text:
This Just In ...
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.
The Goldmann's piece
As promised, here is the Goldmann's piece I read on WISN today.
Thanks to all for your interest.
Is Brett Favre the greatest QB ever?
Terry Bradsahw thinks so.
Here's his column that I read today on WISN.
Courageous women called "Previvors"
Here is the NY Times article and video on Previvors I discussed today on WISN.
The link to the video has changed a bit since I originally posted on my blog. When you click on the video, then click on "The Story of a Previvor, Part 1."
Hey, Greg..what a great question!Earlier today on his FranklinNOW.com blog, Greg Kowalski wrote the following:
"I ask, is it possible to name a development which led to our taxes going down?"
Verrrrrrrrryyy interesting.
Now let's see…..
Where have we seen or heard that question before?
Let's rewind the blogs…..
And go back to April 12, 2007.
On that date, I wrote the following on my blog to Greg:
"Now some time ago, you challenged me on your blog and asked me a direct question and I forwarded you an answer. In fairness, I now have a question for you.
You have written with confidence that the construction of new business will result in a reduction in taxes in the community. In one of your latest blogs you wrote: "the opening of new taxes for the district along the 27th Street corridor would have most likely allowed our taxes to either stay the same or lower slightly." You've made this point more than once on your Common Sense blog. (That's what Greg called his blog back then. I still don't know why he changed the name. He's never offered a clear explanation).
Here's my question. Can you pinpoint for me the last time anywhere in Wisconsin that the opening of a new business or businesses resulted in a reduction in taxes in that community?"
Again, that was six months ago.
Excuse me, but if I'm such a big, bad horrible guy, why is Greg Kowalski taking blog material out of the Kevin Fischer playbook?
As one of Greg's fans likes to say, I JUST HAD TO COMMENT.
In the same blog, Greg writes:
"I mentioned the fact that the majority of school district taxes from the Franklin Business Park, as well as all the school district taxes along South 27th Street go to Oak Creek, not Franklin."
Now I'm not saying Greg is wrong about that. I am saying I am not sure he's correct that the MAJORITY of school district taxes that he mentions go to Oak Creek. I would respectfully ask Greg to provide the data that the MAJORITY of those taxes go to Oak Creek.Greg also wrote in this particular entry:
"A few months ago, I brought up the news that the City of Franklin apparently did a comfortable handshake with our "users" next door in Oak Creek by promising them $5.5 million dollars towards an interchange on I-94 & Drexel Avenue, 100% in Oak Creek City boundaries."
This one's misleading. The casual reader would assume that what Greg wrote is true.
The fact is that neither Mayor Taylor nor the Franklin Common Council has taken official action to promise Oak Creek anything. Greg refers to a "comfortable handshake." It could be an agreement on a cocktail napkin....doesn't matter. Where is the Common Council resolution? Where is the Mayor's approval?
I would pose another question to Greg: What did you mean by what you wrote, because it is misleading and cries out for clarification. He has prompted Franklin residents to believe a large expenditure has been appropriated when it has not.
Like other Franklin residents, I look forward to Greg's response to my two questions.
SPECIAL NOTE: I debated whether or not to post this tonight, knowing that Greg, through no fault of his own, is having technical problems with his blog. I wanted to be fair, understanding he can't respond as quickly as he might want to. However, I decided that posting tonight would allow Greg a head's up and more time to work on researching the answers to my questions.
Can Franklin support two Sendik's Food markets?At first blush, that sounds like a legitimate question.
Franklin is blessed to be the only community to be the future home of not one but two of these quality stores.
But will this city of roughly 35,000 sustain them? Can Franklin do it?
The more I ponder the question, the sillier it seems. It's like asking if Franklin can support two gas stations, two McDonald's, two Pick 'n Save's, two pizza parlors, two ice cream joints, two sub shops.
Each Sendik's is spaced far enough apart that both, I am confident, will do well. Sendik's is so top-shelf that each of the stores will draw from their respective parts of town. My guess is the folks at business-savvy Sendik's would never have entertained the prospect of opening two markets within miles of each other if they didn't have the greatest of assurances they would succeed.
Franklin, shed your doubts. For years, the city has cried out for high-quality shopping venues. Sendik's historically never even dreamed of crossing Wisconsin Avenue to the south. When they did, they chose Franklin, twice.
I truly believe Franklin and surrounding areas will welcome Sendik's with open arms. No need for the inferiority complex here. Opening day at Sendik's will be a celebration times two.
Doubting Thomas' need to put their skepticism on hold. The beauty of two Sendik's Food Markets competing and succeeding is that other potential developers who definitely are keeping track will take notice. If Sendik's succeeds, Franklin succeeds. It's like a domino effect. Others will see, others will take notice, others will want to set up shop, even if it means a dozen or so appearances before the Planning Commission to kiss the members' rings.
I have no apprehensions whatsoever that each of the Sendik's Food Markets will do exceptionally well. Hello!!!!……..they're too good to fail.
Charge dropped against umpire
I gave my WISN audience an update yesterday on the South Milwaukee umpire incident I've been following.
A charge of disorderly conduct against the umpire was tossed out, and the umpire does not have to pay a fine. Five witnesses wrote letters on behalf of the umpire to the City Attorney who dismissed the charge.
South Milwaukee police who were at the ballpark after the incident only interviewed two people. When I brought that up to South Milwaukee Police Chief Ann Wellens, she sternly asked me, "How do you know they (the officers) didn't try to interview more people," only to have them be uncooperative or unwilling to talk? Well, if five people wrote letters, apparently there some individuals willing to get involved after all.
The officers told the umpire he could have walked away. Turn your back on a player who is about to punch you? I don't think so. Show me any police officer who would turn his/her back to nay potentially violent person.
When I suggested the umpire should never have been cited, Chief Wellens told me that the umpire could hire an attorney, collect and present evidence, and get witnesses to speak on his behalf.
My response: "He shouldn't have to." Why should he have to go through the hassle when he was merely doing his job and attempting to defend himself?
The City Attorney used common sense in tossing out the charge against the umpire. The case should have never gotten as far as it did.
A disorderly conduct charge is still pending against the player. The umpire has been subpoenaed to testify at a later date about what happened at the ball diamond.
If you're scoring at home:
Error- South Milwaukee Police officers who responded to this incident
Error-South Milwaukee Police Chief Ann Wellens
Out-the offending player (the only person who should have been given a citation in the first place)
Safe- the innocent umpire
Home run-The South Milwaukee City Attorney
Affirmative action hurts minoritiesTwo California law professors seem to have come to that conclusion.
Of course racial quotas hurt minorities. Anytime you lower the bar and standards for a certain group of individuals, you're not doing them a favor. It's also insulting to assume that the only way the group is going to succeed is if you establish a different and less difficult set of rules just for them.
Here's a recent column from the LA Times I was unable to get to during my last two appearances on WISN:
Does affirmative action hurt minorities?
Racial preferences may be setting up many black and Latino law students for failure.
By Vikram Amar and Richard H. Sander
September 26, 2007
IMAGINE, FOR A MOMENT, that a program designed to aid disadvantaged students might, instead, be seriously undermining their performance. Imagine that the schools administering the programs were told that the programs might be having this boomerang effect -- but that no one investigated further because the programs were so popular and the prospect of change was so politically controversial.
Now imagine that an agency had collected enough information on student performance that it might, by carefully studying or releasing the data, illuminate both the problem and the possible solutions. What should the agency do?
This is not a hypothetical question. The schools involved are dozens of law schools in California and elsewhere, and the program is the system of affirmative action that enables hundreds of minority law students to attend more elite institutions than their credentials alone would allow. Data from across the country suggest to some researchers that when law students attend schools where their credentials (including LSAT scores and college grades) are much lower than the median at the school, they actually learn less, are less likely to graduate and are nearly twice as likely to fail the bar exam than they would have been had they gone to less elite schools. This is known as the "mismatch effect."
The mismatch theory is controversial. One of us (Sander) has advanced it in the academic literature. The other (Amar) believes that while it raises substantial questions, it has not been empirically proved. Some dismiss the whole idea as nothing more than a politically motivated attack on affirmative action or, even worse, an attack on blacks and Latinos -- the main recipients of current preferences. Many rightly point out that definitive conclusions are difficult because the data available to researchers thus far have been limited in very important ways.
Still, certain facts are indisputable. Data from one selective California law school from 2005 show that students who received large preferences were 10 times as likely to fail the California bar as students who received no preference. After the passage of Proposition 209, which limited the use of racial preferences at California's public universities, in-state bar passage rates for blacks and Latinos went up relative to out-of-state bar passage rates. To the extent that students of color moved from UC schools to less elite ones (as seems likely), the post-209 experience is consistent with the mismatch theory.
In general, research shows that 50% of black law students end up in the bottom 10th of their class, and that they are more than twice as likely to drop out as white students. Only one in three black students who start law school graduate and pass the bar on their first attempt; most never become lawyers. How much of this might be attributable to the mismatch effect of affirmative action is still a matter of debate, but the problem cries out for attention.
A lot of legal scholars who focus on empirical work agree that the mismatch effect deserves serious study. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a 280-page report on these issues that came to the same conclusion.
The best data in the nation for studying any mismatch effect in law schools reside in the archives of the State Bar of California, the state agency that administers the bar exam and oversees the conduct of lawyers. Starting in the 1980s, the California bar has maintained careful records on the backgrounds of bar exam-takers and their performance on its tests. With this data, it is possible to compare how students with similar college grades and LSAT scores do on the bar when they've attended different law schools and experienced different types of legal education. It is also possible to more deeply compare the bar performance of minority students before and after Proposition 209 and use other careful techniques to test whether the mismatch effect exists.
Given the richness of the data and the intensity of interest in the mismatch issue, it was not surprising that a blue-ribbon panel of diverse scholars (including both of us) approached the bar with a detailed proposal to study its data, backed by full funding and letters of support from dozens of scholars, law school deans and public officials.
But although the California bar was initially enthusiastic, one of its committees recently rejected the study proposal. Its stated reasons are implausible; it expressed concern, for example, about disclosing confidential information; but the proposed study includes the bar's own in-house expert, thus mooting the need for any data release.
It seems more probable that the bar, like many law schools, is simply queasy about touching a delicate area. The Society of American Law Teachers captured this sentiment in a letter it sent the California bar, cautioning it against releasing the information because, it said, "SALT is concerned about the potential negative impacts upon minority bar applicants and attorneys" who "already face a variety of misperceptions about their qualifications." By this reasoning, no one should seriously attempt to get to the bottom of racial disparities in bar performance because the attempt itself would make more people aware of the disparities!
We know of no serious scholar who has denied, or reasonably could deny, that the study we're proposing would shed some important light on a vital public policy issue. It would not be the final word on mismatch theory, no doubt, but it would be an important step that would advance understanding of the subject. We hope the bar's board of governors, which oversees what is, after all, a public agency, will reconsider in the coming weeks and decide to make its make its information available for research.
A generation ago, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in Regents of UC vs. Bakke, the famous UC Davis affirmative action case, that for society to get beyond race, the government must first take account of race. Last summer, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. countered that the way to get beyond racial discrimination was for government to stop using race as a consideration. We suspect both justices would agree that however one feels about race-conscious school admissions policies, it is vital that we do our best to understand the effects of those policies, and doing that requires more, not less, analysis of real-world data.
Vikram Amar is a professor of law at UC Davis School of Law. Richard H. Sander is a professor of law at UCLA.
Newspapers are hurting, but won't admit itFewer people are reading newspapers. Circulation is down for newspapers all across the country. Newspapers are still an important part of our daily fabric, but are certainly less relevant.
Today, the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel announced it is looking for ways to reduce staff. One way is by "offering employee buyouts in the hope of reducing its workforce by 35 to 50 people."
If that doesn't work?
"The company said if not enough employees take the offer, an involuntary program will be considered."
Having received a few pink slips, some from the Journal Company, I think that's newspaper-ese for, "We'll fire you."
More from jsonline.com:
"Elizabeth (Betsy) Brenner, president and chief operating officer of the publishing group of Journal Communications (JRN) Inc., said the employee reductions are necessary because of falling revenue. In recent years, the Journal Sentinel and other newspapers have been losing revenue to Internet-based advertising. She said gains in online advertising at the newspaper aren't strong enough yet to replace traditional advertising revenue.
"It is never easy to call for staff cutbacks, but we must continue to align our cost structure with the realities of reduced revenues in the newspaper industry," Brenner said in a statement to employees.
Effective immediately, full-time employees of Journal Sentinel Inc. with 10 years of service or more as of Oct. 26 are eligible to apply. The company said it is anticipates that between 35 and 50 employees, or 3.5% to 5% of the Journal Sentinel's full-time staff, will accept the buyout offer. That number may change depending on the number of employees who apply and are accepted. The separation date is on or about Nov. 15.The buyouts will include cash severance and temporary health care coverage.
A memo on the voluntary separation program distributed to newsroom employees said participants will receive two weeks of pay for every full year of service and two months of paid medical care benefits, not including dental and vision.
Non-newsroom employees would receive 1 1/2 weeks of current base salary for every year of service and six months of paid health benefits, also not including dental and vision."
Newspapers are getting beat up in the competition for news consumers, so the workers suffer. This is a trend that didn't just materialize overnight. Long before the explosion of cable and talk radio, newspapers were losing the news audience to TV viewers.
There are so many choices for people to get information, including the blog site you're reading right now. Newspapers have adapted, but they're not the only game in town, and by their nature, are not the first and the fastest game, either.
This is how much the times have changed. The newspaper biz is now trying a Pulitzer Prize effort at putting a positive spin…………on declining readership! The New York Times just published an article on why large newspapers are happy about lower circulations. Huhhh?? (Ironically, the same article required a major correction for an error. You'll see later in this blog).
The New York Times writes:
"As the newspaper industry bemoans falling circulation, major papers around the country have a surprising attitude toward a lot of potential readers: Don't bother.
The big American newspapers sell about 10 percent fewer copies than they did in 2000, and while the migration of readers to the Web is usually blamed for that decline, much of it has been intentional. Driven by marketing and delivery costs and pressure from advertisers, many papers have decided certain readers are not worth the expense involved in finding, serving and keeping them."
What a ludicrous, rip-roaring laughable argument.
What industry tells its customers that it's okay, we don't need you. You don't want what we're selling? No big deal.
Earth to the newspaper industry: The public soured on what you were selling years and years and years ago. And you know why? While you were in your ivory towers dictating what you thought was news and what you thought everyone should be thinking, the news-consuming public decided they wanted something else, and more.
Your liberal editorial rants suddenly were being met by people who thought, no, there's another view. I don't have to accept this.
And quite frankly, newspaper readers got fed up. Their attitude exists today. Are there people who get the Journal/Sentinel just to read the outstanding sports section? You better believe it.
Keep writing those lefty editorials.
Keep shoving the race-baiting columns down our throat.
See how many extra subscriptions that gets you.
Here's the New York Times article where newspapers try to make excuses for their significant drop in readership.
There are ways to address increased competition. Newspapers have tried, but have failed, in large part because they refuse to admit their failures.
While they sit at their keyboards and egotistically tell themselves, "Oh, this is great stuff," their target audience is tuning into Fox, or talk radio, or blogs like this one.
Go ahead, newspaper big shots. Insult me again. Tell me why it's no great loss if I don't read your paper.
A Graceland no-no
Here's some good advice if you're ever on the premises of a site that's listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
The worthless singer of a worthless band, knowing he had a new CD coming out, decided to generate publicity for the miserable project that few music lovers would purchase, by making an *** out of himself at the sacred shrine known as Graceland.
Here's the story.
While this guy was a horse's ***, there have been many celebrities over the years to visit Graceland who have conducted themselves very properly, thank you.
PS: On April 20, 2007, Linda Evans and Joan Collins visited Graceland. They even had the style, grace, and decency not to re-create their famous TV fight scene from "Dynasty" in the Graceland pool.
The heavy tab taxpayers pay for sex offenders
This is a perfect example of why sex offenders should be locked up for much longer periods and in many cases, not let out at all.
It is outrageous that a sex offender on supervised release needs not one one, but two escorts.
Then, how is it possible that an offender on supervised release costs more than if he'd be incarcerated?
Jim Doyle's Corrections Department opposes GPS, yet condones cases where taxpayers pay through the roof to have two escorts accompany a sex offender on release.
I say lock them up for good where they can't harm innocent children.
Just when you thought they ran out of tax ideas...
Liberal Democrats love taxes.
They can't help themselves.
They want to tax just about anything and everything.
The latest loony proposal comes from Wisconsin's own Dave Obey, who disgustingly wants to impose a surtax on the war.
This is amazing video.
Watch what Jim Broussard does when he sees a Mexican flag flying above an American flag atop a Mexican bar in Reno. Watch the reaction from the cowardly Hispanic bar patrons.
Here's audio of Broussard's interview with talk show host Mike Gallagher.
Blaming the victimThat's quite a story in the Small Business Times that Greg Kowalski referenced in one of his blogs.
Businessman John Jazwiec claims he and his family were held hostage in their east-side Milwaukee home, victimized by an armed criminal. The response he's getting is, to me, astonishing.
In an angry e-mail sent to neighbors and to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Jazwiec sends a clear message, one that is shared by thousands of Milwaukeeans I'm sure, that he doesn't feel safe in his neighborhood and he lacks confidence in the Police Department.
Bring out the tar and feathers.
Apparently, because Jaziwec didn't sit down and write a novel for the MPD about what happened, he, the victim, is now being blamed.
The spokeswoman for the MPD, Anne Schwartz, a former co-worker of mine and a friend, essentially is calling Jazwiec a liar. The attitude is that he made up the whole story.
Alderman Michael (I've got my head firmly planted in the sand) D'Amato suggests that people shouldn't be afraid in that neighborhood, that crime isn't all that bad. He, too, insinuates that Jazwiec is lying. D'Amato reminds me of the mayor in the movie, "Jaws," trying to coax beach-goers scared out of their wits to go into the water. With people getting mugged and shot, D'Amato tells residents not to worry, be happy.
Why the hell don't the Milwaukee aldermen and the spokeswoman for the MPD make a big deal out of cases in the inner city of residents who refuse to cooperate with police? How about issuing critical statements about them.
There's a larger issue at play here. Crime is the biggest problem confronting the city of Milwaukee. No one wants to do anything about it.
The Mayor's response to crime: go out of town and attend a seminar in New York. Hand out baseball cards and Summerfest brochures. Bring out the Bookmobile. When the chief says there's a societal crisis in Milwaukee, deny it.
The outgoing police chief has been dismal in fighting crime.
Instead of denouncing criminals and calling for an all-out aggressive campaign to fight violent crime, Alderman D'Amato pooh-poohs the situation and calls into question the integrity of a fine corporate citizen.
What a joke.
The problem isn't Jazwiec. Milwaukee suffers from a culture of not focusing in on the real problem: we need to get tough on crime and criminals.
A Franklin business expanding is great news, but...Yes, it's fabulous news that a Franklin business, Steele Solutions, Inc. wants to expand. The firm, located in the Franklin Industrial Park, is proposing a building addition of 4,012 square feet, as well as 5,347 more square feet of parking.
While I applaud this fantastic news, I want to provide some perspective. The Steele Solutions story is a blip on the Wisconsin business radar. The sad fact is, Wisconsin's business climate is horrible.
According to the October edition of the Capital Region Business Journal, (CRBJ), a publication put out by the Wisconsin Stare Journal:
"Wisconsin had the fifth-lowest job growth among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., for the 12-month period that ended in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state gained 17,700 jobs, according to the bureau, a growth rate of 0.6 percent."
The publication reports that under Governor Doyle, the focus has been on growing businesses that are already here. While we haven't totally given up on trying to attract more businesses to re-locate or start-up here, that idea is not a high priority, to say the least. That could explain why Wisconsin's business climate is the 38th best (or 12th worst) in the country.
CRBJ also reports:
"Pepi Randolph, the former head of Forward Wisconsin, said focusing on in-state companies makes the most sense for the state. But he added Wisconsin needs to do a better job of marketing itself to make it easier to land firms that aren't already familiar with its assets.
Randolph said as he tried to sell the state to business through Forward Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization funded jointly by the state and businesses to promote economic development, he often ran into the perception that the state was just beer, cheese and the Green Bay Packers."
Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council and former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal agrees.
Still writes in the latest edition of the CRBJ:
"Unless you subscribe to glamorous magazines such as Expansion Management or wait impatiently for weekly reports from the State Science and Technology Institute, you probably don't know that Wisconsin does a poor job of marketing itself as a business location.
Oh, sure, the Green Bay Packers show up on the occasional Monday Night Football game and there's no end of on-air comments about cheese, beer and frozen tundra. As a result, most Americans know everything about Brett Favre -- and next to nothing about what Wisconsin has to offer beyond cheese, beer and frozen tundra.
The full story gets told from time to time on the news side of the national press, but you'll never see an ad touting Wisconsin in Business Week or a national TV spot urging CEOs to think of us the next time they add jobs or facilities. Why? It's not because Wisconsin can't compete with other states, but that we choose not to.
So-called "business attraction" dollars in the state budget have historically been little more than a rounding error. The state Department of Commerce spends a grand total of $30,000 on business attraction, which is shorthand for marketing, and the nonprofit Forward Wisconsin gets about $320,000 a year from the state to serve as its marketing arm. Your hometown grocery store or car dealer may have a bigger marketing budget."
Still says he doesn't want to be misunderstood.
"This is not a suggestion that Wisconsin try to spend toe-to-toe with neighbors such as Michigan ($8 million a year), Iowa ($5.7 million) or Ohio ($5.2 million). But we should at least match Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana, which spend $500,000 to $1 million each per year."Still's suggested plan of attack to market Wisconsin in order to attract more business:
"The state should target sectors of industry that are a right fit for Wisconsin, either because we have existing "clusters" of similar companies, a reliable work force, a strong infrastructure and a dynamic research base." I find it fascinating that a monthly Wisconsin business publication would come out and confess that Wisconsin doesn't even put up a good fight to lure out-of-state businesses here. There are probably lots of reasons why, with Wisconsin's outrageous tax climate right at the top.
We also tend to over-regulate, a topic I've written about in the past.Another reason could be the "Franklin factor."
Here's how it works.
You say you want to open up a business here.
Your plan has to go before the Planning Commission, over and over and over and over and over and over again.
It has to LOOK just right. It has to look the way I SAY IT SHOULD LOOK.
It better have the right amount of plants and not too much asphalt or places for shoppers to park. We want them to walk or bike their way in.
After you've kissed our rings and jumped through hoops and satisfied every elitist environmental snob in the city, we might still have a problem.
Now, because we can't see beyond our up-in-the-air noses, we can't comprehend that other out-of-town businesses are paying attention and saying, "The hell with this noise. We'll go somewhere else."
And then, you know what, folks?
Wisconsin had the fifth-lowest job growth among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., for the 12-month period that ended in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state gained 17,700 jobs, according to the bureau, a growth rate of 0.6 percent.
Gee. I wonder how that happened.
Economic development. Business and job growth. We are our own worst enemy.
Wisconsin motorcyclists ready to fight any proposed mandatory helmet lawA few weeks ago, I devoted a segment while filling in on WISN and on my blog to a suggestion that every state enact mandatory motorcycle helmet laws.
I wrote:
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending all states require motorcycle riders to wear proper helmets. It's their knee-jerk response to an increase in motorcycle crashes and fatalities.
About half of motorcycle crashes are not the motorcyclist's fault. A spokesman for the Wisconsin DOT says it's usually the fault of another motorist failing to yield to the motorcyclist.
There are two primary reasons for motorcycle crashes: 1) A motorcyclist doesn't initiate a curve properly, and 2) Another motorist turns left in front of the motorcyclist.
It's not the absence of a helmet.
Callers to my program on WISN today said the helmets are heavy, restrict vision, and can cause neck injuries.
I smell a Wisconsin legislator in the future, writing the press release that we must mandate helmets because, "If it can save just one life….."
Expect thousands of bikers to storm the state Capitol in protest if that happens.
This is one that should be left for individuals to decide, not government.
Our freedoms and liberties are slowly be stripped away.
Here's the entire blog entry.
During my discussion on WISN, a member of ABATE Wisconsin, a motorcyclists' organization called in to agree with me that, if any such bill would be proposed in Wisconsin, thousands of motorcyclists would descend upon the capitol to lobby and protest.
Sure enough.
From the latest ABATE newsletter…
Thus far, no one has proposed a mandatory helmet law this legislative session in Wisconsin.
Remember me
15-year old Lizzie Palmer wrote this about herself:
I'm a sophomore in high school in Ohio, and I play the flute/piccolo. I plan on joining the U.S. Army after I graduate. I only hope I can make America as proud as our troops today have, and I hope I can honor them in the way they deserve with my videos. I love talking to American military personnel, but it's not very often that I get the chance. Hope you all have a great day and God bless! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!
Lizzie produced this amazing video that you may have already seen. I admit that I just recently came across her phenomenal production.
Every American should take five minutes to watch, especially those who don't support the war or our brave soldiers.
God bless this wonderful girl, Lizzie Palmer.
She's a teacher and she wants to bring a gun to schoolBut not for the reason you may think.
The teacher, known as "Jane Doe," wants to protect herself from an ex-husband who's made threats against her. The Oregon woman is licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
Her school district won't let her bring a gun to school, even though Oregon law says local districts, including schools, can't pass laws or policies preventing someone from owning or possessing a firearm.
On the agreement that she'd remain anonymous, "Jane Doe," who is pursuing legal action to exercise the 2nd Amendment constitutional rights, told the Christian Science Monitor:
"I have no doubt at all that any time a criminal has gone into a school intending to commit violence they did so knowing nobody was going to be able to stop them. We've seen what happens when teachers do nothing or can do nothing, and that's not acceptable to me."
Several states are considering bills to allow teachers to carry weapons in school.
It was one year ago that Wisconsin Assemblyman Frank Lasee made national news for his proposal to let teachers in Wisconsin bring guns to class.Many people develop a knee-jerk reaction when they first hear this idea.
I don't dismiss it outright.
An advocate of conceal-carry, I can understand why some teachers, with the proper training, would want to, and should be able to have a weapon on hand for protection. In practically every school in America, if an armed individual gets inside, there's virtually no one who can stop that person.
Read the Christian Science Monitor story.
Where's your patriotism, Barack?Liberal Democrats hate when their patriotism, or lack thereof, is questioned.
Well, maybe if they wouldn't pull this junk, their patriotism wouldn't be so suspect.
Does Illinois think Wisconsin's P.J. Hill is soft?It sure sounds like it.
The opinion south of the border is that Badger running back P.J. Hill hasn't been the same since suffering a neck injury last year against the Fighting Illini.
By the way, even though unbeaten Wisconsin is ranked 5th in the nation, they're a 3-point underdog Saturday against Illinois.
The odds makers obviously are not impressed with the Badgers.
The echoes may be asleep, but Notre Dame is Notre Dame
I am a Notre Dame fan.
That means the last 5 weeks have been tough to swallow.
It doesn't get any easier Saturday when the Fighting Irish play at UCLA. The Bruins will try to avenge last year's loss to ND. My wife and I were in the stands at Notre Dame Stadium last year to see one of the greatest comebacks in Irish history.
"The motorcyclist wasn't wearing a helmet"..... SO WHAT!On June 21, I blogged the following:
Back on April 12, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine almost died after the SUV he was riding in driven by a state trooper slammed into a guardrail after it was clipped by a pickup truck.
Corzine was in the front seat.
He wasn't wearing a seat belt.
That little tidbit of information sent the entire country's news media into a frenzy.
Trust me; having once been in the news business 24-7, I know that reporters are programmed to immediately bark out certain questions when it comes to a car accident. One of the inquiries, in addition to questions about speed and possible alcohol use is whether or not people were buckled up.
If a motorcycle is involved, it goes without saying: the reporter will initially ask if a helmet was worn.
I wish I had a dollar for every radio or TV news script about a motorcycle accident that ended with this sentence:
"The motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet at the time."
The truth is the Governor's driver was going 91 mph in a 55 mph zone when the accident occurred. Speed was the critical factor, not the lack of a seat belt.
And so I had to chuckle when I read this letter to the editor of the Janesville Gazette:
What's with helmet reports?
Editor, the Gazette:
Why is it that every time a motorcycle accident happens, the Gazette prints "and the riders were not wearing helmets"? What does that have to do with anything?
It is not a state law that you have to wear a helmet in Wisconsin as long as you meet requirements set forth by the Department of Transportation. I never read "and the motorcycle rider was not wearing underwear." As far as I know, that is not required by the DOT either.
Good stuff, Joe!
Ma'am, I'm sorry but you're going to have to step to the side and remove your braIf you took a survey of women, my guess is just about every single one of them would say she hates wearing a bra.
Certainly no woman is overjoyed or downright giddy about wearing one.
Don't some of them have all those wires and clasps and snaps and buttons and zippers and belts and Velcro and combination locks?
(By the way, according to "A Smattering of Women's History," in 1914, Polly Jacobs took out a patent for the first bra. The purported inventor of the bra, Otto Titzling, never took out a patent, and most discount his claims. The same is true for Philippe de Brassiere. Olga Erteszek, however, held 28 bra patents. Ida (Maidenform) Rosenthal later added such refinements as sized cups. Prior to the invention of the bra, women were squeezed into corsets which, when tightened to stylish thinness, constricted their organs and caused serious illnesses. If they were large-breasted, women strapped their breasts down using bindings. Marie Tuceks did patent a "breast supporter" in 1893, but it didn't take off.)
It's bad enough they're uncomfortable (I am told) but when they trip off metal detectors????!!!!
This is yet another example of the extreme stupidity of screeners, matched by those Rhodes scholars that work in our airports.
Can you really blame a gal if she refuses to wear one because it feels so doggone awful?
Then there's the more serious consideration that your bra could be a killer.
Makes me glad I'm a man.
That's more like it, Franklin
The Sabers (3-4) keep their playoff hopes alive by beating last-place Racine Case.
From The Racine Journal-Times:
Prep football: FRANKLIN 42, CASE 6
BY The Journal Times staff
Pouring it on in high school footballBRADLEY TECH 64
That was the final score of the high school football game last night at historic South Stadium where I'm the public address announcer.
Bradley Tech remains undefeated and is clearly the best team in the City Conference, a conference not famous for high-quality football. The Trojans are a talented, disciplined, physical squad that like Milwaukee Riverside last season could go deep in the playoffs.
But what happened last night at South Stadium should serve as a lesson to other high school football programs. You don't run up the score on a team that is already hopelessly beaten.
Everyone knew the Tech-Washington match-up would be lopsided. On Tech's first three plays from scrimmage, they scored three touchdowns, and the game was quickly out of hand.
Leading 44-6 with about a minute left in the first half, Tech got the ball again near midfield. Refusing to run the ball or have the quarterback take a knee, Tech put the ball in the air, desperately trying to put 50 on the scoreboard before halftime. Tech got down to the one-yard line as time expired. Thinking there was still a second left on the clock, the Tech coaches frantically tried to call a timeout. Again, not satisfied with a 44-6 lead, Tech coaches (I emphasize coaches, not the players) wanted another TD.
As the referees huddled with the football on the half-yard line, I turned on the microphone and said, "Our clock has run out." Admittedly, I was hoping common sense would prevail and the half would be over.
A few seconds later, crew chief Chuck Hinz picked up the football, faced the press box, and lifted the football above his head, signaling that yes, the half had indeed run out and no, Tech was not going to score 50 just yet.
That made the score 44-6 going into the second half. By WIAA rule, whenever the point differential between the two teams in the second half reaches 35 points or more, there is a running clock that only stops on a score, a charged timeout, the end of the 3rd quarter, or an injury.
Trust me. Had it not been for the running clock, Tech could have scored 80 points.
With 20 seconds to play in the game, Tech again refused to take a knee at Washington's 2-yard line. Instead, the quarterback handed the ball off to a running back who scored an unnecessary and unsportsmanlike final touchdown to make the score 64-6.
I want to be clear. As I mentioned, this is a very good Tech team. The players only do what they are instructed, and Tech's decision to run up the score at the end of both halves was uncalled for.
The counter-argument is that you should let the kids play and that competition is good and that you can't fault Tech for Washington's inability to stop them, etc, etc. etc.
We're not talking NFL here, folks. This is high school football. There are many ways you can continue to play and keep the score respectable and avoid a brawl from happening.
You put in subs. You run the ball. You don't call timeouts when you're ahead by a mile. You take a knee and let the clock run out. All of these ideas were apparently lost on the Tech coaching staff.
Remember, this is a game featuring high school kids, many from the inner city. You start rubbing the other team's face in it, and they get frustrated. I've seen it time and time again. They take swings and punches. Two Washington players got ejected as well as a coach. While I don't condone those actions, Tech helped manufacture the bad attitude on the field.
Thankfully, no one got hurt in this one-sided affair.
Coaches are also teachers. The Tech coaches blew a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the athletes and the fans in the stands the value of fair play.
Tech also may have done a disservice to MPS football. It's rare a TV crew shows up at South Stadium to film highlights, but last night, Fox 6 was there. After the 64-6 debacle, my guess is the TV sports directors will be reluctant to send cameras to future MPS games. What for? A 64-6 shellacking isn't dramatic video.
And by the way, I've been going to City Conference football games for 40 years. I've NEVER seen a team fall behind the way Washington did last night and rally for a comeback victory. NEVER.
Shame on the Bradley Tech coaching staff for a total lack of good sportsmanship.
Week-endsA look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Brett Favre
Deanna Favre
Bart Starr
Jim Broussard
The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel. As noted by Karen in the comments section of this blog entry, the paper has always ripped Scott Walker for making cuts on behalf of taxpayers. Now they're making cuts to make up for their inability to compete in the marketplace.
Ron Becker
"Yes. I believe we are close enough we could have a deal done in a day."
Governor Jim Doyle, on the state budget impasse.
"It is not likely that the conference committee will resolve the fundamental budget differences on taxes and spending by October 15."
Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) on the state budget impasse.
"Basically, this hospital tax is a sick tax. And it would mean that we're going to balance the budget on the backs of sick people in the state of Wisconsin. It's wrong."
State Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) after the Wisconsin Hospital Association dropped its opposition to Governor Doyle's hospital tax.
"We don't have money for everything. The UW is going to have to set priorities, whether they like it or not."
State Representative Steve Nass(R-Whitewater), a frequent critic of the UW System.
"I don't think Hillary(Rodham Clinton) will have me."
Tommy Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during President George W. Bush's first term, commenting on whether he would entertain another cabinet job.
"The sky is falling in Franklin. It's just ridiculous."
Sex offender Steve Hanke's attorney, Andrew Arena, claiming Franklin officials and some residents are overacting on the topic of registered sex offenders. Hanke now lives in Franklin. Franklin has filed a suit against Hanke for violating Franklin's ordinance restricting where sex offenders can live. The suit is an effort to evict Hanke.
"I am personally fed up with the number of sex offenders being dumped in this community. If this continues, this city will be ruined, in my humble opinion."
Waukesha Alderman Emanuele Vitale. Waukesha is enacting tough restrictions on where sex offenders can live.
"For those scoring at home, their argument is essentially "our schools still stink out loud, so school choice must not be providing us with the incentive we need to teach kids." This is an amazing argument. So, by their logic, the worse MPS gets, the less necessary the school choice becomes, as it shows they are not being provided with enough incentive to compete for kids. Maybe they can just run all the public schools into the ground to really prove their point."
Christian Schneider of the Wisconsin Policy Resarch Institute, on a WEAC study of Milwaukee schools that finds competition generated by vouchers does not lead to higher student test scores. Milwaukee has the longest-running voucher plan in the nation.
"It's with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust. I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let (my family) down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down. I recognize that by saying I'm deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and hurt that I've caused you. Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Olympic Gold Medalist Marion Jones, admitting she used steroids.
Light sentence in case of terror stalking in Sheboygan
A memo by the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows that the Senate Democrat budget proposal exceeds the Assembly Republican budget by $1.1 billion.
A billion dollar difference in taxes and spending.
That, my friends, is the #1 reason Wisconsin doesn't have a budget yet.
Britney Spears loses custody
How NOT to explain how a bill becomes a law.
Steroids and Barry Bonds in the sack.
Developments take too long
I have argued constantly that local and state policies discourage rather than encourage economic development here, and contribute to our extremely slow pace of growth. Excessive taxing and spending and over-regulation present major obstacles.
Today's MIlwaukee Journal/Sentinel features an excellent letter to the editor that nails it:
Too much time spent on planning
A quote in the Oct. 2 article "Close vote advances freeway funding," attributed to Waukesha County Supervisor Patricia Haukohl of Brookfield, struck me. She said regarding the Pabst Farms development, "It's all happening too fast."
Using violence to save livesHe was a gang member.
Then he joined the Marines and served in Iraq.
Awarded the Navy Cross, Marco Martinez writes about his first-hand account fighting for our country and why he supports the war In Iraq.
Like my colleague on FranklinNOW.com, Fred Keller, I want to urge more Americans to remember why our brave men and women soldiers put on the uniform to defend America and battle for freedom and an end to terrorism.
Please read Marco Martinez's amazing column about the 5 reasons he fully backs our military effort in Iraq, including mass graves and the tongue-less man.
Culinary no-no #20When October and fall roll around, I do love what you can do with pumpkin.
There's pumpkin pie.
And pumpkin cheesecake.
Pumpkin crème brulee.
Pumpkin bread.
Pumpkin muffins.
Pumpkin cookies.
Pumpkin ice cream.
Pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin soup.
Sometime this month, I'll venture over to Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant at Mayfair and have one of their seasonal pumpkin martinis.
The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper website says:
Maggiano's is part of a nationwide chain of Italian restaurants, and the Pumpkin Martini was created by David Pennachetti, director of beverages.
The drink is a simple affair that calls for pumpkin liqueur, spiced rum and half-and-half. It's a great cocktail for this time of year. There are so many liqueur flavors on the market that it's possible to make drinks that taste of almost any fruit, nut and herb. To find the best liqueurs, look for the percentage of alcohol in the bottle. You'll pay more for a higher alcohol content, but the alcohol boosts the flavors in the liqueur and adds a sophisticated dryness to the product. Bols and Marie Brizard are very good brand-name liqueurs with extensive ranges of flavors, and both the Mathilde and Edmond Briottet lines, while not hugely wide-ranging, are superb products.
The Pumpkin Martini Recipe adapted from Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant.
3 ounces Bols Pumpkin Smash liqueur
1 ounce Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
1 dash half-and-half Ground cinnamon, for garnish
Shake the ingredients over ice, and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top.
Serves 1 PER SERVING:
375 calories, 0 protein, 38 g carbohydrate, 0 fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 6 mg sodium, 0 fiber.
Ok, so I love pumpkin. When do we get to the no-no?
Right now.
Our own Milwaukee-based Lakefront Brewery and others make a seasonal pumpkin beer.
I'm sure people drink it, otherwise breweries wouldn't make it. This weekend while dining out, I saw a woman putting a pumpkin beer down. Seems to me that's just not right. Imagine pouring a Miller Lite into a glass, and then opening a can of pumpkin paste and spooning out a dollop to drop in the glass.
This whole notion of fruity beers has me scratching my head. Lakefront also makes a cherry lager. Now I can understand lemon or lime flavoring for beer since ales are bitter in the first place. But cherries and strawberries and chocolate and……………..pumpkin?
Rick Steves of Rick Steves' Europe program on PBS visited Scotland this week. Steves was in a Scottish pub, talking to the proprietor behind the bar while sampling some Scotch whiskey. Ever so accommodating, the bartender said, of course, they'd serve the Scotch any way the customer wanted, but straight up was the best way to go. As he told Steves, if someone wanted pineapple juice in their Scotch whiskey, that's what they'd get, but they be "ruining" or "wasting" good quality alcohol.
That's my point.
In my book, pumpkins should be on your plate, not in your beer.
1) Ketchup on a brat
2) Green peppers on pizza
3) The dirty martini
4) Fruity brats
5) A Bloody Mary after dinner
6) Women "manning" the grill
7) Eating pizza at Festa Italiana, brats at German Fest, or tacos at Fiesta Mexicana. (Be adventurous. You can have those items anytime).
8) Eating a cream puff as though it was a hamburger.
9) Taking your own bottle of sauce when invited to a barbecue.
10) Touching the grill if you're a guest at an outdoor barbecue.
11) Coaching the host on how to grill.
12) Some regional flavored ice cream…..like black licorice.
13) Taking the husks off before you grill corn on the cob
14) Being afraid to chill red wine
15) Pizza on the grill
16) When serving exotic or strange dishes to guests, do not tell them exactly what it is. Instead, use a more inviting term (caviar) rather than being blunt (fish eggs).
17) In late summer and early fall, this time of year, don't buy zucchini. Somehow, someway, you will find zucchini or zucchini will find you.
18) Showing disrespect to your restaurant server.
19) Eating out on a Monday night.
I remember James Groppi, tooThe Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel has been writing about the 40th anniversary of the open housing marches in the city of Milwaukee, with emphasis on the late James Groppi, then a Catholic priest.
In today's paper, local historian John Gurda writes about his experience with Groppi.
I have my own Groppi memories. Here are a few, in chronological order starting with the earliest:
1) The hot summer months of 1967. I was in grade school and didn't like the fact that at 7:00 at night, with daylight still blazing, I had to be in the house because Mayor Henry Maier had imposed a curfew for public safety.
The newspaper hasn't focused much attention on the ugly side of those "marches," including the riots, fires, property damage and violence.
2) In the late 70's, I'd catch the U-BUS to take me to UWM. Often times, the bus driver was citizen James Groppi.
3) In the early 80's, I covered a contentious meeting of the Milwaukee Common Council's Public Safety Committee for WUWM. Seated across the aldermen was Police Chief Harold Breier, who was testifying before the committee on some police matters. Further down the table was Groppi. Many of his supporters and Breier opponents packed the hearing room.
Groppi kept hounding Breier and the two bickered back and forth.
Finally, Breier would have no more of Groppi's interruptions and criticisms of the police. In typical Breier fashion, the chief barked out at Groppi, reminding him of those marches in 1967 across the viaduct where angry south side residents waited on the other side.
Breier shouted at Groppi that, "WE (the police) SAVED YOUR ASS THAT NIGHT IN KOSCIUSZKO PARK!"
Milwaukee's violent crime
I still haven't seen this anywhere else, so I'll repeat:
Out of over 300 metropolitan areas in the country, the Milwaukee-Waukesha area ranks #65 when it comes to violent crime, according to the latest figures from the FBI.
No faith in the Windy CityThe Chicago Tribune sports staff has their predictions about tonight's Green Bay-Chicago game.
Most are picking the Pack:
Reporters pick 'em: Bears-Packers
7:32 PM CDT, October 5, 2007
Terry Bannon
It's hard to see the banged-up Bears breaking all that feel-good momentum the Packers have going. Big plays are the Bears' best hope, but who will make them? Offensively, they haven't been making the basic plays. And Devin Hester has to catch the ball before he can score. The defense is hurtin', so Brett Favre and Donald Driver will be hard to stop.
Mike Downey
Look who's back. It's good ol' boy Brett the Quarterback Guy. Great to see Brett Favre pass on almost every down. Not so great to see Brian Griese do it. Rookie tight end Greg Olsen, it's time for your first TD catch. You could tie Moose Muhammad and John St. Clair for the team's lead. Cheeseheads, please ... we need this one more than you do.
David Haugh
The Bears' defense will sack Brett Favre five times, stop Green Bay running backs so cold Packers fans start missing Samkon Gado and play well enough to win. Won't matter. The offense will sputter against a Packers "D" that's better than Detroit's. It takes a deep passing game to beat this secondary and the Bears just haven't shown they have one.
Melissa Isaacson
Were the last two weeks the beginning of a free fall? Sunday will go a long way toward answering that question for the Bears, who still give us no reason to think their offense is capable of winning games. But it's the defense, injuries or not, that will have to save the season.
Vaughn McClure
You know Brett Favre's getting old when he's doing ads for Wrangler, but the future Hall of Famer has found the fountain of youth. Favre will pick apart a banged-up Bears secondary.
Fred Mitchell
It would take a Lambeau Leap of faith to believe the Bears can overcome enough of their deficiencies to outwit an energized Packers team playing at home. The Bears can only hope that Brett Favre becomes reckless in his enthusiasm and turns the ball over a few times.
Rick Morrissey
Don't ask me why. I have no idea. Maybe it's a sympathy vote. They have to win again some day, right? How about Sunday night against the Packers in Green Bay? If that challenge can't get the Bears pumped up, things are worse than we thought.
John Mullin
One team is jumping around, the other is just jumpy, and Bears have simply not found ways to win when things start to unravel. Expect the Bears to start fast in a desperation game, but Green Bay and Favre are just feelin' it and Favre is hard to beat when he has the mojo rocking.
Dan Pompei
The Bears are too banged up to hang with the Pack at Lambeau. It isn't that difficult to imagine Brett Favre putting up big numbers.
It's in the bag, Franklin!My wife and I shop regularly at the Franklin Pick 'n Save.
Kevin, you actually grocery shop?
As Fonzie somewhat sarcastically said to Ritchie in a "Happy Days" episode when he was spotted in a supermarket, "No, little elves drop the bags off at my door."
Of course I grocery shop.
And boy, am I glad I do at Franklin's Pick 'n Save. The Franklin store has an award-winning bagger.
This past Wednesday in Madison, the Great Wisconsin Bag-Off took place at the Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA) Innovation Expo. A Franklin resident captured 1st place in the competition.
Adam Ferry from Pick 'n Save in Franklin won first place. Erik Malach from Pick 'n Save in Two Rivers finished fourth.
"I was really surprised and shocked," said Ferry of his first place win. "I was expecting to go have a fun time and meet a lot of people and experience something new. I really wasn't expecting to win."
Bagging groceries shouldn't be all that difficult. (Will that be paper or plastic?)
And yet, how often does this happen to you.
You get one or two really heavy bags and one or two really light ones.
He put the canned vegetables right on top of the bread! Oh no! The eggs!
So it's easy to mess up.
Adam Ferry didn't.
As the 1st place winner, Ferry receives $500, a trophy and a trip to Las Vegas to represent Wisconsin in the National Best Bagger Contest during the 2008 National Grocers Association Convention, February 5th - 8th. Ferry plans on taking his fiancée along on the trip. (Hmmmm…..fiancée….. going along……to Vegas. Well, that's another story).
Ferry is 20 years old and has worked at Pick 'n Save for five years. He attends the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, majoring in Information Systems. Because of his schedule, he now works at the Franklin store one weekend a month and during his winter and summer breaks.
So how do the judges determine the best baggers?
The baggers are judged on speed, proper bag building techniques, number of bags used, uniform bag weight and style, attitude and appearance.
Congratulations Adam Ferry!
The best of luck to you, in more ways than one, in Vegas!
Franklin, will you help get rid of a sex offender?In August, I wrote a 5-part series on the top issues Franklin faces. One of them is the ongoing struggle to protect the city and its families from sex offenders.
An informational meeting was held on September 24 at the Forest Park Middle School library, called by 1st District Alderman Steve Olson, to heighten awareness about the lawsuit filed against sex offender Steven Hanke.
Hanke bought a Franklin home five months after Franklin adopted a milestone ordinance restricting certain sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, day-care centers and other places where children might congregate. Hanke bought a residence in June in the 8200 block of South 77th Street that is 300 feet from Forest Park Middle School, a clear violation of Franklin's ordinance. Hanke is now refusing to leave and Franklin has taken the necessary legal action to force him out. The city of Franklin has filed a lawsuit to evict Hanke, a registered sex offender. Hanke was sentenced to nine years in prison in 1996 for second-degree sexual assault.
Hanke's attorney, Andrew Arena, made the incredibly insulting comment that Franklin residents are over-reacting."The sky is falling in Franklin," he said. "It's just ridiculous."
Arena doesn't comprehend the history of the sex offender issue in Franklin. Otherwise, he'd understand why Franklin is rightfully concerned about sex offenders in their neighborhoods.
At the recent informational meeting, concerned residents were told that if the city loses its lawsuit against Hanke, that would practically nullify the city's tough restrictive ordinance that communities all across the state are using as a model to pass their own similar laws. Should Franklin lose this lawsuit, the teeth would be taken right out of its ordinance and the fear that a facility to house numerous sexually violent persons could be built in Franklin would start all over again.
What can you do?
There will be court proceedings. Attend and try to bring someone else who lives in another community that has passed a similar ordinance to Franklin's. Support is critical from other communities, not just Franklin.
The first hearing date in the Hanke case is scheduled for Monday, November 5 at 1:30 before Judge John Franke. Judge Franke is an honorable man, but he is a liberal judge. The greater the show of support in his courtroom, the better.
Yard signs and buttons will be produced for citizens to display and wear.
Please check back on my blog. I am working with concerned citizens and my blog will provide the most up-to-date information about this case and how you can get involved to take a stand to make your neighborhoods safe from sex offenders.
Share this information with a friend or neighbor. This is one of the most important issues our community is confronting right now.
Packer night games can be hazardous to your healthThere are several problems that could occur during a televised Packer night game:
Your house could be on fire. None of your neighbors would notice.
Your spouse could be cheating on you somewhere else in the house. You'd never know.
Your spouse could threaten to leave you. You'd never hear it.
Your spouse could threaten to charge the hell out of the Visa. You'd be oblivious.
Your spouse could announce she's inviting her mother over to spend a week. You'd offer a lame response like, "No problem, dear."
Your spouse could ask you if she looks fat, and, just like the commercial…
A tornado could be rumbling right down Rawson Avenue. You'd know, but you wouldn't care.
The moral of this blog is, Packer night games can be dangerous.
Note the time I am posting this entry: Halftime at Lambeau Field.
I have no idea what the hell happened between now and 7:15 this evening.
The Chicago Marathon should have been postponed
Chicago didn't learn from past history.
In 1995, from July 11-27, a total of 465 deaths were certified as heat-related in Chicago during a heat wave when temperatures ranged from 93-104 degrees. During July 13-21 (when most heat-related deaths were certified), a total of 1177 deaths occurred in Chicago -- an 85% increase over the same period in 1994 (637 deaths).
On Sunday, the Windy City staged the annual Chicago Marathon. It probably should have been postponed. Instead, it was held on schedule, placing thousands of runners in danger.
The New York Times reports:
As temperatures soared into the upper 80s, hundreds of runners in the Chicago marathon fell ill and at least one died on Sunday, prompting officials here to halt the annual race for the first time in its 30-year history.
As runners set off at 8 a.m., temperatures were in the 70s — warm for a fall day in Chicago but not unheard of — and organizers said they had anticipated a normal race day. But as the morning went on, temperatures kept rising, and calls began pouring in: Some runners were telephoning 911; others were flooding into the 15 aid stations along the course; still more were reporting that there was not enough water or Gatorade or even cups along the course.
By 11:30 a.m., race officials, who were consulting with city fire officials, medical experts and the police, stopped the run, setting off waves of confusion and chaos in some parts of the course.
"It was a tough call," Carey Pinkowski, the marathon's longtime director, said Sunday night. "It's my responsibility to make a decision on people's health and on public safety. All the indications were that it was only going to get worse."
More than 300 people were picked up by ambulances along the course, many of them suffering from nausea, heart palpitations and dizziness from the stifling heat, fire officials said. Forty-nine were hospitalized for their illnesses, race officials said, and the rest were treated at race-sponsored aid stations and a medical tent.
"I had no faculties whatsoever," said Dawn Dowell, who was among the injured, having blacked out at Mile 19. Ms. Dowell, 37, of suburban Wheaton, said she could not provide her address or phone numbers in the minutes after she awoke with an emergency medical technician attaching an IV bag to her arm. Ms. Dowell, who spent two hours in a hospital, said she was running her first marathon.
In the 18th mile, a 35-year-old man collapsed. He was later pronounced dead. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified him as Chad Schieber, 35, of Midland, Mich.
As runners began falling ill on the course, city authorities sought help from suburban fire departments in case they ran out of ambulances. Fire hydrants were opened, creating an enormous spray along a downtown street. Fifteen city buses — air-conditioned to the coolest levels — were sent out as aid stations.
The Times added this:
Ideal marathon conditions include temperatures in the high 40s or low 50s with low humidity. By just after 11 a.m., marathon organizers here said the temperature was already at least 88 degrees, a cooling cloud cover had cleared off, and humidity had reached the level of some of Chicago's most grueling and dangerous summers.
More evidence the pro-illegal movement plans to use kidsLast month, I wrote about a disgusting trend I saw developing in the pro-illegal immigrant movement: the exploitation of children.
More evidence of this trend is reported in today's USA TODAY.
The goal is to whip up sympathy for children of illegal immigrants and essentially reward them for the illegal acts of their parents.
Here's the story.
Toll roads are catching onWhen you think of the most unpopular policy ideas in Wisconsin, what comes to mind?
A tax on beer would have to be near the top.
Within recent memory, the automatic yearly increase in the state gasoline tax became so unpopular it was eliminated.
How about the notion of toll roads?
The mere mention of such a proposal instantly brings visceral reactions.
Not so elsewhere around the country.
"American City and County" Magazine reports:
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), 21 states allow the use of PPPs to fund transportation projects. Also, since the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991, 27 states and one territory have implemented major toll road operations, according to the August 2006 FHA study "Current Toll Road Activity in the U.S.: A Survey and Analysis."
States are using PPPs and tolls to raise revenue and handle the increasing cost of building and maintaining new infrastructure, says Jack Basso, chief operating officer for the Washington-based American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. "Especially if it's 'green field' projects, meaning new construction, it's a way of generating the necessary revenue to get those facilities built a lot faster than you can do them in the traditional way, where you have to build up a lot of capital over a lot of years and you're being chased [by inflation] the whole time you're building that capital," he says. The "Current Toll Road Activity in the U.S." study shows that 168 toll projects planned or implemented since ISTEA could provide up to 14,565 lane miles of capacity to the nation's highway system. Also, the study projects that toll road development will increase from 50 to 75 miles per year between 1991 and 2001 to 150 miles per year for the next 10 years. Finally, the study's authors reach the conclusion that "we may be on the verge of transitioning to a robust mix of highway funding options in which tolls play a significant role."
The rap on toll roads is the heavy volume of trucking traffic they would send to other roads not equipped to handle the load.
Tony Giancola, executive director of the Washington-based National Association of County Engineers (NACE) says, "One of the unintended consequences is the fact that there may be parallel local roads or other state roads which are not interstate or big freeway-type roads, which could, in fact, witness … an influx of truck traffic to avoid the tolls. These roads could be overwhelmed, not only with congestion but also because they are designed to a different level [and] may not be able to handle the repeated truck traffic that's going over them." That already happens in some states with toll roads, Giancola says, and drivers of smaller vehicles may do the same, adding to congestion.
I hate the idea of toll roads and I think most people do.
Most, but not everyone.
Baby Jesus is back!
Amidst all the hoopla and trips down memory lane with the closing of Goldmann's right across the street from my church, I've been trying to point out that my church is a jewel on a street that went to hell a long, long time ago.
This summer, as you'll read in the blog I've linked to, someone took the figure of Baby Jesus from the Nativity scene in our church grotto on Mitchell Street and broke the head, then placed the shattered pieces on the altar inside the church.
My guess is the culprit(s) will be punished in due time.
I am happy to report that a new Baby Jesus is in the manger in the nativity scene in the grotto. I'm not sure how it was replaced, by whom, and for how much, but the Nativity scene is once again intact and looking beautiful.
This time, I hope the dirty, rotten creeps keep their hands off.
Dave Schulz dies
The former MIlwaukee County Executive died Sunday of respiratory failure.
I covered him extensively in my radio career. In his final days of office, I conducted a live one-hour call-in radio show with him on WTMJ.
Here are the details.
Schulz was not only a source of news but a friend. I'll have more to say about him in the days ahead.
Note to Brewer owner Mark Attanasio
If the New York Yankees are so foolish as to fire Joe Torre, then you need to make the smart (and brilliant) move and fire Ned Yost and make Torre your 2008 manager.
Franklin's Christine Rathke should serve as a reminder to local policeIt was the greatest girl's basketball team to ever play at Franklin High School.
In March of 1999, Franklin entered the state championship game against Kettle Morraine undefeated at 26-0. While the Sabers failed to capture the title, the team was clearly the best in school history.
One of its amazing stars was Christine Rathke, a gutty, hard-nosed player with tremendous hustle and determination, the unquestioned leader on the team.
In February of 2000, Bobbi Roquemore of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel wrote, "Over the past four years, Franklin has gone from a doormat to the dominant team in the Southeast Conference. Rathke, a flashy, do-it-all guard, has been the catalyst in the rise of Sabers' basketball program and has smashed records along the way. Rathke has played all four years on the varsity and owns the school's all-time scoring mark with 1,446 points."
Roquemore told of little children in Franklin asking for Rathke's signature.
"I didn't expect to be signing autographs, but I like it when the little girls come up and talk to me," Rathke said. "I tell them what it takes to get to that level."
After leaving Franklin, Rathke played for Southeast Missouri State University before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 2002.
On Sunday afternoon, February 16, 2003 at about 1:00 pm, Rathke was driving from a UW-Parkside team banquet heading west on Ryan Road at about 36th Street when a car heading eastbound crossed the centerline and collided head-on into her car. Rathke died at the scene. She was 20 years old.
The driver of the other car was Victor Sanchez, who was 19 at the time and living on the city of Milwaukee's south side. He was charged with homicide by negligent use of a vehicle. Sanchez was speeding and passed in a no-passing zone at the time of the fatal crash.
Former Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel reporter and WTMJ-AM talk show host and well-known blogger Jessica McBride has confirmed that Sanchez was an illegal immigrant. Another highly reliable source involved in law enforcement has confirmed for me that Sanchez was in the country illegally at the time he killed Rathke. Sanchez is no longer in the United States. He has been deported, not soon enough to save young Christine Rathke.
Rathke came to mind as my blood boiled reading the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel's report that some local police departments are caving in to a radical pro-illegal immigrants' group. Voces de la Frontera is asking police departments to develop new policies to prevent officers from asking potential suspects about their citizenship status.
Shockingly, as the newspaper reports, "Some departments are going along." (The article is a typical Journal/Sentinel puff piece, relating incidents intended to drum up sympathy for illegals).
We also learned that the Milwaukee Police Department, under the leadership of outgoing Police Chief Nannette Hegerty, implemented its new policy in April. And yet, despite the normally chatty, far from camera shy Chief and her spokeswoman, we didn't hear about the policy until October 8th.
"Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz released a copy of her department's policy and confirmed that it was updated in April, but she declined to comment further. According to the policy, Milwaukee officers can question a person's immigration status or alert federal authorities only in cases of violent crimes, suspected terrorism, street gang crimes or other limited cases."
This is outrageous on several counts.
The MPD institutes a new policy on procedures dealing with the public, but doesn't go public about it for six months.
Police officers in Milwaukee are not going to question certain suspects about their immigration status in effect, giving them a free pass for possibly violating the law.
How many other police departments are going to cave to a radical pro-illegal immigrant group? Who's in charge of protecting our streets, the police, or Voces de la Frontera?
Does Hegerty or any other police chief contemplating this go-easy policy need to be reminded that not long ago, one of their own, a Kenosha deputy was killed by an illegal immigrant?
Rathke's and the deputy's killer were both familiar with the criminal justice system prior to the offenses I referred to. Our lenient, politically correct methods let them back on the streets to break the law again, and this time, kill decent, innocent people. These deaths were preventable, but a system that isn't tough enough on illegal immigrants is partially complicit for these deaths.
In our country, the rights of those here illegally are paramount. It's disgusting and indefensible. Shame on any police chief or police department that develops a policy to look the other way when confronted with illegal immigrants.
Christine Rathke should serve as a reminder that too many people are in the United States illegally, and yes, a great many of them are not nice people who are only here to try to better themselves. Rathke's picture should be posted inside every police department to remind our officers that illegal immigrants are here and they are committing violent crimes against the law-abiding citizens our police are entrusted to protect.
Franklin, keep your eyes on West BendFiscal insanity has erupted in West Bend.
You thought Franklin's $78-million referenda were eye-popping?
On November 6, voters in West Bend will go to the polls to cast ballots on a $119.3-million referendum, the largest in the history of the state of Wisconsin.
In a story in the Waukesha Freeman, you have to wait until 32nd paragraph, the 32nd paragraph, before you read the sentence, "Regardless, the referendum causes a tax hike."
Franklin School Board members must be literally salivating, grinning from ear to ear as they watch West Bend from the sidelines. And I'll throw their hand-picked superintendent in the mix, too.
This predictable bunch just keeps wanting to tax and tax and tax and tax and tax the bejeebers out of us.
Like Pavlov's dog, they're waiting and hoping, keeping their fingers cross that the West Bend referendum either passes, or comes close enough to passage that they can proudly proclaim, "You see. Taxpayers don't mind spending lots of money on schools. They did it in West Bend. We can do it in Franklin!"
And they'll propose a big, fat whopping referendum that they've almost certainly begun working on the day after the $78-million tax increase went down to a stinging defeat in April.
Referendum supporters in West Bend have gone to the same old, tired playbook for their spin and talking points.
There is the obligatory use of the word, "invest." Approving the referendum is an "investment."
Translation: They want to "spend" more money. INVEST=SPEND.
The $119.3-million referendum will be spaced over a period of a few consecutive years.
Translation: You're going to get several big tax increases every year for the next few years. Doesn't that feel much better?
And, if the referendum should fail, West Bend will simply do what Franklin and every other school district does when the voters say NO:
1) They will ignore the voters.
2) They will come back again and again and again and again and again until they get a referendum that ultimately passes.
Here in Franklin, a big school tax increase is likely. The School Board operates like there's a skip in the record: "The state doesn't give us enough money. The state doesn't give us enough money. The state doesn't give us enough money."
If that were indeed the case, and it's not, the Franklin School Board does have options, despite what member Sue Huhn says.
Huhn says the board has no other choice but to raise taxes, and by a lot.
Sure, that's an option. It's been used time and time again by the taxers and spenders, which has put us in a deep tax hell.
But there is another option, one that Huhn and her colleagues don't want to consider. It would be a common sense approach taken by most hard-working families at times when costs outweigh incoming revenue: YOU STOP SPENDING.
Nothing, absolutely nothing today, even with the uncertainty of the state budget, is precluding the Franklin School Board from making cuts to avoid an outrageous, beyond the rate of inflation school tax levy. But they won't do it. Why?
1) That would require hard, tough choices. They don't want to do that.(Even though that's what they were elected to do).
2) It's much easier to simply round up a bunch of fellow tax-lovers, herd them to a School Board meeting, put cards in their hands telling them what to say at the appropriate time when called upon, and orchestrate and vote for a tax increase. (The card example actually does happen, for those who've never been to a meeting). And taxpayers are inconsistent when it to comes to their wallets. They will get in their cars and drive in any kind of weather several miles to the polls in April to vote NO on the referenda, yet they won't get off their lounge chairs or couches to pick up a phone and call School Board members to politely ask them to hold the line on spending.
And why does that happen?
Maybe they're just tired of fighting knowing that this prize fight never ends. The tax and spenders keep answering the next bell for the next round.
Karen Taubenheim of MenomeneeFallsNOW.com offers some great analysis on this, calling it "Tax Fatigue."
Franklin, you are about to be held up, robbed, tied up, and tossed to the lions.
Don't say you haven't been warned.
Is Brett to blame for not beating the Bears?It is amazing to me how these so-called "experts," these sportswriters with keyboards in front of them can supposedly be watching the same football game that everybody else is, and still be so utterly, completely wrong.
Consider this headline that is opposing up in newspapers around Wisconsin and the rest of the country following Green Bay's 27-20 loss to the Chicago Bears Sunday night: Favre looked brilliant until ... Bad Brett returns and it all unravels The headline accompanies a story written by Colin Fly of the Associated Press.
Here's an excerpt from Fly's story:
"Up 10 midway through the third quarter, Favre was picked off by Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and Chicago scored on the next play to start a stretch of 17 consecutive points to beat the Packers 27-20 on Sunday night.
Favre's folly was the kind of mistake he had become infamous for as the Packers slid from Super Bowl champion to perennial playoff team to recent NFC also-ran over the last decade.
But Favre looked different to the start this season. He dropped a down-the-field approach for a dink-and-dunk management style he'd previously shunned.
And Green Bay began winning – first with four games to end last season 8-8, followed by four more to start 2007. Favre was positioned at the half to start 5-0, something he'd never done in his 17-year career.
Through 4 1/2 games, Favre had completed 68 percent of his passes for 1,448 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions.
His passer rating, meant to judge quarterbacks over the course of a season, not games, was 101.7 – better than any of his three consecutive MVP campaigns beginning in 1995.
Then it all fell apart.
Favre had a brutal second half, going 10 of 18 for 79 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, the last a desperation heave in the waning seconds that tied him with George Blanda for the most all time at 277.
''We got out of a rhythm,'' Favre said. ''It just wasn't clicking.''
While Favre failed, Green Bay set the stage for a collapse early and staggered to the finish late."
So it's Favre's fault the Packers blew that big lead over the Bears.
I expect this kind of knee-jerk reaction from an armchair QB in the corner bar who's had one too many boilermakers.
Do we all wish Favre hadn't thrown that pass?
Of course.
But if you truly want to look for reasons the Packers lost, that errant throw would be at the bottom of my list.
I would start with those two fumbles by rookie wide receiver James Jones when the Packers were driving. That's 14 points right there. Huge.
How about no run support, again, especially in the 2nd half when the Packers amassed just 19 yards on the ground.
How about the head coach Mike McCarthy's highly questionable use of a timeout to challenge a call late in the game that cost the Packers a timeout when the challenge failed.
There was the penalty during a Bear field goal. Bears accept the penalty, take three points off the scoreboard, and go in for seven instead.
Charles Woodson fumbled a punt.
The Packers played ultra-conservative in the final two minutes of the game, throwing 5-yard passes down the middle with one less timeout because they lost one on the challenge of a previous call.
Blaming Brett Favre for that loss is like saying the usher at Ford's Theatre should have yelled, "Look out, Mr. Lincoln!"
Favre or Ripken, Jr.?This week's edition of "NFL Films Presents" on ESPN was a humorous, entertaining discussion with all of Brett Favre's back-ups.
I believe it was Matt Hasselback who made the comparison between Favre and Cal Ripken, Jr.
Sunday night, Favre started his 242nd consecutive game, an NFL record.
Cal Ripken, Jr. played 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, from May 30, 1982 to Sept. 20, 1998.
It makes great barroom fodder or talk radio material: Which streak is more impressive?
They're both incredible.
But at the risk of being a homer, I'd have to give the nod to Favre because of the sheer pounding taken each game and the greater risk of getting injured, especially at the QB position.
And yet, putting on a baseball uniform every game for ten times the number of games Favre has started is amazing.
That's why it's a great question.
Disturbing trend: Vigilante violence against sex offendersMurder charges have been filed against two men who set fire to a sex offender's home in Tennessee.
The man escaped.
His wife did not and died in the blaze.
Here are the details.
This is yet another story in a disturbing trend of vigilantes going after sex offenders.
Expressing anger and outrage against sex offenders and the pursuit of every legal and policy move to protect communities from sex offenders is always appropriate.
Committing vigilante violence against sex offenders is always wrong. It can even result in a backlash against anti-sex offender measures, such as laws to restrict where sex offenders can live or congregate.
Who benefits from a 5.6% school tax levy increase? Not the students!We now know, thanks to Fred Keller and his blog that every Franklin taxpayer must read, why the Franklin School Board is so hell-bent on raising the school tax levy by the incredibly unreasonable rate of 5.6%.
The money isn't going to go directly to classroom instruction of our students. The huge tax increase the Franklin School Board is poised to pass will go toward bloated salaries and benefits of top school administrators.
No wonder Franklin School District Business Manager James Milzer spent so much time at the August School Board meeting rattling on and on with dizzying figures that put the audience into a trance. He had to fight for his soon to be growing salary of $119, 893 with total salary and benefit package of $169, 489.
Two months ago in one of my blogs, I asked the following:
If the Franklin School Board adopts a budget with a large, bigger than the rate of inflation tax levy increase of 5.6%, and I sense they will if the board doesn't hear from enough taxpayers, then I have a simple question for the members: What?
What do we get for that 5.6% tax levy increase?
What does Franklin get for all that extra tax money?
Do we get greater student achievement?
Do we get higher GPA's?
Do we get more graduates going on to college?
Do we get more graduates going on to college in Wisconsin?
Do we get higher reading scores?
Do we get higher math scores?
Do we get higher SAT scores?
Do we get higher ACT scores?
Do we get better attendance?
Or do we just, as some school members have been quoted, take care of "bodies" (i.e., teachers) and programs?
We now have our answers.
We now know why the Franklin School Board doesn't want to entertain the idea of any potential cuts to save the beleaguered taxpayers.There certainly are places to cut, especially in a top-heavy administration.
To stand up shamelessly at a public meeting and blame the state for not providing enough funding (a falsehood) and use scare tactics in the form of threatened cuts to popular programs when in reality you're pushing for a tax increase to keep funding large salary and benefit packages for the top administrators is disgraceful.
No talk of a hiring freeze.
No talk of a salary freeze. Instead, Franklin taxpayers get trampled on again.
There's a difference, though.
This time, the public knows what's going on.
This time, the public is wise and gets it.
This time, the people who run the schools have been exposed, time and time again.
We're on to you guys. And sooner or later, this game of screwing the taxpayers is going to end.
So, Greg Kowalski likes toll roads....A few days ago, I blogged about the increase in toll roads across the country.
Then, a few days later, FranklinNOW.com blogger Greg Kowalski wrote about toll roads, too. That's no surprise. Greg is very reactive when it comes to my posts.
Greg wrote:
"…you really don't hear much discussion concerning relief for taxpayers on this issue. Whenever an alternative is discussed, like Illinois's tolls, it gets unanimously shot down. But what if Illinois has the right idea?"
Everyone knows the extremely unpopular idea of toll roads ranks right up there with being as desirable as banning tailgating at Lambeau Field.
Greg continues:
"The question looms: Why are Illinois residents given free reign to use our freeways, and don't pay a penny for it?"
In Greg's defense, he hasn't been around long enough to possibly know the history of why Illinois has toll roads and Wisconsin does not.
Following the lead of Pennsylvania that enjoyed great success after World War II with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, other states used that state's financing method. Several states, including Illinois, but not Wisconsin, created a toll authority to issue bonds. Revenue from the bonds provided the funds, up front, to pay for construction of the roads. Revenue from the tolls enabled the toll authority to repay bond holders with interest and pay for the administration, maintenance, and operation of the highway. Turnpikes turned up in many states, built without any Federal highway funds or other Federal tax dollars.
In the past 16 years, the feds have made provisions, as pointed out in my previous blog, to allow for more toll ways.
Greg asks:
"So, why don't we return our friends in Illinois the favor? Why don't we have Illinois residents foot the bill on the next big interchange project in the Milwaukee area? Why have Wisconsin taxpayers partially foot the bill for freeways when tolls could cover the bill?"
There are three very, very simple reasons why tolls are an incredibly bad idea:
1) HELLO!!!! If we institute tolls, Wisconsin motorists will also have to pay them.
2) We already pay our fair share in taxes, not to mention one of the highest gas taxes in the nation to support our roads. We don't need extra fees to pay, and what is probably the most important reason tolls are an incredibly bad, even stupid idea…
Hopefully, despite Greg's affinity for the state of Illinois, he'll understand.
You think Greg was secretly rooting for the Bears Sunday night?
Police should uphold the lawIn my blog about Franklin's own Christine Rathke, I blasted the prospect of some local police departments caving into political correctness when it comes to illegal immigrants.
The Beloit Daily News agrees in an editorial.
If only we could be more like CanadaThat's what the socialists tell us when it comes to health care.
That Canadian system…
It's simply the greatest.
Oh, really?
A Cheesecake Factory in Franklin?I want to explore the following two questions:
1) Should Franklin recruit and open a Cheesecake Factory restaurant?
2) Could Franklin recruit and open a Cheesecake Factory restaurant?
I will get into the specifics of those questions, but first….
Just a few years ago, my wife and I were walking down the main drag of downtown Honolulu, Kalakaua Avenue.
We were headed to Duke's Canoe Club in Waikiki for dinner when we passed it. A Cheesecake Factory.
Right there, pressed up against the sidewalk appeared to be 50 times the outdoor seating you'd see at a typical Cheesecake Factory. What my wife and I saw was one of two outdoor seating areas. After all, this was Hawaii.
And how many Cheesecake Factory restaurants do you see adorned with one tiki torch after another. Needless to say, the restaurant was jammed, buzzing with lively activity.
The Honolulu Cheesecake Factory, located on the ground level of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, has only been open a few years, but is going gangbusters. In October of 2003, the Honolulu daily newspaper, the Honolulu Advertiser, wrote about the coming of the Cheesecake Factory:
For a company that doesn't advertise, advises customers they may have to wait up to an hour or three for service, and gets complaints about putting too much food on a plate, The Cheesecake Factory does well.
The California chain of casual-dining restaurants with industry-leading sales is about to enter the Hawai'i market with its biggest restaurant yet, expecting the operation to be among its top five doing more than $1 million in monthly sales.
With room to seat almost as many people as the old Cinerama Theater, the nearly 600-seat Cheesecake Factory scheduled to open in early December at Waikiki's Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center also expects a lot of Hawai'i residents to visit a part of O'ahu that many kama'aina prefer to avoid.
But if there's any doubt that the 33-year-old debt-free company can succeed here, you don't hear it from analysts who study the business or from shopping center owners who compete fiercely for the restaurant as an anchor tenant.
"They have yet to open a bad restaurant," said Sharon Zackfia, a restaurant industry analyst for investment banking firm William Blair & Co. in Chicago.
According to analysts and consumers, there's a simple formula to what makes the Cheesecake Factory work: value and volume.
Customers find generous portions of quality food at good prices in a casual setting with decor that's more upscale than usual. Howard Gordon, company vice president for business development and marketing, said 70 percent of customers have leftovers wrapped up to take home.The average restaurant serves 3,000 people a day, and brings in $1,000 per square foot in sales, or $11 million a year.
The average Cheesecake Factory customer check is $16.
The busiest Cheesecake Factory, in Chicago, does $18 million a year in sales.
"They do enormous volume," said Malcolm M. Knapp, a restaurant industry consultant in New York who said the average Cheesecake Factory restaurant revenue is higher than any competitor's.
One of the keys to the restaurant's being able to draw so much business is a huge menu, which lists some 200 items, including 36 varieties of cheesecake.
Zackfia said such a wide selection would hurt cost efficiencies of most restaurants, but Cheesecake Factory uses it to draw a big enough mass of customers that makes the menu manageable.
In Hawai'i, the restaurant will be among the largest — bigger than the roughly 300-seat Palomino or Ryan's, the 420-seat Todai or 550-seat Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch & Crab.
Waits at other Cheesecake Factory restaurants, none of which take reservations, can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as three hours.
Gordon said he doesn't know what to expect in Waikiki, given that the restaurant is bigger than others but will see more than normal traffic because of the tourist population.
Gordon also said the company expects a strong mix of residents visiting the restaurant. "A lot of locals want to come down here," he said. "A lot of the action is happening here."
Charlian Wright, Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center marketing director, said she expects the customer mix at the mall to change from 80 percent visitor and 20 percent kama'aina to 70 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
"A lot of the local residents told us, 'You get that (Cheesecake Factory) here, we'll be there,' " she said.
OK, I'm convinced.
The answer to question #1 is YES, Franklin should try to secure a Cheesecake Factory.
But what about question #2…..could Franklin pull it off?
According to the Motley Fool on www.fool.com, an investment and personal finance website, Cheesecake Factory "is among the best restaurant concepts for squeezing the most dollars out of each site." Jeremy MacNealy wrote this on fool.com last December about this popular restaurant chain:
One of the qualities I find very appealing in the Cheesecake Factory concept is that it original enough to differentiate itself from other casual restaurants. O'Charley's (Nasdaq: CHUX), Chili's by Brinker (NYSE: EAT), Applebee's (Nasdaq: APPB), Ruby Tuesday (NYSE: RI), and Bennigan's all just kind of seem the same, but whether it is the restaurant decor or its monstrous menu, Cheesecake has set itself apart from the rest of the pack. Its distinctive quality will prove to be a major advantage when the company enters new markets that already have a strong presence from the aforementioned concepts.
Note what he then writes about new (Franklin?) markets:
Before addressing new markets, it is worth mentioning that Cheesecake still has plenty of opportunity for growth in existing markets. CFO Michael Dixon made it very clear in the call that filling out existing markets will be an important part of its expansion efforts, stating, "The strategy of capturing additional profitable market share in areas that we know very well and where our brand recognition is high has worked well for us and we will continue to maximize this opportunity in the future."
Look for the company to fill in existing markets with a slightly smaller version of the mammoth-sized Cheesecake Factory that most of us have become accustomed to; these newer sites average about 5% less "productive seats." The advantage of the smaller design is that the company can fit a restaurant to the size of "preferred sites" in high-traffic markets.
So, is Franklin out of the question? MacNealy continues:
As for new markets, management is very pleased with the performance in such locations as Albany, Oklahoma City, and Omaha. These cities are smaller markets than where many of the concept's first 100 sites are located, but the results have been no less impressive, with sales averaging in excess of $250,000 per week in the first four weeks of operation.
If there were any doubts as to where Cheesecake was going to find growth going forward, Dixon removed them, stating, "We remind our investors that the majority of our expected revenue growth for the next few years will continue to come from the opening of new restaurants." In the fourth quarter (of 2006) it will open 13 new locations -- a record high for the company -- adding to the 126 sites already in the portfolio. In 2007, it will open an additional 21 locations, giving it an estimated 18% increase in square footage growth. Again, the bulk of these openings will come in the fourth quarter.
That would give Cheesecake Factory an estimated (and incredible) 160 sites.
I repeat, is Franklin out of the question?
Let's go back to MacNealy:
Management has stated all along that they believe the market can sustain 200 Cheesecake Factory operations. With 126 sites in existence today, (as of the December 2006 date of this internet column) there is still plenty room for growth. And given the recent success it has found in some of the smaller markets, my hunch is that we will eventually see that 200 target revised substantially upward.
So obviously, Franklin is not out of the question if Cheesecake Factory's explosion of new sites continues.
I am not that close to Franklin and its efforts to woo new business. As they say in the restaurant business, that's not my table.
But it's clear to me that the answer to each of the two questions I have proposed is YES.
And to borrow a phrase from a famous movie, if you build it, they will come, especially given that this side of town has no Cheesecake Factory.
Sure beats a DQ Chill and Grill or Grill and Chill or whatever the hell you call it.
My only gripe with Cheesecake Factory: the wait time is part of the deal so please, build more seating space around the bar.
Should Franklin get a CF? YES!
Could Franklin get a CF? Given the proper approach and recruitment effort, I think it could!
I'm on WISN and Channel 10Friday morning I fill in for Jay Weber on Newstalk 1130 WISN from 8-10 am. WISN Program Director Jerry Bott fills in for Jay from 6-8 am.
On Friday night on InterCHANGE on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10 at 6:30, these are the topics my co-panelists and I discuss:
1 – Miller/Coors.
Will this be a good combination for one of Milwaukee's oldest companies? The Miller / Coors combination may mean just one place for a corporate headquarters. They say the decision hasn't been made. If it comes down to Denver or Milwaukee, who will get it? The new top exec is a Coors guy? Coors is a non-union brewer? What about taxes, crime, condition of the plant, weather, livability, ability to attract corporate talent, culture, schools, airport, etc? Does it look good for Milwaukee? 800 corporate jobs are at stake here. Should the city be doing something right now to persuade them to locate here?
2 – Crandon.
As is always the case after these tragedies, many are wondering if this could have been prevented. Should even small town departments do psychological screening before they give a cop a gun? Why do you think there were so many calls placed to 9-1-1 before there was a response? How has the media reporting been?
3 – Dave Schulz.
Was Dave Schulz a good Milwaukee County Executive? Was he truly not cut out for politics, or exactly the kind of politician we need today? Was it his ego or his intellect which alienated so many people?
4 – Brewers/Torre.
If the Yankees let Joe Torre go, should the Brewers make him their new manager? Or, do we stick with Ned Yost? Or, do we go for someone else, like a Dusty Baker, or Tony La Russa, or a Don Mattingly? Or, after 30 some lucrative sell-out games at Miller Park, would you be inclined to leave everything as it presently is, and hope for yet another financially successful season next year?
The Gipper's bodyIt is a classic scene from a great sports movie.
Ronald Reagan's portrayal of Notre Dame football legend George Gipp, the "Gipper," will never be forgotten.
Gipp died more than 86 years ago, but is now back in the news. His family had his body exhumed, but won't say why.
ESPN filmed the affair for an upcoming documentary.
As a Notre Dame and college football fan, I'm intrigued.
Here are more details.
Sex offender signs popping upYou're starting to see yard signs on properties all over Franklin that read:
167 refers to the strict city of Franklin ordinance that restricts where sex offenders can live or congregate.
Released sex offender Steve Hanke bought a home in Franklin several months after the ordinance took effect and is in clear defiance and violation of the law. The city has filed a lawsuit against Hanke who refuses to move, in an effort to evict him.
A court hearing is scheduled in early November and a large contingent of residents from all over Milwaukee, not just Franklin, is being urged to attend.
I'll have more updates and details in the weeks ahead.
BEST DINING IN FRANKLIN-AREA: Care to comment?
Back in June, I announced the results of my Best Dining in Franklin-area survey of readers.
Since then, I have a lot of new readers. And because Friday is normally the day we look to the Journal/Sentinel for restaurant news and reviews, I thought it might not be a bad idea to show the results again to allow you the opportunity to comment, an opportunity you didn't have in June.
So here are those results, and feel free to comment away.
Your votes are in and here are the results of the 1st Best Dining in the Franklin-area Survey!
As I wrote weeks ago, this project was inspired by similar surveys conducted by Milwaukee Magazine and OnMilwaukee.com, and was an effort to engage readers in a public service to showcase the best in our community.
The survey comes at a time when there's a buzz about future retail developments in Franklin and the anticipation of bigger and better things to come. It is my hope that the survey recognizes and acknowledges the quality establishments we have in and around Franklin.
Survey responses were taken between May 21, 2007 and June 9, 2007. Selections were limited to restaurants in the Franklin-area, including Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Oak Creek, and Hales Corners.
In each category, there is a first and second place winner.
Best Bakery
1) GREAT HARVEST BREAD COMPANY, Greendale
2) SENTRY FOODS, Franklin
Best Breakfast
1) MEYER'S RESTAURANT AND BAR, Greenfield
2) GEORGE WEBB'S, Multiple locations
Best Lunch
1) HANLEY'S, Franklin
2) WEGNER'S, Franklin
Best Burger
1) BOULDER JUNCTION, Greenfield
2) KOPP'S, Greenfield
Best Coffee Shop/Café
1) BROAD ST. COFFEE COMPANY, Greendale
2) FIVE STAR, Franklin
Best Décor
1) MR. MIYAGI'S, Greenfield
2) WEGNER'S, Franklin
Best Desserts
1) SUNDAY BRUNCH AT BARTOLOTTA'S IN BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS, Hales Corners
2) HEINEMAN'S, Greendale
Best Fish Fry
1) BARTOLOTTA'S AT BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS, Hales Corners and WEGNER'S, Franklin
2) WENDT'S, Greenfield
Best Frozen Custard
1) KOPP'S, Greenfield
2) CULVER'S, Multiple locations
Best Patio
1) MIA FAMIGLIA, Hales Corners
2) THAT'S AMORE, Hales Corners
Best Pizza
1) MICHAELANGELO'S, Franklin
2) TRATTORIA DI CARLO, Oak Creek
Best Romantic Restaurant
1) MIA FAMIGLIA, Hales Corners
2) HUGO'S STEAKHOUSE, Franklin and MR. MIYAGI'S, Greenfield
Best Seafood
1) MR. MIYAGI'S, Greenfield
2) BARTOLOTTA'S FRIDAY FISH FRY AT BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS, Hales Corners
Best Steak
1) HUGO'S STEAKHOUSE, Franklin
2) CASA DI GIORGIO, Franklin
Best Subs/Sandwiches
1) COUSIN'S, Multiple locations
2) SUBWAY, Multiple locations and JIMMY JOHN'S, Oak Creek
Best Family-Friendly Restaurant
1) MEYER'S RESTAURANT AND BAR, Greenfield
2) CHAMP'S, Greenfield
Best Asian
1) LE BISTRO SHANGHAI, Hales Corners
2) LOTUS CHINESE RESTAURANT, Franklin
Best Italian
1) CASA DI GIORGIO, Franklin
2) TRATTORIA DI CARLO, Oak Creek
Best Mexican
1) ROMINE'S MEXICAN RESTAURANTE, Greenfield
2) LOS MARIACHI'S, Greenfield
Best Bar Food
1) HANLEY'S, Franklin
2) BOSCH'S, Hales Corners
Top two restaurants (names or types of restaurants) you'd like to see at Fountains of Franklin
The winner in this category was the most dominant response in the survey. Just about everyone who responded gave what ultimately would be the #1 selection:
A BARTOLOTTA or BARTOLOTTA-type restaurant.
Here are just some of the many other ideas suggested for Fountains of Franklin restaurants:
JAPANESE HIBACHI STYLE, like SEIGO'S
My sincere thanks to everyone who participated!
Why conservatives love the militaryThis morning while filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN, I asked the following question:
If a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine in Iraq were to receive an anonymous care package or letter of support, who likely would have been its sender: a liberal or a conservative?
The question originally came from Marco Martinez, former street gang member, now decorated Marine.
He wrote a great column on this question that I read on the air today. As promised, here it is.
Ok, ladies...
Barry White...
Franklin wins a wild one
The Sabers knocked off South MIlwaukee tonight in overtime, 35-28 to pull even at 4-4 on the season.
Franklin must now win at Muskego Wednesday night to secure a playoff spot.
The Muskego game is winnable. Muskego is struggling at 2-6.
From jsonline.com:
Jared Ciche threw for 406 yards and five touchdowns for Franklin, but it took his 10-yard strike to Nate Soddy in overtime to give the Sabers a 35-28 victory over South Milwaukee. Ciche also threw a 54-yard scoring strike to Justin Henrichs late in the fourth quarter to tie the game. He completed 25 of 40 passes with one interception. South Milwaukee's Jerome Lipp ran for 200 yards and two scores.
Thumbs up to Bradley Tech
Last weekend, I drilled Bradley Tech football coaches pretty hard, and rightfully so, for running up the score on Milwaukee Washington, 64-6.
I even talked about it on WISN during a talk show segment Friday morning.
Now, I'm not sure what happened last night, but the same unsportsmanlike Tech team of last week played totally different in their ballgame against Bay View at historic South Stadium.
Tech could have easily poured it on again vs. the hapless Bay View Redcats.The Trojan's top-quality QB Jeff Lemmer was 14 out of 16 in the first half, leading Tech to a comfortable 38-0 halftime lead.
Unlike last week, when Tech had a 38-point lead at halftime against Washington and came out in the second half with the same killer zeal to score even more, last night was a different story.
Tech played their subs. They didn't throw the football. There wasn't a single questionable call or attempt to rub Bay View's face in it.
Final score: TECH 38 BAY VIEW 14
The New England Patriots aren't the only cheatersIt's been going on in college football….for over 50 years.
Spies dressed up as priests. Is nothing sacred anymore!
Read about "skunking" in the LA Times:
Spying in college football is an open secret
The game abounds with tales of 'skunking' -- those spying for rivals who have dressed as painters, even priests.
Schools turn to guards and other measures to protect practices.
By David Wharton
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2007
Three men with walkie-talkies keep watch on nearby buildings, looking for spies. Anyone who approaches the front gate is scrutinized.
If you're not on the list, you can't get in.
Tall fences and tight security make Spaulding Field seem a bit like a military installation. In fact, it is a patch of turf where the UCLA football team holds afternoon practice.
The Bruins, who next play California at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 20, do not want rivals getting a look at special formations or trick plays before the game. Coach Karl Dorrell talks about rogue Internet postings that chronicle "how we practiced, how many throws we made, who ran the football, who's hurt."
Recent news has focused on espionage in the NFL, where the New England Patriots were caught videotaping the opposite sideline, recording hand signals that rival coaches flashed to their defensive players. But spying isn't unique to the pros.
The college game abounds with tales of "skunking" -- intruders dressed as painters, even priests. Practices can be hard to protect, what with boosters, high school coaches and recruits often hanging around.
It is impossible to know how much spying actually occurs, but athletic programs erect fences and plant trees, even hire private security firms, to guard their facilities.
"You could see where coaches get paranoid," said Barry Switzer, the championship-winning former Oklahoma coach who was accused of spying in the mid-1970s. "Everyone's wanting an edge."
Soon after NFL officials punished New England in September -- Coach Bill Belichick and the team were fined a total of $750,000 and the team will lose one or more of its top 2008 draft picks -- the University of Georgia closed its practices. The Bulldogs were preparing to play Alabama, a team coached by Nick Saban, who spent four seasons as Belichick's defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns.
Georgia Coach Mark Richt stopped short of making the connection, saying: "We just wanted some privacy . . . probably what happened in the NFL recently brought some awareness that this stuff might be going on."
Coaches are hard-pressed to cite a specific play or game in which the outcome might have been affected by spying. But they can point to a history of rivals who have ignored an NCAA rule on improper scouting.
Before the 1950 Sugar Bowl, the Oklahoma Sooners were preparing to play Louisiana State when they caught a man watching practice through binoculars from behind a nearby house. He was a former LSU player who claimed to be scouting talent for a professional team. Oklahoma Coach Bud Wilkinson doubted his explanation, saying: "I can't believe LSU would do such a thing."
Some 20 years later, an Oklahoma booster allegedly dressed as a painter to get inside Memorial Stadium during a Texas practice. Switzer was a Sooners assistant coach then.
"I knew it happened," he said. Asked about how the plan was hatched, he replied: "That's so . . . long ago, I can't remember."
By 1974, Switzer had become head coach and was accused of spying on Texas again, a contention he seemed to acknowledge in a 1990 autobiography but now denies.
There were no denials from Florida after an NCAA investigation found the Gators sent a graduate assistant to rival campuses each week In the early 1980s. About the same time, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, an unidentified man appeared at Notre Dame practices dressed as a priest. It was later believed that he was a gambler looking for inside information.
Last season, a West Virginia student was caught diagraming plays at a Marshall University practice. Police found him carrying telephone numbers for the West Virginia coaching staff.
In addition to spies from opposing teams, coaches worry about a newer form of infiltration. Sportswriters covering practice know better than to write about trick plays, but some bloggers and fans have unwittingly posted such details on the Internet.
They might describe a fake punt the team is practicing, or a double-reverse pass.
"If stuff gets out there, it could be damaging," said Dennis Slutak, the director of football operations at USC. "We're cognizant of that."
The Trojans, who play Arizona on Saturday at the Coliseum, have a reputation for letting big crowds into their practices. An assistant staffs the door with a clipboard, but it is not uncommon to find scores of reporters, family members, high school coaches and boosters at Howard Jones Field on a given weekday.
Coach Pete Carroll doesn't believe visitors get a clear view of what his team is doing from field level. He is more concerned about the vantage point from nearby parking structures and atop the adjacent baseball and track stadiums.
"We kind of know the tricks and feel like we monitor it very well . . . we're doing it subtly," Carroll said.
Other teams are more overt. Many close their practices to all visitors, including the media. Or they restrict access to NFL scouts who travel the country evaluating talent.
At Oklahoma, the athletic department pays for private security officers to patrol its tree-lined field.
The current Sooners coach, Bob Stoops, recently told ESPN.com that he "may have made a big mistake" by practicing in the Louisiana Superdome before the 2003 Bowl Championship Series title game.
"I'm just saying there were too many people to track or keep up with," he said.
That's not a problem at UCLA practices, said Bob Lopez, the director of football operations. Though the Bruins welcome media and immediate family, they try to limit the number of visitors who come through the gate each day.
Lopez and his assistants position themselves around Spaulding Field with walkie-talkies, hurrying into nearby parking structures on those occasions when it appears someone has been watching for too long. They try to memorize faces of everyone permitted inside.
"I can pretty much tell you who everybody is in the stands," Lopez said. "I'm not sure we've ever had anyone spying on us but you'd hate not to be on your guard."
Times staff writers Chris Foster and Gary Klein contributed to this report.
To view video about how USC football team officials go about protecting their practices against "skunking," go to latimes.com/sports.
Signage at Sendik's
Big, bright, white letters now adorn the soon-to-be open Sendik's at 51st and Rawson.
Some merchandise could hit shelves (non-perishable) next week as final preparations are made.
The target opening date is October 31st, with only a slight chance of a delayed opening by a couple of days.
Those interested in working at the new Sendik's should apply ASAP.
And by the way, that building looks great so far!
Week-endsA look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Marani Oranis
Michael Murphy
All of the Franklin homeowners putting up yard signs advocating support for Franklin's ordinance restricting where sex offenders can live. The signs are a show of support as the city tries to evict sex offender Steve Hanke, who bought a home in Franklin several months after the ordinance took effect. Hanke refuses to move.
Tyler Peterson
Al Bore…I'm sorry….Gore.
"A worthless pig."
What someone called Tyler Peterson, forcing him to snap. The Forest County sheriff's deputy then shot and killed seven of his friends.
"Never in Wisconsin history has a Governor had to introduce a second budget due to his failed leadership in getting his first budget passed by the legislature. I am absolutely amazed that Governor Doyle would abandon the budget negotiations and instead choose to jam a supposed compromise budget down the throats of the legislature. In reality, this compromise is merely a compromise with himself as it will still likely include more than $1 billion in new spending that the taxpayers cannot afford."
Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) on Governor Doyle calling a special session of the Legislature to consider his budget compromise.
"I'm looking forward to this proposal getting a vote in the Legislature. Every representative and senator will have the question in front of them: can the people of Wisconsin afford a budget that raises taxes by $1 billion?"
Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) on the Governor's proposed budget compromise the Legislature will vote on this Monday.
"States that are having budget problems at this time need to look at their spending priorities, not so much at their tax revenue …. The only reason a state would even be thinking about a budget deficit would be because of out-of-control spending."
Curtis DuBay, an economist with the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C.
"(Patrick) Fiddler, the east side mugging victim, knows the reality of crime. He said he tried to report the Oakland Ave. mugging, but police did not show up when he called. After waiting for officers for half an hour, he said, he took the names and phone numbers of two witnesses and went home. He said he later complained, but police didn't take a report. The department has no record of his case.Now, Fiddler said, as police officials release statistics showing violent crime is down, he looks "at those reports with a grain of salt."
The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, in an article on the increase in aggravated assaults in Milwaukee.
"If you vote Rerepublican you are Trash. EVERY life-affirming, positive public policy over the last 200 years has been fought by the people against entrenched Republican power. (Also a lot of Democrats weren't the best on these issues, but they were generallmuch better than the slimeball Republicans.)
A comment from a reader to the Madison Capital Times news paper website…obviously a warm, compassionate liberal.
"Dave was a larger-than-life figure in absolutely every sense of the word. He has to be one of the most colorful politicians that Milwaukee has had in the last 50 years"
WTMJ talk show host Charlie Sykes, on former Milwaukee County Executive Dave Schulz, who died this week. Sykes was a former aide to Schulz.
Baby drowns while mother shops online for shoes
The Governor orchestrates a news conference, a blatant example of using state resources fro political purposes. Had this been a Republican, the press would have been in a tizzy. If not for the bloggers and talk radio, we never would have heard about it.
Again, the entire Britney Spears custody affair.
A close second- Anna Nicole Smith.
Honest, officer. It's cat pee.
These guys will never be confused with Bell Ambulance.
REMEMBER: Your suggestions/nominations for any of these categories every week are welcome, especially for HEROES OF THE WEEK. If you know of anyone in the community deserving of recognition, please e-mail me.
Hey man, we just DID the Ed Sullivan Show!
When I was growing up, you had but a handful of TV options: Channels 4, 6, 10, 12, and if UHF wasn't real snowy, Channel 18.
On the weekends, there were certain family traditions where everyone huddled around the TV.
On Saturday night, it was the Lawrence Welk Show (not real cool).
On Sunday night, it was The Ed Sullivan Show (very cool).
The Sullivan Show was entertaining, historic, groundgreaking television.
Sullivan had Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, Sinatra, Broadway performers, acrobats, he had everybody!
One of the classic shows involved the Doors.
Anybody who was anybody was a guest on Sullivan. Many stars got their start on his show.
Here are some great R & B performances.
Sex and robots
I stumbled across this too late to include in my Week-ends round-up today but it certainly qualifies for one of the strangest stories of the week.
Sex and marriage with robots? It could happen
Humans could marry robots within the century. And consummate those vows.
Here's the complete story.
Actually, a lot of my male friends who are married wouldn't find this story so strange.
Pregnant and hungryIt's not a news bulletin that pregnant women get weird food cravings. Here's one I've never heard of before.
Last night, my wife and I dined at Casa Di Giorgio in Franklin. We had Joliet as our waiter, a super guy we've known since his days working tables at the old Boulevard Inn downtown.
Joliet told us his friend's wife is expecting and suddenly loves pita bread.
There's more.
She likes to stuff the pita bread......... with Kit Kat candy bars.
(No, this is not today's Culinary no-no, although it darn well could be).
One night, no Kit Kat's in the house. She elbows hubby at 2:00 am to send him to the store to get some.
I may never look at a gyro the same way ever again.
Ladies and gentlemen...the cholive
What, you may ask, is a "cholive?"
A cholive is the creation of Joe Hausch of Hausch Design Agency in Franklin, who came up with it while thinking about a chocolate martini.
"The Cholive is an olive-shaped morsel with dark chocolate on the outside and creamy truffle chocolate on the inside. Its primary function is to be stuck with a cocktail pick and used as a garnish for chocolatinis and other dessert martinis"
Read more from today's Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel.
Seems a perfect place for this novel invention woud be the Kä Lounge on Rawson Avenue.
Best of luck to you, Joe, in your new exciting venture!
The Badger bluesBack on August 25, I asked the following:
OK sports fans, between now and, let's say, next April, which sports team will provide the most excitement?
1) The Milwaukee Brewers
2) The Green Bay Packers
3) The Wisconsin Badgers football team
4) The Wisconsin Badgers basketball team
5) The Marquette Golden Eagles
6) The Milwaukee Bucks
I then proceeded to answer my own question:
BADGER FOOTBALL: They are currently ranked 7th in the nation. With 9 starters back on offense and 7 starters returning on a defense that last year gave up fewer points than anyone except Virginia Tech, the Badgers should be solid. ESPN-TV analysts this week predicted that after the first 7 games of the season, the Badgers will be undefeated and ranked 3rd in the country.
Wisconsin has tough back to back games vs. Ohio State and Michigan. Win those games, then avoid a letdown against Minnesota, and you've got a potential national championship team. Now that's what I call excitement.
The Wisconsin Badger football team will be the most exciting sports story in Wisconsin over the next 8 months.
4 hours? 4-get it!Saturday afternoon, with remote control in hand, I kept switching from the Wisconsin game to the Notre Dame game.
Normally, the college games with 2:30 start times finish between 5:45 and 6:00. So, I'm thinking, 6:05, my wife and I are out the door for dinner.
The problem is, the Notre Dame game went late……… very late……… very, very late.
From the official box score of the Notre Dame-Boston College game:
Kickoff time: 3:43 pm End of Game: 7:36 pm Total elapsed time: 3:53
That's almost 4 hours long, and that's far too long. After all, this was not a mega-scoring West Coast contest with 90 passes being thrown. It didn't even go into overtime.
Four hours!
It seems college football games are getting longer. And yet the numbers claim otherwise.
USA TODAY reports in the 2006 college football season, NCAA Division 1-A lasted an average of 3 hours and 6 minutes this season, 13 minutes fewer than 2005.
The reason: New rules instituted last year to speed up the game included starting the clock when a ball is kicked off rather than when it's received and winding the clock on a change of possession when the ball is marked ready for play by the referee, not when it's snapped.
The result: Teams combined for about 13 fewer plays, 67 fewer yards and five fewer points a game.
You could have fooled me. If my assumption is correct, and games are longer this season, the rules might have to be changed again.
A dramatic rule change would be necessary to have any impact. The most significant change would have college football not stopping the clock when a team gets a first down to move the chains. I don't see that happening because that would convert a Saturday game into how they the game on Sunday.
Another way to keep games from flirting with the 4-hour mark would have referees keeping the yellow laundry in their pockets. Flag-happy officials call too many penalties. In yesterday's ND-BC game, there were 22 penalties that were ACCEPTED for 195 yards. Note to the zebras: The fans don't pay and come to see you.
Don't get me wrong. I love college football. But four hours is too long, even if it is Wisconsin or Notre Dame.
Culinary no-no #21It is not too early to be thinking about Thanksgiving.
And what will be on the bill of fare?
Ninety-seven percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving. The other three percent are Communists.
Williams-Sonoma is urging turkey lovers to get their orders in now for fresh free range turkeys and fresh organic turkeys.
I've had the occasion to step into a Williams-Sonoma store, and they do sell marvelous, quality products.
But take a look at those turkey prices!
Are you kidding me? $76 for a 14-lb. bird? I don't care where it was raised, how it was raised, how it was shipped…..$76 for a turkey????
Last Thanksgiving, the cost of making Thanksgiving dinner went up slightly (and inflation will probably send the cost up just a bit this year, too). The 2006 annual Market Basket survey from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation found only a small increase in the cost of feeding your family on Thanksgiving Day. The survey of prices in 25 Wisconsin communities said the cost of making dinner for a family of eight last Thanksgiving was $38.53 this year, compared to $37 in 2005. That's for the whole freakin' dinner. Williams-Sonoma wants an arm, a leg, another leg and the breast just for the turkey.
Mail-order turkey?
I think it's a bird-brained idea.
1) Ketchup on a brat
2) Green peppers on pizza
3) The dirty martini
4) Fruity brats
5) A Bloody Mary after dinner
6) Women "manning" the grill
7) Eating pizza at Festa Italiana, brats at German Fest, or tacos at Fiesta Mexicana. (Be adventurous. You can have those items anytime).
8) Eating a cream puff as though it was a hamburger.
9) Taking your own bottle of sauce when invited to a barbecue.
10) Touching the grill if you're a guest at an outdoor barbecue.
11) Coaching the host on how to grill.
12) Some regional flavored ice cream…..like black licorice.
13) Taking the husks off before you grill corn on the cob
14) Being afraid to chill red wine
15) Pizza on the grill
16) When serving exotic or strange dishes to guests, do not tell them exactly what it is. Instead, use a more inviting term (caviar) rather than being blunt (fish eggs).
17) In late summer and early fall, this time of year, don't buy zucchini. Somehow, someway, you will find zucchini or zucchini will find you.
18) Showing disrespect to your restaurant server.
19) Eating out on a Monday night.
20) Pumpkin beer.
Liberals want the U.S. to lose in IraqOne out of five Democrats feels the world would be better off if the United States loses the war in Iraq.
Here's the poll.
And no one is supposed to question their patriotism?
How about their sanity?
Teenage hunters nothing to worry about
Should teenagers be allowed to hunt?
They are in Wisconsin and they do.
Using the rationale of liberals, thousands of armed teenagers in the woods should result in unspeakable carnage.
As usual, the liberals are wrong
The same tired old anti-gun argumentAt the end of each InterCHANGE, the pundit panel roundtable discussion program I'm a guest on every week on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, columnist Rick Horowitz offers a commentary. Horowitz (a good guy but extremely liberal) usually bashes the President or rants on another lefty perspective for two minutes, then host Dan Jones says goodnight, and the closing credits roll.
The panel, or at least its conservative members, never gets the opportunity to respond to Horowitz's preposterous statements.
Imagine if the situation was reversed, and a conservative got two minutes of uncontested, unchallenged air-time every week. The libs would be apoplectic.
On this week's edition, Horowitz pulled an oldie but not a goodie from the liberal playbook: the same old tired lament about guns.
In a liberal's mind, it's never the rotten, evil person who pulled the trigger to commit violence who is to blame. No, the problem is the inanimate object.
Horowitz said in his commentary that,"Every gunman is a potential mass murderer."
That is outrageously false, absurd, and insulting to the millions of law-abiding decent citizens who exercise their constitutional rights by owning guns.
It reminds me of a similarly ridiculous comment made after former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight told Connie Chung during an interview, "If rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." As offensive as Knight's comment was, so was a feminist's response that, "Every man is a potential rapist."
Or, if he owns a gun, a potential mass murderer if you ask Rick Horowitz.
Just a few days ago, I blogged about one teacher's crusade to be allowed to carry a gun in school.
I believe that momentum for this idea, considered crazy if one only applies a knee-jerk reaction, will slowly start to build.
Author and talk show host Doug Giles just wrote a column on this very topic. Giles writes:
As far as I'm concerned, a responsible and trained teacher should ab-so-frickin'-lutely be able to carry on campus. And none of this "concealed weapons" crap. I'm talking about visibly carrying their piece on their hip. And not just one but two massive nickel-plated S&W Model 29 .44 magnums with 7 1/2 inch barrels with bandoliers thrown around their shoulders, and next to their juicy apple and pencil jar on their desk they should have a mounted .50 cal. machine gun. You know…"just in case."
Here's his entire column.
The criminals already have and will always be able to get their hands on guns. Let's even up the odds and give innocent, law-abiding citizens a fighting chance.
Because guns don't kill people. Really bad people with guns do.
Smoking bans: I told you so
Back in March, I wrote that the anti-smoking Nazi's today were going after your workplace, tomorrow, your homes.
I referred to a town in California, Belmont, that was considering banning smoking in private homes.
Guess what?
HT: The Game
The next Milwaukee Police Chief
Today at the state capitol in Madison, I ran into some friends of mine from the Milwaukee Police Association.
I asked them, off the record, who they support to be selected as the next police chief to replace outgoing chief Nanette (major disappointment) Hegerty.
Because they're my friends and associates, they told me. But it was off the record. And if word gets out who the union wants, it's that candidate's kiss of death.
So, for many reasons, the most important that our conversation was off the record, I will not go public with whom the union wants to be the next chief.
I am told the selection will be made soon, within a few weeks.
And yes, Franklin and other suburban residents should and need to care about this selection.
More on that later.
In the meantime, remember this date and this blog. When the chief is selected, I will report back on my blog to tell you if the union's preferred choice got the job.
Real life meets a comic stripOne of the saddest episodes in TV history had Henry Blake, the CO of the 4077th M*A*S*H* given his orders to go home, only to be killed when his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan.
According to Wikipedia (yes, I know, but this account, I believe, is true), "The script pages with the scene were handed over by the producers, Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds, only a few minutes before filming, so none of the cast knew about that development until a few minutes before Gary Burghoff was told to go in and report that Blake had died. Up until then, as far as anyone knew, they were going to get a message that Blake had arrived safely home. This was deliberately planned so that the emotions shown by the actors during that scene would be as real as possible, and it worked well, so much so that one of the actors accidentally dropped a surgical instrument on the floor which made a loud clank (and subsequently required a second take of the shot, even though the first shot was used.)"
CBS was flooded with complaints. How could they do this? How could they kill off such a beloved character?
The answer should have been obvious.
The TV series was about war. And in times of war, nice people die.
That was in the 70's. A similar scenario has materialized in a comic strip series more than 30 years later.
In this comic strip, a female character dies of breast cancer. Readers are furious. They shouldn't be. Like the MASH episode, characters do die, and that includes women, and that includes breast cancer.
Franklin's Environmental Commission-"We never do anything"
A few weeks ago, I ran into a member of Franklin's Environmental Commission (EC) at a local restaurant.
I asked the individual how things were going on the Commission. The reply: "I don't know. We never do anything."
My wife, who was also with me, heard the comment.
This is an issue because, as I stated in the comments section of current Commissioner Greg Kowalski's blog, there must be some reason why the proposed city budget calls for elimination of the EC, especially when elimination saves the city nothing.
If an un-elected, unaccountable commission, by one of its own members, admittedly doesn't do anything, even though the work and volunteerism of those members is commendable, it's time for the EC to go.
A frequent guest on rthe comments section of these blogs made an unfounded accusation that I lied about what a commissioner told me. I'm not surprised an unfounded statement made its way onto Greg's blog since Greg makes them all the time.
I do take the accusation, a false one, very seriously. As a result, that individual is now barred indefinitely from making comments on my blog.
A reader asks: Is it time to dissolve Franklin's Environmental Commission?The proposed city of Franklin budget submitted by Mayor Tom Taylor includes elimination of some volunteer commissions, including the Environmental Commission (EC). The decision to cut the EC was made long before I blogged about the issue today.
In my previous blog that generated a great deal of interest, one of my readers, Tara commented:
Do you still think it's time to dissolve the (Environmental) commission? To me, it would seem a shame to reject a group of volunteers who work to make the community better because of political posturing. I am relatively new to the community and don't necessarily know the back story here, but this doesn't make any sense to me. I would welcome your response.
It is highly commendable that civic-minded individuals step forward to give of themselves and their time to serve their community. Volunteer boards and commissions exist in all levels of government.
Here is the charge for the Franklin EC:
|Membership. The Environmental Commission shall consist of seven members, including one alderman and six citizens, all appointed by the Mayor and subject to confirmation by the Common Council. The term of the Alderman member shall be one year, only while in the office of Alderman, and expiring upon the April 30 following the appointment. The citizen members shall be appointed for three-year terms, expiring upon the April 30 of the third year following the appointment; excepting that the initial appointments shall provide for two members to serve a one-year term and two members to serve a two-year term, expiring upon the April 30 of the first year and second year following such appointments, respectively.
|Oaths. Official oaths shall be taken by all members, in accordance with § 19.01, Wis. Stats., within 10 days of receiving notice of their appointment.
Best wishes to Jim RyanFrom HalesCornersNOW.com:
Ryan says he won't seek re-election
Hales Corners Village Board President James Ryan announced in a letter to the Hales Corners Village Board that he will not seek re-election next year.
Ryan, who has cancer, said he did not want health concerns to interfere with his ability to serve the village. He said that he wanted to give "plenty of notice" to allow potential candidates to consider running for village president.
"I can't tell you how much I have appreciated serving with each of you over these many years," he said in a letter dated Oct. 12 but faxed on Monday.
In one capacity or another, Ryan has been a member of the Hales Corners village government for 24 years.
Ryan also thanked the board and Village Administrator Mike Weber for their work on behalf of the community.
I first met Jim Ryan when I started covering the Milwaukee County Board in the late 70's for WUWM. Ryan was a Milwaukee County Supervisor.
Jim Ryan is a thoughtful, decent, honorable guy. I congratulate him on his many years of public service and wish him the very best.
An unfortunate divide in the fight against breast cancerThis is the month set aside to draw attention to the deadly disease, breast cancer.
There are pink ribbons and numerous products marketed and packaged in pink to generate funds for breast cancer research.
But while some raise awareness, others raise questions.
Meet Summer WilliamsTake a look, a good look, a good, long look at this woman.
OK, did you get a good look?
I know I did.
Is the woman in the picture:
A) A rocket scientist….
B) A professional cheerleader.
The answer is:
Woman swears at toilet, Fischer agrees with ACLU?
Yes, I agree with the ACLU that a citation for this is pure nonsense.From the Scranton-Times Tribune:
West Side woman faces jail time for swearing at toilet
A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home.Dawn Herb, whose potty mouth caught the attention of an off-duty police officer, was charged with disorderly conduct recently, prompting her to fire off a letter to the editor and vow to fight the charge.
"It doesn't make any sense. I was in my house. It's not like I was outside or drunk," said Ms. Herb, who resides at 924 Luzerne St. along with her four young children. "A cop can charge you with disorderly conduct for disrespecting them?"
The obscenities hit the fan when she battled her overflowing toilet around 8 p.m. Thursday, she said.
Although Ms. Herb doesn't recall exactly what she said, she admitted that she was frustrated and let more than a few choice words fly. Unfortunately, it was near an open bathroom window.
"The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop," she said. "A guy is yelling, 'Shut the f--- up,' and I yelled back, 'Mind your own business.' "
Her next-door neighbor, Patrick Gilman, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, apparently had enough of Ms. Herb's foul mouth and asked her to keep it down, police said. When Ms. Herb didn't stop, he called the police.
Patrolman Gerald Tallo responded and charged Ms. Herb with disorderly conduct.
The citation accuses the defendant of using obscene language or gestures "with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm or recklessly (creating) a risk ..."
"There was no intent to do anything," Ms. Herb said. "I just feel so violated and irritated ... I don't even have a criminal record."
Efforts to reach Patrolmen Gilman and Tallo were unsuccessful.
Scranton Public Safety Director Ray Hayes said if anyone feels they were unjustly accused, they can address it before a judge.
"At the end of the day, the opinion that counts is of the magisterial judge," he said. "It may be something open to interpretation. The officer has his own and this person had the opposite opinion."
The use of obscene language or gestures is an offense under the state criminal code. But cursing at a police officer isn't a punishable offense, said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union based in Philadelphia.
"It cannot be the basis for a citation. You can't prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet," she said. "We bring one of these cases a year and sue some police departments because they do not remember that they are not the language police."
Former Packer great Willie Wood battles disability
Willie Wood, one of the Green Bay Packer stars from the Vince Lombardi era, now struggles to perform simple everyday tasks. Here's the story in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times:
The sport has been hard on Willie Wood, the former USC and Packer great. But as he battles disability, teammates again line up on his side.
By Greg Johnson
Don't forget about those Franklin school taxes
Remember, the next meeting of the Franklin School Board is in two weeks:
The NFL turns its back on its veteransMy blog about the deteriorating health of former Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood reminded me that even former players half his age find themselves in the same dilemma.
Their careers are over and their injuries have robbed them of any chance of living a normal, comfortable life.
They've gone to Congress to seek aid they claim their own union won't give them, a union that lives off the past heroics of these now broken ballplayers.
See the pictures and hear the voices of two of these National Football League veterans.
Here are more details from the NY Times.
Bleeding hearts in press find a way to continue negative spin in IraqI believe it's an unwritten rule. The American mainstream news media cannot be compelled to report anything positive about the war in Iraq. Nada. Zilch. The big goose egg.
That even applies, as disgusting as it is, when violence in Iraq is on the decline. What, pray tell, does one news bureau pull out of the hat to keep the gloom and doom drumbeat alive?
I kid you not.
Read it and weep for those poor Iraqis bearing shovels whose children will go hungry because not enough Iraqis are dying. A new low for the American press.
NBC pays tribute to Michael Murphy
There hasn't been enough news coverage about Lt. Michael Murphy whow as killed in Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Franklin is headed to playoffs
Franklin defeated Muskego Wednesday night in a must-win situation, 34-3 to finish the regular season at 5-4.
Sendik's is shaping upI got a good look inside the new Sendik's at 51st and Rawson and it's going to be something special, the kind of shopping experience Franklin has been wanting for a long time.
The first impression you'll get is just the sheer size. Sendik's is more spacious than the Franklin Pick 'n Save. I counted about 16 aisles of shelving and refrigerated units. That doesn't include the separate deli, meat, and bakery areas, plus the spots for liquor and produce and other merchandise, including Christmas trees and Christmas decorations.
The majority of the shelves appear to be in place, and most are already stocked (canned and boxed goods, etc.)
The refrigerated units are also set up but, of course, are empty right now.
Most of the store is nicely carpeted.
Some electrical work is still being done and there are a few hard hats going over plans and discussing what work remains.
As of now, the only entrance is on Rawson, but work continues on S. 51st Street. Parking doesn't seem like it will be an issue.
Overall, Sendik's looks fantastic. If it doesn't open as planned on October 31st, it certainly wouldn't be much longer after that.
The press and its negative consequences in Iraq
Josh Strupp is a frequent and often insightful contributor to the comments section on the FranklinNOW blogs.
In Fred Keller's entry entitled, "Is the press killing the American military?" Strupp added this comment:
The traditional media has a heavy liberal bias. This is not a secret. In fact, I think the American people have been beat over the head so many times by these examples of media bias that to think otherwise would be rediculous. Is this ever going to change? No. We should all be satisfied that conservative media outlets like Fox News have come along to counter the traditional liberal media and be done with it.I fail (yet again) to see the connection between the obvious liberal bias in the mainstream media and it's impact on our national security.
I do know this. Our American soldiers are aware of how the mainstream media is covering the Iraq War. The never-ending barrage of one negative account after another weighs heavily on their psyche and morale. These stories give them pause about just how much support they have back home.
Here's one example I would offer to Josh Strupp.
Fox News has reported the following:
Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez made news last weekend after he called U.S. efforts in Iraq catastrophically flawed and said the media's reporting may have contributed to the deaths of soldiers.
In his speech to the Military Reporters and Editors Association in Washington, D.C., Sanchez made many accusations, including blaming reporters for "unscrupulous reporting, solely focused on supporting an agenda and preconceived notions of the U.S. military."
Without naming a specific company, Sanchez said "parent media organizations" have political agendas that direct the news coverage of the war and in some cases put U.S. service members in deadly situations.
Here's the full story.
Time to fire Ned Yost
If the Milwaukee Brewers are serious about improving their ballclub and actually going to the post-season, they need to get rid of Ned Yost now, and hire this guy before somebody else does.
InterCHANGE-Friday night on Channel 10Here are the topics I'll discuss with my co-panelists on InterCHANGE at 6:30 Friday night on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10 (repeat Sunday morning at 11:00):
1 – Presidential Candidates. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both raised twice as much money as the leading republican candidates this summer, and they still have three times as much on hand left to spend as the republican candidates do. Why are Clinton and Obama so much more able to shake the money tree than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are? Are the democrats just that much more excited about their candidates than the republicans are about theirs? Will this all change once the republicans have a nominee?
2 – Kids & Birth Control. A middle school in Portland, Maine has decided that it will begin dispensing prescription birth control (the patch, the pill, morning after pill, etc.) to the kids (Grades 6, 7, 8) who ask for it. They've been dispensing condoms since 2000. If the parents sign a form that indicates their children can be treated by the school nurse, those kids could then request confidential prescription birth control. Is this unthinkable, or is it something more schools should do? Is this too young for kids to even think that sex and/or birth control is an option, or is it just facing up to reality?
3 – Milwaukee Chief. Will Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett select an insider or an outsider for the job of police chief? It's getting down to the wire. Is the guy from Springfield, Massachusetts the favorite? Why was he added at the last minute? Should he be the favorite? Is it important that the next chief be a minority? Does it matter if it is a male or a female? An African-American, Hispanic, Caucasian?
Work release inmate a murder suspect-Walker to take actionAn inmate on work release may have committed a murder when he was supposed to be back in jail. He wasn't, because he got another inmate to sign if for him.
Here's the story.
I spoke with Sheriff David Clarke about it this morning, and County Executive Scott Walker was listening. Walker then sent me the following e-mail:
Want to join Mensa?As I discussed on WISN today, Saturday is the 10th annual Mensa Testing Day. Here are details and the type of questions normally asked.
Saturday, Oct. 20, is American Mensa's tenth annual Mensa Testing Day. The test fee is $40, and a photo ID is required. The test is open to any person age 14 and older, but parental permission is required for anyone age 14-17.
Oak Creek
Mensa of Wisconsin
Oak Creek Public Library
8620 S. Howell Ave.
between Fire Dept & Community Cntr
Oak Creek, WI
Registration: Both Advanced and Walk-ins
Email: email@example.com
Onsite registration: 10:30 AM CDT
Testing begins: 11:00 AM CDT
Testing on 10/20/2007
Here's a sampling of previously asked Mensa questions, answers
How about a rocket scientist? See how you fare on this quiz, which is similar to questions you'll be asked if you take the Mensa Admission Test Saturday during the organization's national testing day:
1. Pat likes books but not magazines, she likes going to shows but not the ballet, and she likes movies but not pictures. By the same rules, will she like videos or tapes?
2. Begin with the number of sisters in the group of colleges called by that number; add the number of witches in Macbeth; multiply by the number of feet in a fathom and divide by 2. What do you have?
3. What is the number that is double one-half of one-fourth of one-tenth of 80,000?
4. Colonel Browning-Browning Burnt is a liar! He was caught by the butler at the castle where he was a guest, while entertaining his host with tales of his tiger-hunting exploits in Africa. How did the butler know he was a fake?
5. Can you think of an American tree that has a name containing all five vowels?
6. Eight years ago, Jane was twice as old as Ryan. Two years ago, she was as old as Ryan is now. Now Ryan is five-sixths as old as Jane. How old are they now?
7. To the best of our knowledge, only one other word can be made from all of the letters in the word CREATIVITY. Can you figure out what it is?
8. If three typists can type nine pages in 1 1/2 hours, how many pages can nine typists type in three hours?
9. In a foot race, Jerry was neither first nor last. Janet beat Jerry, Jerry beat Pat. Charlie was neither first nor last. Charlie beat Rachel. Pat beat Charlie. Who came in last?
10. What is the 11-letter word that all smart people spell incorrectly?
1. Videos. She likes words with "O"
2. 30 (7 sisters + 3 witches = 10 X 6 feet in a fathom = 60 / 2 = 30)
4. Tigers don't live in Africa
5. Sequoia
6. Jane is 12, Ryan is 10
7. Reactivity. Did you find another?
8. 54 pages (Each typist can type 1 page in half an hour. Each of the 9 typists can type 6 pages in 3 hours, for a total of 54 pages.)
9. Rachel
10. Incorrectly
Count the number of correct answers.
9-10: Mensa Material! Try to join.
7-8: Good chance you qualify for Mensa.
5-6: Not bad, you might make Mensa.
Below 5: You must have had a bad day. Try again.
Questions and answers provided by Dr. Abbie F. Salny, American Mensa
My blog has gone to the dogsMy wife wishes I would blog more about dogs.
Here you go, Sweetheart!
America has gone totally nutsThis morning on WISN, I devoted a segment to my assertion that in America, we have lost our minds.
I gave the following examples.
In Maine, a middle school will give birth control to kids as young as 11.
In Maine it's okay to give kids condoms and the morning after pill, but In Texas, kids dare not hug each other or risk being suspended for sexual harassment. From the Dallas Morning News:
A 7-year-old boy in Duncanville gets in trouble for telling a classmate to wear a darker shirt because he can see her bra strap. The school suspends him and labels the incident as sexual harassment.
In Keller ISD, school officials catch an eighth-grade girl holding hands with a friend and tell her to stop. Fossil Hill Middle School student Ashley Highberger, who was admonished for holding a male friend's hand, started a petition to get Keller ISD to change its policies.
From bans on hugging to labeling comments as sexual harassment, schools are cracking down on anything that smacks of sex. Critics say teachers and administrators have become too fearful of lawsuits and have stopped letting kids be kids.
Archie McAfee, executive director of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals, said school principals and administrators are caught in the middle. If a school district punishes a student for what parents say is a minor offense, it faces scrutiny. But if a district doesn't take a complaint seriously, it could be held responsible.
But districts can also be criticized for taking too tough a stance.
In the Duncanville case, the boy who told a girl to fix her bra strap during gym class was accused of sexual harassment, suspended for two days and temporarily assigned to an alternative school. The district changed the offense to "bullying" after his parents complained that the sex-related charge was inaccurate and severe.
Some administrators say the criticism of their policies is overblown.
David Hadley, the principal at Fossil Hill Middle School in Keller ISD, said his school's ban on hugging and hand-holding is not unreasonable. Fossil Hill made national headlines recently after a teacher chided eighth-grader Ashley Highberger for holding hands with a male friend.
"Our big deal is with boy-girl affection," he said. "It's to keep kids from being inappropriate in school."
In response, Ashley started a petition drive to force the district to change its rules. She collected more than 300 student signatures but suspended her efforts because she doesn't believe the district will ease up.
"I can understand how a 25-minute hug or making out in the hallway would be PDA, but I don't see how holding hands is," she said. "You hug your parents or little brother or sister and it doesn't lead to things."
Dr. Hadley sees the issue differently. Bans on PDAs – public displays of affection – are common in school districts nationwide, he said. And he adds that his district's rule is not as rigid as it seems. If someone is grieving a lost loved one, for example, a hug is acceptable.
Pretty sad when the kids make more sense than the principal with the degrees coming out of his armpits.
And as my last exhibit of evidence, San Francisco wants to open "injection rooms" where dope addicts can shoot up illegal drugs under the supervision of a nurse.
We have gone absolutely nuts.
Citizen involvement doesn't end with abolishment of Environmental CommissionWill the demise of Franklin's Environmental Commission lead to the disappearance of citizen involvement in their local government?
The answer is yes, if your concept of citizen involvement involves a group of people you didn't select and you don't even know doing your lobbying, advocating and talking for you.
The real answer is no. The elimination of the Environmental Commission (EC) will not and should not have a negative impact on the amount or quality of citizen input.
If anything, it might improve or increase citizen involvement.
During this week's unexpected flurry of activity surrounding the rarely-talked or heard from EC, these are just a few of the comments I received from readers after I wrote that disbanding the EC was appropriate.
Tara said, "I still struggle with the notion of eliminating a volunteer board that is chartered with acting as an environmental watchdog for the city."
Joel asked, "What can be done to increase participation in the civic process? What could I do to be more involved?"
And you don't need a bunch of no-name appointees to help or do it for you.
Read the blogs. Read the weekly community newspaper in addition to the Journal/Sentinel. Do your homework. Keep up with what's going on in your community. The best citizen/voter is one who's informed.
Watch, listen, see and hear first-hand the decision-making process used by your elected officials. Don't allow them to resolve critical issues about your taxes, schools, services in empty rooms. This takes time and some sacrifice, but it's worth it.
Remember, they work for you, not the other way around (although many of them fail to grasp this concept). Contact them. Call, e-mail or write. Politely inform them of your position and why you take that stance. Clearly and concisely tell them what you want them to do. Show respect. Do not be rude or insulting. The more informed you are, the more successful your communication will be.
I've been blogging for many, many weeks, strongly urging citizens to contact Franklin School Board members and Franklin aldermen about the budgets they're working on. Why wouldn't you want to place a simple phone call or with a quick e-mail in an effort to save more of your own money?
I've been blogging about an important court case coming up in November about a sex offender who is defying the city's sex offender ordinance by refusing to move. Will you go to the court hearing? Will you put up a yard sign?
About anything and everything. If you have doubts and questions, ask. Keep asking until you're satisfied. Again, be respectful, kind, and courteous.
It's the ultimate in citizen involvement. Several members of the current Franklin School Board ran unopposed in April. That's disgraceful. You now have members on the School Board that weren't elected by anybody.
We don't need more un-elected boards and commissions. We need more informed and enlightened citizens. How informed and enlightened the citizenry is depends on you. The elimination of the EC, hopefully, is a wake-up call to residents to commit a flagrant act of democracy and take action to get involved, rather than waiting for the next person to do it for them.
8%Here's the key line from this morning's MJS article about a state budget compromise.
Doyle aides said the budget would spend about $58 billion, or 8% more than the last budget that ended on July 1.
That's progress?
The drunken sailor syndrome continues in tax-hell Wisconsin.
Union goons-pictures
Jay Weber of Newstalk 1130 WISN has pictures up on his website of the union jerks who shouted profanities, blew whistles, and generally acted obnoxious at an anti-tax rally in Madison this week.
Hallmark had nothing to do with itToday is Sweetest Day. Sweetest Day is always the 3rd Saturday in October. Hallmark didn't invent Sweetest Day, but it has certainly taken advantage. As Hallmark puts it, "While we're honored that people so closely link the Hallmark name with celebrations and special occasions, we can't take credit for creating holidays. Congressional resolutions, proclamations, religious observances, cultural traditions, and grassroots leadership by ordinary people create these special days."
So how did Sweetest Day begin?
The observance of Sweetest Day originated in Cleveland in 1922. Herbert Birch Kingston, a philanthropist and candy company employee wanted to bring happiness into the lives of orphans, shut-ins and others who were forgotten. With the help of friends, he began to distribute candy and small gifts to the underprivileged.
On the first Sweetest Day, movie star Ann Pennington presented 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys with boxes of candy to express gratitude for their service to the public.
Another popular movie star, Theda Bara, distributed 10,000 boxes of candy to people in Cleveland hospitals and also gave candy to all who came to watch her film in a local theater.
Primarily a regional observance celebrated in the Great Lakes region and the Northeast, Sweetest Day is gradually spreading to other areas of the country. People tend to take the Sweetest Day tradition with them when they move. Ohio is the top state for Sweetest Day sales, followed by Michigan and Illinois. Texas, California and Florida are among the top 10 states in sales.
Over the years, Sweetest Day has evolved into a time to express romantic love and also to show appreciation to friends.
Ohio State: Athletic factory
Prior to the start of the college football season, teams likes USC, LSU, Florida, and Michigan were predicted to win the national championship.
On this college football Saturday, I bring you this Wall Street Journal article on the Ohio State athletic machine.
Inside College Sports' Biggest Money MachineWhat do you get for $109 million a year? Jon Weinbach on Ohio State's record-breaking budget.
By JON WEINBACH
October 19, 2007
At $109,382,222 for the current year, Ohio State's athletic budget is the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education.
The budget for this academic year allots $65,000 in private jet time, or roughly 11 hours, to men's basketball coach Thad Matta for recruiting trips over 200 miles -- and a further 15 hours of jet time for the coach's personal travel. A just-completed $19.5 million renovation of the football team's practice facility, funded with a large donation from Limited Brands Chief Executive Leslie Wexner, added a players-only entrance, a lounge that has six flat-panel TVs, three videogame systems and a juice bar. "There's always a race to get up there after practice," says Jake Ballard, a sophomore tight end for the football team that enters this weekend ranked No. 1 in the country.
The men's and women's ice-hockey teams train on a $75,000 hockey treadmill that features a lubricated, ice-like surface that tilts at sharp angles and goes as fast as 16 miles per hour. Men's hockey coach John Markell solicited a donor to buy the equipment, which he says has become a key part of players' workouts. It's a machine most college teams -- and even many National Hockey League clubs -- haven't purchased. "We don't have the space or resources for that," says a spokesman for the Anaheim Ducks, last season's Stanley Cup champions.
Here in Columbus, the OSU athletic department is a gold-plated island in a region getting roiled by harsh economic forces. The lavish program is the most vivid example of how college sports have turned into a humongous business and created a parallel universe of high-living in the world of academia. OSU's athletic budget, which has grown 46% in five years, has expanded despite a prolonged downturn in the Ohio economy and several rounds of public-funding cuts to higher education. The state's median household income fell 9.3% between 2000 and 2005, one of the worst declines for any state during that span.
Foreclosures and Poverty
Ohio has the nation's highest rates for foreclosures and delinquent mortgages, and during the second quarter of 2007, 22.9% of Ohio homeowners with subprime loans were over 90 days late -- almost twice the national average, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. The state is home to two of the five poorest cities in America -- Cleveland and Cincinnati, both of which had more than 25% of residents living below the poverty line in 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Ohio has been ravaged by the struggling U.S. auto industry and the forces of globalization. From 2000 to 2006, the state lost about 200,000 manufacturing jobs and added just 40,000 new positions to offset the decline. Companies such as Mr. Coffee, Rubbermaid and Hoover closed plants and shifted production abroad.
From 2002 to 2005, the Ohio Legislature decreased annual support for the state's universities. In response, OSU instituted its highest annual tuition increases in nearly 40 years, boosting rates nearly 60% from 2002 to 2006.
Ohio State was one of just 19 schools to turn a profit on athletics in 2006, according to data collected by the NCAA. OSU says its athletic department is self-sufficient -- it uses sports revenues to pay for its teams and operations. It doesn't draw from the same budget that's used to fund academic departments. How much the athletic department spends is determined by how much it brings in, not by how much the university decides to give it. A 2005 economic-impact study, commissioned by OSU, estimated that the school's sports program pumps over $100 million a year into the local economy, with more than a third coming from Buckeyes fans' spending on hotels, food, parking and shopping.
In a sports-mad country, why Columbus? The alma mater of track star Jesse Owens, golfer Jack Nicklaus and basketball Hall of Famer John Havlicek, Ohio State has a long history of passionately supporting its athletes. OSU's teams are the premier sports attraction in Columbus, Ohio's state capital and biggest city, and the school has the largest enrollment in the country, with more than 52,000 students. TV broadcasts of OSU games routinely attract 60% of all local viewers, and in Columbus, the OSU football coach's Sunday-morning chat show gets better ratings than "Meet the Press."
Supporting the program is seen as a civic virtue. Over the past five years, giving to the Buckeye Club has increased an average of 12%. The booster club's membership of nearly 3,700 is up 32% from 2003. In addition to Mr. Wexner, a 1959 OSU graduate, prominent donors include Robert Schottenstein, CEO of M/I Homes Inc., one of the country's largest home builders.
The enormous financial rewards for successful programs have fueled an arms race among schools to build larger, more lavish venues that can ring up millions from luxury suites and sponsors. Over the past five years, schools in the NCAA's top six sports conferences raised more than $3.9 billion for new sports facilities, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At Oklahoma State, oil and hedge-fund mogul T. Boone Pickens gave $30 million to renovate the football stadium, and put his name on it. He has also committed $165 million more to build an "athletics village" on campus. Nike founder Phil Knight recently donated $100 million to Oregon's athletic department, which plans to use the money as a safety net to cover potential operating losses. The department still plans to ask for public funds to build a $200 million basketball arena.
Other big spenders include the University of Texas-Austin, which has the nation's second largest sports budget at $107.6 million, although it fields 16 fewer teams than Ohio State. Last year, the Longhorns' athletic department paid $152,585 for nutritional supplements like Gatorade and PowerBars.
Preserving 'Opportunities'
The football and men's basketball programs at OSU are the only sports there that turn a profit -- and their revenues support teams other universities have eliminated for lack of funding. "We never want to get into the business of taking opportunities away from students," says Gene Smith, OSU's athletic director.
Ohio State's varsity synchronized swimming team competes in a two-year-old, $20 million facility, nicknamed the "Taj Mahal," that features seven bodies of water and two whirlpools for athletes to relax in during competitions. A multimillion-dollar renovation of the school's "Scarlet" golf course, completed last year and overseen by Mr. Nicklaus, added a short-game practice area and enlarged the course to over 7,400 yards.
OSU's pistol team maintains a supply of about 30 firearms for the team's 11 members, and all shooters receive an array of free Nike gear, including polo shirts, a jacket and shoes. "We're a good-looking team," says James Sweeney, OSU's pistol coach since 1999. This year, for the first time ever, OSU's rifle and pistol teams received scholarship money to recruit top competitors.
At other schools, there is a more Darwinian approach to smaller sports. Last year, Rutgers cited budget shortfalls for its decision to cancel six sports, including swimming, men's tennis and fencing. But the athletic department still gave assistant football coaches a sizable raise, completed a $12.5 million renovation of football's training complex, and is in the midst of a stadium renovation that will add nearly 10,000 seats.
At Ohio State, "nonrevenue" sports such as men's lacrosse and women's track don't have to worry about earning their funding. Excluding football and basketball, OSU's other 34 teams generate about $1.5 million in revenue. Last year, for example, expenses for the women's hockey team totaled a little over $1.2 million while the sport brought in just $1,642, all of it from arena concessions. Many sports, including rifle, pistol, and women's fencing, don't contribute any revenue at all. "I'm sure my scholarship is possible because of the football team," says Lindsay Quintiliani, a sophomore goalie on the field hockey team.
Last season, Ohio State's football program generated about $57 million in revenue. The sum included a $4.75 million payment from the NCAA for advancing to the national championship game and $31.65 million in ticket sales from home games at Ohio State's 105,000-seat stadium. Team expenses, which include nearly $2 million for meals and travel, as well as debt payments to cover stadium renovations, subtracted about $21 million. Still, football supplied nearly $36 million in profit to the athletic department's coffers. The University of Florida, which beat OSU for the national championship in January, made about $34 million on football last year.)
OSU's men's basketball team, which moved into a new, 19,500-seat arena in 1998, advanced to last year's national championship game and turned a record $9 million profit.
A significant chunk of the athletic department's budget is spent in ways that benefit the school's general fund. This year, the athletic department will spend $12 million on scholarships or "Grant-in-Aid" to pay for athletes' tuitions. A few years ago, the department contributed $5 million to help fund renovations to the campus's main library. OSU's sports program is also among the few that pays for all maintenance, security and operating costs at its facilities. (The utilities bill at the football stadium last year: $731,309.) In addition, the athletic department transfers about $1.7 million to the school's academic-support center to pay for tutors and "life skills" workshops for athletes. "I think we're paying somebody $25 an hour to tutor physics," says Mr. Smith.
Last year, the issue of swelling athletic-department budgets was taken up in Washington by the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. In a strongly worded letter to NCAA President Myles Brand, former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas criticized "highly paid coaches with no academic duties," and wrote that Division I football and men's basketball "more closely resemble professional sports than amateur sports."
Judy Bunting oversees OSU's 46 cheerleaders and four student mascots. Her team gets about $169,000 from the athletic department, and supplements it with interest income from a special endowment established by a donor a few years go. "We probably have more scholarship money than most," says Ms. Bunting. In contrast to the spirit squads at Notre Dame and UCLA, OSU's cheerleaders get seats on the football's team's chartered jets. "That's a big plus," she says. "We used to drive vans and fly commercial."
Write to Jon Weinbach at firstname.lastname@example.com
You're an Eagles fan, and you're ugly, too!The city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia got horrible reviews in Travel and Leisure Magazine's survey of America's Favorite Cities.
The survey called the city and its people downright ugly.
Here are all the details on the survey.
And what are they saying in Philly about it...
Hey! We're not just fat - we're ugly, tooBy DAN GERINGER & MEGAN SUERMANN
Philadelphia has the ugliest people in the country, according to Travel & Leisure Magazine.
Of the 25 major American cities ranked by citizen attractiveness, Philadelphia finished dead-last.
According to 60,000 respondents to the magazine's online survey, Philadelphians are slightly more repulsive than Washingtonians (24), Dallasites (23) and San Antonions (22) but way uglier than Miamians (1), San Diegoans (2) and Charlestonians (3).
"This is the city of Fabian and Frankie Avalon and Grace Kelly," said City Councilman Frank DiCicco. "Are they saying we've morphed into ugly people over the last few decades? Somebody's drinking something out there."
DiCicco took issue with Travel and Leisure ranking Miami's beautiful people No. 1.
"My oldest son, the dentist, had a condo in Miami so I've been to South Beach a few times," he said.
"Most people are walking around in thongs so everybody looks good there. But who can tell who lives there and who's just visiting?
"We have cold weather here so we're walking around for months with our noses running and our cheeks red and fur caps on our heads. How can you see what we look like under all that clothing?"
"They've got to be kidding!" said Councilman Darrell Clarke. "South Beach? How do we compete with that? I mean, give me a break!"
Upon further review, he said, "I'm a single guy so I can say, in all honesty, that while I don't traditionally look at men to determine how attractive they are, I can tell you that we have the most attractive women of any city."
Rick Vopper, senior stylist at the Adolf Biecker Spa/Salon on Rittenhouse Square, where he has been "enhancing the natural beauty" of Philadelphians for 31 years, said: "I'm going to disagree with the idea of ugly Philadelphians. I think we're much more diverse, more multicultural with our appearance than the synthetically pretty people in South Beach."
Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University, said: "People may perceive Miami to be a younger, hard-body city and Philadelphia to be an older, stodgy, historic place with a lot of losing sports teams. Did I say that? I didn't say that.
The missing ingredient is reality. When I walk around Center City or the campus of Temple University, there are attractive people all over the place. It's a melting pot. It's vibrant. It's beautiful. The beauty they should be looking for is the beauty of diversity."
"Miami's gross," said Leslie Rooney, 22, of Northeast Philadelphia. "I think Miami's the dirtiest city I've ever been to. Even the people in Miami, they were pretty hit-or-miss."
Victoria Morillo, 31, of North Philadelphia said: "It's disappointing to see that Philadelphia was ranked [last]. I mean, besides the stereotypes that we're, like, the fattest city, we eat all the cheesesteaks and stuff, there's still some good-looking people up in here."
Roger Bradley, 47, of Hunting Park, was "quite surprised by that [the rating] because being a Naval reservist and having an opportunity to travel around the country, I've found Philadelphia to be as attractive as any other city I've gone to."
Fred Glick, 51, of Center City said, "If Minneapolis [No. 8] beat us, it's because the [magazine] guy went around with cute girls there, because they're all born blond with blue eyes there. Maybe it's something against brunettes and redheads.
"I hope we're closer to the top of the list for brains. It's more important."
Philadelphians ranked 14th for intelligence, handily beating Miami (23rd) - but, alas, those blond, blue-eyed Minneapolitans ranked second. *
Week-endsA look back at the people and events that made news the past week.
Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
Officer saves woman from train crash
State Senator Michael Ellis (R-Neenah) for setting the Governor straight on his scare tactic of threatening to shutdown state government because the state wouldn't have enough money.
The Franklin High School football for a nice run of consecutive must-win victories that got them into the playoffs to defend their state title.
John Westover, scumbag
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, for threatening to partially shut down state government, including closing UW campuses, letting prison inmates out, and laying off state workers, if the legislature didn't approve a budget soon.
The union goons, thugs and bullies who tried to shout down an anti-tax rally in Madison.
The New York Yankees, for letting manager Joe Torre go.
"F-U" "Loser," "Bullsh--"
Some of the chants shouted by state union workers in an attempt to interrupt an anti-tax rally in Madison.
The unions intend to "welcome the out-of-state, anti-government" activists with a "peaceful, quiet, non-verbal welcome to reality."
Sara Rogers, executive vice-president of the state AFL-CIO.
"They say they pay taxes too, but they pay taxes on our dime. We're paying to be here, and we're paying for them to be here, too. That's messed up. The least you (public employees) could do is say, 'Thank you.'"
WISN talk-show host Vicki McKenna, speaking at the anti-tax rally, referring to the goons who tried to shout her down.
"They (victims' families in Crandon) have also asked me to ask the community at large to stop talking to the press. As such, we in the law enforcement community will do our part by having no further comments to the press from Forest County."
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, saying he had talked with the victims' families and they wanted the press to leave them alone.
"While Van Hollen has spoken many times of the need to make public information readily available to the public, his statement seems incongruous with his previous position."
Peter Fox, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
"No one has the authority to suggest that an entire community remain silent."
Wausau Daily Herald editorial
"The news media was very aggressive, very aggressive people. They're not taking into consideration what people are going through here.They set their cameras up with no regard to where they were. These people aren't running around with their brains."
Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley
"States that are having budget problems at this time need to look at their spending priorities, not so much at their tax revenue …. The only reason a state would even be thinking about a budget deficit would be because of out-of-control spending."
Curtis Dubay, an economist with the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
"I get calls all the time, 'Stick to your guns,' 'Don't pass those taxes.' "The silent majority can't take these tax increases. People say we don't have a budget. We have a budget; the old one carries over. We don't have to be No. 1 in taxes to have a state that functions."
State Representative J.A. Doc Hines (R-Oxford).
"Honestly, I don't know how comfortable I would be soliciting people in that position for their participation."
UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas, in an e-mail to a colleague. University of Wisconsin-Madison officials were concerned about asking low-income students to participate in a press conference with Gov. Jim Doyle but they did so anyway, e-mails show. Republicans have blasted UW-Madison for helping set up the Democratic governor's press conference last week on the steps of the student union in which he criticized "extreme Republicans" for blocking a budget. Republicans said the students were used as "political props." UW-Madison College Republicans filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education alleging the university violated a federal privacy law in contacting the students.
Take your pick.
There's also this.
If I had to choose just one....the Maine birth control story.
The war in Iraq is always being compared to Vietnam.
Not in this regard.
Wisconsin doesn't have a budget (It does). Wisconsin needs a budget. (Wisconsin needs a GOOD, SOUND FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE budget). Wisconsin is running out of money (It is not). Wisconsin is in a fiscal nightmare (It would be if it passed the Governor's first two budgets).
A shortage of National Health Service dentists in England has led some people to pull out their own teeth - or use super glue to stick crowns back on, a study says.
REMEMBER: Your suggestions/nominations for any of these categories every week are welcome, especially for HEROES OF THE WEEK. If you know of anyone in the community deserving of recognition, please e-mail me.
Putting the fight in the "Fighting Irish"As a Notre Dame fan, the football team has left me little to smile about this season. However, I keep cheering. I stay loyal. Better days are ahead.
Notre Dame always provides reason to be extremely proud. If pride can't be found on the gridiron, then look to the swimming pool.
Notre Dame has not one, but two students hoping to compete in the 2008 Paralympics in China in swimming. Both are blind.
They are incredible stories.
One is Ashley Nashleanas.
The other is James Fetter.
"What though the odds be, great or small, old Notre Dame will win over all……"
One blogger sees eight problems with Conservatives
Last night on InrterCHANGE, I mentioned that one of the key reasons Democrats are outgaining Republicans in fundraising is that they're more energized, more excited right now.
Blogger John Hawkins outlines eight reasons why the conservative movement is spinning its wheels. He's got a point, several of them.
But this can be fixed. It's early. Republicans will galvanize and their supporters will start to open up their wallets. The thought of losing the White House to the evil Hillary will be the catalyst.
Here's Hawkins' column. It's the one I promised Friday while hosting on WISN that I would post.
My most popular blogsThis is a new feature of This Just In…
Every week, I will post the top five most popular of my blog entries from the previous week.
The Packers have a bye week: Now what?My wife, who knows absolutely nothing about sports, and that would include football, is fully aware that the Green Bay Packers don't play today because of their bye week.
That clever spouse of mine has already sweetly suggested a shopping trip this afternoon.
I imagine there are all kinds of things to do during a bye week.
A female blogger who goes by the name "thestarterwife" on ladiesdotdotdot.wordpress.com had these suggestions for the Steelers bye week last weekend:
A few years ago, Keith Hayes wrote these bye week ideas on e-sports.com:
Find Religion: Head to church, confess all of those sins and impure thoughts you've committed while attending and watching football games the past six weeks... Oh yes, the sins you committed during the preseason count.
Tailgate at Home: Go to you son's pee wee or mighty mites game done up in grease paint armed with air horns and noisemakers. Then, break out the grill, cook hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids while getting a sugar high from drinking gallons of Teenie Weenie juices.
Mow the Lawn: You haven't mowed since the hurricane rains, and your backyard has been labeled protected environment by the National Wildlife Association.
Be a Father to Your Child: Reintroduce yourself to the kids as the father they knew before week one. This way they can forget all about the terrorizing lunatic who has been screaming obscenities at the TV for the past two weekends.
Get in Touch With Your Sensitive Side: Spend time with the wifey/girlfriend/significant other doing the things they like... Renting movies, watching Lifetime or the Oxygen network. For bonus points, take a trip to Christmas Tree Shops with her.
Become a Redneck: Run out, grab a Nextel phone, some chewin' tobacca', Coors beer, a Confederate flag, and practice your best south of the border southern drawl so you can spend the weekend as a NASCAR fan watching drivers make 4 left turns. Remember... It's Chase for the Cup time so try not to disrespect anyone by rooting for someone who is out of the standings.
Make it a Star Wars Weekend: Call up all of your geeky sci-fi buddies, purchase the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, and watch it in all of it's hi-def glory as you fantasize about your wifey/girlfriend/significant other wearing Princess Leia's slave outfit from Return of the Jedi.
Now my perspective.
Uhh, guys…….get a hold of yourselves.
It's Sunday.
In October.
The National Football League doesn't come to a grinding halt because the Packers have the day off.
Do not succumb to the "honeydew" assault: "Honey do this, Honey do that."
Here are Kevin Fischer's ideas on what to do during a Packers bye week:
There is no #2.
Culinary no-no #22You like grilled cheese? Who doesn't like a good grilled cheese sandwich, all nice and gooey?
If you want one, you have to make it in your own kitchen. Most restaurants don't offer one, and if they do, it's more than likely on the children's menu.
Seems that it would make great business sense if someone would open a restaurant that specialized in good ol' grilled cheese sandwiches.
Well, someone has.
Former Wisconsinite Dirk Bruely opened Chedd's Gourmet Grilled Cheese in Denver in the spring of 2003, featuring 35 cheeses, 12 breads and various meats and vegetables. Bruely even serves brats. Menus in Chedd's are made to look like Wisconsin license plates. The restaurant has become so popular, Bruely plans to take the dining concept national.
Watch this ABC News report on Bruely and Chedd's, and prepare to drool.
The grilled cheese sandwich is not only yummy, it's becoming trendy. In glitzy, star-studded Los Angeles, the grilled cheese is starting to find its way beyond diners and coffee shops to highly-regarded restaurants.
So, how about one of Chedd's creations, a Cheese Stoner (Brick cheese, Garlic and Herb Jack, Pepperoni, Pizza sauce, Tomatoes on Focaccia Bread) with some Wisconsin cheese soup.
Grilled cheese sandwiches, just for kids? No, no.
1) Ketchup on a brat
2) Green peppers on pizza
3) The dirty martini
4) Fruity brats
5) A Bloody Mary after dinner
6) Women "manning" the grill
7) Eating pizza at Festa Italiana, brats at German Fest, or tacos at Fiesta Mexicana. (Be adventurous. You can have those items anytime).
8) Eating a cream puff as though it was a hamburger.
9) Taking your own bottle of sauce when invited to a barbecue.
10) Touching the grill if you're a guest at an outdoor barbecue.
11) Coaching the host on how to grill.
12) Some regional flavored ice cream…..like black licorice.
13) Taking the husks off before you grill corn on the cob
14) Being afraid to chill red wine
15) Pizza on the grill
16) When serving exotic or strange dishes to guests, do not tell them exactly what it is. Instead, use a more inviting term (caviar) rather than being blunt (fish eggs).
17) In late summer and early fall, this time of year, don't buy zucchini. Somehow, someway, you will find zucchini or zucchini will find you.
18) Showing disrespect to your restaurant server.
19) Eating out on a Monday night.
20) Pumpkin beer.
21) Mail-order turkey
Sadly, airport workers really are that dumbI am on record as being very critical of airport security in America and of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees. TSA workers are unskilled, arrogant, rude rent-a-cops whom I have little faith or trust in providing the kind of security needed in our airports.
Friday, while subbing on WISN, I mentioned the following from the Chicago Tribune to prove my point:
Undercover investigators smuggled decoy explosives through O'Hare International Airport at alarming rates six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, leading to calls Thursday for better training of security screeners, higher job-performance standards and harsh consequences for failure.
The criticism came as a new government report heightened concerns about the security of the 2 million airline passengers who travel each day in the U.S.
It found that screeners at O'Hare's passenger security checkpoints failed to detect 60 percent of simulated explosives that were hidden in carry-on bags or in the clothing of agents working for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
The poor performance prompted a Chicago-area congressman, Mark Kirk, to seek a high-level meeting with U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials to see what can be done immediately to shore up checkpoint security at the airport.
The failure rate was even worse—about 75 percent—among TSA screeners at Los Angeles International Airport, according to the classified report.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke called in to verify that political correctness has sunk too deeply into our screening process at airports.
I submit there is a certain profile of those individuals who have attempted terrorist acts and who are most likely to attempt them in the future. They are not octogenarians in wheelchairs the TSA seems obsessed with pulling over to the side and asking to disrobe.
I also devoted a segment on WISN weeks ago to a new absurd screening process that turns these same imbecilic TSA workers into psychiatrists by having them approach anyone who looks remotely strange. The TSA "Sherlock Holmes" then proceeds to ask a series of personal questions. Failure to cooperate with the Neanderthal is not advised.
Here are more details. I'm not surprised the TSA folks flunked miserably when it came to picking out fake bombs. They wouldn't know an explosive from an electric razor.
Our nation's airports are not very safe. It's an outrage caused by the fact we have ineffective people using ineffective screening measures.
40 Days for LifeThis fall, 89 cities in 33 states across the nation (including Milwaukee) are uniting for a unique pro-life campaign called 40 Days for Life.
The campaign began on September 26 and runs through November 4.
The goal is to silently and prayerfully stand vigil outside abortion clinics, 24 hours a day, for 40 consecutive days.
In Milwaukee, the vigil is being held on the sidewalk outside Affiliated Medical at 1428 N. Farwell.
I don't know about you, but in my book, that's a news story.
I've been in the news business for 30 years. Whenever a Republican President came to town, and there was a band of liberal protesters gathered outside the venue for the appearance, no matter how small the group, the newspaper and the TV stations were always there to give the placard holders coverage.
So it's only logical that a 24-hour vigil outside the same place for 40 straight days would fall under the category of bona fide news.
Ahhhh……but this is the news media we're talking about. Not too many conservatives in the bunch, or running the news shops. Throw in the abortion issue, and news departments decide they're not going near this one.
Kudos to Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran who wrote a lengthy column in today's paper about the vigil. To my knowledge, this is the first reference the paper gave to this vigil.
Can you imagine if a sit-down protest was held outside the office of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. You think the press would be on top of that baby?
All you liberals, close your eyes, click your feet together and repeat after me:
There is no bias in the media.
There is no bias in the media.
There is no bias in the media.
Susan Komen Foundation funds Planned ParenthoodIn a blog entry I posted last week, I directed attention to a group called, "Breast Cancer Action" that has raised questions about where the money supposedly raised for breast cancer research is actually going.
The San Francisco-based group might be on to something.
According to lifeissues.org, the Susan Komen Foundation, by its own admission on its very own website, has been awarding financial grants to Planned Parenthood clinics all across the country. Here are some excerpts from the lifeissues.org fact sheet on Susan Komen grants to Planned Parenthood (compiled August 2005):
This is appalling. If I'm donating to a group like the Susan Komen Foundation under the pretense that the money is going to fund breast cancer research, I, personally would be very upset to learn the Foundation gives money to a disgusting organization whose main purpose is to provide abortions. That is extremely disingenuous on the part of the Susan Komen Foundation.
Groups that fund breast cancer research or any other noteworthy cause need to be more upfront and transparent about where their donations go.
Culinary no-no #23A special bonus Culinary no-no today.
OK, so call me a square.
Maybe I'm not so cool or hip or trendy.
But I see nothing (no pun intended) appealing about the European concept of "dining in the dark" that has now reached the U.S. in, of course, Los Angeles.
The restaurant is called, "Opaque," where diners eat in total darkness.
You can't see your hand in front of your face.
Here's a review.
And here's the restaurant's website. There's a spot to click on a link to actually see a video report on Opaque.
Dining in the dark?
No thanks.
KRM a foolish idea
I would love to come on my blog and be able to write that once, just once, Greg Kowalski was correct on a political issue.
It's a good thing there wasn't a fire in Greendale last Wednesday
That was the day of the anti-tax rally in Madison where this photo was taken and where union members, like the ones in the photo, were on hand to try to disrupt those calling for tax cuts.
Let's play THE FAMILY FEUD!
Hey, everybody……
It's time to play…….
The Franklin edition of…….
Everyone knows how to play the Family Feud, but in case you need to refresh your memory, here is the original host of this popular game show, Richard Dawson, with an actual question from the TV show.
Speakers turned up, please.
Take it away, Richard!
Of course you remember!
So, click HERE, and let's get ready to play the Feud!
Who says Republicans have no sense of humor?
They sure were funny, and right on the money, last night!
President Bush honors Michael MurphyFred Keller and I have both blogged about the incredible Michael Murphy, the NAVY Seal. Today, President Bush presented Murphy's family with his Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House.
ABC News reports:
President Bush publicly honored a fallen Navy SEAL Monday by presenting his grieving parents with the Medal of Honor and privately honored their sacrifice by wearing a dogtag they'd given him moments before. An emotional White House ceremony awarded posthumously the nation's highest military honor for valor to Lt. Michael Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y. the first given for combat in Afghanistan.
Before the emotional ceremony, Murphy's parents Dan and Maureen Murphy met with President Bush and gave him a gold dog tag in tribute to their son.
"What we were most touched by was that the president immediately put that on underneath his shirt, and when he made the presentation of the Medal of Honor, he wore that against his chest," said the father.
After the ceremony, Dan Murphy said, Bush told the family: "I was inspired by having Michael next to my chest."
The father, who fought back tears during the ceremony, said they were "deeply moved" by Bush's gesture.
Here is a link to a site with a video clip of today's White House ceremony.
20 years of liberal bias in the mediaRemember, there is no liberal bias in the news media.
None at all.
Even so, the Media Research Center in its watchdog role has been able to find numerous examples for the past 20 years.
To mark the MRC's 20th anniversary, it has compiled its list of the most outrageous examples of media bias.
Watch, enjoy, and keep in mind as you view these clips what the lefties moan and groan and whine all the time: There is no liberal bias in the media.
Playoff action tonight
Don't forget, Franklin is at Waterford tonight at 7:00 for their playoff opener. Both teams are on big winning streaks. From jsonline.com:
WIAA Division 2 Football Preview
Defending champion: Franklin, a 36-29 overtime winner over Brookfield Central.
Top-seeded teams: Tomah (8-1), Kimberly (9-0), Waunakee (9-0), Waterford (7-2).
Internet anonymity as bad as Internet pornI have no qualms whatsoever about people disagreeing with my views. In my line of work, I face the possibility every day and deal with it.
I'm proud of my extensive journalistic background. My peers, listeners and viewers have recognized my body of work, and my bio includes, as former Milwaukee Journal media critic Mike Drew once said, a "trunkload of awards."
Even so, I recognize that ever since I was thrust into a role of offering opinions on the air and now in print, not everyone will always agree. Where I draw the line is being called a liar. For decades I've built a career on reporting the truth. The opinions I broadcast are based on research I've conducted and experiences I've had that have helped me form those views. I have never lied on the air or in print.
In the summer of 2006, state Representative Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis) wrote, on his letterhead, to an individual that I had lied on WISN about him and a legislative issue.
I got a hold of the letter, and the next time I filled in on WISN, I shot holes in Staskunas' contention and essentially called him out. After discrediting his argument, I invited him to call me on the air, come to my office, talk to me in the Capitol hallway, or send me an e-mail if he still believed I had lied. I have never heard from him.
Last week, an anonymous individual wrote in the comments section of one of FranklinNOW blogger Greg Kowalski's entries that I was a liar. This person was proven wrong, so I and others suggested the comments be deleted and that an apology should be made.
Kowalski simply didn't know what to do and even e-mailed me privately to express his difficulty about how to proceed. I quickly responded that if he didn't know what to do, it was pretty sad.
Kowalski allowed the offensive, derogatory, and utterly false comments to stay on his blog. I made the decision that the anonymous individual would no longer be allowed to place comments on my blog, and because Kowalski failed miserably in doing the appropriate decent thing, then he, too, would be banned from commenting on my blog.
The anonymous offender was even allowed to call me a liar a second time on Kowalski's blog, and later, offer a far less than sincere apology. As of this posting, both statements calling me a liar are still up on Kowalski's blog.
Today, talk show host and author Dennis Prager has written a column about his view that Internet anonymity is just as destructive as Internet porn. Prager writes, in part:
"There is something at least as awful -- and arguably more destructive -- that permeates the Internet: the lies, vitriol, obscenities and ad hominem attacks made by anonymous individuals on almost every website that deals with public issues.
Being identifiable breeds responsibility; anonymity breeds irresponsibility."
I urge you to read Prager's column in its entirety. Take special note of his last paragraph where Prager offers his own solution about individuals like the gutless coward who falsely accused me of lying.
Senate Democrats to dump leader?
Rumor at the state Capitol is that Democrats who control the state Senate will meet Wednesday to elect a new Majority Leader.
Franklin's season is over
In any sport, at any level, it is very difficult to repeats as champions.
Greg Kowalski steps in it.....AGAIN!It never ceases to amaze me. Greg Kowalski never fails to disappoint.
Early Tuesday, Kowalski's chest must have been huffing and puffing. He must have been in a gleeful mood, thinking finally that once, just one time he had caught that no-good Kevin Fischer in an actual GOTCHA moment.
He wrote in his blog, "One sentence truly sums it up" (How does he come up with those sexy titles, like TODAY'S CONCERNS) the following:
Fischer notes in his blog, Citizen involvement doesn't end with abolishment of Environmental Commission, that:
Several members of the current Franklin School Board ran unopposed in April. That's disgraceful. You now have members on the School Board that weren't elected by anybody.
What he fails to acknowledge is the fact that all Common Council members up for re-election in April were also running unopposed. Isn't that a tad disgraceful too, Kevin? Or is your allegiance to the Common Council finally unraveling before our eyes...
This is a real toughie.
Outsmarted by Greg Kowalski?
I don't think so.
We begin with my quote that Greg re-printed:
Several members of the current Franklin School Board ran unopposed in April. That's disgraceful. You now have members on the School Board that weren't elected by anybody.
Actually all three Franklin School Board members who were elected in April ran unopposed.Two of the three were NOT incumbents.
That means (am I going too fast, Greg?) that they are now on the School Board, after running against and beating….nobody.
Reporter John Neville of FranklinNOW wrote at the time:
Jeff Traylor and David Szychlinski were elected to three-year terms on the at-large, seven-member School Board. Debbie Larson, the only board incumbent running in that race, was elected to a new term. School Board incumbents Tom Walsh and John Hedstrom chose not to seek new terms, thus leading to the uncontested election for that panel.
So, to repeat, two of the three School Board members elected in April were not incumbents, ran unopposed and waltzed into office without facing any challenge.
Now, back to Kowalski's "I GOT KEVIN FISCHER" blog. He continues:
What he (Fischer) fails to acknowledge is the fact that all Common Council members up for re-election in April were also running unopposed. Isn't that a tad disgraceful too, Kevin? Or is your allegiance to the Common Council finally unraveling before our eyes...
Oh, yes, the three seats on the Franklin Common Council were won by candidates who ran unopposed. That's true.
Would it have been good for the process to see some contested races for Alderman last April? Of course.
However, you think maybe, just maybe no one decided to run against Steve Olson, Timothy Solomon and Lyle Sohns because people were happy with the job they were doing?
So, you see, it's far more upsetting that School Board members got in just by signing and compiling their nomination papers. Franklin had no choice but to accept these individuals, and now they're going to jack up our school taxes.
There is a big difference that Kowalski apparently doesn't see or understand.
The Aldermen who ran unopposed were accountable, having been elected years before and having taken votes and positions on key issues. The electorate knew what they were getting. The same could not be said for the unopposed School Board candidates.
TRANSLATION FOR GREG KOWALSKI: Do you understand?
Probably not.
This is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Poor Greg is in way over his head.
He needs to do two things:
1) Pick fights or debates on issues he truly understands, like pie and appetizers.
2) THINK before hitting that "send" button.
Yes, indeed.
Like fish in a barrel.
Kicking some axe
She's 4 foot 5 and weighs 90 lb.
Who are you rooting for in the World Series?The World Series opens tonight in Boston with the Red Sox taking on the Colorado Rockies.
I can't stand the Red Sox and I'm not that thrilled with the Rockies, either. So, with Colorado being the lesser of two evils, I'm plugging for the National League Champs.
But I needed a little more incentive; I needed a better reason to cheer for the Rockies.
And I've found it, in a story you may already know.
In a classy gesture earlier this month, The Colorado Rockies players voted a full share of playoff money to Amanda Coolbaugh, whose husband Mike was killed when a line drive struck him in the head during a minor-league game this summer.
Coolbaugh, a former player with the Milwaukee Brewers, was first-base coach for the Tulsa Drillers, Colorado's Double-A farm club. Coolbaugh was 35 when he died on July 22. As he trained his gaze on a runner at first, a foul line drive struck him just below and slightly behind his left ear, crushing an artery against a bone. The artery burst. Coolbaugh died almost instantly.
A columnist for the Denver Post wrote last week, "For more than a century, the sport has been passed from fathers to sons, every red stitch on the baseball a little piece of paternal pride. Everybody who truly loves the game is family.
How else to explain that Rockies players, none of whom ever turned a double play or shared a bag of sunflower seeds with Coolbaugh, voted a full playoff share to a deceased man who worked in the organization less than a month? Should Colorado advance to the World Series, the gift could be worth more than $300,000. Now that's a team with heart.
"When I heard what the players did, I almost cried," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd recently said."
S.L. Price wrote an amazing article in Sports Illustrated (SI) last month about the Coolbaugh's and the man who hit the line drive that killed Coolbaugh, Tino Sanchez. Sanchez now has to live with that reminder the rest of his life. The SI article reads, in part:
Eyewitnesses declared that they saw the ball strike Coolbaugh in the temple. But the sound of impact wasn't that of ball on bone; it was more muffled, and a preliminary autopsy released two days later found that the ball hit Coolbaugh about half an inch below and behind his left ear. The impact crushed his left vertebral artery -- which carries blood from the spinal column to the brain -- against the left first cervical vertebra, at the base of Coolbaugh's skull. Squeezed almost literally between a rock and a hard place, the artery burst. A severe brain hemorrhage ensued. Mark Malcolm, the Pulaski County coroner who performed the autopsy, says he's never seen a case like it in his 21 years of work. "Man, that's a one-in-bazillion chance," Malcolm says. "A half a hair in either direction and it wouldn't have killed him."
Coolbaugh fell to his back, his hands landing on either side of his head. Sanchez bolted out of the batter's box and up the first base line, reaching Coolbaugh first. Coolbaugh's eyes were rolling up into his head. His mouth spewed a whitish foam; his body convulsed. Sanchez backed up, sank to his knees and dropped his head into his hands.
The two team trainers and the three doctors who came out of the stands raced to the prone figure. Within seconds Coolbaugh had stopped breathing. He was given oxygen and hooked up to a defibrillator. An ambulance was called………….
Sanchez was standing now, praying for Coolbaugh to be O.K. He also begged God, Please don't do this to me. Then he heard someone near Coolbaugh say, "Don't go, Mike! Come back!"
He'll never be completely free. "I took his life away," Sanchez says, "and he took a part of my heart with him."
Before tonight's Game 1 of the World Series, I hope that you will find a few minutes to read the SI article in its entirety.
Hey, Mike, this one's for you.
Go Rockies!
I'm on WISN
Thursday, I fill in for Mark Belling from 3-6 on Newstalk 1130 WISN.
A classy National Anthem.....for a change
I detest celebrities who murder the National Anthem before major sporting events, especially singers who, in a feeble attempt to imitate Mariah Carey, end up warbling every word.
James Taylor, a Fenway Park regular, is scheduled to sing the Anthem before Game 2, with Boyz II Men performing "God Bless America'' in the seventh inning.
How we treat our military