by herself.
"A serious philosophical problem arises when the same conditions that would have justified abortion become known after birth. In such cases, we need to assess facts in order to decide whether the same arguments that apply to killing a human fetus can also be consistently applied to killing a newborn human.
"An examination of 18 European registries reveals that between 2005 and 2009 only the 64% of Down's syndrome cases were diagnosed through prenatal testing. This percentage indicates that, considering only the European areas under examination, about 1700 infants were born with Down's syndrome without parents being aware of it before birth. Once these children are born, there is no choice for the parents but to keep the child, which sometimes is exactly what they would not have done if the disease had been diagnosed before birth.
"Euthanasia in infants has been proposed by philosophers for children with severe abnormalities whose lives can be expected to be not worth living and who are experiencing unbearable suffering.
"Also medical professionals have recognised the need for guidelines about cases in which death seems to be in the best interest of the child. In The
"…people with Down's syndrome, as well as people affected by many other severe disabilities, are often reported to be happy.
"Nonetheless, to bring up such children might be an unbearable burden on the family and on society as a whole, when the state economically provides for their care. On these grounds, the fact that a fetus has the potential to become a person who will have an (at least) acceptable life is no reason for prohibiting abortion. Therefore, we argue that, when circumstances occur after birth such that they would have justified abortion, what we call after-birth abortion should be permissible.
"In spite of the oxymoron in the expression, we propose to call this practice 'after-birth abortion', rather than 'infanticide', to emphasise that the moral status of the individual killed is comparable with that of a fetus (on which 'abortions' in the traditional sense are performed) rather than to that of a child. Therefore, we claim that killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be.
"…it should also be permissible to practise an after-birth abortion on a healthy newborn too, given that she has not formed any aim yet.
"There are two reasons which, taken together, justify this claim:
1) The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus, that is, neither can be considered a 'person' in a morally relevant sense.
2) It is not possible to damage a newborn by preventing her from developing the potentiality to become a person in the morally relevant sense.
"Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a 'person' in the sense of 'subject of a moral right to life'. We take 'person' to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her."Merely being human is not in itself a reason or ascribing someone a right to life.
"Although fetuses and newborns are not persons, they are potential persons because they can develop, thanks to their own biological mechanisms, those properties which will make them 'persons' in the sense of 'subjects of a moral right to life': that is, the point at which they will be able to make aims and appreciate their own life.
"It might be claimed that someone is harmed because she is prevented from becoming a person capable of appreciating her own being alive. Thus, for example, one might say that we would have been harmed if our mothers had chosen to have an abortion while they were pregnant with us or if they had killed us as soon as we were born. However, whereas you can benefit someone by bringing her into existence (if her life is worth living), it makes no sense to say that someone is harmed by being prevented from becoming an actual person. The reason is that, by virtue of our definition of the concept of 'harm' in the previous section, in order for a harm to occur, it is necessary that someone is in the condition of experiencing that harm.
"If a potential person, like a fetus and a newborn, does not become an actual person, like you and us, then there is neither an actual nor a future person who can be harmed, which means that there is no harm at all. So, if you ask one of us if we would have been harmed, had our parents decided to kill us when we were fetuses or newborns, our answer is 'no', because they would have harmed someone who does not exist (the 'us' whom you are asking the question), which means no one. And if no one is harmed, then no harm occurred.
"The alleged right of individuals (such as fetuses and newborns) to develop their potentiality, which someone defends, is over-ridden by the interests of actual people (parents, family, society) to pursue their own well-being because, as we have just argued, merely potential people cannot be harmed by not being brought into existence. Actual people's well-being could be threatened by the new (even if healthy) child requiring energy, money and care which the family might happen to be in short supply of. Sometimes this situation can be prevented through an abortion, but in some other cases this is not possible. In these cases, since non-persons have no moral rights to life, there are no reasons for banning after-birth abortions.
"If criteria such as the costs (social, psychological, economic) for the potential parents are good enough reasons for having an abortion even when the fetus is healthy, if the moral status of the newborn is the same as that of the infant and if neither has any moral value by virtue of being a potential person, then the same reasons which justify abortion should also justify the killing of the potential person when it is at the stage of a newborn.
"…if a disease has not been detected during the pregnancy, if something went wrong during the delivery, or if economical, social or psychological circumstances change such that taking care of the offspring becomes an unbearable burden on someone, then people should be given the chance of not being forced to do something they cannot afford."
David Pohlmann, a senior lecturer at the Christian Heritage Ciollege wrote a response, in part:
Dear Editor,
When I began to read this article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, I initially thought the authors were writing somewhat tongue-in- cheek. My intrigue turned to dismay when I realized that they were actually arguing that killing newborn babies is morally justifiable. Law would call post-birth abortion murder, infanticide, or possibly euthanasia, but the authors argue that such an act should not be referred to as infanticide, claiming it to be morally equal to abortion; and reject the term euthanasia because they are not necessarily interested in the well-being of the baby concerned. They argue that 'the moral status of [a newborn] is comparable with that of a fetus' , hence the use of the term after-birth abortion.
The authors accept that there are some arguments brought to bear by people who would oppose abortion. They admit that 'people with Down's syndrome, as well as people affected by many other severe disabilities, are often reported to be happy.' , but gloss over this as if it is not important to their argument proposing that some such people should die at birth. While not rejecting the truth of such reports of happiness in life, the authors simply regard this evidence as immaterial to their argument. When the authors state that "It might be maintained that 'even allowing for the more optimistic assessments of the potential of Down's syndrome children, this potential cannot be said to be equal to that of a normal child'" , they are allowing tyranny of the bell curve to guide their proposed behavior. After all, the concept of 'normal' is a statistical function of central tendency and in itself simply a statement of what is, not a means of proposing what should be. If we retrospectively implemented these kinds of ideas, the world would have been robbed of people like Helen Keller, Andrea Bocelli and Nick Vujicic simply because someone decided they weren't normal.
Surely value as persons is something that all humans are born with? The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights'. The
The authors state that 'in order for a harm to occur, it is necessary that someone is in the condition of experiencing that harm.', but they have proposed harm to these children as they purport to stealing their very future, and therefore all future experiences, good and bad, would be dissolved by those doctors, neurologists and psychologists informing the decisions of parents . It puts an enormous burden on the moral or ethical judgements of those, in whose power it is, to 'abort' newborn babies. The authors' thesis calls on such professionals to assume the role of 'god' by determining which humans have value and which ones don't-I personally wouldn't want that job! If, as Churchill is attested to have said, it is true that 'you measure the degree of civilisation of a society by how it treats its weakest members' what kind of society are the authors of this article proposing?
E-mails, I get e-mails: British humor is different
The St. Patrick's Day parade is...Saturday?
You read that correctly.
I admit I have no idea why the annual downtown St. Patrick's Day Parade is on March 10, and not SATURDAY, MARCH 17, ST. PATRICK'S DAY!
But it's a great family event.
Wisconsin Tea Party Reaction to the Mining Bill Debacle
Defending the American Dream Summit Saturday, March 24th in Milwaukee
The Liberal Double Standard
WRTL Legislative Agenda in Home Stretch
Stand With Governor Walker
Dear Conservatives,
Gov. Scott Walker is in the fight of his life right now in Wisconsin because he dared to stand up to the big labor unions and challenge the status quo. Now they are doing everything they can to see that he is recalled - in fact, they are already on television, running ads smearing Gov. Walker and his record. They are only just getting started.
This might be the most important race in America this year. If the Unions win and take down this good man, it will be a crushing blow to the cause of reform. What's more, it will be a generation before any Governor dares to take on these labor unions again.
Please check out the email below from Governor Walker describing the battle in which he is engaged. He needs our help.
For America,
Herman Cain
Dear Conservative,
As the duly elected Governor of Wisconsin I have been steadfast in my beliefs that limited government and fiscal responsibility should be the cornerstone of putting my state back on the road to prosperity.
I am facing a potential recall by the big-government public employee unions and their minions who are threatened by the voters actually being in charge of where their tax dollars are being sent.
In November of 2010, the majority of Wisconsin voters resoundingly said enough is enough to the status quo and put me in charge of a state that had been beholden to big-government special interests with a tax-and-spend mentality that created a $3.6 billion deficit.
In less than a year we were able to eliminate this deficit and provide the freedom of choice for public employees. Our reforms are allowing them to decide if they would like to spend more than a thousand dollars a year in union dues or keep their money. We put a stop to the unions' railroading of the taxpayer's hard-earned dollars.
What we need now is your help in telling the unions we do not want another tax-and-spend liberal at the reins of power in Wisconsin. You can do this by contributing $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford by clicking here.
I have been a man of my word to the voters of this state and have always led by putting the interests of Wisconsin taxpayers first.
Since taking office, I have eliminated a bureaucratic and bloated budget mess left by the previous administration without raising taxes or laying off state workers. Thousands of Wisconsinites are back on the job, and statewide property taxes have decreased for the first time in years. Stand with me today with a generous contribution of $20, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford.
The people of Wisconsin deserve to see the bold and courageous choices I have made come to fruition. It is time to stop these out-of-state special interests in their tracks and let them know that our conservative values will not be taken lightly.
With your help, I will be the first Governor of Wisconsin elected twice in my first term.
Thank you for your support,
Scott Walker
P.S. Don't let the liberal elite and the Big Government Union Bosses control this election. Will you help Governor Walker spread his message of positive reform with a generous contribution today of $20, $50, $100? Thank you!
Paid for by Friends of Scott Walker.
Models of the Week
This could be a regular feature on This Just In…but it won't.
On occasion during Photos of the Week on Sunday mornings I'll include what I call an obligatory model photo. These pictures are so, what's the phrase, over the top, one can't imagine someone actually attending a dinner party or walking down the street in such a get-up.
This week's samples were especially outrageous, so if there was a Models of the Week blog, here's what it would look like:
A model walks the runway during the John Galliano Ready-To-Wear Fall/Winter 2012 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Espace Ephemere Tuileries on March 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
A model walks the runway during the John Galliano Ready-To-Wear Fall/Winter 2012 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Espace Ephemere Tuileries on March 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
A detail of a model is seen as she walks the runway during the John Galliano Ready-To-Wear Fall/Winter 2012 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Espace Ephemere Tuileries on March 4, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
A model wears a creation by French designer Jean Charles De Castelbajac for his Fall-Winter, ready-to-wear 2013 fashion collection, during Paris Fashion week, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/ Francois Mori)
Goodnight everyone, and have a real oldie but goodie Elvis weekend!
"You learn a lot about people when you listen to the songs that mean something to them."
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
A few weeks ago I highlighted selections from Paul McCartney's latest album. Sir Paul became the latest artist to delve into gems from ancient songbooks. The ex-Beatle's treatment got me wondering what my favorite singer, Elvis would be doing had he survived to be 65, 70, or older. Would Elvis be putting his stamp on standards?
The King was ahead of his time. As a very young performer, Elvis did renditions of old songs, some that one would think a rocker would stay away from.
Tonight, we open the Elvis vault.
We begin with a track from the "B" side of the "Loving You" soundtrack. Side "A" featured all the songs from the film. Some were rather short, less than two minutes. So on the "B" side, Elvis sang some ballads. One of them was Cole Porter's 1956 composition, "True Love." Today, it's a true classic standard.
This video features the vocal with added strings and scenes of Elvis with some of his leading ladies. See how many you recognize.
Goodnight everyone, and have a real oldie but goodie Elvis weekend!
"You learn a lot about people when you listen to the songs that mean something to them."
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
A few weeks ago I highlighted selections from Paul McCartney's latest album. Sir Paul became the latest artist to delve into gems from ancient songbooks. The ex-Beatle's treatment got me wondering what my favorite singer, Elvis would be doing had he survived to be 65, 70, or older. Would Elvis be putting his stamp on standards?
The King was ahead of his time. As a very young performer, Elvis did renditions of old songs, some that one would think a rocker would stay away from.
Tonight, we open the Elvis vault.
We begin with a track from the "B" side of the "Loving You" soundtrack. Side "A" featured all the songs from the film. Some were rather short, less than two minutes. So on the "B" side, Elvis sang some ballads. One of them was Cole Porter's 1956 composition, "True Love." Today, it's a true classic standard.
This video features the vocal with added strings and scenes of Elvis with some of his leading ladies. See how many you recognize.
The Barking Lot (03/10/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it's DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Wake up to 30 degrees, then, a warm-up. Sunny and windy. High of 55. "B"
SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy. High of 60. "B"
Here's my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week's main blog:
At the time my parents adopted our literally "free to a good home" Basenji-Cocker Spaniel mix her name was Charlene. That didn't stay long, as they asked me what I wanted to name her. My response: "Sugar." Hey, what did I know? I was two. Or maybe I did have some insight into the dog that would be by my side the next seventeen years. She truly was the sweetest dog you would ever hope to meet.
Week-ends (03/10/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Stephanie Decker
Rachel Weeks and Amy McDonaugh
Jan Lisewski
Jonathan Corbett
Damian Lopez Alfonso ...Alfonso will represent Cuba at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Vance West
Tanisha Andrade
Mike Malloy and Richard Cohen
Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Matt Taibbi, Ed Schultz...but especially Bill Maher
Anna Gristina
Sherrie Shorten
San Antonio Independent School District officials
Southwest Airlines
"My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."
Rush Limbaugh
"Talk about a double standard. Rappers can say anything they want about women. It's called art. And they win awards."
Rush Limbaugh, radio host, after saying his apology to the
"Execute Rush, now!" and "Don't just drop sponsorship someone kill this pig now please!!!!"
Death threats on Rush Limbaugh's facebook page
"would be nice to see that fat douche taken down but I'm not holding my breath" and "crossing fingers for a huge heart attack."
Comments directed at Limbaugh on the LA Times Facebook wall
"Hate to defend #Rush Limbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout."
Bill Maher
"Tonight we are counting up the delegates for the convention and counting down the days until November."
Mitt Romney, Republican presidential frontrunner, on his getting closer to the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination; Romney won six out of 10 contests on "Super Tuesday"
"Senate rejection of the mining reforms in Assembly Bill 426 sends a clear message that Wisconsin will not welcome iron mining. We get the message. GTac is ending plans to invest in a
Statement by Gogebic Taconite, LLC President Bill Williams on the state Senate's rejection of a mining bill.
"The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to 'please do not feed the animals' because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves."
Columnist Doug Giles
"By the way, have you noticed that many people from Obama's past live in abject poverty? His half brother lives in a shack in
The blog, American Glob
"As a Catholic myself, and a supporter of Catholic institutions, what Sandra Fluke is telling me is that her birth control needs trump the needs of my family. She wants my hard earned dollars to go not to pay for my kids' braces, their college educations or my retirement, but to subsidize her sex life."
Blogger Teri Christoph
"I'm worried about this campaign. Too ugly. I really don't like it, and I think it's too bad, very much, for Mitt Romney. I think it's been the worst campaign I've ever seen in my life."
Former First Lady Barbara Bush
"I thought about Malia and Sasha. And one of the things I want them … to be able to do is speak their minds in a civil and thoughtful way, and I don't want them attacked or called horrible names they're being good citizens."
President Obama invoking his daughters in the contraception controversy.
"You're alive, and you get to see your kids grow up."
Joe Decker of Marysville, Indiana, addressing his wife, Stephanie Decker, who lost her legs protecting her children from the tornado that tore through
"It's better to be a dictator than gay."
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, in response to a statement by Germany's openly gay Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, that Lukashenko's government was the "last dictatorship in
'Keep working America, illegal aliens are depending on you."
Cardinal Dolan's letter to all bishops.
That no good rotten Rush.
Self-described sluts protest use of the word 'slut.'
By golly, it does look like George!
That's it for Week-ends. Thanks for stopping by.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted:
4TH UPDATE: Voting for Franklin School Board is very easy
The update: Franklin School Board candidates Donald Petre and John Thompson both signed the
On Tuesday April 3, vote for:
Janet Evans
Aimee Schlueter
Recommended Reading (03/11/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Jauch, Wisconsin losers in missed mining venture
"With its ability to move forward thwarted by Wisconsin politicians, Gogebic is expected to take its $1.5 billion to neighboring
Judge Flanagan must step aside in voter ID case
"While possibly legal under Wisconsin statutes, one has to question Flanagan's ethics for presiding over the case in the first place while keeping secret the fact that he signed the recall petition."
What if?
"This is the question pondered by prognosticators. And given the biggest political year in
What if recall elections against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and several GOP state senators go forward?
How will those recall elections impact an already important election year that features an open U.S. Senate seat for the first time since 1988, regular legislative elections and a pivotal presidential contest?
The most predictable thing is the unpredictability of the what-if scenarios and the political times we're in."
The Rush Limbaugh boycott is a miserable failure
"Sandra Fluke and other liberals who were DELIGHTED by all the attention she was getting, pretended to be offended and started trying to get Rush's sponsors to cancel. Soon, the claims about the numbers of sponsors 'cancelling' started to rise, Rush apologized, and liberals thought they had him on the ropes. This time Rush Limbaugh was over, done, finished, kaput. However, when you look a little closer..."
Cardinal Dolan's letter to all U.S. bishops
"We have made it clear in no uncertain terms to the government that we are not at peace with its invasive attempt to curtail the religious freedom we cherish as Catholics and Americans. We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.
Of course, we maintained from the start that this is not a 'Catholic' fight alone. I like to quote as often as possible a nurse who emailed me, 'I'm not so much mad about all this as a Catholic, but as an American.' And as we recall, a Baptist minister, Governor Mike Huckabee observed, 'In this matter, we're all Catholics.' No doubt you have heard numerous statements just like these. We are grateful to know so many of our fellow Americans, especially our friends in the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, stand together in this important moment in our country. They know that this is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical contraception. It's about religious freedom, the sacred right of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry.
So the important question arises: What to do now?
Perhaps the courts offer the most light."
Ultrasound, ultra-truth
"The media speak of 'women' as a monolithic group who consistently subscribe to the liberal-secular line. But there are many women -- I have met a few -- whose voices are rarely, if ever, heard. These women either decided to give birth after seeing an ultrasound image, or regretted having had an abortion and would testify that if they had seen an ultrasound image before the procedure they would have made a different choice. Does not seeing an ultrasound image change the reality of abortion?"
I just found out Republicans are oppressing me
"...let's talk about Dr. Curtis Boyd for a second. He commits abortions (right here in
So forgive me if I am simultaneously yawning and rolling my eyes when Boyd acts concerned about women being "abused" by a sonogram probe. Okay, Boyd: if the probe is abusive to a woman, what is it when you jam things into her cervix and suck her baby out of her? It ain't no foot massage."
What if government treated eating the way it treats sex?
"It's a useful distinction to consider. A particular moral idea governs left-wing views on social and health matters, and the left's purpose with political advocacy is to put the power of government behind that view. By examining the left's very different policy approaches to eating and sex, we can discern the features of the morality at work."
40 embarrassing things that America is the best in the world at
"The statistics that you are about to read are incredibly disturbing. Most people that write these kinds of articles about the decline of
What you lose when you sign that donor card
"The last time I renewed my driver's license, the clerk at the DMV asked if she should check me off as an organ donor. I said no. She looked at me and asked again. I said, 'No. Just check the box that says, 'I am a heartless, selfish bastard.'
Becoming an organ donor seems like a win-win situation. But…"
How "springing forward" hits workers Monday
"The good news is the sun will be up longer in the evenings, giving you more time to do a post-work run or play catch with the kids. The bad news is you'll temporarily throw your circadian rhythm out of whack."
Sandra Fluke scores her first product endorsement
My Most Popular Blogs (03/11/12)
As I post every Sunday, here are the ten most read blog entries of mine from the previous week. NOTE: some entries may have been posted prior to the past week.
1) Verify The Recall Database is ONLINE NOW
2) Photos of the Week (03/04/12)
3) A radio talk show host calls a woman a "slut"
4) Jobs, the Mining Bill, and the Pending Recalls
5) Stand With Governor Walker
6) Culinary no-no #267
7) Scott Walker - Promises kept
8) Madison judge tosses photo ID law: What you won't read in our local paper
9) 254 miles per gallon?
10) Amanda Clayton is what's wrong with
Photos of the Week (03/11/12)
1) Two women cry after laying flowers where a house once stood in the tsunami devastated Yuriage district, Natori city,
2) Wall of water: This combination photograph shows one of the most noted images from the March 11, 2011, Japanese tsunami -- a defense wall in Miyako being overwhelmed by the wall of water thrown up by a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake, one of the largest on record. The second photo was taken on Feb. 17, 2012. Miyako City, Toru Hanai / Reuter
3) A man holds a gun as Tulsa County sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement officers surround him on the plaza in front of the Tulsa County courthouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 7, 2012.
4) Illinois gun owners and supporters participate in an Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day rally at the Illinois State Capitol Wednesday, March 7, 2012 in
5) Paul Tennesen, of Madison, carries a recall Walker license plate at a rally Saturday at the state Capitol. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo: Gary Porter
6) Graves of British soldiers who fought and died during the North African desert battles of WWII were recently desecrated by a mob of angry Libyans. Local reports claimed that Islamists, angered by the recent burning of a Quran at a NATO military base in
7) Polling station officials clash with topless members of Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN at a polling station in
8) An Iranian war veteran who was exposed to chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War waits in line to vote while carrying a tank of oxygen to breathe. The 9th 'majlis' or election of parliament was held March 2, 2012, in
9) Hokom Al, a disabled woman, uses her foot to pour coffee which she prepared for neighbours at her home in a rural area near Khartoum, Sudan, on March 7, 2012. The 45 year old was born without hands. Here, she uses her mouth to hang clothes to dry in a rural area in
10) The skeletal remains of Patty Robinson are seen at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility in
11) A towering dust devil casts a serpentine shadow over the Martian surface in this image, acquired on Feb. 16 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech /
12) An aurora borealis swirls in the sky over the Yukon River village of Ruby, Alaska, a checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on March 9. Photo: Marc Lester / The Anchorage Daily News via AP
13) People push a bottlenose whale in an attempt to save it at Colcura beach near Concepcion city, some 311 miles south of Santiago March 7, 2012. The bottlenose whale which was dragged to the sea with a fishing boat, according to local media. Photo: Jose Luis Saavedra / Reuters
14) A boy hugs a greyhound that will be placed in temporary foster care at his home in
15) Thousands of spiders build new webs after floodwaters forced them to move to higher ground, in Wagga Wagga, Australia on March 6, 2012. Photo: Lukas Coch / EPA
16) A man displays a two-headed turtle 'Testudo horsfieldi' at National Museum of natural history in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, March 5, 2012. Besides the two heads, look again, the reptile has six legs. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP
17) Children and parents are dwarfed by a whale shark as it passes by inside a tank March 6, 2012 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia. The whale shark is the largest living fish species. Photo: Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images
18) A great gray owl perches on a branch in a neighborhood park on Friday, March 9, 2012, in south Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the owl's distinctive facial disk and its feathers help direct sounds toward its ear openings, and that it can hear mice and other rodents under two feet of snow. Bird watchers have reported repeated sightings of the normally reclusive great gray owl in
19) A 3-week-old gray squirrel suffered bruising to her leg and was separated from her mother when she fell from a tree last week. The squirrel, named Violet, endured the ordeal when the branch that held her nest was cut down. Fortunately, the couple cutting down the tree spotted Violet and immediately phoned the Wildlife Aid Foundation for advice on what to do. The foundation, based in the English town of
20) Cash Hadley kisses a goat at the Miracle Rodeo at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. The event caters to special needs children and adults and helps to kick off the Southeastern Livestock Exposition Rodeo this weekend. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Amanda Sowards)
21) Britain's Prince Harry, right, and Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt run during a mock race in Kingston, Jamaica, Tuesday March 6, 2012. The Prince was in
22) Britain's Prince Harry wins against Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt, seen rear, by making a false start, Tuesday March 6 2012 at a mock race at the University of the West Indies, in
23) A Nightlight's Thomas Taylor (2nd right) runs to head a goal as Philadelphia Killawatts' team members chase him with stun guns during an Ultimate Tak Ball (UTB) game in Bangkok on March 2, 2012. Photo: Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters. Watch video.
24) Sisters Bailey Lessard (left),12, and Blake Lessard, 10, of Waterford said they loved dressing up and being able to cheer during the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin's 46th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Milwaukee. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo: Michael Sears
25) Judge Roberto Castenega of Argentina, samples the aroma of one of the entries in the Semi-soft Goat's Milk Cheese category during the opening day of the World Championship Cheese Contest at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wis. on Monday, March 5, 2012. More than 2,500 entries were udged throughout the three day gathering, sponsored every two years by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Hart)
26) Bill Schlingsog, left, of Middleton, Wis., passes off the championship trophy to Peter Piersma, a judge and representing the
27) Patrons sample cheeses during the final judging at the 2012 World Champion Cheese Contest Wednesday, March 7, 2012, in
28) A 30-foot replica of Michelangelo's David is parked in front of the Storefront for Art and Architecture on March 6 in the Soho area of
29) Ananda Marchildon opens a bottle during a meeting with the press at her lawyers office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Marchildon, a former winner of the television show "
30) Married actors William H. Macy, left, and Felicity Huffman share a kiss after a rare double star ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in
31) A pregnant Jessica Simpson is pictured on the cover of the April 2012 issue of Elle magazine. Photo: Carter Smith / Hearst Magazines via Reuters. The pose should look familiar.
32) An exotic dancer gets the attention of her audience as she performs during the 2012 Sex and Entertainment Expo in
33) YIKES! Maria Jose Cristerna, a mother of four, tattoo artist and former lawyer, poses for a photograph in
34) Freeze frame!
The Smithsonian magazine's 9th annual photo contest finalists have been chosen. The contest attracted over 14 thousand photographers from all 50 states and over 100 countries. Fifty finalists from 67,059 images were selected by Smithsonian editors. Those editors will also choose the Grand Prize Winner and the winners in each of the five categories which include The Natural World,
Take a look.
Elvis and the wx
From the 1965 musical romantic comedy ...
Heard and seen two doors down as I was grilling my burgers at 5:50 this afternoon...
A neighbor riding his mower.
I refuse to jinx us with any mention of an early you know what.
Culinary no-no #268
NOTE: This week's segment is a combination of two previous Culinary no-no blogs.
St. Patrick's Day menus across America next Saturday will be dominated by corned beef and cabbage, potato dishes, stews, and fish and chips. Chicken and beef entrees will incorporate sauces from Guinness and Irish Mist.
I love it all but the fact is if you're hoping to re-create a traditional Irish St. Patrick's Day menu, none of that stuff will do.
The combo of corned beef and cabbage was concocted in America.
According to Nation's Restaurant News, "In Ireland it's more common to eat 'boiler bacon,' which is brined pork shoulder, more like American ham. But when Irish immigrants arrived in New York, corned beef was the closest thing on hand."
If you're dining out on St. Patty's Day and order Irish stew, the odds are it won't be Irish stew even if it says Irish stew on the menu.
Nation's Restaurant News reports Los Angeles restaurateur and Ireland native Gerry Gilliland says a real Irish stew is greasy with a lamb bone boiled with potatoes and onions. In her restaurant, she uses beef that's been braised in Guinness with carrots, parsnip and rutabaga.
"What we do is not a traditional Irish stew because Americans wouldn't like that," she says.
Care for some black and white pudding?
Paul Wilson of Boston's Black Rose Restaurant and Pub says it's part of a popular, traditional breakfast in Ireland.
Barley, bread, and seasonings are used to make the white pudding along with bacon, onions and herbs.
What makes the pudding black?
Pig's blood.
Try asking for that at Mo's.
Wilson says if you want to prepare a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal, "Don't go with the typical corned beef & cabbage or the 'boiled dinner'. Do something different. Get a decent piece of gammon (it's a cut of ham). Instead of doing chunks of cabbage, sautee it a little, put some mustard cream sauce over it. Instead of regular potatoes, try some colcannon."
Travel writer Stuart Buchanan MacWatt recalls a St. Patrick's Day dinner he had in Kilkenny, Ireland, distinctly remembering the steak and kidney pie. The ingredients include:
Two lbs. round steak of beef.
Half lb. beef kidney.
Two tbs. flour.
3 ounces lard or vegetable shortening.
Six medium sized onions.
Two tbs. brown sugar.
Six slices Irish or Canadian Bacon.
Four field mushrooms, or one Portabello mushroom.
One pint of Guinness, or Murphy's Stout.
A good sprig of fresh parsley, chopped.
Shortcrust pastry.
Salt and pepper to taste.
A well-filled glass of Irish Whiskey.
All of this traditional Irish fare may not sound all that appetiizing, but the fact is Irish cuisine is no longer bangers and mash and lamb casserole.
Vincent Fanari runs the Plough & the Stars in Philadelphia. He says some of the best restaurants in Ireland have calamari tabbouleh on their menus.
And again, from Nation's Restaurant News:
"Dublin has become a very, very cosmopolitan city," John Conolly, the 34-year-old chef and owner of Connollys Restaurant in Los Angeles, says of his hometown. "There's Indian food and Mexican food. When I was growing up, paprika was about as spicy as it got. All you did with garlic was kill a vampire. Now my brother in Ireland talks about using cilantro."
Whatever you eat on St. Patrick's Day, you certainly will be following Irish tradition if you down a Guinness and/or Irish whiskey. Some traditions never die.
And that means...green beer on March 17.
Photo: Associatedcontent.com
Now sure and you're not gonna be goin' on your blog and be sayin' green beer on the holy day of St. Patrick's Day is taboo, are ya?
No, I'm not. At least not in this country.
In the year of 1992, me mother and I were in
March 17th in Ireland is, to a much larger degree than in the good ol' USA, a sacred holiday. And I do mean holiday. Schools and most businesses are closed. The St. Patrick's parade that goes on and on for at least three hours or more, when completed and only then leads to the opening of the doors of pubs and restaurants.You won't find a single green beer to save your God-fearing soul.
Everyone who stumbles out of a
But what about other concoctions? I'm talking about creative potables that are designed to be green.
In this day and age we have taken the martini and have turned the classic cocktail into alcohol's Baskin Robbins times twenty. Want a chocolate banana cherry watermelon pineapple upside down cake version, shaken not stirred? Coming right up.
Martini-palooza has turned out to be extremely popular. Why not do the same with Irish whiskey? Because there's something about messing with the stalwart Irish whiskey that is sacrilegious.
When I traveled to
Who would be so stupid as to fool with quality Irish whiskey in order to cocktail-ize it for an occasion like St. Patrick's Day? Idiot fool Americans, that's who.
On Saturday, everyone's Irish. That means, unfortunately, that poor bartenders will have to put up with amateurs insistent that they whip up something cool and neat as long as it's green or has Irish something or other in it.
Don't be dumb on St. Patty's Day. Have a green beer, some honest to goodness Irish whiskey, or some Bailey's with nothing, I mean nothing in it.
I agree with this New York Times writer: Wear the green but don't drink it.
E-mails, I get e-mails: Should I Really Join Facebook?
A good laugh for the older crowd:
When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.
That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie, Twittererific, Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.
My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.
The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [its red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.
I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead here comes the sarcastic remarks. Well, it was not a good relationship.
When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.
To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.
The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them in with me.
Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look. I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."
P.S. I know some of you are not that old. I sent it to you to allow you to forward it to those who are. We don't need any more gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.
The latest pro-life news (03/12/12)
From Pro-Life Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Right To Life:
Don't Miss Michelle Malkin in Milwaukee!
"We've gotten to the point in our culture where we're all sex addicts, literally"
The quote is from...
Apparently, many folks are still interested in my April 2010 blog, "I have always loved Raquel Welch." So, I've put in a timely update that elaborates on the above quote.
GAB slams Verify the Recall Effort
The GAB needs to be disbanded and eliminated.
Coming Tuesday: Another setback for the Walker recall crowd
A new report shows the reforms instituted by Governor Scott Walker are working. From Wisconsin Reporter:
"Wisconsin school districts have realized significant savings either through the implementation of collective bargaining changes or the threat of them, according to an analysis by the Michigan-based Education Action Group Foundation, known as EAG, a nonprofit research organization promoting school spending reform.
'I have to be honest with you, half the administrators I talked to for this said they were not happy with the governor's budget cuts, but they appreciate the financial windfall they got out of Act 10,' said Steve Gunn, EAG Foundation's communication director and main researcher for the report on Act 10.
'But they feel like, finally, for first time ever, they have control over their school districts so they can run their districts for the betterment of students, not for unionized labor,' he said."
We'll have more Tuesday.
UPDATE: The Report
Mad bomber walks the halls at Franklin High and Superintendent Patz doesn't know, care
On March 1, 2012, jsonline.com reported a pipe bomb was found in
As usual, it was left to conservative bloggers or conservative talk radio to flush out the story.
On Newstalk 1130 WISN today, talk show host Mark Belling reported the following.
He said he had a "contentious conversation" (off the air) with FPS Superintendent Steve Patz about the pipe bomb incident. Belling said Patz "doesn't think he has any need to justify any actions they (the school system) need to take or don't take."
The following are details you won't find in the Journal Sentinel or FranklinNOW.com.
After an investigation by the Milwaukee County Bomb Squad, Alex (17) and Matthew (20) Matecki were charged with multiple felonies.
Alex (L) and Matthew (R)
The charges: possession of an improvised explosive device, delivery of a controlled substance , possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a felony.
Found: a 6-8 inch pipe with a live electronic explosive device. The device contained an explosive powder. It was removed from the house and detonated several times
In case the ACLU is reading, with a search warrant, police recovered a large number of drugs, homemade guns, one pipe bomb and other bomb making materials.
UPDATE: Mad bomber walks the halls at Franklin High and Superintendent Patz doesn't know, care
E-mails, I get e-mails: From a Franklin resident
The e-mailer writes:
"We can only hope."
The larger issue in the Franklin 'pipe bomber' case
Sad but true, the current crop of
1) Educate students (There are no specific targeted goals. Basically, we tell our school district to just do it).
2) Educate students in a safe environment.
Educate students in a safe environment. Understood, no guns or explosives have gone off in any
On March 1, Alex and Matthew Matecki were arrested. Alex is a student at
Yes, I'd say that's serious stuff. Unless, of course, you're a
1) Yawn and wonder what all the fuss is about, or…
2) Hide under the mattress, say absolutely nothing and pray the whole ordeal blows over.
They literally kept unknowing
Oh my. Not good. Not a very good response at all.
Patz compounded his astonishlingly foolish responses to Belling by not realizing
Patz inserted both feet in mouth and
I love this line from Cady's second e-mail to
"…student safety and security is our priority."
What an absolute joke.
Does he think we're all stupid?
Clearly safety and security is NOT their priority. Their priority is their image. They didn't give a damn about safety and security until AFTER they were caught, outed, BUSTED!
Michael Cady is a complete fool in this case. On Monday he was telling parents Franklin acted properly because the possession and weapon-making occurred off school property. Suddenly, less than 24 hours later,
Cady and Patz, a la Pontius Pilate, are thinking and hoping
Patz has shown he wants out. Fine. Dump him. When his contract comes up, let him go.
Steve Patz controls a Franklin School Board, cowering over them and dicttating policy when it should be the other way around. Most school board members cow tow to Patz. That's wrong and needs to be changed with a new superintendent and a new board filled with members who are education and taxpayer-friendly.
Clean house,
Get rid of Business Manager Jim Milzer who once told the Franklin School Board they were voting for a property tax levy increase of over 5% when it was really close to 13%. He lied and got away with it.
Over many years,
Finally, for the staggering amount of tax money that has gone to
What about student performance?
Can we honestly say the financial support for
We need a complete new crew of folks running our schools from the top down, and that includes our school board. Janet Evans must be retained. Aimee Schlueter must be elected. Linda Witkowksi has never sold me. Tim Neillsen has underwhelmed. Ultimately, Evans and Schlueter, if elected need far stronger support than I've seen from anyone else on the board.
We can change how our schools are run.
We must.
The "pipe bomb" case showed we have no choice.
A headline many never thought they'd see: Wisconsin Capitol Protesters Found Guilty
From the MacIver Institute:
This video is hilarious and merits a bit by bit breakdown.
It reveals a lot about not only the Wisconsin union movement, but the Capitol Police policy and the anything goes mentality of
Recommended Reading: The 2012 March Madness edition
March Madness is underway!
Kevin Burwell #25 of the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils reacts after losing to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 59-58 in the first round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at UD Arena on March 13, 2012 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
10 things NCAA basketball won't tell you
"With March Madness upon us, we look past the sidelines."
May the most profitable team win
"What if the most profitable basketball programs won each match of the tournament? We wondered. Here's what we found."
Myths that can murder your bracket
"There's a lot of noise out there about the proper way to make bracket picks. Some of the most common March Madness beliefs, even a few that are widely considered sacrosanct, can have their soft spots. And yes, some of them are just plainly stupid. So here are the eight myths to avoid."
The 23 rules for winning March Madness
"There is only one certainty to filling out a March Madness bracket: You will lose to someone who has never watched an NCAA basketball game."
March Madness munchies
"We've come up with our own Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight and Final Four to get you through the next three weekends of basketball intensity – 16 toppings for a serve-yourself chili bar, eight ways to top roast beef sliders and four recipes for wings."
And if you have to ask why they call it madness...
Recommended Viewing:
Elderly Franklin man still missing
Dear Neighbors:
Look what has happened to the cost of ObamaCare
The news media has been awfully quiet.
UPDATE: Missing Franklin man
Franklin police tell me 81 year old Eugene T. Comiskey has been found and he is safe.
Petre attacks Evans at school board candidate forum
On Tuesday of this week the Franklin Education Association held a forum featuring candidates for the Franklin School Board. Current member Janet Evans could not attend because of a previous commitment. Candidates Don Petre and John Thompson are union-backed. Both have signed the
I have obtained notes taken by a
School Board Candidates Debate at
A Time for Choosing
A Time for Choosing
By Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan
We only have nine months to defeat Barack Obama – nine months to reject his agenda of debt, doubt, and decline. And while defeating this President is necessary to getting America back on track, it is hardly sufficient.
Put simply, Americans deserve a choice – and it is our responsibility to offer them one. The American people deserve an opportunity, not just to divert from the President's path of decline, but to affirm a reform agenda that restores our bedrock of founding principles. Now is the time to promote American exceptionalism, remove barriers to upward mobility for those in need, and put the nation back on a path to renewed prosperity for all.
While there is no doubt the President inherited a tough situation, rooted in decades of bad policies supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, the President and his administration made a bad
Rick Santorum Confirmed to Speak next weekend in Milwaukee!
Wisconsin Defending the American
Dream Summit
March 24, 2012
Milwaukee, WI
Register Today!
Rick Santorum
Goodnight everyone, and have an Erin Go Bragh weekend!
"It was what she loved about Irish music-especially the fiddles that played it. Fiddlers caught spirits and dreams whirling through the air, pulled them down to earth, where mere mortals could hear and see them. They brought the dead to life, and brought magic down from the sky, and made dreams more real than logic."
From the book "Summer of Roses" by Luanne Rice
It's Friday night.
Time to unwind.
The weekend has finally arrived.
Let's put controversy aside for the rest of the work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
We get in the mood for St. Patrick's Day with this rousing opening from an amazing ensemble that I hope someday comes to
The Unusual Suspects' web site says, "The power and glory of their massed fiddles, bagpipes, accordions, whistles and vocals, audaciously orchestrated with harp, piano, a powerhouse rhythm squad and a blistering brass section, transforming Scottish traditional music into a grand-scale fanfare for the 21st century."
The Barking Lot (03/17/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it's DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Unbelievable. Partly cloudy. High of 75. "A" (Dublin: Light rain and a high of 46)
SUNDAY: Unbelievable again. Mostly sunny. High of 72. "A"
Here's my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week's main blog:
I have suffered from seasonal & environmental allergies for most of my life. I have never had "allergy testing" because quite frankly I am too chicken to subject myself to the process. Generally I just take OTC antihistamines from first bloom to first frost and deal with it.
I tolerate a range of annoying allergic reactions besides ragweed and pollen. I have a severe reaction to nickel in metal so much to Kevin's chagrin I can only wear "real" gold. I can't come within 5 yards of a horse or I will break out in hives and have eyes so swollen I look like, well, I don't know what. Just the other day, I tried a new brand of dish soap because I thought it smelled nice. "Big mistake," my rash-covered hands told me.
Kevin, on the other hand, has no issues with things like this. The man can cut grass in a dust storm, pet a dozen dogs at one time, stand in a field of flowers and use any sort of soap/lotion/fragrance. If he sneezes once during the months of June, July and August it's because he got pool water in his nose.
I truly hope that our daughter Kyla takes after her Daddy and has her own natural ability to fight allergens and not rely on a lifetime supply of Benadryl. I don't know… with our luck, our poor offspring will sneeze in unison with Mommy from May through October and we'll open the windows once during the summer season.
BTW, we're in for a DOOZY of a 2012 Allergy Season. I will never complain when I'm not shoveling and shivering. However, thanks to the mild temps we've enjoyed this winter those of us who endure the Sneezin' Season will suffer even more.
So where am I going with all this nasal news? Well, if you think the two-legged members of your family are the only ones who can suffer this time of year think again. If you have noticed the family pooch scratching more, or sneezing uncontrollably then chances are he/she is suffering from seasonal allergies. Fortunately there are ways to cope just like there are for humans. Antihistamines are a possible source of relief, as are a short-term dose of steroids.
This year if you are itching & scratching, rubbing your eyes, sneezing and dealing with a raspy voice and scratchy throat; please don't dismiss your dog may be suffering the same ways you are.
From a fellow allergy sufferer, good luck with Summer 2012.
---Jennifer Fischer
Thank you, Jennifer.
It's time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
Woman fights for life of condemned dog.
Town refuses to allow woman to put up "lost dog" signs.
Injured Marine wants to adopt dog from Afghanistan before it's put to sleep...MORE.
Animal control officer loses job after taking dog home from work.
Yoda is dead.
Say it ain't so, Toto!
Police dog handlers want to be paid when dogs are off duty.
Grieving man's dog found.
Switch gets second chance.
The Iditarod is over. And yes, it's a great story.
Doghouse designed by Wright rebuilt for film.
Good dog!
A musher greets his dog during a break in a stage of the Sedivackuv Long dog sled race in Destne v Orlickych horach on Jan. 26. Each year, racers from all over Europe arrive to the village of Destne in the Orlicke mountains of the Czech Republic to take part in the race series. Photo: Petr Josek/ReuterS).
OK. One more.
A siberian husky is ready to start at the sled dog race in Schoeneck, eastern Germany on Jan. 28. (Hendrik Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
And we missed one from last week.
On March 7, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller tries to talk about the built-in camera on the new iPad during an Apple event in San Francisco, but there's a certain... distraction. Photo: Robert Galbraith / Reuters
Victory for Women and Babies
Victory in State Assembly for Women
and Babies!
Week-ends (03/17/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Hotels for Heroes
Tim Tebow
Rusidah Badawi
Kevin Brennan
Cassandra Byrd-Scolaro
Patrick Hughes and his father
Illinois school district
Shelley Miller
Jessica DelBalzo
"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven."
Hamid Karzai, Afghan President, following the murder of at least 16 civilians after a lone
"We don't believe this was about negotiating a reasonable piece of (mining) legislation, this was about politics and Democrats denying Gov. Walker a shovel-ready photo op and the ability to point to a pro-jobs piece of legislation in his résumé as the summer recalls approach.
"Such legislation will enable Governor Walker to claim victory of his policy to (rein) in public employee wages and benefit. Allowing Governor Walker to make such a claim just before the recall election will prove detrimental to recalling him and, therefore, will only enhance his ability to further harm all
An excerpt from a letter from the leaders of four teachers unions as the state Legislature quickly approved a bill giving the
"Democrats and their allies continue to put politics before schoolchildren and before jobs. The latest letter from public sector union bosses shows clearly that Democrats and their allies put their politics before everything else, even their own members' jobs. The letter clearly shows how they will put politics before people. Unfortunately, Democrats and their allies are more interested in putting their political interests before saving teachers' jobs, saving school districts money, protecting taxpayers, and promoting private sector investment and job growth."
Governor Walker's response to the above-mentioned letter.
"For all of our concerns with
"These guys don't have a sense of the average folks out there. They don't know what it means to be middle class."
Vice President Joe Biden addressing 87 wealthy Democrats Monday night attending a fundraiser at the home of Sen. John Kerry in Georgetown. As they dined on grass-fed
"Between red stop-signs on Facebook reading "Stop the Republican War on Women," the latest activist video characterizing Republicans as he-man, woman-haters, and Gloria Allred, Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda doing just about anything (Monster-in-Law, anyone?) someone has to just come out and (insert expletive in the progressive tense here) say it. The government is not your daddy. I feel like I'm a feminist, and you want to know why? Because I'm enabled to do things for myself. If I don't like what someone says, I argue with them. If I'm in the mood for a cocktail, I pay for it myself. If I'm in the market for some sexy-times, then I hit up Rite-Aid on the way home. You want to know why? Because it's my life, and I can do that, and I don't have to ask Daddy's permission first or hit up his wallet."
From the blog, "Naked DC"
"We're not here as a feeder system. We're here to educate young people, and that's what it ought to be about."
Stanford athletics director Bob Bowlsby, commenting on Kentucky's basketball program that has become a virtual pipeline to the NBA, sending seven underclassmen into the draft in the past two years. Another group figures to jump this June,
"If it's your son, if he had that kind of talent, you would make him stay in college four years? What if he got hurt? What if the (behavioral) direction he was going went different? I cannot morally tell a young man that he should stay in school - in the interests of the school, the program or me - when it's in his best interests and his family's best interests to go reach his dreams. I couldn't tell (Bill) Gates, 'Do you know what you did to the integrity of your school by coming out and starting Microsoft?' "
Kentucky head coach John Calipari defending his program
O'Green Day?
Regulation Nation
And rightfully so...March Madness
With this weather, why have baby indoors?
Who thought this was a good idea?
The Celtic Curse
That's it for Week-ends. Thanks for stopping by.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted:
Recommended Reading (03/18/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
What's next after judge invalidates WI's voter ID law?
"(Rick) Esenberg (adjunct law professor at
The argument from voter ID opponents, Esenberg said, centers on the fact that a number of people currently lack a photo ID. He said the legal question ultimately cannot be who "currently" lacks an ID, but who would not have access to one, or what obstacles would be in their way if they attempted to get one."
Well, why isn't he running for president?
"Paul Ryan that is. While the Romney forces cling to their 'he's a mathematical lock' mantra, do they ever stop to wonder whether Mitt, for all his manifest good qualities, is the right man at the right time for the job? Or does his campaign war chest, with which he's able to train many multiples of resources against his conservative opponents, mean that might makes right? And does the electoral calendar — a perfectly arbitrary and changeable set of rules — outweigh (as the Democrats might say) the fierce urgency of now? In other words, is process more important than principle?"
"Here's a little quiz to help you decide."
"What with liberal women constantly talking about their vaginas suddenly pretending to be offended by the word 'slut,' and conservatives pretending to be as pussified as liberals about the nasty names they've been called, I never got an answer to the most pressing question about Sandra Fluke: Who are you again?
Was Fluke dragged out of obscurity after the women of
I don't think that happened. Rather, Fluke is the latest in a long line of my absolute favorite liberal typology: hysterical drama queens."
Does Planned Parenthood support racist photo ID requirements?
"As Eric Holder's Justice Department reminded us again today, requiring citizens to show photo ID at the polls is more proof of RepubliKKKan racism. But when Planned Parenthood won't let women practice their 'right to choose' without showing photo ID, apparently that's a-okay with the left."
The worst parents in America
"...how else would you describe a couple so disdainful of having to raise their Down Syndrome daughter, they sued their prenatal healthcare provider for almost $3 million for not warning them ahead of time of their daughter's disability—thus denying them the chance to murder their daughter before she was born."
The taxman cometh
"When it comes to taxes,
Who is happy?
"After 25 years of lecturing on happiness, writing a book on the subject ('Happiness Is a Serious Problem') and devoting an hour of my radio show every week for the last 13 years to happiness, here are some conclusions about who is happy."
The real March Madness: Bad basketball
"March is the time of year when I go into hiding because I don't want to annoy my friends by reminding them that college basketball bites. Unlike the pros, college-basketball players can't shoot, rebound or execute 15 consecutive 360-degree reverse slam dunks that make the guy defending Blake Griffin really, really mad. On any given night, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki and the fat guy sitting at the end of the Minnesota Timberwolves' bench will execute plays you won't see in the next 300 college games you watch."
The only part about abortion that makes liberals sad.
Photos of the Week (03/18/12)
1) Taken at a gas station within walking distance of the White House, the Weekly Standard calls it "the shocking photo the Obama Administration doesn't want you to see." Photo: The Weekly Standard
2) President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron talk during their Oval Office meeting at the White House, March, 14, 2012. Photo: Doug Mills / Pool via Reuters
3) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and British Prime Minister David Cameron laugh as Vice President Joe Biden (R) makes a joke about asking his Irish ancestors for forgiveness for hosting Cameron for lunch at the State Department on March 14, 2012 in Washington, DC. Cameron is on an official visit to
4) Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reaches over a railing to shake supporters' hands after his scheduled address to reporters Wednesday, March 14, 2012, in Chicago. The 55-year-old Democrat reported to a prison in
5) An elderly Afghan man sits next to a covered body, who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member, in a minibus in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 11. Villagers showed an Associated Press photographer 15 bodies, including women and children, and alleged they were killed by the American. Photo: Allauddin Khan / AP
6) Afghans burn an effigy depicting U.S. President Barack Obama following Sunday's killing of civilians in Panjwai, Kandahar by a U.S. soldier during a protest in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Hundreds of students in eastern
7) An anthropologist looks at a shoe as she works in a mass grave in the former Regional Command headquarters of the Guatemalan Army in Coban,Guatemala on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Photo: Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters
8) Baseball players belonging to the Saraperos de Saltillo team and spectators take cover during an intense shootout that broke out in the parking lot of the stadium in the city of
9) A girl waits her turn to release a lantern into the waters of Tokyo Bay to mark the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami which devastated northeast Japan, in Tokyo, Sunday, March 11, 2012. People across
10) Actor and activist George Clooney (2nd L) and his father journalist Nick Clooney (C) are arrested for trespassing upon the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2012. Clooney and his father were protesting against human rights abuses by the Sudanese government. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
11) Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (3
12) Specialist Jeremy Hudson hugs his wife as his ten-year-old daughter Averie holds a welcome home sign on March 12 as he and other soldiers from the 530th Engineer Company arrive at Fort Stewart in Georgia. Photo: Erik S. Lesser / EPA
13) Troops exit the airport marking the last Rest and Recuperation (R&R) flight at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday. The Army is officially closing the DFW Personal Assistance Point hub to service members returning from over seas, traveling between the
14) Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 218 points and closed at its highest level since the end of 2007. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
15) Eric Duvall, cartographic technician, left, and Jeff Olsen, geodesist, both with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey, measure elevation on the National Mall, with the Washington Monument in the background, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, in Washington. Government surveyors are collecting data around the
16) A picture from the International Space Station, provided Saturday by Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, shows southern lights between Antarctica and
17) A view of the Australian Federal Parliament House from a hot air balloon above Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Photo: Lukas Coch / EPA
18) Unseasonably warm temperatures offer Craig Green, left, and Hector Murillo a chance to remove an accumulation of winter grime from a glass-paneled stairwell at the Monona Terrace community and convention center in Madison, Wisconsin Monday, March 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Hart)
19) Zosia Sztykowski relaxes in
20) The sun shines through Martin's Hole, a natural gap just underneath the jagged ridge of Mount Grosses Tschingelhorn (2849 metres/9347 feet) near the eastern Swiss alpine village of Elm on Wednesday. Twice a year, about eight days before the start of spring and again about eight days after the beginning of autumn, the rising sun sends its rays through the 19-meter wide hole in the mountain face before clearing the ridge. Photo: Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters
21) 77-year-old Holocaust survivor Hanoch Shahar, center, runs in Jerusalem, on March 16. About 15,000 runners, including 1,500 from overseas, are competing Friday, with some 1,000 competitors expecting to complete the full 42 kilometers (26.2 miles) marathon distance, with others aiming to complete shorter distances, including Mayor Nir Barkat who says he plans to run half a marathon and 77-year old Hanoch Shahar aiming for 10km. Photo: Sebastian Scheiner / AP
22) Felix Baumgartner prepares to jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos over Roswell, N.M. on March 15, 2012. Baumgartner lifted off Thursday aboard a 100-foot helium balloon. He rode inside a pressurized capsule to 71,581 feet — 13.6 miles — and then jumped. He parachuted to a safe landing, according to project spokeswoman Trish Medalen. AP Photo/Red Bull Stratos, Joerg Mitter
23) A woman and her son sit inside the capsule of an electric tricycle as they drive along a main road in central Beijing March 15, 2012. Photo: David Gray / Reuters
24) Peter Kaiser drives his team into the checkpoint in Unalakleet, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race last Sunday. Photo: Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News via AP
25) 25-year old Dallas Seavey reaches the finish line to claim victory in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, on March 13, 2012, becoming the youngest musher to win the nearly 1,000-mile race across Alaska. Photo: Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News via AP
26) People watch as one of two loggerhead sea turtles is released back into the wild, March 13, 2012, at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park after they underwent rehabilitation at Miami Seaquarium. The two loggerhead sea turtles weighing in at 90 lbs and 125 lbs were both found weak in the wild, covered in parasites and struggling with buoyancy issues. Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
27) White Bengal tiger yawns at the Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, March 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
28) A 6-year-old male giant panda 'RiRi' stands on hind legs to reach out for an apple, not in the photo, at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, March 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
29) Three polar bear cubs born in November last year, play on snow at the Moscow Zoo, in Moscow, Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The cubs have only recently been revealed to the public as they have mostly stayed in the seclusion of their den. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
30) Germantown players celebrate after beating Rufus King Saturday 72-69 to win the WIAA Division 1 boy's state basketball title. Journal sentinel photo: Tom Lynn.
31) Marquette coach Buzz Williams hugs his kids after the Golden Eagles defeated Murray State, 62-53, in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Photo: MCT
32) Wisconsin forward Ryan Evans celebrates as Vanderbilt forward Lance Goulbourne walks away as time expires. Wisconsin beat Vanderbilt 60-57 Saturday in the NCAA tournament. AP photo
33) Cups of latte are seen on display following the Coffee Fest New York Latte Art Championships at the Javits Center in New York, March 11. Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters
34) Britain's Camilla (C), Duchess of Cornwall, and Zara Phillips (R) react as Wishfull Thinking falls unseating jockey Richard Johnson during The Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival horse racing meet in Gloucestershire, western England on March 14. Photos: REUTERS/Eddie Keogh and Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images
35) President Barack Obama accidentially steps on First lady Michelle Obama's dress as they walk onto the North Portico before the arrival of British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha. Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images
36) An employee of The Titanic Belfast attraction stands in front of screens showing computer generated images of a restaurant on The Titanic on March 13. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images. A replica of the the famous staircase onboard the Titanic is on display in the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center. Photo: Peter Morrison/AP
37) Zoltan Kohari, known as the Slovak Batman, leaves home in town of Dunajska Streda, some 34 miles south of Bratislava. Kohari, who is 26 years old, lives alone in an abandoned building without water, heat or electricity. For local residents he became known as the hero in a Batman's costume. While he has not fought crime yet, he does believe in justice and wants to help the police. In the mean time, Kohari, who is poor, does what he can to help the residents to make their daily life easier. In return, some of these residents give him food. Photo: Radovan Stoklasa / Reuters
38) Performers with painted bodies arrive for the start of the second day of the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival in Gloucestershire, western England, on March 14. The genteel Georgian town of Cheltenham will become the centre of the universe for jump racing enthusiasts as it plays host to the 2012 National Hunt Festival. Photo:Andrew Yates / AFP - Getty Images
39) From The Daily Mail: "He recently grumbled that he can't go anywhere without being interrupted by a fan wielding a camera. However, one devotee appears not to have been told. As the sunseeker sprang to his feet at the sight of Sir Paul McCartney, he obviously forgot about his topless female companion who tried in vain to cover her modesty. Sir Paul, 69, remained the consummate gentleman in the awkward situation – maintaining eye contact throughout lest his wife spot them wandering – as he engaged in polite conversation with the young brunette. The ageing rocker and U.S. industrial heiress (Nancy Shevell) – who wed last October - were taking a short break in the tropical island of St Barts in the Caribbean."
40) Members of the plumbers' union dye the Chicago River green for St. Patrick's Day on March 17, 2012. The river was first dyed green in 1962 in what has become a St. Patrick's Day tradition in Chicago. Photo: Brian Kersey / Getty Images
41) A marching band passes St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters
42) Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan greets marchers as the make their way up Fifth Avenue past St, Patrick's Cathedral during the 251st annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, Saturday, March 17, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
43) The Irish Dancing Music Association takes part in the parade in New York City. Photo: Allison Joyce / Getty Images
44) Paradegoers watch the St. Patrick's Day festivities in Dublin on March 17, 2012. More than 100 parades were held across Ireland to mark St. Patrick's Day, with up to 650,000 spectators expected to attend the parade in Dublin. Photo: Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images
45) A colorful dance is performed during the St. Patrick's Day festivities in Dublin. Photo: Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images
46) Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, presents a basket of shamrock sprigs to the Irish Guards army regiment during a St. Patrick's Day ceremony at their barracks in Aldershot, England. Photo: Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images
47) Jenna Drenten of Atlanta reacts after kissing a New York firefighter as he marches in Savannah's annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Thursday. Photo: Stephen Morton / AP
48) Green water comes out from the fountain at the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama was hosting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny for a St. Patrick's Day celebration. Photo: Alex Wong / Getty Images
Jauch and Schultz Recalls
CRG Network
PO Box 371086
Culinary no-no #269
This week, we visit
Poor socio-economically,
Wouldn't you know it? Someone has to come along and ruin the party. In this case, not surprisingly, it's public school officials.
Citing budget cuts, the fuddy-duddy killjoys that run the
Since the school district wasn't about to budge, the boys needed, like a Cinderella team in the NCAA tournament, a last second hero. They got one from a least likely source.
The aptly named Jet Strip club in
When Jet Strip learned of the boys' fate, General Manager James Wallace responded with a donation of $1,200. Reportedly broke, the Lennox Little League accepted. For Jet Strip, this wasn't a first. The strip club has donated in the past to charities. Some recipients have gladly said yes while others have replied, no thanks.
It appeared this story had 'happy ending' stamped all over it. But then again, remember what we're talking about here, folks. If you need a picture, here's one from the New York Daily News:
As the newspaper put it, "What looked like a financial home run for a cash-strapped little league just dinged foul off the stripper pole."
After some thought about what previously wasn't considered ill-gotten gain, the Lennox Little League decided not to accept the $1,200 donation once it discovered the gesture of good will came from, GASP, a business that features strippers.
"It was a shocker to us," Lennox Little League head Roberto Aguirre said. Aguirre acknowledged, "We do need the money."
But, "we will go some other avenue."
Not surprisingly in this part of
OK, Kev. That's an interesting story. So where, pray tell, is the Culinary no-no?
Let's go back to the evil
Turns out these items sold at concessions are big bread and butter for the Lennox Little League. Prohibiting their sales pulls the rug out from the League's very existence.
You can probably guess why the big, bad nasties in the
You got it.
Health concerns.
For that we can thank The First Hypocrite….
Here in God's country (that would be
As for the Lennox Little League, in my view, they should have taken the money.
As Don McClean opened his classic "American Pie," "A long, long time ago" I recall reading that when it comes to multiple choice or true or false quizzes, beware of questions that used the words "all" or "none" or "every."
So I bring you this.
Take nothing away from Germantown
Congratulations to Germantown High School.
Photos: JS and MyCommunityNOW.com
Their boy's basketball team won the WIAA Division 1 state championship in Madison Saturday night.
JS photo
Germantown went undefeated with a great team and great players who were clearly on a mission. An outstanding season culminated in a 72-69 victory in the title game against an extremely talented squad from Milwaukee Rufus King.
The championship clash was a classic. You know when announcers say it's a shame either team has to lose? This was definitely one of those games.
Given my blog title, you probably have figured a "but" is coming in that, Germantown clearly demonstrated consistently all season long they were the cream of the crop in the state and deserved the championship, but…
Some observations are necessary.
King coach Jim Gosz was gracious in defeat:
"That was an extremely tough loss. We didn't shoot the ball well and to beat that team we have to shoot a little better. We did not play well tonight."
Actually, King played very well. Ask Germantown coach Steve Showalter:
"I've got to give King a lot of credit. They're pretty good. They're really good. They're small, they're tough and they shot so well. I thought we played pretty tough and still couldn't put them away."
In reality, this could have been a blowout like most of Germantown's victories this year. All but two had margins in double digits.
Jim Gosz won't say it, though he probably thought of it, especially after seeing the final stats. But I'll say it.
Germantown made 29 of 37 free throws compared with 5 of 10 for King. The stat jumps out at you like one of Spiderman's webs.
The huge disparity is astounding. Germantown made 24 more free throws than King, and still barely won.
Milwaukee King coach Jim Gosz has some words for a referee. Journal Sentinel photo: Tom Lynn
Admit it, Packer fans
Will you be watching Dancing With The Stars to see how well Donald Driver performs?
Or will you be watching to see what his partner, Peta Murgatroyd is or isn't wearing?
DWTS returns tonight on ABC.
The latest pro-life news (03/19/12)
From Pro-Life Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Right To Life,
Important Right To Life Links
3RD UPDATE: Let's pass Caylee's Law in Wisconsin
Previously on This Just In…
THE UPDATE: Caylee's Law approved by the Legislature and now goes to Governor Walker.
A Week of Facts on Obamacare
Help Us Stop the Latest Obamacare Overreach
In advance of the two-year anniversary of passage of Obamacare, the U.S. Chamber is
taking a look back at the implications of the health care law on consumers and
businesses, as well as a look forward on what can be done to stop the most harmful
provisions. We know what was promised, now it's time to look at the facts.
Death, taxes, and ...
Gale force winds on garbage collection day in my subdivision every week. Today, of course was no exception. And it never fails that on days when the winds aren't as bad, collectors are here extra early.
Not today. Hours and hours later than normal. That means garbage everywhere.
It's 83 degrees in Franklin at 5:00
Check out this map shot taken shortly after 5:00.
We are the nation's hot spot right now (YES!)
But look at that map (that will change as temps change). The cooler air (darn) is coming.
Ron Johnson: Republicans must embrace 5 principles to conquer Democrats
By Martin Gould and Ashley Martella
Republicans need to focus on one issue at a time, explain publicly why their solution is better than President Barack Obama's, and set up so much pressure that Democratic senators fall in line behind them, according to a group of lawmakers led by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
If they persevere, they can persuade voters to elect a GOP president and Senate in November, the
Johnson heads up the group, known as
Franklin bloggers blast school board candidate Petre
There's an important factor that people in
Not all of us drink the union thug Kool-Aid. Not all of us follow like blind sheep and nod like zombies when instructed what to do, "Yes, master."
We have minds of our own and use our brains to think independently. You can't pull our strings.
Let's see how much FranklinNOW caves and how many kissy-face letters they publish about Don (I'm so much smarter than you) Petre. (Thus far, FranklinNOW's news coverage of the school board race has been atrocious).
Blogger Fred Keller has also weighed in on the arrogance of Petre with some solid jabs.
Franklin's new theme: Gimme, gimme, gimme!
On Monday night, many of you were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Maybe you grilled outside, spent some time with family or friends. Or you may have been working a second job to pay the bills, discussed with family members how to cut the budget to make ends meet, or possibly put a FOR SALE sign in front of your house.
Meanwhile, a small group of
As you might expect during this tax and spend frenzy, the interests of the property taxpayers were not represented, discussed, or seriously considered.
Monday's session was another example of
Are you ready for some sticker shock? From the Franklin Public School District's very own website, here's the property tax increase bomb some folks want to drop a la Pearl Harbor on their fellow citizens:
On Obamacare's Second Anniversary, Tea Party Patriots Say "Rip the Bill!"
Michael G. Hintze; (262) 844-1683;
Health Care Reform Two Years Later
Obamacare Two Years Later
We can sum up 2010's sweeping health care overhaul in two words: broken
Never had this problem when I went to Catholic grade school
That's because we never had a teacher even close to Michela Roth.
Love this line from the news article:
Roth "sparked fury among mothers at the school but - unsurprisingly - not fathers."
Read why.
One of the funniest lines of the year
Obama's brilliant Energy Secretary Steven Chu in an exchange with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA)...
When bomb threats are made, school officials need to relax and check the thermometer
Governor Walker sits in with Greta Van Susteren
"Over time, as people see, as the Milwaukee paper said here not long ago, the sky's not falling, when they see that our schools, including the public schools my kids go to, many of them across the state are the same or better than they were before, when they see that local governments were the same or better, when they saw their property taxes go down from the school tax levees for the first time in about a half a decade last year, I think people see that results trump all the attacks, all the -- the uncivility that was going on. And my hope is between now and the election, that'll happen."
Ranking the performance of the 50 largest school districts in Wisconsin
From the MacIver Institute:
Executive Summary
UPDATE: Franklin's new theme: Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Previously on This Just In...
When it comes to the farce in
"The Franklin Public School District Board of Education is moving forward with a facilities planning process to address identified needs at the middle and high school levels. The District has hired Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) of
I repeat:
Focus on renovating and expanding the existing high school and middle school rather than new construction options.
Don't fall for it,
A very reliable source tells me there is also discussion going on about moving the middle school students (6-8 grades) to the current high school and building a new high school at a cost between $102 and $104 million without land. The location would be near 92nd and Ryan.
They have lost their minds.
Supreme Court Awaits Your Signature
Goodnight everyone, and have a great weekend, no matter the weather!
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."
John Lennon
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
The Barking Lot (03/24/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it's DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: UPDATE: Dense fog advisory until 1 p.m. A few showers this afternoon. High of 60. "D"
SUNDAY: Partly cloudy. High of 61. "B"
Here's my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week's main blog:
Even if we didn't experience the record-high temperatures of the last few weeks, we are officially in the season of Spring. While I love lighter-weight jackets, long walks with Kyla and open windows I do understand that some people probably dread this time of year. Those people would most likely be dog owners. If you have kids that enjoy playing in the puddles and mud, sure they drag in some foot prints and leave a soggy coat lying in a puddle. But if you have a FOUR-legged kid they don't leave their wet coat at the door, they take it with them wherever they go.
Have you ever taken a bubble bath or a long steamy shower and come out smelling worse than when you went in? Impossible! So how is it that Fido can be out in the rain for five minutes and come in smelling like he just visited the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District???!!! Well, a scientific answer is offered by www.howtogetridofstuff.com:
Why do wet dogs smell so much worse than dry ones?
The essence is that from the wet dog hair emit following volatile compounds: dimethyl trisulfide, phenol, p-cresol, mushroom (1-octen-3-ol), fruity (2-nonanone), floral (â-damascenone), and earthy smelling (2,3-diethyl-5-methylpyrazine) odors, and branched or complex aldehydes (2, and 3-methyl butanal, isobutanal, 2E-octenal, acetaldehyde, benzaldehyde, phenylacetaldehyde, 2E-nonanal).
There are many odoriferous compounds which individually do not have odors associated with "dog smell." However, in combination, these compounds produce the typical "dog smell" that many people describe as unpleasant. There is a complex pattern of changes in the volatile compounds associated with wetting of brushed dog hair.
This pattern appears to manifest as "wet dog" odor. While some amount of change in odor would be expected due to the different partition coefficients when water is added to the hair, the variety of differences indicates a probable chemical or biochemical reaction on the hair. Simply put, wet dog hair stinks because of the chemical reaction of the dog hair to water.
OK, so now we know WHY Rex reeks. How can we change what Mother Nature blessed us with? There are a few options. The Dog Channel maintains that doggies dryers are the answer. Is your Daschund all dried out but your room has that lingering eau de soggy doggy? eHow.com suggests home remedy tips.
If you're up for it and your pooch is agreeable, perhaps you could consider some fashionable rain gear. While it might not entirely eliminate the smell that almost defies description, it certainly can't hurt. Welcome, Spring 2012. Summer and drier weather, I'm sure dog owners can't wait for you!
---Jennifer Fischer
Thanks, Jennifer!
Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
Champion show dog found neglected.
Mabeline saves girl from attack by sex offender.
Mr. Gibbs...a girl's best friend.
One of last surviving 9-11 rescue dogs gets second chance on life.
Lost Dogs of Wisconsin helps pets get home.
Should that dog be in here?
What's Ashley Judd doing with that dog?
Is there a down side to a balmy winter?
What you didn't know about service dogs.
OPINION: Why we love our dogs so much.
A dog owner tries to run away from a sudden wave leaving her dog behind at a beach north of Malibu, California on March 21, 2012. Photo: Getty Images
Thanks for stopping by! Please tell a fellow dog lover about us!
We close with our closing video.
It's the heartwarming story of Fiona.
Week-ends (03/24/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Valeh Levy
Adam Brazil
Tom Porter
Michael and Alexis Vaughn
Antoine Burks
Ben Parkinson
Edward Ristaino
Gary Stein...who did not give up his First Amendment rights when he enlisted
Sheboygan Lutheran High School
29 judges
The TSA
Eric Holder
Occupy protesters in Manhattan
Burnsville, Minnesota officials
"I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin's death as George Zimmerman was."
Geraldo Rivera
"Sure he has financial problems. You don't go kill women and children because you have financial problems."
John Henry Browne, attorney for Robert Bales, the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians. Browne told reporters Tuesday that
"It's time to say this word: enough. We've had enough."
Mitt Romney, Republican presidential hopeful, attacking Barack Obama's presidency after he swept the Illinois primary
"It's time to get behind one candidate and get the job done so we can move on to the next challenge."
Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney, calling for his opponents to concede; Romney, who added 20 more delegates to his total by winning the Puerto Rico primary, has the delegate lead heading into the
"I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."
Senior Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom
"You win by giving people a choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who's just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you're going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future."
Rick Santorum
"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady? Too soon, right?"
Robert De Niro
"I do want to say one thing, both on behalf of my wife and on behalf of Karen Santorum and on behalf of Ann Romney, I think that Robert De Niro's wrong. I think the country is ready for a new first lady and he doesn't have to describe it in racial terms."
Newt Gingrich
"It's going to be hard to argue that a woman can be an Olympic champion but not be behind the wheel."
Erika George, professor at the University of Utah, on Saudi Arabia allowing females to finally compete in the Olympic Games; London 2012 could be the first time every participating nation is represented by at least one female athlete
Obama burns jet fuel to downplay rising gas prices
Portland Couple Awarded $2.9M in Wrongful Birth Case; Say They Would Have Aborted Child
Still waiting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to cover this one.
Etch-a-Sketch remark by a Romney aide.
The rumblings continue.
Bride marries herself.
"What's a jury duty?"
Study: Go ahead, cuss at work
That's it for Week-ends. Thanks for stopping by.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted:
Recommended Reading (03/25/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Mr. President, when should I expect your call?
"Ever since you called Sandra Fluke after Rush Limbaugh called her a slut, I figured I might be next.
But here's why I'm a little surprised my phone hasn't rung."
The death of Trayvon Martin
"A 17-year-old kid is shot dead. Police are investigating…and progressives see an opportunity. The Trayvon Martin case, in addition to being a tragedy, is a case study in political exploitation and progressive tactics.
It does matter how you vote
"A recent weeknight found me among a group of about a dozen unhappy parents meeting with the principal of our kids' high school. The issue: An incompetent teacher who we had been promised would not be returning to the school had shown up unexpectedly, and an administrator had told the students that he might indeed be returning in September.
Photos of the Week (03/25/12)
"When my colleagues and I look at a week's worth of unfiltered news images (about 50,000) we begin to see repeating visual themes. For example, every week we see pictures of military personnel deploying to or coming from dangerous places. We see hundreds, sometimes thousands, of political protests. We see images of defenseless people, including children, caught up in horrific world events. We see powerful natural disasters, the change of seasons, attractive celebrities and sporting events of every kind.
"The occasional cynic in me sometimes flirts with the idea that photographers have run out of ideas. In my worst moments I wonder why we spend our lives retreading the same ground week after week.
"But then I remember that pictures often serve as visual shorthand. I believe they provide a bridge over the chasm of time, distance and unfamiliar culture. When you see a picture of a military wife's hands clinging onto her husband's head in the moments before he deploys to war it reminds you of that person you miss so much, and you empathize. A photographer can help us care in a way that a writer often struggles to achieve."
Robert Hood, Supervising Producer, msnbc.com
1) House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., center, and others, leave a news conference on Capitol Hill in
2) Raphael Cuevas, left, and Jashua Castro stop at a memorial to Trayvon Martin outside The Retreat at
3) Tessye Maurer holds a vote sign as she attends a Religious Freedom protest, Friday, March 23, 2012, in downtown
4) Police chase Panathinaikos' fans before a Greek Super League soccer match against Olympiakos at Olympic stadium in
5) Pope Benedict XVI holds a girl's face on March 24, 2012 in
6) Army PFC Forrest Miller kisses his son Parker Miller, 6-months old, held by his wife Britney Miller with the couples' daughter, Jaslene Miller, 4, before Miller boards a bus with other members of the 119th Inland Cargo Transfer Company. Photo: Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot via AP
7) An Iraq war veteran holds pairs of combat boots that are part of the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit in front of San Francisco City Hall on Monday in San Francisco, California. The Eyes Wide Open exhibition includes a pair of boots for every one of the 481
8) Huang Sufang reacts as she sees a part of her house being taken down by demolition workers at Yangji village in central Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, China on March 21, 2012. She mounted a desperate last stand to protect her home as demolition workers moved in on Wednesday. According to local media cited by Reuters, part of Huang's house was mistakenly demolished as workers were flattening another building nearby. Here she tries to attack a worker with a brick after a part of her house was demolished. Later, she lies on the ground in tears. Photos: Reuters and Getty Images
9) 8-year-old Aldi Ilham smoking a cigarette at his house in
10) A believer asking "Nino Fidencio" for a miracle is helped to submerge in the mud at "El Pozito" in El Espinazo, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon state, on March 19. Thousands of believers took part in a procession along the town of El Espinazo to ask for miracles to "Nino Fidencio", a famous Mexican 'curandero' (folk healer), whose spirit still heals people, according to the legend. Niño Fidencio, well known for performing painless operations without anaesthesia, died in 1938. Photo: Julio Cesar Aguilar / AFP - Getty Images
11) Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, right, hands an Etch A Sketch to a staff member after speaking to USAA employees, Thursday, March 22, 2012, in San Antonio. Santorum used the toy to refer to remarks made by a staff member working for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom responded to a question about whether Santorum is pushing Romney too far right to win over moderate voters in a general election. "Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes," Fehrnstrom said Wednesday on CNN. "It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again." Photo: Eric Gay / AP
12) Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum bowls after a campaign rally in Sheboygan, Wis., Saturday, March 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
13) Volker Kraft decorates his Easter egg tree in
14) Cherry blossoms of the Japanese Yoshino variety bloom along the Tidal Basin, March 19, 2012, in Washington, DC, with the Jefferson Memorial to the rear. This season celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the gift of the cherry trees from
15) A Bananaquit hangs upside down to peck at a flower in the
16) Rescue workers try to tow a dead Bryde's whale off a beach in Rio de Janeiro on March 20.Photo: Sergio Moraes / Reuters
17) A female toad carrying her male partner tries to escape from the bucket of a volunteer at the side of a road near Berlin on March 18, 2012 in Gueterfelde, Germany. Volunteers from
18) In this March 15, 2012 photo, a four-year-old hairless cream point Sphynx, named Moshe Moshi, is held by her owner Carol Meir of Takoma Park, Md., at The Big Bad Woof, a pet supplies store, in Washington. Meir is managing her cat's allergies with a venison and pork diet and daily medication. She figures it cost her about $750 for vets and tests. Medicine is $250 a year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
19) An employee gives a medical-cosmetic massage to a client using an African snail at a beauty salon in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk March 23. The beauty salon is the only one in the region using the snails' method, which is believed to help in speeding up regeneration of the skin, eliminating wrinkles, scars and traces of burn marks, according to the owner Alyona Zlotnikova. Photos:Ilya Naymushin / Reuters
20) Syracuse guard Dion Waiters, right, celebrates with Nick Resavy after defeating Wisconsin 64-63 in an East Regional semifinal game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 22, 2012, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
21) Darius Johnson-Odom walks off the court after
22) Baylor center Brittney Griner dunks the ball during the second half of an NCAA women's tournament regional semifinal college basketball game against Georgia Tech, Saturday, March 24, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
23) Milwaukee King's Alexis Eckles, left, and Shakeela Fowler react after Fowler's three-pointer missed its mark at the buzzer. De Pere's Emma Konopasek (12) and Alayna Cotter (24) celebrate as they run off the court. De Pere won the WIAA Division 1 girl's state title, 60-57. AP photos.
24) New Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning holds a Broncos jersey with his name and number at the conclusion of an NFL football news conference at the Broncos headquarters in
25) A cut-out replica of quarterback Peyton Manning in a Denver Broncos uniform is brought into the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Broncos Centre by sports editor Jeff Dressel of 9NEWS before Manning and the Broncos hold a news conference announcing Manning will sign a contract with the Broncos on March 20, 2012 in
26) David Rawcliffe, the house and monument steward at the National Trust's Chedworth Roman Villa, cleans a Roman mosiac in the new environmentally-controlled conservation shelter on March 19, 2012 near Cirencester, England. More of the 1600-year-old Roman floors will be uncovered over the coming year. Photo: Matt Cardy / Getty Images
27) In this picture taken with a fish-eye lens, people stand around the "luminous lace" light sculpture by designers Loop.pH in the Stone Hall during a press preview at what used to be the official residence of the late Princess Diana, Kensington Palace in London, Tuesday, March 20.
28) A soldier faints before Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrive for a wreath laying ceremony at the National Monument at Akershus Fortress on March 20. Photo: Chris Jackson / Getty Images
29) Britain's Duchess of Cambridge meets Bethany Woods in a music class during a visit to The Treehouse in Ipswich, England, Monday, March 19, 2012. The Duchess of Cambridge visited to formally open The Treehouse, a children's hospice service for
30) St. Jude patient Zane Rimes, 5, giggles with delight as he is dipped upside down by family friend Judy St. Louis while exploring the Memphis Botanic Gardens in Memphis, Tenn. on the first day of spring. MSNBC reports, "The day was special for five-year-old Zane Rimes not because it was the first day of spring but because he was not exhibiting symptoms of his leukemia, said his mother, Maranda. Zane has been getting treated at
31) A girl gets her face smeared with colored powder during a religious spring festival "Holi," in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, March 18, 2012. Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, is celebrated by people throwing colored powder and water at each other. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
32) A man walks past an advertisement displayed on a main street in Tel Aviv,
33) A woman disguised as an Avatar character walks on an escalator at the Leipzig Book Fair in eastern Germany on March 18. Photo: Jan Woitas / AFP - Getty Images
34) Whatever happened to dinner and a movie? Emily Maynard, single mom and star of the next/upcoming season of ABC's "The Bacherlorette," scaled the side of the Mint Museum Uptown Tuesday night as part of a date with one of the male contestants. Photo: Robert Lahser, the Charlotte Observer
35) Former England cricketer Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (R) sits in a bath-tub sidecar with British inventor Edd China (L) at the controls as they try to break the fastest toilet world record at Wembley Stadium in London. Flintoff was attempting to set twelve Guinness World Records in 12 hours to raise money for the Sport Relief charity. Photo: Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images
36) SURPRISE! John and Frances Canning meet Queen Elizabeth during a surprise meeting at
37) Emma is a 17 year-old model. She wears the wedding dress with the longest train in the world during a Guinness World Record attempt in
Danish TV host mocks Obama's phony words
Good stuff.
The MJS doesn't see the bias, but conservatives do
There's an incredible example in today's Journal Sentinel of biased reporting based on a pre-conceived agenda of attempting to derail
The article is downright sickening with little effort to be balanced.
Also, with local conservatives basking in the "Wisconsin Defending the American Dream Summit" Saturday, the daily paper just couldn't resist a sharp jab with this loaded opening paragraph in what should have been an unrelated story by Georgia Pabst:
"While conservative Republicans rallied at a hotel ballroom near Mitchell International Airport Saturday, officials from the Obama administration sat around long cafeteria lunch tables at South Division High School to discuss the concerns of Milwaukee's growing Latino community."
Nope. No liberal bias here.
7TH UPDATE: The recall process in WI needs dramatic change
Previously on This Just In…
The update: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorializes today:
"It's bad enough that recall fever has dragged
Culinary no-no #270
In case you missed 'em over the weekend...
Here are recommended portions of some of our weekend features:
From Barking Lot, check out the closing video.
From Week-ends, read the UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK.
From Recommended Reading, I recommend at least the first two pieces.
Franklin Candidates Forum
From Wisconsin GrandSons of
This is a moderated event and the last chance residents will get to hear the candidate's views and positions before the election.
Franklin School Board Forum begins at 6:30pm and will last for 1 hour.
Janet Evans (Incumbent) – Confirmed
Donald Petre – Confirmed
Aimee Schlueter – Confirmed
John Paul Thompson – Confirmed
County Supervisor Forum begins at 7:30pm and will last for 1 hour.
Steve Taylor – Invited
Ken Gehl – Confirmed
KF NOTE: As of this post, Steve Taylor has yet to confirm. What's he afraid of?
The Santorum Snap
1) The reporter begin to ask a legitimate question based on Rick Santorum's own statement
2) Santorum lose it making him look awful.
The reporter reacts:
ObamaCare Imposes New Burdens on States in Three Dangerous and Damaging Ways
This week, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will celebrate its recent two year anniversary in front of the Supreme Court. The controversial law finds itself in front of the highest court in the land after 26 states—10 of which are represented here—joined together to challenge its constitutionality.
Yes, we're throwing a lot of blogs at you...
Because we know what happens at 7:00.
The latest pro-life news (03/26/12)
From Pro-Life
Flyer Updated to Include Rights of Conscience
Important Right To Life Links
Flyer Updated to Include Rights of Conscience
When does life begin for a liberal?
When does life begin for a liberal?
By guest blogger
Gene Weingarten recently had this op-ed in the Washington Post, "Another child dies in a hot car, and Gene Weingarten asks: Why was this a crime ?" Weingarten tells the story of a professional woman in
The woman in the story, Karen Murphy, was originally charged with felony murder and faced up to 40 years in prison. After working a deal with the district attorney, Murphy plead guilty to misdemeanor child neglect and will face no prison time. As the title of Weingarten's piece implies, he has the usual liberal response to this story. Why was she charged with any crime ? He thinks it is punishment enough she lost her child.
I am not going to argue what Murphy should have been charged with or convicted of. If this happened to me, the guilt would be unbearable and I fully imagine it is for her. This was a tragic accident, albeit a fully avoidable one and that is where I come to my problem with Weingarten's piece. I want to address Weingarten's typical liberal answer to this, zero accountability. It is not the fault of the parent. Why they were busy and had a lot on their mind. The parent should not be expected to remember they have a baby trapped in their own car to roast all day. You cannot hold that against them.
This is liberalism at its height. A total disregard for human life. It was just a two year old, this child was not really a full fledged person yet. That child's life doesn't really count in the liberal mindset. This is why abortion is accepted by liberals. People make mistakes, just let it go. This attitude is a product of the liberal genocide on the unborn, no acknowledgement of the value of life. Now this has been extended to children who actually have been born.
I honestly do not see a difference between this and the co-sleeping deaths of infants in
The Milwaukee County District Attorney either refuses to prosecute these seemingly monthly murders or when he does bring charges, they are very minor. So, what is the difference, some were busy getting high or drunk or had something else on their minds, Murphy was busy with things that were more important to her than her child was that terrible day? The answer is there is no difference and the results are the same. A child is dead and no one is held to account.
As Weingarten points out in his piece, these deaths of children left in cars happen 15 to 30 times a year nationally. There were at least 9 co-sleeping deaths in
Perhaps if these cases were more vigorously prosecuted, it might a send a message to the community that killing your baby, either by sleeping with it or leaving it in a hot car, is not acceptable to society. If this made just one parent think twice about their actions with their children and save just one of these babies, to me it would be worth putting those other parents away. Right now the message is: You want to get rid of your baby? Just kill it by sleeping with it or leave it in your car all day and don't worry, you're not going to get in any trouble for it.
I am not trying to imply all these murders, and murders are what they are, were intentional. I understand that for Weingarten the word murder is too strong, as he calls it an "unforgiving term" with regard to cases like this. I am sure he also thinks murder is too strong a term for abortion. I also understand with this woman, Murphy, it was a tragic accident, nonetheless a human being was murdered here.
So, while liberals cry for the mothers and the criminal justice system holds none to account, who is crying for the children both before and now after birth? Certainly not liberals like Weingarten or the Milwaukee County District Attorney.
This leaves one to ask: When does life begin for a liberal? For me, this is an easy answer, it begins at conception. But liberals have now shown us that even a two year old child is still not enough proof of life for them.
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Where are the cameras?
An opponent of U.S. President Barack Obama's health care reform watches as supporters march past him at the Supreme Court in
There is tremendous interest in the U.S. Supreme Court this week and rightfully so.
Two law professors write in the LA Times:
"Who will get to witness this historical event? Only the justices, the lawyers, a few reporters and 250 lucky individuals whose tenacity and financial ability will allow them to camp out in front of the court — perhaps for days — before the hearing begins. The court has said it will provide same-day (not live) audio coverage of the oral arguments. There will be no television at all, not even on tape.
"It is time for the Supreme Court to enter the 21st (or at least the 20th) century."
I agree.
Meanwhile, today was not good for ObamaCare.
And how about this:
Two Years Ago, Congress Passed ObamaCare
The MacIver Institute Welcomes John Stossel to Madison
Meet John Stossel in Madison
UPDATE: The Barking Lot (03/24/12)
Previously on This Just In… a very touching closing video.
The update.
UPDATE: Culinary no-no #270
Previously on This Just In…movie snacks, especially popcorn cost lots and lots.
The update.
2ND UPDATE: Culinary no-no #270
Previously on This Just In… in the bonus section, a ban on donating food to the homeless.
The update: Of course America thinks that's stupid!
UPDATE: The upcoming movie liberals will absolutely hate
Also, from September 2008...
The update.
Not surprisingly, jsonline ran a review panning the film.
4,000 strong for freedom!
Yesterday, I looked out at the thousands upon thousands of faces and the sea of "Hands Off My Health Care" and "I Am AFP" signs, and I knew our movement was stronger than ever!
Re-elect Janet Evans - Franklin School Board
Re-elect Janet M. Evans - Franklin School Board
Lordy, Lordy, watch the jobs start pouring into Franklin now!
In the world of politics, the often-used strategy to tackle a pressing issue is to:
This battle plan is usually effective and successful 0.0000009% of the time.
So it's no wonder that backwards thinking
I could be wrong, but this new-fangled committee isn't all that new anymore, that it's been around for many months. Meeting after meeting, month after month, we should expect gold at the end of the rainbow.
And here it is!
The committee, backed by 4 of the 5 tax and spend liberals on the
As Candace (I won't ask a tough question to save my life) Romano of FranklinNOW reports:
The Franklin Common Council OK'd the committee's plans to move ahead with creating new marketing materials, including a new website to drive development.
"We recommend we incorporate a new website for just
At the same time, some aldermen cautioned the committee not to rush the process when Haskins presented Forward
Haskins told aldermen that the committee, charged with retaining and attracting business as well as promoting the city, wanted to create new marketing material, hold an annual business appreciation event and conduct business exit interviews when companies leave
"I think we're off to a really good start," Haskins said.
While aldermen had no qualms about the business appreciation event or exit interviews, a few expressed concern about the website, which has a price tag of about $22,612.
Alderman Steve Olson suggested the committee hold off on the website until its members could meet with the city's technology committee.
"You guys are diving into something you don't have background on," he said. "Who's going to maintain it?.
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but take a month. Talk to the people who have done it before."
Alderman Timothy Solomon shared Olson's concerns, urging the committee to get information from the developers of the city's website before delving into creating a new one.
The jobs in
Bravo to aldermen Olson and Solomon. The others, in true
Back to the article:
"I don't think the committee's looking just to spend $23,000," said Alderman Steve Taylor. "I think this is an investment. I do support what we have here."
Hello, everybody, hello. The word "investment" used by
Since he emerged on
Fact is there isn't a tax and spending measure no matter how big or small that
Voters in
Vote against Steve Taylor for county supervisor.
Vote April 3 for Ken Gehl.
The latest from Rehorst
The Monthly Newsletter of Wisconsin's First & Finest Craft Distillery
In This Issue
Grand Opening
Apple Brandy
Whiskey Now In!
UPDATE: Week-ends (03/24/12)
Previously on This Just In… check out UNDER-REPORTED STORY.
The update.
On April 3, Vote Ken Gehl for County Supervisor
Vote Ken Gehl
TODAY: Guide to Certification of Gov. Walker Recall
Seen in Greendale today
A red and white bumper sticker that read:
Goodnight everyone, and have a winning weekend!
"The wise musicians are those who play what they can master."
Duke Ellington
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
Tonight, with Election Day right around the corner, musical selections with titles and/or lyrics that relate to elections, politicians, voting and politics.
This will be a fun, enjoyable exercise that is not meant to target any specific officeholders, candidates, or policies.
We open with a tune from Chicago that was true in 1977 and it's true today.
The Barking Lot (03/31/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it's DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Partly cloudy. High of 49. "C"
SUNDAY: Scattered thunderstorms. High of 65. "B"
Here's my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week's main blog:
I often talk about getting a dog, especially when Kyla is a little bit older. I figure that's the best plan… After all, Kevin doesn't need to know that my intention is really to have dogS. Yes, plural. I had two dogs most of my youth, and it was a blast. They had different personalities, looked different, and played differently with me. So why wouldn't I consider the same situation with our family?
Actually, there might be some reasons. Or at least there are things to thoughtfully consider before you just spring two dogs on each other and assume they will be doggy BFF's.
Again from our friends at PetPlace.com, there are certain steps you should follow when you want to introduce two dogs for the first time. I think this information would be useful for introducing two "friends" or "extended family" dogs as well as if you would like to adopt a second one for your home. Excerpts of their article include:
Week-ends (03/31/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Dennis Weichel
C.L. Bryant
Karl Marlantes
Michael Nicholson
Angela Guerrero
Robert Johnson
David Gonzalez
Amy Hildebrand
Stuart Budgell
Jason Dowd
Tom Tillapaugh
Jamie Moyer
The hateful left
More from the hateful left
Al Sharpton
Bobby Rush
(Romney is the worst candidate) "to run against Barack Obama on the issue of health care, because he fashioned the blueprint. I've been saying it in every speech. Quit distorting our words. If I see it [in print], it's bull(sh*t). C'mon man, what are you doing?"
Rick Santorum
"I never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions and that was one of the problems I had when I was president, having to uphold Roe v. Wade. And I did everything I could to minimize the need for abortions. I made it easy to adopt children, for instance, that were unwanted and also initiated the program called Women and Infant Children, or WIC program, that's still in existence now. But except for the times when a mother's life is in danger or when a pregnancy is caused by rape or incest I would certainly not or never have approved of any abortions…I've signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion which is to minimize the need, requirement for abortion and limit it only to women whose life are in danger or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest. I think if the Democratic Party would adopt that policy that would be acceptable to a lot of people who are now estranged from our party because of the abortion issue."
Jimmy Carter
"Over St. Patrick's Day weekend, the month after Martin was killed, gangs in
Ann Coulter
"My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."
President Obama
"People have to stop politicizing (The Trayvon Martin issue). It's no surprise that some of our Republican opponents are trying to make an issue with this. But the President spoke from the heart and we need to let the investigation take its course."
Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager
"It's not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background. Is the President suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn't look like him?"
Newt Gingrich
"Rick Santorum? Um, press secretary."
Mitt Romney, GOP presidential front-runner, playing a word association game with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show Tuesday; it was Romney's first interview with a late-night comic since announcing his presidential bid.
"I live well with my image. I cannot complain.I would not trade my place with an unattractive girl."
Appropriately named actress Megan Fox
"It's the fact that for three days, the daydreaming time about what I would do if I won is great entertainment and, frankly, a very nice release from a normal day."
David Kramer, a lawyer in Lincoln, Neb., on why he purchased a Mega Millions ticket. Three winning tickets were reported for the world-record $640 million jackpot.
Mom plans to sue school district...read and watch why.
Parents of murdered British students slam Obama for lack of compassion.
Recommended Reading (04/01/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Ron Johnson: health care freedom saved my daughter's life
"'During the initial health care debate when President Obama – and this may not be an accurate paraphrase but it's exactly what he meant – [said] these money-grubbing doctors will take out a set of tonsils for a few extra bucks. I found that deeply offensive,' Johnson said."
WI Democrats face divisive recall primary
"Somewhere in
"In addition to unfamiliar candidates, the Democrats may have an even greater problem on their hands in trying to unseat
Geraldo's point
"There is no point in dressing like a hoodlum when you are not a hoodlum… Race hustlers who hype paranoia and belligerence are doing no favor to minority youngsters. There is no way to know how many of these youngsters' confrontations with the police or others in authority have been needlessly aggravated by the steady drumbeat of racial hype they have been bombarded with by race hustlers."
Cartoonist criticizes Obama for politicizing Trayvon Martin murder
"Why is it that my conservative editorializing rubs liberals raw like Rosie O'Donnell's bicycle shorts? What we have here is our country's most narcissistic president ever, unable to keep from making every major story about him if at all possible (unless it's high gas prices, a still sluggish economy, high unemployment, etc.)"
When the Archbishop met the President
"So you can imagine the chagrin," Archbishop Dolan continues, "when he called me at the end of January to say that the mandates remain in place and that there would be no substantive change, and that the only thing that he could offer me was that we would have until August. . . . I said, 'Mr. President, I appreciate the call. Are you saying now that we have until August to introduce to you continual concerns that might trigger a substantive mitigation in these mandates?' He said, 'No, the mandates remain. We're more or less giving you this time to find out how you're going to be able to comply.' I said, 'Well, sir, we don't need the [extra time]. I can tell you now we're unable to comply.'"
5 uncomfortable truths about liberals
"When one becomes a liberal, he or she pretends to advocate tolerance, equality and peace, but hilariously, they're doing so for purely selfish reasons. It's the human equivalent of a puppy dog's face: an evolutionary tool designed to enhance survival, reproductive value and status. In short, liberalism is based on one central desire: to look cool in front of others in order to get love."
Conservative punditry and political journalism: The things we think but do not say
"If Rick Santorum sneezes, it becomes a video, which is then Tweeted out. Minor gaffes, once completely ignored, now drive media coverage, confirming 'narratives' or preconceived notions we have about the candidates.
Again, this was the natural next step after the invention of the 24-hour news cycle. On the positive, it means more free speech. On the negative, it probably means nobody will ever respect a president, in the same way, again.
Political coverage is coming dangerously close to celebrity gossip — or sports coverage. Of course, the only problem with that is that it trivializes the process... if one media outlet begins covering politics in a more sensational way, a nuclear race to the bottom ensues. We all must do this."
Are Mega Millions players suckers?
"You have to factor in taxes, plus the fact that you get a smaller amount if you ask for an upfront lump sum, plus the risk that you may have to split the winnings with someone else. When the jackpot gets this obscenely large, everyone and their aunt wants to play."
Latest Posts
... Hard-hitting TV, radio and newspaper ads to be run just before each vote, detailing the horrors of abortion and mobilizing the American people.
UPDATE FROM KF: There is tremendous interest in this database, so much that the group's two servers have been inundated (and that includes hackers) to the point they've taken all the requests they're capable of handling.
WTMJ TV, Channel 4 has a preview.
For Immediate Release: March 8, 2012 Contacts: Kim Simac, 715.479.8784
Rush Limbaugh's words have given the radical left the opening they needed – and they have pounced. Rush has apologized. But the radical left will never accept it because they despise him and want him off the air. To the left, this is simply an opportunity to put their attacks on religious liberty in a feminist frame, and an opportunity to try and shut down Limbaugh and end his career. It is all about censorship and hypocrisy.
Great News!
Previously on This Just In…
Recommended Reading
Candidates in attendance: Aimee Schlueter, Don Petre, and John Thompson
The following appears in the latest edition of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and is re-printed here with permission of the publisher.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Bureaucrats Controlling Your Access to Care
The following appears in the latest edition of the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and is re-printed here with permission of the publisher. Ron Johnson: Republicans must embrace 5 principles to conquer Democrats
Ron Johnson: Republicans must embrace 5 principles to conquer Democrats
Preliminary Solution Cost Estimates--
A Trail of Broken Promises
Rarely do we see a high school bomb scare in March. This year was different. The recent culprits in
Here are some key notes from the report, "Bomb threats in Wisconsin schools," posted on the Wisconsin Association of School Boards website:
The MacIver Institute District Report Card takes an innovative look at the Wisconsin's fifty largest public school districts and offers a vigorous analysis and traditional letter grading system in this unique analysis. It rates districts across several different measures to create a comprehensive look at how teachers and administrators are performing in their schools. The Report Card goes beyond the typical parochial comparison of neighboring communities to also focus on how children compete on a global level. With a dynamic global economy perpetually in front of us, a broader focus was needed to better understand how our districts stack up across many metrics.
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The shooting death of a 17-year-old is horrible, whatever the circumstances and no matter their race. But progressives seem to care about this case only because of the race of the victim. There are thousands of murders that don't 'fit the bill' for exploitation and thus are ignored by these self-appointed 'justice seekers'."
"The state recall process begs for change such as the bill proposed by state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), which would have limited recalls to cases of misconduct in office. Vos says he will continue to push for such a bill; we hope he succeeds in getting one passed."
By Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director
Remember, purchasing and renewing your season tickets or single game seats has never been easier! Just click on TICKETS, find your seat, and enjoy the game!
"We should be outraged by this decision.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments about the constitutionality of ObamaCare's individual mandate. If upheld, the Supreme Court decision will forever impact the way health care is run in our country.
Please RSVP by April 9th for the VIP Reception/Remarks and Q & A by sending check to MacIver Institute. To pay by credit card, email firstname.lastname@example.com. Please include the name(s) of those attending and email address for confirmation.
Previously on This Just In…
Very enlightening.
March 30, 2012