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.
Goodnight everyone, have a great weekend, but don't eat the apple
“I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or sixty.”
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.
Last month was the 75th anniversary of the nationwide theatrical release of Walt Disney's biggest gamble:
Detractors howled. Who would or could possibly sit still for a cartoon that ran over an hour?
Let's bring in Walt one more time.
"We're not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
Snow White was a tremendous success on a couple of fronts. Disney proved animation could work. And the soundtrack album from the film was the first soundtrack album ever. Snow White paved the way, not just for future Disney animated classics, but for movie soundtracks (Can you say "Saturday Night Fever"?)
The beauty of Disney muisc, much like the compositions of the Beatles, is that it lends itself wonderfully to all musical genres. Tonight, a few examples. How about we open with a grand entrance.
Week-ends (03/02/13)
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
Billy Ray Harris
Rony Monzon
Antwan Moore
Jennifer Connor
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
Graeme Zielinski
Texas high school teacher
Dov Hikind
Lisa Traylor-Wolff
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
I had "moments of joy and light, but also moments that haven't been easy ... moments of turbulent seas and rough winds, as has occurred in the history of the church when it seemed like the Lord was sleeping."
Pope Benedict XVI during his farewell address.
“We don’t need to be having something like sequestration that’s going to cause these job losses — over 170 million jobs that could be lost...”
California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters warned of job losses totaling 170 million if the sequester goes through. Waters’ warning comes at a time when there are estimated to be between 135 and 143 million jobs in the United States.
“Are any of these positions more important than an air traffic controller, a border patrol officer, a food inspector, a TSA screener, or a civilian supporting our men and women in combat in Afghanistan?”
Senator Tom Coburn in a letter to White House budget office acting Director Jeffrey Zients. Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and Congress' top waste-watcher, said the federal government can begin to control spending immediately. In his letter, Coburn pointed to job openings the government has advertised, including 10 slots for drivers at the State Department, at wages up to $26.45 an hour, and a Labor Department staff assistant to handle scheduling and screen phone calls, at a salary of up to $81,204 a year.
Obama's response to the sequestration is "the most cynical behavior I have seen during my time in Washington. Replacing the sequester would require the President to save $85 billion out of a $3,500 billion federal budget. One would think that any President would leap at the opportunity to make government more effective and responsive. But what does the President do instead? He says Republicans are ‘cutting vital services for children’ in order to ‘benefit the well-off and well-connected.’ This has been the strategy now for years: block any attempt to reform the government and then relentlessly attack the reformers. Does any lawmaker, reporter, or citizen believe that the only way to save taxpayer dollars is to hurt children, that every government program is effective and helpful and not one penny is wasted? While the White House operatives may think this attack is clever, it betrays an astonishing elitism: the federal government is perfect and requires no reform. That is why they have no plan to make our government leaner and more efficient. The President had 18 months to develop reforms to improve the government, but instead he announced furloughs of federal workers as a political cudgel. Yet, his golf weekend at the yacht club with Tiger Woods cost taxpayers over a million dollars—enough money to save 341 federal workers from furlough.”
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama Sessions is the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. Sessions is the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.
“I think you will regret staking out that claim. It was said very clearly, 'You will regret doing this.' I mean, it makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you're going to regret doing something that you believe in.”
Veteran reporter Bob Woodward citing an e-mail he received from a senior White House official following the publication of a Woodward column critical of President Obama.
“'In America, you have a right to be stupid, if you want to be... and we tolerate that.”
Secretary of State John Kerry speaking to a packed Internet cafe in Berlin.
"Sounds like a bit of penis envy by Abele…Abele is not used to taking a back seat to anyone, especially some black conservative sheriff."
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke responding to an email from Abele aide Brendan Conway to the Journal Sentinel for a column that ran about Clarke's stance on cutting the County Board.
“Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, during oral arguments on the Voting Rights Act.
“If more men were homosexual, there would be no wars, because homosexual men would never kill other men.”
Indie singing star Morrissey, to rookiemag.com, an online publication for teen girls.
OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK
Sex offender Shawn Schulpius released from secure treatment.
MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK
The "Never Again" campaign.
MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK
The Sequester is falling! The Sequester is falling!
STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK
Would you have done it?
Let's get it on.
That's it for Week-ends.
We close with the latest from NewsBusted.
GO SABERS!
The Franklin girls basketball team beat Racine Park today, 84-48 to advance to face archrival Oak Creek at Greenfield in a sectional semi-final this Thursday night at 7:00.
Talk about a big (revenge) game.
GO SABERS!
Recommended Reading (03/02/13)
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).
Shed a Tear for those Under-Appreciated Bureaucrats Who Get Lavish Pensions and Live in $700K Homes
“Perhaps we can create a civilian version of the Medal of Honor, given to the bureaucrat who suffers the most because of the ‘sledgehammer’ cuts and those mean people on ‘web sites.’
“Indeed, I think we have our first recipient. But brace yourself before you read this passage. The anguish and suffering may haunt you for the rest of your life. This bureaucrat is enduring unimaginable hardship."
The right way to combat gun violence
“The problem with most gun control laws is that they impose a burden on the law-abiding that lawbreakers can usually evade. What is needed is an approach that focuses tightly on altering the behavior of criminals. There are proven steps that can hobble the dangerous without penalizing the harmless. What works in preventing violent crime? One remedy is simple, though not cheap…”
Double barrel Biden, rape whistle Salazar, and my AR-15 giveway
"Now, before I proceed, allow me to say that if I were a woman – and I’m not (but I do like Kate Hudson films) – but if were a lass, I’d tell gun-grabbing democrats to kiss my Pilates because they do not care about your person or family and would rather y’all be a sitting duck to demented perps. Oh well, what can you expect from a party that supports Planned Parenthood."
Why does anyone need to read about celebrities?
“…prissy Brit Piers Morgan thought he’d hit on a real showstopper with, ‘I don’t know why anyone needs an assault rifle.’ Of course, where he comes from, policemen carry wooden sticks.
“Since when do Americans have to give the government an explanation for why they ‘need’ something? If that’s the test, I can think of a whole list of things I don’t know why anyone needs.”
I'm committed to abstinence, virgin is not a dirty word
“ I haven’t had sexual intercourse in almost four years. Now, this is not to say I haven’t done anything I wouldn’t do if Jesus were in the room. I am not perfect. But for the past three and a half years, in the ball park of my love life, there have been no home runs.
“I simply made a choice, for ethical, moral, and religious reasons, not to engage in baby-making activities, and I have stuck to that decision for well over three years.
“You are probably asking yourself, ‘Self, why on earth is she telling me this’?”
It’s a Boy…Err...Girl…Err…to Hell With It, Who Knows
"Journey back with me, if you will, to a simpler time. To a dark and ominous period known as American history up until now.
“An oppressive period when society actually believed the genitals you left your mother’s womb with determined your gender. A tyrannical time when parents actually parented according to the acknowledged moral standard of the universe, rather than enabling and validating their offspring’s unhealthy tantrums and desires.
“We are entering a brave new world.”
Dumbing down
“The report said people are getting dumber — at least I think that's what it said, but the big words kept throwing me off.”
AND FINALLY...
Photos of the Week (03/03/13)
1) In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his last Angelus noon prayer, from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
2) The full moon is seen above the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, early Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules of the conclave that will elect his successor, allowing cardinals to move up the start date if all of them arrive in Rome before the usual 15-day transition between pontificates. Benedict signed a legal document, issued Monday, with some line-by-line changes to the 1996 Vatican law governing the election of a new pope. It is one of his last acts as pope before resigning Thursday. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
3) Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful for the last time from the balcony of his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo Thursday. Photo: Tony Gentile / Reuters
4) In this image taken from video, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his final message to the assembly of cardinals at the Vatican Thursday Feb. 28, 2013, before he retires in just a few hours. Benedict urged the cardinals to work in unity and promised his "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his successor in a poignant and powerful farewell before he becomes the first pope in 600 years to resign. (AP Photo/Vatican TV)
5) A helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI takes off from inside the Vatican on its way to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. A priest holds a placard in St. Peter's Basilica as the helicopter carrying Pope Benedict XVI passes by on its way out of Vatican City. Photos: Reuters
6) A security contractor hired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), checks the mouth of a Honduran immigration detainee before a deportation flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Feb. 28, 2013, in Mesa, Ariz. ICE operates four to five flights per week from Mesa to Central America, deporting hundreds of undocumented immigrants detained in Western states of the U.S. With the possibility of federal budget sequestration, ICE released 303 immigration detainees in the past week from detention centers throughout Arizona. Photo: John Moore / Getty Images
7) Jeremy Bush places flowers and a stuffed animal at a makeshift memorial in front of a home where a sinkhole opened up underneath a bedroom late Thursday evening and swallowed his brother Jeffrey in Seffner, Fla. on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Jeffrey Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
8) Senior Cadet Mark Castelli stands next to a portrait of the late U.S. four-star Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf during Schwarzkopf's funeral service at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Photo: Reuters
9) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hugs former NBA player Dennis Rodman following a basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and North Korean University of Physical Education in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Feb. 28. Photo: KCNA via EPA
10) With chants of "Fill the gap!" protesters attempt to bring forward a styrofoam replica of a piece of the Berlin Wall in order to fill a gap created by construction workers in the East Side Gallery, which is the longest still-standing portion of the former Berlin Wall, as police try to block the protesters on March 1, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
11) Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, left to right, President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner attend the unveiling of a statue of Rosa Parks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 27, 2013. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in segregated Montgomery, Ala., on Dec. 1, 1955. Parks' act of defiance and the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern civil rights movement. Photo: Oliver Douliery / Pool via EPA
12) Rosa Parks, famous for refusing to give up her Alabama bus seat in 1955, was honored last week by US President Barack Obama dedicating a statue of her in Washington. In this handout from The White House, US President Barack Obama sits on the famed Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum following an event April 18, 2012 in Dearborn, Michigan. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images)
13) San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (right), first lady Michelle Obama and tennis player Serena Williams (left) dance with school children during an event in Chicago to bring physical activity back to schools. Photo: Reuters
14) Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, left, runs into a fan and spills his drink while chasing a foul ball against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Dunedin, Fla., on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
15) People wait for their names to be called to pay for and retrieve their towed cars Thursday at the city tow lot at 3811 W. Lincoln Ave. About 250 illegally parked cars were towed from snow routes between 11 p.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Sandy Rusch Walton said. Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman
16) Surrounded by snow-frosted trees, a runner makes her way uphill Thursday at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield. For meteorologists’ records, Thursday was the last day of winter. Photo: Milwauke Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman
17) A pair of deer wander through heavy snow Wednesday in Port Washington. Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mark Hoffman
18) Defending champion Dallas Seavey takes off Saturday, March 2, 2013, in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, for the ceremonial start of the 2013 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The race, which will take mushers and dog teams about a thousand miles across the Alaska wilderness, starts Sunday, March 3, 2013, in Willow, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
19) A pair of gloved hands are dwarfed by the furry paws of Boris the Polar Bear at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal health care hospital in Tacoma, Wash. Boris underwent a full physical Saturday, at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium's animal hospital in Tacoma, Wash., as a team of veterinarians, technicians and staff also performed a root canal and some minor eye surgery on the 27-year-old polar bear. Photo: Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune
20) In this image made from video provided by the St. Charles Animal Control shelter, Biscuit, a 37-pound cat, looks at his cage in the shelter in St. Charles, Mo. At more than two-and-a-half times the size of a normal cat, the shelter says the morbidly obese feline has been put on a diet, but he needs an owner who will closely monitor what he eats.
21) Actress Quvenzhane Wallis eats popcorn in the audience during the Oscars last Sunday. Photo: Chris Pizzello / AP
22) The Racing Italian Sausage was missing, after being swiped from Cedarburg's Winter Festival and last seen barhopping in Cedarburg. The story raises a number of questions: Where else did the sausage go? What did he do? How do we get him back home? The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website asked readers to create their answer to this question using Photoshop, Paint or another editing tool. Here's an example.
FINALLY, PHOTO ESSAYS...
Photographing survivors of sexual assault.
My baby, not my child.
When flying across the globe was a pleasure.
My Most Popular Blogs (03/04/13)
Here are my most popular blogs from last week, Sunday-Saturday:
1) Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor, PR man
The latest pro-life news (03/04/13)
From Pro-Life Wisconsin and Wisconsin Right To Life:
See Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday, April 25 -- Online Registration is Now Available!
Join Wisconsin Right to Life at our Annual Education Fund Dinner and Auction on Thursday, April 25.
With the snow coming, here's hoping the Franklin snow plow driver...
Doesn’t totally annihilate my mailbox the way he destroyed my next door neighbor’s last week.
Our Tax Hell dollars at work.
More evidence sex offenders are criminals that can't ever be trusted
Here in Franklin, we are deeply proud of our two local ordinances that restrict where released sex offenders can live or congregate.
We are proud that the ordinances survived a constitutional challenge.
We are proud the ordinances have served as models for similar ordinances in over 100 municipalities all across our great state.
We are proud of the hard work many in Franklin put in to get the ordinances approved, the support the entire city has provided, and the all-out effort to prevent the state of Wisconsin from building a sex predator house in our city that would have been home to dozens of creeps all under one roof.
Whenever I blog about the evil monsters sex offenders truly are, the floodgates are opened as misguided sympathizers for these sick, evil, pervert pigs crawl out from under their rocks to defend those who would prey upon our vulnerable, beautiful children. They naively paint a picture of offenders as misunderstood choir boys who would never, ever re-offend and would never, ever pose a stranger danger.
Pin a medal on them for God’s sake.
BS!
They’re no damn good and can never be trusted. That’s why the fight to protect our families never ends.
Check out this investigation demonstrating that offenders are not the goodie two-shoes their bleeding heart followers would have you believe.
Why would they disarm those devices? Could it be they don't want to get caught when they attack again?
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Talk about a turnaround at Notre Dame
President Barack Obama receives an honorary doctor of laws degree in May of 2009 during the commencement ceremony in the Joyce Center of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana.
Let's put this in perspective. One of America's most prestigious Catholic universities invited the most radical pro-abortion president to speak at its graduation.
The school “didn’t understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation,” said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago.
Fast forward to today.
MUCH BETTER!
Can you walk faster than a streetcar?
On Charlie Sykes' show this morning on WTMJ, Charlie interviewed Randal O'Toole.
Believe me, I could have easily handled Mila Kunis
During my long journalistic career, I can think of only a handful of times when I was uncomfortable.
I went to a practice at the old Milwaukee Arena. The Los Angeles Lakers were in town to play the Bucks, and I wanted to interview former Buck, 7-foot legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
At the conclusion of the Lakers’ shoot-around, I asked Kareem for some time for a few questions. This was the same year that Magic Johnson was a rookie for the Lakers.
Kareem consented to the interview but wasn’t all that enthused about the whole idea.
I suggested we go sit down in one of the thousands of non-occupied Arena seats. No, said Kareem. Right here on the court would be just fine.
Not fine. Kareem stood the entire time.
Imagine yours truly, of average height. I extend my arm as high as it will go. I’m holding the very bottom of my microphone. It rises to the bottom of Kareem’s chin.
One of my questions was about the worth, the value that Magic brought to the Lakers. Kareem responded with the not-so sound bite of the year:
“Magic keeps teams honest.”
End of quote.
I think I’ll pack up and go home now.
Remember when the Brewers went to the World Series in 1982? They had to clinch the American League East title on the last weekend of the season in Baltimore. The weekend before, at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, the Brewers hurt their chances with losses to the Orioles.
That Sunday afternoon after a Brewer loss, I sprinted to the Orioles’ dressing room after getting Brewer interviews. Of course it was a happy visitor’s locker room, but you’d never know it from what I experienced. I immediately sought out Baltimore manager, the legendary and talkative Earl Weaver.
I apologized for being late, having been in the Brewers’ locker room and Weaver gave his OK.
The interview went well, but after I thanked Weaver and shut off my tape recorder, Weaver went off. As I put my stuff in my briefcase to move on, Weaver stood above me and shouted that there was nothing he had given me in the interview that could be used on-air and I knew it and was left with nothing.
Suddenly I decided not to interview any Baltimore players, that I really did have enough and had plenty for the next morning’s broadcast. So I high-tailed it out of there.
In the late 80’s the World Wrestling Federation held a huge outdoor wrestling show at the old Milwaukee County Stadium. Following a news conference to promote the show, I interviewed Hulk Hogan. To me, he appeared to be the size of Montana.
It didn’t matter. I was a pro wrestling fan and was having fun with the Hulkster, one of the stars of the upcoming show’s cage match against Andre the Giant.
![Hulk Hogan versus Andre The Giant inside a steel cage at WrestleFest: July 31, 1988 
The Hulkster’s feud with the Giant didn’t end at WrestleMania III (March 29, 1987). The bad blood carried over to the next year’s WrestleMania and beyond, including a steel cage match at Milwaukee County Stadium in Wisconsin. And the WWE has uploaded the video of the match, which appeared on a Coliseum Home Video release called Hulk Hogan: Real American (read on to watch it), to YouTube.
The match itself featured a lot of choking. Andre choking Hogan with his hands. Andre choking Hogan with a Hulkamania T-shirt. Hogan choking Andre with his knee. It also has a preposterous but fun spot with Andre tying Hogan to the cage by the neck with the T-shirt. Announcer Sean Mooney sounds shocked that Hogan was able to escape. An even more absurd spot comes when Andre starts climbing the cage to escape. Mae Young could have climbed faster.
Despite getting busted open on an exposed turnbuckle, Hogan prevails (and Bobby the Brain Heenan takes the best bump of the match).
WWE actually uploaded the whole video, which includes two of Hogan matches from Saturday Night’s Main Event (vs. Nikolai Volkoff, October 5, 1985; and vs. King Haku, October 25, 1988) and a house show match against the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase in Houston, Texas (December 10, 1987). These aren’t great matches, but it’s cool to see WWE opening up its archive and sharing the old Coliseum Video releases.
[[MORE]]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m733kr5eVo1rqoq0po1_500.jpg)
When Hulk firmly grabbed each of my arms and shoulders to make a point during the interview, I was momentarily shocked. The obvious increase in my octaves during the next question was evidence.
I was never petrified, scared, or terrified during an interview, not even during my youngest days in the business.
That brings us to…
Stand with Rand!
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