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.
My Most Popular Blogs (11/01/09)
As I post every Sunday, here are the five most read blog entries of mine from the previous week. NOTE: some entries may have been posted prior to the past week.
1) Ohh, so you won't talk, hey???? CRANK UP THE AC/DC!!!
2) Franklin, I do admit that I had no idea...
3) "Fairly Conservative?" Try lefty nutjob
4)
5) Culinary no-no #135
Photos of the Week (11/01/09)
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (left), appearing Monday in downtown Milwaukee with Gov. Jim Doyle, says the decision on whether he will run for governor will be made at the "family table." Barbara Lawton’s decision to pull out of the race leaves the Democratic party scrambling. Journal Sentinel photo: Gary Porter
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., holds a gavel used when Medicare legislation was passed, as he speaks about health care on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
People stand in line at the Utah County Health Department to get H1N1 vaccine shots October 27, 2009 in Provo, Utah. After health department got a shipment of 4000 vaccines overnight, a large line formed with a wait of four to five hours. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama greets officers and sailors after speaking at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division watch ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series as they eat their early morning breakfast in the cafeteria of their base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
An American Army soldier lays down his M4 rifle and helmet as he listens in on a meeting among Afghan Pashtun tribal elders to discuss American and Canadian military actions on their lands October 26, 2009 in the village of Hazi Madad in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. American and Canadian troops in the area have been trading blows with Taliban militant fighters in recent battles, but local tribal chiefs complain that civilians have been caught in the crossfire. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Private security personnel search hotel guests as they arrive at the bunker in the basement of the Serena Hotel after two explosions in the reception area in Kabul in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. It is believed that two Rocket Propelled Grenades, aimed at the French Ambassador who had left the hotel moments before, landed in the main foyer of the hotel causing considerable damage. Nobody was injured in the attack. (AP Photo)
A Palestinian boy wearing a military uniform and holding a toy gun walks in an alley of Al-Amari refugee camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
Jeremiah Felton sits with his defense attorneys, Tayyibah Sethi, left, and Jacqueline Rogers, after closing arguments and jury instructions Monday in his first-degree intentional homicide trial at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. Felton, 21, of Green Bay, is accused of killing his 4-month old son, Jeremiah "J.J." Felton Jr., in June 2008. M.P. King/Press-Gazette
The MJS Scorecard (11/01/09)
EVERY SUNDAY I REVIEW THE MOST COVETED EDITORIAL PAGES OF THE WEEK BY OPINION-MAKERS AS WELL AS THE MOST WIDELY-READ, THE SUNDAY “CROSSROADS” SECTION OF THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. I WILL KEEP TRACK OF THE CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL PIECES CONTRIBUTED BY NON-JOURNAL SENTINEL WRITERS AND KEEP A RUNNING SCORE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
It should also be noted that this exercise is a categorization. Most, if not all of these articles submitted to, or solicited by the Crossroads staff are well-written, thoughtful, and provocative. I enjoy reading them as I have every Sunday for as long as I can remember. This weekly compilation is an ideological scorecard, not a writing critique.
TODAY'S LIBERAL PIECES
John Gurda: Careening down the road to civic suicide
Great guy, writer, and historian.
But today he went down a political path, and took a sharp left turn.
TODAY'S CONSERVATIVE PIECES
NONE
NEITHER LIBERAL NOR CONSERVATIVE
Susan Conwell: Too little disclosure and review
Matthew W. Johnson, Brett A. Laven and Peter F. Leonovicz: A flawed study on prostatectomies
Sue Klang: Bullying can lead to tragedy
John B. Mattingly: There are easy 'fixes' and then what matters
Steve Rommelfanger: Continued: Families grappling with death
Dan Soiney: Taking away democratic rights won't fix MPS
MJS SCORECARD:
TODAY: Liberal-1, Conservative-0
YEAR TO DATE: Liberal-101, Conservative-76
Note: There have been four (4) conservative pieces in Crossroads the past six (6) weeks.
Culinary no-no #137
Did I ever mention that my wife, Jennifer likes candles?
She likes them a lot.
No, she actually loves candles.
That’s really not all that strange. Candles, a female thing, right?
As I wax poetic, burning in the Fischer household are Pumpkin Spice and Mulled Cider.
“HEY, ETHEL! COME QUICK!
THAT FISCHER HAS GONE LOONEY AGAIN!
YOU KNOW WHAT HE’ S UP TO, ETHEL?
HE’S TALKIN’ ABOUT CANDLES ON HIS FOOD WHATCHAMACALLIT!”
“Culinary no-no, Sam.”
“WHATEVER!”
I’ve written in the past that I’m not all that fussy about what I eat. The same goes for the scented candles Jennifer lights. The exception is French Vanilla. No way. Just can’t stand that one.
Otherwise, I’m cool with almost any candle aroma. The rare occasions I accompany Jennifer to a Yankee Candle store, it reminds me of walking wide-eyed as a child into Baskin-Robbins and seeing all those different colors, all those different flavors.
My crack when inside the store is that I only wish the manufacturer would be even more creative: filet mignon, corn on the cob, banana split, western omelet, margarita, double martini, inside of a new car, etc, etc. Is that too much to ask?
Now think about this. The most unusual, most fascinating, most talked about food item of 2009 has been bacon: chocolate-covered bacon, bacon ice cream, bacon beer, and more.
Admit it guys. You too, gals.
Wouldn’t a bacon candle be the bomb?
ETHEL, FISCHER STILL IS YAPPIN’ ABOUT CANDLES!
WHAT A MAROON!
BUT HEY!
HEYYYYYYYY!
I THINK THE YAHOO MIGHT BE ON TO SOMETHIN’ ETHEL!
A BACON CANDLE!
Of course it would be the bomb.
You know what.
You can actually buy these candles….
ETHELLLLLLL!
HE STILL HASN’T GOTTEN AROUND TO THE FOOD DEAL!
I’m gettin’ to it!
I’m gettin’ to it!
You can actually buy these candles at……
David Burke’s Primehouse in
The restaurant has an in-house butcher shop that sells bacon fat candles.
Bacon fat.
In a candle.
That you light.
And then the smell of BACON BACON BACON is all over the place.
Oh, Jennifer. Could you set up a few dozen of those, pronto?
So where’s the culinary aspect of Culinary no-no # 137, other than I’ve mentioned a restaurant?
Rick Gresh, the executive chef at David Burke’s Primehouse isn’t content to let those votives sit on the restaurant tables. Gresh likes to take the melting candle and drizzle it on steaks and scallops to create a smoky taste.
That’s right.
An edible bacon fat candle.
Seems Gresh might be a conservative. He claims the restaurant tosses out a lot of bacon fat. Why waste so much? Why not put those drippings to use?
Burke recently spent some time at one of his NY restaurants to see how his creation was received. Of course, if those highly sophisticated NY palates love it, then it must be marvelous.
If you care to sample this innovation, a two-inch high candle in a glass holder goes for $5 in the butcher shop at David Burke’s Primehouse in the
As for me, Mrs. Fischer raised her son to sniff candles, not eat them.
CULINARY NO-NO BONUS
The Wall Street Journal can't be serious.
Donate to Scott Walker TODAY!
Today is a special one-day fundraising effort for gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker.
Please donate!
"I hope Jesus thinks Larry David is funny"
He was one of my VILLAINS OF THE WEEK in Week-ends on Saturday.
Columnist Doug Giles blasts Larry David in his own inimitable style in his latest column:
"FYI to ludicrous Larry: We 'goofy' religious folks who number in the millions in the flyovers take our God seriously and don’t take a shinin’ to tools like you urinating on that which reps our Savior. Heck, we don’t even take kindly to people like Ozzy Osbourne peeing on the
Read the entire piece...
The legend of Favre grows
Whether you like that thought or not, it’s true.
UPDATE: Photos of the Week (07/05//09)
If you scroll down to the final picture in my Photos of the Week (07/05/09), you’ll see this:
Michael Goldsmith, right, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, and his son Austin, left, take part in Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day before a baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees Saturday, July 4, 2009, in New York. Goldsmith recently petitioned Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to begin a 4ALS initiative to raise awareness and funds for ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Michael Goldsmith died Sunday. Tonight’s Game 5 of the World Series has been dedicated to the advocate for ALS.
Franklin Common Council needs to budget responsibly
The Franklin School Board, following the same script it uses every year, has approved the school budget and property tax levy for next year.
After stacking the audience at budget meetings with the establishment intelligentsia who, when asked what the school tax levy should be responds, how much do you want, the board approved a 3.9% property tax increase.
School Board member Janet Evans made the only appropriate, common sense vote of NO.
Raise your hands if you expect to receive a 3.9% salary increase next year?
I didn’t think so.
Franklin School Board=clueless=heads in sand.
Now the focus shifts to
If you at home are spending money you haven’t even earned yet in 2010, methinks you might be in some financial trouble.
We are still in a recession, and here in the
By state law, the city of
Are accounting tricks being used to balance the 2009 city budget? That would be an outstanding question to pose to your alderman.
Are Common Council members being too rosy in their expectations about incoming revenue over the next year, two, or three, and is that contributing to bad budget decisions?
My, oh my, that would be another outstanding question to drop on your alderman.
The housing market remains lower than a gopher’s basement. Want to ask your alderman yet another great question? Ask him, or in my case, her, if the Common Council is budgeting based on an expected increase in assessed home values. Doing that in a craptacular housing market is pretty foolish.
Last year, Mayor Taylor, as he promised, submitted a budget with a 3% levy increase (The levy is what counts, not the tax rate). The city’s Finance Committee, comprised of aldermen Steve Taylor and Kristen Wilhelm, could have worked to make the budget even better. Instead, they more or less ho-hummed and rubber-stamped the mayor’s document after adding some pocket change.
I would love to see what Taylor and Wilhelm, especially
Even though, by nature of city of
Oh, it might feel fine and dandy right because you got your road or sidewalk or whatever. But eventually, the bill collector comes knocking. And you have to pay, whether you can afford it or not. And right now,
That’s the same kind of flawed philosophy that has Madison and Washington so screwed up. Franklin, do you really want that to happen here?
"I can't wait for it to end"-The wrong attitude about pro sports
I really like the Philadelphia Phillies.
That’s been quite a team over the past 30 years: Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Bake McBride, Garry Maddox, Larry Bowa, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose, Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton, John Kruk, and the current bunch of defending World Series champions.
Not a jerk on the 2009 squad and that includes Pedro Martinez, brought in very much like the Packers signed the troubled Andre Rison late in their Super Bowl Title year.
I do not hate the New York Yankees. Sorry, but I don’t climb on the bandwagon that despises a team simply because it has a history of winning. No jerks on this extremely talented Yankee team.
I could care less about the Yankee’s astronomical payroll. A National Leaguer since my dad as an usher snuck me into Milwaukee Braves games, I’m rooting for the Phillies.
WRTL Urges Assembly to Reject AB 458
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.JPG.standalone.prod_affiliate.138.jpg)
The cold winds are blowing as we descend into Holiday season. There's a bunch of them; Thanksgiving, Repeal day, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Years, etc... But the first holiday of the season is near! Think of how popular you'll be when you show up to Thanksgiving dinner with a bottle of Rehorst Vodka, Gin, Amerique 1912 Absinthe or seasonally appropriate Pumpkin Spirit!
World renowned spirits expert Anthony Dias Blue rated our Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Vodka a 91 in the November issue of 
![[SB10001424052748704888404574548032428987424]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-EY070_1120ir_D_20091120155125.jpg)
