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 baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
Read the Column the Journal Sentinel Requested, then Refused to run
From...
On Wednesday, April 25, 2012 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel approached the MacIver Institute via email with a request to write an OpEd column for Sunday’s newspaper.
Darlene Gant will die a hero, but hopefully not for a few more weeks
Every Saturday morning, I post my HEROES OF THE WEEK on Week-ends.
During the course of any week, I do my best to keep track of worthy recipients. One I’ve found already for this week is Darlene Gant.
Gant, suffering from breast cancer, needs a certain drug to live in order to see her son on Mother’s Day. The drug had not been approved by our glorious government’s FDA.
From her bed, Gant produced a 20-minute video explaining in great detail her turmoil. Normally, Week-ends has a host of links. My concern was that Gant’s 20-minute video would be lost, glossed over in all those other stories.
So I post the Darlene Gant story complete with video so you will take the time to read and also watch the video that made such an impact. It’s an amazing testimonial to the powerful impact of the Internet, video, and the human spirit.
God bless you, Darlene Gant.
Two Franklin School Board members are big sore losers
Franklin School Board members Debbie Larson and Jeff Traylor recently were kicked out of their leadership positions as Board President and Vice President, respectively. However, the two did not relinquish their posts quietly or graciously.
Who actually votes in America?
Interesting...
He's tired of what?
I like my county supervisor. I really do.
(Oh, oh. When a blog starts out that way, a shoe is bound to drop.)
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
“Eager to play a larger role on the Milwaukee County Board, Supervisor Mark Borkowski backed Marina Dimitrijevic for chairwoman -- she won the post -- despite their very different views and records.
UPDATE: Week-ends (02/04/12)
Previously on This Just In…
HEROES OF THE WEEK
Stephanie Decker
The update…
"What if you knew, even before your child was born, that she wouldn't look like everyone else"
A wonderful couple I know is expecting. They already have several beautiful young children. However, the baby on the way has been diagnosed with some facial abnormalities.
For awhile, medical officials weren’t positive the baby would survive. The good news is the prognosis has improved dramatically. The baby is expected to live.
Despite the challenges that lie ahead, the parents have maintained a remarkably positive attitude with an unwavering willingness to accept another blessing, no matter the conditions. Not having the baby is completely out of the question.
I thought of their situation when I read about young Clara. Clara isn’t like most other kids. Liberals more than likely wonder why the young girl wasn’t aborted.
God bless my friends and their baby to come, and Clara and her family.
A message for the losers of OWS
From AlfonZo Rachel...
Goodnight everyone, and have a happy 5th weekend!
"Some songs are just like tattoos for your brain... you hear them and they're affixed to you."
Carlos Santana
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday with our music feature we do every Friday night.
The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. In America, we join the celebration by eating taco pizza, chips and salsa, and drinking margaritas.
This week, some Latin music to fit the holiday.
We begin with a Milwaukee legend who started playing the saxophone when he was 11. Four years later he was a professional musician. He formed his own band that had a hit in 1939 with “Woodchopper's Ball.” His 1940’s bands, the Thundering Herds, combined a light rhythm-section sound with blaring, explosive arrangements. He led his bands almost continuously for more than 50 years.
Here’s a track from “Mucho Gusto,” one of the albums in the kitschy and cool Ultra-Lounge series. Ultra-Lounge describes its music as traveling back in time.
“Not too far back. Just a few decades or so. Back to a time when ‘revolution’ meant watering down your scotch with ice and taking out the olive and putting in an onion. This is a place clothed in leopard and sharkskin. An ear bathed in gimlets, hi-balls, straight up, on the rocks, shaken, not stirred, hi-octane elixirs dressed in garnish garni. A time viewed through the seductive haze of slow-burning lipstick-kissed cigarettes that end up ashtray dancing with cigar stubs and cherry stems. The atmosphere mambos to the soundtrack of cool. Rumbling saxophones, jazzy vibes, over-heated Hammonds, and the sexy chill of a brush across a cymbal. Bold, exotic rhythms strut to the cough and cacophony of the Atomic-Age.”
The artist is the late, great Woody Herman.
The Barking Lot (05/05/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it’s DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: A few showers. High of 60. "C"
SUNDAY: Afternoon thunderstorms. High of 56. "F"
Here’s my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week’s main blog:
With Mother’s Day about a week away, this is the time we stop to think about all that “Mom” means and all that Mom does. You’re sure to read lists containing common terms such as chauffeur, nurse, confidant, maid, chef and mediator. How ‘bout one more: chief pet caretaker.
Week-ends (05/05/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
HEROES OF THE WEEK
My personal favorite of the week
Hyman Strachman
Darlene Gant
William McRaven
Noah Joel
Jeff Francoeur
From The Avengers...
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
Latasha Jackson
Elizabeth Warren
Homeowner's Association
Patricia Krentcil
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“... here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of new day on the horizon.”
President Obama, on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to sign a strategic partnership agreement that sets the terms for U.S.-Afghan relations after troops officially withdraw in 2014.
“Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.”
Mitt Romney, responding to the Obama camp's question about whether he would have authorized last year's Osama bin Laden raid.
“I started screaming something ridiculous like, 'Remedy! Revive me!' And then that's when the lights turned on ... They said, 'Who are you?'
Daniel Chong, the college student left and forgotten in a U.S. holding cell for five days, despite never having been arrested or charged. He's filed a legal claim for damages suffered when he was left handcuffed and without food or water.
“I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew.”
President Obama at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, jokingly referring to the Secret Service's prostitution scandal.
“What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious.”
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Illegal immigrants getting bigger tax refunds.
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
For the second week in a row, Tom Barrett's jobs record as mayor of
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
Ann Romney's clothes.
STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK
We have found the Loch Ness Monster.
OUCH!
That's it for Week-ends. Thanks for stopping by.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted:
Recommended Reading (05/06/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Wisconsin Recall Amnesia
"So, let's see. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the front-runner, has focused his campaigns on jobs, education, the environment and 'making communities safer.' One of Mr. Barrett's ads singles out '
No wonder. Since Mr. Walker's reforms went into effect, the doom and gloom scenarios have failed to materialize."
Voting machine concerns bubble up as recall elections near
"You might be forgiven for thinking John Washburn is paranoid.
Plenty of people do, Washburn admits with some humor.
The
Twenty percent think there might be something to his worries, Washburn said.
And about 10 percent — those who do some digging — start to believe.
'Quite frankly, I’m not really concerned by (being called paranoid), because it’s highly correlated with how much people have checked my claims,' he said.
Washburn’s fears — that Wisconsinites and, really, voters nationwide, are putting too much faith in a questionable voting system — may be unfounded.
But he’s not the only one worried."
(KF NOTE: Great investigative journalism, the type you don't see on local TV because they're too busy chasing fire trucks).
"The
The reasons are as simple as they are bold."
The Legendary Paul Ryan
"To find a parallel to the way Ryan has so thoroughly seized control of the Republican agenda and identity, you have to go back at least to Gingrich in his nineties heyday, or possibly to Reagan. Yet Gingrich and Reagan rose to the national scene while cultivating an image as radicals—it was their battle scars, inflicted by the mainstream political Establishment, that lent them the credibility to speak for the conservative base. Ryan, by contrast, has achieved something much stranger: He has ascended to his present position aloft a chorus of acclaim from the corners of the Establishment that once greeted Gingrich and Reagan with loathing. He is the only politician revered as much by the mainstream media as by the tea party. By some measure, he’s the most popular guy in
Leisure inequality: Who's bumming around more?
"Sure, the wealthy earn more money...but they work a lot harder for it."
Cradle to Grave: The Obama Campaign's Fantasy for American Life
“The Obama campaign has a cringe-inducing propaganda slideshow called ‘The Life of Julia’ intended to illustrate how the Obama Administration's policies will give government help to a young woman as she is educated, works, starts a family and retires.
If you had to stifle a guffaw, you're not alone.
Yes, the Obama Administration's policies alone can be the savior for American children everywhere - all it takes, apparently, are piles and piles of taxpayer money thrown around recklessly. And by the end, children will still be able to retire and live comfortably on the totally-stable programs of Medicare and Social Security!
The dream that Obama has for Julia's life is scary.”
(KF NOTE: Also watch this).
10 things that would be happening today if Obama's policies were working
"...despite the fact that he has been campaigning almost non-stop since the 2010 election, aside from trying to steal credit from the SEALs for killing Osama Bin Laden, you very seldom hear Obama talk about his record. This is especially noteworthy because like him or hate him, Obama has passed a lot of legislation. So, if Barack Obama has such an extensive record, why is it that Republicans are the ones that are always talking about it while Obama tries to steer the conversation to anything else?"
Five ways to increase movie theater attendance
“If you read the Vulture article, you'll see that their Big Dumb Ideas all revolve around offering more rewards and free stuff for moviegoers; stuff like cheaper tickets, loyalty programs, and babysitters. They also have this idea of allowing Facebook fans to program what's shown in a theatre.
This lack of goodies and gimmicks is not why box office attendance has pretty much flat-lined over the last decade, or why it collapsed last year, or why it's making a major comeback in 2012.”
AND FINALLY
Left-wing Bizarro World
Photos of the Week (05/06/12)
1) Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (3rd L) walks off the stage with his granddaughter Maggie Cushman (R), his grandson Robert Cushman and his wife Callista Gingrich after he announced he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination May 2, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. Gingrich said he decided to leave the race after his rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, surged ahead in recent primary elections. Gingrich plans to campaign for his former rival with an official endorsement to come in the next few weeks. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
2) President Barack Obama greets troops during a visit to
3) In this Thursday, May 3, 2012, photo provided by the Tennessee National Guard, Ashley Edens puts her head against the casket of her late husband, Spc. Jason Edens, in Smyrna, Tenn. Spc. Edens was killed April 15 during combat in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/The
4) An Army Rapier missile defense battery is deployed at Blackheath in sight of the Canary Wharf financial center on May 2, in London, England. The missiles are being readied as part of Operation Exercise Olympic Guardian which is taking place in
5) Luisa Seau, mother of former NFL football player Junior Seau, grieves in the driveway of her son's home, Wednesday, May 2, 2012, in Oceanside, Calif. Seau was found shot to death at his home Wednesday morning in what police said appeared to be a suicide. He was 43. Photo: Chris Carlson / AP
6) A child cries in a cave shelter in Tess village in the rebel-held territory of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, May 2, 2012. Photo: Reuters
7) A police lieutenant swings his baton at an Occupy Wall Street activists on May 1 in
8) A police officer uses mace on a protester in front of an American Apparel Inc. store during an Occupy Seattle May Day rally and anti-capitalist march in
9) An elderly woman waves as she finds herself caught ahead of an Occupy Wall Street May Day march down Fifth Ave. in
10) Traci Jackson (2nd R) and others help clean up in front of a foreclosed home on May 3, 2012 in Miami, Florida. According to the
11) Youngsters smoke marijuana during a march for the legalization of cannabis in Medellin, Colombia on May 5, as part of the 2012 Global Marijuana March which is being held in hundreds of cities worldwide. Photo: Raul Arboleda / AFP - Getty Images
12) Patricia Krentcil, 44, waits to be arraigned at the Essex County Superior Court, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 in Newark, N.J., where she appeared on charges of endangering her 5-year-old child by taking her into a tanning salon. Krentcil tells The Associated Press her daughter got her sunburn from being outside on a recent warm day.
13) Police investigate a destroyed van that plunged over the
14) In this Feb. 6, 2012 image made from video, Dr. Nancy Young, of the pediatric otolaryngology division at Children's Memorial Hospital, examines 9-year-old Clara Beatty's hearing aids during a visit to the hospital's offices in Glenview, Ill. Clara, who was born with a genetic mutation called Treacher Collins syndrome, uses special hearing aids that attach with magnets placed under her skin because she has very narrow ear canals and only remnants of outer ears. Photo: Martha Irvine / AP
15) Stanhope Elmore High School Junior ROTC Cadet Mike Snyder bows his head in prayer during National Prayer Day ceremonies at the Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala. Congress established the day of prayer in 1952 and in 1988 declared that it would be held every year on the first Thursday in May. Photo: Dave Martin / AP
16) The full moon rises behind the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion, southeast of Athens, Greece, while tourists watch on May 5. Saturday's event is a "supermoon," the closest and therefore the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. Photo: Dimitri Messinis / AP
17) A supermoon rises over neon hotel signs on Highway 80 in Ft. Worth, Texas.Photo: Ralph Lauer / Zuma Press
18) Sea foam floats on the Atlantic Ocean with the cliffs of the Sentinel mountain behind in Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, May 5. Sea foam is created following the churning of the seas in the wake of a southern ocean storm. Photo: Nic Bothma / EPA
19) From the Daily Mail: Forced to the ground and with blood pouring from her head, this British holidaymaker had a miraculous escape after being attacked by supposedly tame cheetahs.Violet D’Mello was visiting a wildlife park with her husband Archie during a trip to South Africa for her 60th birthday. But their day out went horrifically wrong when two cheetahs turned on her, knocking her to the ground and biting her legs and head in a horrifying attack. And her husband? He carried on taking photographs, saying he did not quite realize what was happening. The attack took place at a wildlife park where tourists can pay to pet cheetah brothers Mark and Monty, both hand-reared and said to be tame. ‘It started scratching me really badly and then I could feel the other one come up too and one of them got my neck in its mouth. ‘I was just screaming and trying to get my hands up around my neck to protect myself, but I was being bitten all over my legs and down my side near my kidneys. ‘People all around were screaming, and I had no idea how I would escape. Something inside me just said, “Don’t move. Don’t move at all. Don’t react, just play dead”. ‘Eventually someone came and chased them off me and my husband picked me up off the floor.’ The housewife, from
20) A 14.5 foot male estuarine (saltwater) crocodile is retrieved from a crocodile trap at Daly River Community some 139 miles south of Darwin, Australia. Photo: Northern Territory Parks And Wildlife via AFP - Getty Images
21) A keeper walks camel Laila with a broken leg at a horse clinic in Berlin, Germany, Friday, May 4, 2012. Laila broke her leg on a meadow of the breeding farm of her owner two weeks ago and had to undergo two hours of medical surgery. The animal now has to learn to walk as it will wear the plaster for six weeks. (AP Photo/dapd, Paul Zinken)
22) Carina Stadler, right, holds an alpaca as her father Erwin cuts away its wool coat at Alpaca-Land farm, in Goeming in the Austrian province of Salzburg, Sunday April, 29, 2012. The annual shearing is done in the spring to make the animals more comfortable for the summer months. This will give them plenty of time to grow a thick new coat before winter. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)
23) In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, a Pacific brant family is shown on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. Virtually the entire 150,000 population of Pacific brant stops at Izembek. So do 70 percent of migrating Steller’s eiders, an endangered species that eats tiny invertebrates, clams, shrimp, and copepods clinging to eelgrass leaves. So it’s also no surprise that environmentalists are fighting a proposal by an Aleut village to build a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge for land access to an all-weather airport. (AP Photo/U.S. Geological Survey)
24) A bee works on collecting nectar from a fruit tree in
25) Animal Control Officer Dave Medici helps "Stripes" the cat from a street light pole on Philo St. where it took refuge from a chasing dog Monday, April 30, 2012, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Scranton Times & Tribune, Michael J. Mullen
26) A Langford motorcycle dealer is helping to return a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to its owner in Japan after it was washed out to sea by last year's tsunami and ended up on B.C.'s northwest coast.
27) A passenger looks out of an Airbus A330-300 aircraft of Taiwan's Eva Airlines, decorated with Hello Kitty motifs, in Taoyuan International Airport, northern Taiwan, April 30, 2012.
28) From left, Amanda Lear, from Ruby, S.C., Amada Griffo, Wapakoneta, Ohio and Sara Coucher, Frederickstown, Ohio chat in the paddocks before the 138th Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 5, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
29) Tamara Sorrell, from Austin, Texas, can create her own elbow room with this wide hat. Photo: Mark Humphrey - AP Images
30) This fan might be a bit confused. Flamingos are most associated with
31) A horse owner named Cecil Peacock had a horse named Brother Derek who finished fourth in the 2006 Kentucky Derby. In honor of him, we're naming this hat Cecil. Photo: Frank Victores - US Presswire
32) Jockey Mario Gutierrez rides I'll Have Another to victory in the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., May 5. Photo: AP, David J. Phillip
33) President Barack Obama laughs as head coach John Calipari, left, speaks during a ceremony welcoming the University of Kentucky men’s college basketball team in the East Room of the White House, Friday, May 4, 2012, in Washington. The team won the 2012 NCAA championship last month. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
34) Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver, left, cries as he hugs his father Dave as his mother Gail, right, and his wife Kristin, left, look on after pitching a a no-hitter in their baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Wednesday, May 2, 2012, in Anaheim, Calif. The Angels won 9-0. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
35) Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the
36) Maria Menounos bagged the first perfect score this season on Dancing with the Stars Monday night. A devilish Menounos sported fangs and a spectacularly sexy red lace dress. Photos: ABC
37) Aspiring dancers audition at Radio City Music Hall for a chance to become a world-famous Radio City Rockette in the upcoming 2012 production of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. This year will mark it's 85th season and the show will run from November 9 - December 30. 2012. Photo: Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images
38) Sun Fengqin (R), 60, participates in a pole-dancing class in
39) Joey, from Hong Kong, a fan of the US singer Lady Gaga, takes part in the 'Are U the DIVA' contest ahead of Lady Gaga's show in Hong Kong, China, on May 2. Lady Gaga is in
40) A man displays his tattoo, depicting Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha during the second International Tattoo Convention in Katmandu, Nepal, Sunday, April 29, 2012. Tatoo artists from 15 different countries are participating in the three-day event which concludes Sunday. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
41) President Barack Obama presents a birthday cake to Bloomberg White House reporter Julianna Goldman as she blows out the candle aboard Air Force One during the flight to
42) Chilean people pose on the work of British artist Julian Beever, specialized in pavement drawings, wall murals and realistic paintings, on May 3 in Santiago. Beever produced a painting with colour chalks showing a fortune wheel, during the Creative Days activities in
43) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photojournalist Mike De Sisti has the full attention of a captivated audience at the Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association (NEWSPA) event at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh on Wednesday. The annual program, hosts hundreds of aspiring high school journalists who participate in over 50 sessions and panels led by professionals in the journalism field. De Sisti's session was on how newspapers are using mobile technology to quickly post content to their organization's website. Photo: Taylor Schmidt
Eric Hovde disappointing
|
Culinary no-no #276
THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF
FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-
NO!
Driving on
And I had the same gut reaction I always have whenever I pass by.
Why?
Why?
I’ll never forget the old McDonald’s that once sat there.
Mine Shaft - How politics foiled efforts to bring jobs to Northern Wisconsin
Please, please take the time to watch.
The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy presents this mini documentary about attempts to open an iron mine in Northern Wisconsin and efforts to modernize the state's mine permitting process.
As you likely know, we've been providing coverage of this issue for many months. But this film includes exclusive footage never before seen. The filmmaker spent several days in Hurley, Wisconsin and conducted interviews with several generations of residents to get their take on what went wrong. The good people of Hurley did not hold back..
About the length of a local evening newscast, we believe you'll come away from watching this film with a better understanding of the proposed project and the plight of the people of Northern Wisconsin. The fine men and women of Hurley and the surrounding communities have a proud mining tradition and, as you will see, they did not take too kindly to the political games being played with thousands of jobs that this project would have generated.
Watch it. Pass it on. And, finally, let us know what you think.
Teachers Unions Bullying our Children
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
UPDATE: Unfortunately some in Franklin are hot to trot for this wasteful spendingPreviously on This Just In… You can help Scott Walker! Do it NOW!
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Herman Cain yesterday headlined the Rally for Common Sense, which was held in Holt’s Landing, Missouri and featured an all-star lineup of speakers such as Alfonzo Rachel, Dr. Gina Loudon, Alan Keyes, Mark Block, K. Carl Smith and a host of others.
Herman Cain backed up his words with action on Wednesday by officially endorsing Mitt Romney for president. Reminding supporters that the top priority is to defeat Barack Obama, Cain implored those who had supported other candidates – including him – to “get over it” and get behind the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee.
Herman Cain’s new book, 9-9-9: An Army of Davids, continues to generate strong sales and prompt additional re-orders from Amazon. If you haven’t already bought the book, 
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
