This Just In...

Going to the movies tonight?

Will you buy nachos, a hot dog, popcorn, candy?

There’s quite a history to concessions at the theater. Slate.com takes a look.

Please pass the Sno-Caps.

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


The Senators who killed the horrendous amnesty (immigration) bill.

9-year old boy saves sister from attack

Juma Gul



VILLAIN OF THE WEEK

Chris Benoit


QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"When I said that Gov. Doyle's budget is a bad document many months ago . . . I was wrong. What we have before us today makes it far worse."
Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, on the Senate Democrats’ budget package that included a $15.2 billion universal health care proposal.


"That's $6 billion less for consumers to spend, and $6 billion less that they could invest."
Republican Senator Mike Ellis of Neenah said the Democrats' budget would let state government spend up to $6 billion more over the next two years.


"This is not a family friendly budget. This is not a taxpayer friendly budget. When families find out what's going to come out of their pocketbook, they're going to freak."
State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills)


”Lukewarm”
The word used by State Senator John Erpenbach (D-Middleton) the chief sponsor of the universal health care plan to describe Governor Doyle’s response to the proposal.


“This proposal would have a devastating effect on small businesses. It would inhibit job growth and hold down wages.”
Bill Smith, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business on the universal health care plan.


“The plan was conceived in secret, without Republican input, without meaningful hearings, and dropped on senators' heads at the last possible moment - a muscular exercise in raw partisanship.”
From an editorial in he Beloit Daily News


”On every issue their approach was the same:
Gas prices are high: so senate Democrats raised gas taxes even higher ($277 million). Drivers are feeling a pinch: Democrats raised registration fees on cars ($168 million) and trucks ($26.7 million).

Health care costs are squeezing consumers: senate liberals imposed a 1% hospital tax ($418 million) and turned over all the rest of the bills to government, which has done such a great job controlling costs ($15.2 billion).

The housing market is slumping: Democrats doubled the real estate transfer fee ($142 million.)

Job growth is lagging and wages have fallen below the national average: the newly-empowered progressives slapped a 10% tax hike on corporations ($90 million) and a $15 billion tax on payrolls and wage earners.

Smokers refuse to listen to the health nannies, so the senate stuck them with a tax hike as well ($450 million.)

For every problem, senate Democrats had same solution: let the government do it; trust government to spend money rather than consumers. Grow the bureaucracy; demonize business; shrink the private sector.”
WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes


” The governor's campaign says it'll keep the money it received from Dennis Troha, who has been charged with campaign law violations in other cases. Not exactly the high road. Governor Jim Doyle should still divest his campaign of the money given to it by the Kenosha businessman who was involved in a proposed casino that ultimately would have required the governor's OK.”
From an editorial in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel.


“This is not an act of rage. This is an act of deliberation. There was no way of telling this man was a monster.”
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon commenting on pro wrestler Chris Benoit who killed his wife and 7-year old son and then himself.


”It might be the year 2015 before people have the courage to deal with this.”
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado, one the so-called “grand bargainers” who crafted the failed immigration bill.


“One reason the Senate bill failed was that an amnesty would draw in millions of more illegal immigrants. Now we should focus on really enforcing existing laws and building the border fence.''
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, California.


“It appears that even the deaf ears in the United States Senate were able to hear the roar of outrage from the American people about the pro-immigrant invasion bill they were trying to foist on us. The only hope we had was that the American people would hold their elected officials accountable and that worked.”
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, California.


"It was a very traumatic experience, but I feel like God does make everything happen for a reason. And it gave me a time-out in life just to really find out what was important and what I want to do and find out who I am. I have a new outlook on life.”
Paris Hilton, on her jail experience, in an interview with CNN’s Larry King.


OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

State Senate Democrats propose, with little time for the public and the news media to sort through the many details, a $15.2 billion universal health care coverage plan that would be funded by a payroll tax on employers and their workers.

The Tax Foundation in Washington D.C. called the $15.2 billion tax increase the largest tax increase in the history of the United States.


MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced he was dropping his plan for an oil industry gross profits tax. Rendell is a Democrat.

Will Jim Doyle get the message?


MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

Paris Hilton is in jail.

Paris Hilton is going to get out of jail.

Paris Hilton is now out of jail.

Here’s how Paris Hilton survived jail.

Here’s what Paris Hilton snacked on while in jail.

Here’s what Paris Hilton thought about God when she was in jail.

Blah blah blah blah blah.


STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

Cops pull over the famous Wienermobile, thinking it was stolen.

The Tucson newspaper coverage is loaded with puns.



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.

Don’t be surprised if while out grocery shopping this weekend you see free beer samples being offered at the store.

Wisconsin law was recently changed to allow free beer samples in grocery stores and liquor stores.

Here’s a picture of a sample being given to a woman in Eau Claire.

Take a good look at the picture and think of what your reaction is to the photo, then return to my blog.

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Any thoughts on the photo? Someone who saw the picture in the Eau Claire Leader Telegram sure had a reaction.

Kids see a lot at the grocery store, especially those magazines at the checkout line. Depending on what store they pass or enter, they might be exposed to racy lingerie, cigarettes, or condoms.

Should we never, ever take our kids shopping?

That letter writer to the Eau Claire paper needs to lighten up.

I’d sure love to see a Bartolotta’s restaurant open in Franklin. I’m sure many of you would, too.

However, I’m not very optimistic.

It appears Joe Bartolotta has his sights set elsewhere.

The Journal/Sentinel reports Bartolotta has submitted one of three development proposals for surplus land at State Fair Park.

• Bartolotta Dinner Theater, proposed by Milwaukee restaurateur Joe Bartolotta. The 42,000-square-foot facility would accommodate 600 patrons and include catering and banquet facilities. The theater would feature five different productions each year, with each showing running about 10 weeks. Tickets would range from about $45 to $85 for dinner and a show.

If the State Fair Park Board doesn’t pick Bartolotta’s, how about wooing Joe B. here? If not a dinner theater, I’d be more than happy with a new Bartolotta’s restaurant.

Recruiting Bartolotta’s would be a worthwhile project for the city’s economic development folks and certain developers in need of tenants.

Andy’s is going up at a fast and furious pace on the NE corner of S. 51st and Rawson.

Soon you’ll be able to pump gas, buy coffee and Krispy Kremes there.

Observation: Andy’s looks like…………..well…………just another large gas station.

There appears to be no difference in the outside of the building than other Andy’s or similar facilities.

This doesn’t bother me in the least. But you’d think the fact that the building looks the same as other gas stations would have garnered some sort of reaction other than this.

From Team JibJab:

It is with great pride that we announce our latest JibJab featuring the US Presidents singing the Star Spangled Banner.

It's not a typical "skewer them alive" kind of JibJab, but rather our own mini-celebration of the greatest @#$% country in the history of human civilization. We hope you enjoy it.

–Team JibJab

Investigators had not yet discovered the bodies of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son when someone altered Benoit's entry on the Internet site, Wikipedia to mention his wife's death.

An anonymous user with the same IP address as the person who made the edits confessed today on an online discussion page attached to the Web site, saying the changes were based on rumors and speculation, not hard evidence.

Here are more details.

How can Wikipedia be taken seriously or trusted at all if its users can add or edit content?

Wikipedia’s credibility has been ruined once again, possibly for good.

Is Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Larry Harris the only person in the world who thinks he made a good move selecting China’s Yi Jianlian at #6 in the NBA draft’s 1st round?

Nobody likes the choice.


Fox Sports

El Busto: Yi Jianlian — OK, Andrea Bargnani had a solid year — but the imports have been on a cold streak lately. Yi and his peeps don't want him in Milwaukee — and this is a kid whose been described as way too nice. Age is also in question here.

More from Fox Sports

You would think the Bucks would take a more polished player to help them win right now, like Corey Brewer. Yi is clearly a mystery and huge gamble, but his upside is crazy. He can contribute offensively immediately, but defense is another story. What about the drama of his people supposedly not wanting him to go to Milwaukee?


SI.com

GM Larry Harris took a huge gamble by using his top pick on Yi, who apparently doesn't want to play in Milwaukee. If Harris can't parlay it into a trade (hello, Golden State), he might someday regret passing on Corey Brewer or Brandan Wright. Grade: C


cbsportsline.com

Milwaukee: Larry Harris is under pressure to win now, and readily admits that. So why he brought in a player who doesn't want to be there -- and could help save his job -- makes very little sense. Milwaukee was practically forbidden to see Yi Jianlian, because his people were adamant that he not end up there. Even if he does show up, how does he fit? Do you not want any big men who can potentially play defense? Yi is a good athlete, but he's not going to be a shot-blocker. Andrew Bogut doesn't do that. Charlie Villanueva is more of a small forward than anything else. Brewer, Wright and Noah would've all made more sense as selections, but the Bucks believe Yi is special. It doesn't seem like it would be worth the trouble. Grade: D-

AOL Sports

Milwaukee Bucks: The Yi Jianlian debacle is inexplicable. He refused to work out for Milwaukee because city doesn't have a large Asian population. So why would you draft him? Brandan Wright was on the board. And Milwaukee must have a lot of faith in Bobby Simmons and Ruben Patterson to pass up a stud wing player Corey Brewer.


How do you say sayonara in Chinese to Larry Harris?

Jsonline.com is reporting:

Cherry-flavored Carmex coming soon in jars

Another step forward for mankind: Cherry-flavored Carmex soon will be available in those iconic little jars. Tubes, too. Cherry and strawberry versions of the lip balm Carma Laboratories Inc. cooks up have been sold in stick form since last year, but the stick is Carma's No. 3 delivery vehicle, behind tubes (favored by women) and jars (preferred by men and anyone who values decades-old Carmex tradition). "It just makes sense for us," sales and marketing Vice President Michael Pietsch said of the expansion of Carma's flavored line. "Because we pretty much have dominated the jar market for 70 years."


Carmex is made in Franklin.

The city of Milwaukee seems serious about passing a Franklin-type sex offender ordinance, and that would be just fine with parents.

Of course, there are some naysayers.

I’ve often thought one of the national or cable newscasts should open up each program showing footage of the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9-11.

The impatient American public, sadly and shamefully, has forgotten why we are at war, why we are in Iraq, and why we fighting terrorists. A constant video reminder of those evil, murderous attacks seems to be in order now more than ever.

Far less than half of the American people support George W. Bush, an unpopular President. About the same number support the war effort.

A major reason Americans have lost faith is because the mainstream media is forever feeding us the mantra that the war is a failure and nothing is going right.

Allen Andrew Dennison has another view. First Sergeant Dennison is currently serving in Iraq with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.

He’s written an outstanding piece for the American Thinker I heard WISN’s Jay Weber discuss today.

Dennison makes some bold assertions in his piece, the type of beliefs and convictions you’ll never hear on ABC, NBC, CBS, or CNN:

1) We are winning the war in Iraq.

2) We must re-establish our resolve as Americans to win the war.

3) Nothing short of victory will do.

4) Too many Americans have forgotten the big picture, that we are fighting to protect our freedoms, and that will take sacrifices.

Here’s part of Dennison’s column:

(In Iraq) things on the ground are much more complicated than Katie Couric or the New York Times will tell you.

Here in Iraq, the war is without a doubt being won. Along with the set-backs and fatalities, we are winning important moral and military victories, and both of those kinds of wins are equally important. Yet, I see played out all too often on the evening news the supposed despair we are facing in this seemingly hopeless land. Now, without bashing the mainstream media, I believe they too have fallen into the same rut of short-sightedness. They have become vultures picking over the remains of what happens here in Iraq simply because they know that Americans have become accustomed to hearing bad news about US military operations. The simple and the sensational sells, but it rarely accords with reality. This is why they peddle little more than war-weariness.

The overall situation in Iraq is improving: Iraq is steadily regaining its economic feet; oil production is back on the upswing, higher than prewar output; men and women of all creeds are enjoying a newfound sense of freedom; insurgents, terrorists, and foreign fighters can no longer openly parade about in public and dominate Iraqi communities by means of fear, terror and murder. Regardless of what the world's media may depict, Iraq is undoubtedly progressing in the right direction. With the tide beginning to turn in our favor and against our enemies, we need to reaffirm our resolve as Americans to win this war.

As Americans and the world's only remaining superpower, we still have an inherent obligation to police up the world's trash. As ugly and tedious a responsibility as this may seem, it certainly falls on us to carry it out. We all saw first-hand on September 11, 2001 what awaits us if we even hesitate to stomp out evil as it begins to spread. Unfortunately, isolationism is apparently becoming fashionable again in the international community and among the chattering classes when it comes to the Middle East. The belief that not getting involved spares a society getting its hands dirty is much in vogue.

We as soldiers (past and present) know better. We know that serving our country calls for the courage to go against the grain of conformity, and maintaining the integrity to follow through with what you know to be true. Nothing short of victory will suffice for our country's future security.

It is a shame that while the whole of the United Nations believed that Saddam Hussein possessed the weapons that could wipe out entire cities at whim, they seemed ugly reluctant to impede him from employing such weapons. We should remind ourselves that the United States is by far the most diplomatic superpower in modern history. America did in fact give Saddam and his Baath Party a fair shake in cooperating with UN officials. Hussein and his lackeys simply scoffed at the world as they obstructed the US inspectors investigating the truth about Iraq's weapons arsenal. But among the member nation states of the United Nations who called for such investigations, none was willing to act on what they believed to be an imminent threat in Iraq. Granted, intelligence may have proven wrong on weapons of mass destruction, but before we knew of any faulty intelligence, the international community was uniform in its certainty that Saddam had access to such weapons. The US rightly took it upon itself without the support of the majority to put an end to negotiating with rogue nations and terrorist organizations. The day of diplomatic resolution to imminent threats was over.

You’ve all seen them….the TV News Investigations that, along with cooperation from law enforcement, lure sex offenders to a home, supposedly to meet up with an underage teen to have sex. The sting catches the offenders dead to rights on camera. Some stand shocked in front of the microphone and feebly attempt to deny why they are there. Others foolishly run, only to be tackled by police and handcuffed.

I happen to approve of these television projects. I know people who have denounced them, saying it’s not quality journalism, but a tawdry play for ratings.

Personally? I love seeing the bad guys get nailed. I love watching them squirm and sweat on camera. I enjoy watching John Mercure of Today’s TMJ 4 pose embarrassing questions and comments to a low-life sex offender who is about ready to crumble into the fetal position.

Dateline NBC has been doing these stings as a regular feature of their newsmagazine, and it’s worked. Many sex offenders have been put away.

But there’s been a twist in Murphy, Texas. The local district attorney has dropped all charges against the men nabbed in a Dateline NBC sting, the first time in the history of the stings a prosecutor hasn’t taken glee in putting away the pedophiles.

His rationale?

He doesn’t like the fact that “outsiders,” as he calls the TV crews, were involved. Somehow, he feels that taints the operation.

Now think about that. Law enforcement does these stings all the time, with or without television crews. I’ve never heard of such a case not holding up in court. The evidence is clear and damning. Yet the man who is supposed to uphold law and order and put away the bad guys…….LET’S THEM GO!

Instead of a district attorney, he sounds like a public defender, the necessary evil of our criminal justice system, the lawyer that defends the scum of the earth, the attorney who goes home and when asked by a spouse at dinner, “what did you do today, dear?” answers back, “I tried to get a rapist off.”

This district attorney needs to be run out of town. Here’s the story

Many young professional wrestlers have died in the past. Normally, their passing is marked on blogs devoted to wrestling, or in a short wire service blurb buried on the Internet or the back pages of the newspaper.

Not this time.

The Chris Benoit case has captured the attention and imagination of the entire country. The reason is clear. Unlike previous pro wrestling deaths, Benoit wasn’t found doped up in a dingy motel room. This time, a wife and young child were involved. Benoit murdered them both, then hung himself.

Toxicology reports are pending. Meanwhile, speculation runs rampant that steroids were involved.

Freelance writer Mike Celzic has written a fascinating column urging the steroid lynch mob in baseball to shift focus to the world of pro wrestling. Baseball hasn’t been cleaned up, but Celzic has a point. If you’re on a steroid crusade, how can you ignore grapplers in the ring?

Celizic writes, in part:

”It’s time for those in Congress who have been piling up brownie points with the voters by ranting at Bud Selig about steroids in baseball to get out of the grandstand, get down on the field and actually do something useful.

We’ve got another dead wrestler on our hands, Chris Benoit, who spent a quiet weekend at his Georgia home murdering his wife and seven-year-old son and then hanging himself on a weight machine. Anabolic steroids were found in the home.

The gruesome killings are a surprise; the steroids aren’t. Professional wrestling — "wrestling entertainment" as the WWE’s Vince McMahon calls it — is filthy with them and has been for decades. It’s too early to tell if Benoit’s actions were driven by roid rage or other psychopathologies induced by the drugs — it’s always possible he wasn’t ever wound too tightly and just went over the edge. But there are plenty of other dead wrestlers around whose demises have been linked to the drugs. You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows in that alleged sport.

But has anybody in Congress ever said anything about it? Has anyone ever dragooned the estimable McMahon, who had to cancel his own faked death to go to Benoit’s funeral, before a subcommittee and demanded to know why he’s providing such a horrible example for America’s impressionable youth?

As far as that goes, how many of you reading this spend the afternoon grumbling about Barry Bonds and his alleged steroid use and then turn on Monday Night RAW to cheer for your favorite freak?"

Read Celzic’s entire column.

Statistically in Wisconsin, teenage drivers are the worst. Teens drive more recklessly and get into more accidents.

Earlier this week, I wrote about ways to make teen drivers safer. I endorsed a program in Michigan called “STOPPED,” or Sheriffs Telling Our Parents and Promoting Educated Drivers. Parents are sent a letter by police when their teenager has been pulled over because of risky driving behavior. To participate in the program, parents register the vehicle online and a special sticker is sent to them to place on the vehicle’s windshield.

The sticker is a constant reminder to teen drivers that they’d better drive responsibly or their parents will find out. And the teens, whether they like it or not, have to understand they are not in charge, their parents are.

Today’s Milwaukee Business Journal has a story about another concept to assist younger drivers that I talked about on WISN some time ago.

This idea goes a lot further than the stickers used in Michigan. Cameras are placed in the cars used by teens to record and capture their driving habits.

Again, I like it. Who says taking advantage of and utilizing modern technology to keep an eye on a teen’s driving is a bad idea? Not me.

(I’m thinking a lot of parents of girls I knew when I was a teenager would probably have loved this).

Here’s the Business Journal article:

Keeping a watchful eye
Auto insurers offer parents the technology to monitor teen drivers
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - June 22, 2007

Chris Teifke of Waukesha remembers what it was like to be a teenager. So after her 17-year-old son, Tyler, got his driver's license and bought a car, she and her husband, Don Teifke, had a video camera installed to keep an eye on Tyler's driving.

"I knew that this was definitely something I'd be more comfortable having him go off driving, knowing we'd be notified if he did anything risky or dangerous," Chris Teifke said.

In the first week, the Teifkes saw that Tyler hadn't been wearing his seat belt at times. They watched what the camera had recorded, and set up a reward system for keeping below a certain number of unsafe incidents. Tyler has been under goal nearly every week since the camera was installed April 25.

"He's certainly more aware," Chris Teifke said. "If you can imagine getting into a car and there's a camera there, you're going to think twice about doing all the crazy teenage driving stunts."

The system is offered through the Teifkes' insurance provider, Madison-based American Family Insurance, one of several such programs insurance companies are using to address the dangers faced by teen drivers.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, and drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 have the highest fatality rate of any age group of drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although that age group represents 7.2 percent of Wisconsin drivers, they are 16 percent of drivers in crashes, according to a 2005 report by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

"These teens, their driving skills have not been honed yet," said Loretta Waters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute in New York. "All these products and developments in technology are helping the industry and parents and their teens to prevent injury or death and damage to their vehicles, which is a goal for everyone."

Better service

In a highly competitive industry, insurance companies are always looking for ways to provide better services to their customers, said Eric Englund, president of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance.

"Programs that contribute to better risk management that reduce losses do ultimately result in lower insurance rates," Englund said. "If these kinds of programs reduce the number of teenage accidents or the injuries from these accidents, those will be reflected in the rates people pay, no doubt about it."

There are indications that these programs do reduce risk. In the pilot for American Family's Teen Safe Driver Program, which began in March, risky behavior was reduced by 70 percent, according to Steve Witmer, spokesman for the company.

American Family, through a partnership with San Diego-based DriveCam, installs a video camera in the car and provides the service for a year free. It is currently available in three states, including Wisconsin, and they are considering expanding the program to more, Witmer said.

The camera is equipped with sensors that detect when the car's movement is irregular or dangerous. When triggered by those events, the recording of the event and 10-second video clips before and after are sent to be analyzed by DriveCam. Parents can view the clips, along with the analysts' recommendations, online.

"I guess a lot of other companies are working on similar things, but we think our

The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel uses a lot of data plus an interview with City Engineer Jack Bennett to paint a positive picture of booming Franklin.

Even though some hate to see Franklin’s rural flavor disappear, the truth is, it isn’t 1955 anymore.

The article demonstrates just how Franklin has exploded in the past 40 years.

The challenge is, can the city handle its growing pains?

I am a pro wrestling fan.

There are some antics and story lines and angles and over-the-top sexuality that I do not condone, but generally speaking, I’ve enjoyed pro wrestling since I was a child.

I saw Chris Benoit wrestle many times and enjoyed his tenacity and skills in the ring.

When I first heard the news of his death and the deaths of his wife and son, for a split second I thought someone had broken into the Benoit home and murdered the entire family. Given my history of covering crime, my thoughts immediately shifted to a possible murder-suicide.

MSNBC.com reports:

“Benoit’s 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, her feet and wrists were bound and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle, Ballard said. Daniel was probably killed late Saturday or early Sunday, the body found in his bed, the district attorney said.

Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself several hours and as long as a day later, Ballard said. His body was found in a downstairs weight room, his body found hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.

A closed Bible was placed next to the bodies of the wife and son, authorities said.

The prosecutor said he found it “bizarre” that the wrestler spread out the killings over a weekend and appeared to remain in the house for up to a day with the bodies.

Ballard said Benoit had sent two text messages to acquaintances, one saying that his wife and son were sick. The other, to a neighbor, said the door to the house was open and that the pets were outside. The prosecutor said the messages appeared to be an attempt to get someone to the home to find the bodies after his suicide.”

I enjoyed watching Chris Benoit wrestle for many years. What he did, for whatever reason, is inexcusable; raging steroids, depression, whatever, there is no excuse.

Chris Benoit is a killer. He murdered a young, retarded boy, his very own son. He killed his wife, who stood by him even after she had an opportunity to leave him. Lacking the courage to accept what he had done and assume full responsibility, after years of battling guys twice his size, he couldn’t generate the courage or decency to do the right thing. So he threw in the towel.

I don’t care how much joy Chris Benoit gave me. I don’t care if he was a quality wrestler.

He left this world as an evil, cruel, out of control murderer. No excuses.

There is no defense for Chris Benoit. He’s a killer, pure and simple, and he deserves absolutely no sympathy. His wife and son….that’s who we should feel sorry for.

Sympathy for Chris Benoit?

Count me out.

More details here.

God love Anne Coulter, if for no other reason she drives liberals nuts.

Ann Coulter can’t say Good Morning without liberals going into orbit.

The latest Coulter controversy had Coulter as a guest of Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball. Democrat Presidential candidate John Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth Edwards calls in to the program to ask Coulter to……..(sniff, sniff)….stop saying such bad things about her husband.

This is priceless.

As Coulter so correctly pointed out, she is supposed to stop writing columns and stop writing books and stop saying terrible things about John Edwards because John Edwards' wife doesn’t like it.

How pathetic!

Someone in the live audience shouted out, “Why isn’t John Edwards making the call?”

Good question.

Why was Elizabeth and not John Edwards calling in to defend John’s honor?

Again, I say, how pathetic!

Maybe this Friday night at Channel 10 when Joel McNally and Kathleen Dunn unleash their usual attacks on me, I’ll ask the host of InterCHANGE, Dan Jones to stop the show to allow my wife, Jennifer to come onstage and take my chair and plead with Joel and Kathleen to stop picking on me.

Apparently pretty/wussy boy John Edwards couldn’t call in to Chris Matthews' show to take on Ann Coulter himself because he was getting another $400 haircut.

Please, Mrs. Edwards, spare me the theatrics. Every time Ann Coulter speaks negatively about John Edwards, the Edwards camp does two things in typical liberal style:

1) They cry and moan and stomp their feet and accuse Ann Coulter of being nasty.

2) They run to their computers and use Ann Coulter’s quotes to fundraise. I guess what she says isn’t that tough to take.

Liberals are also in a tizzy because Coulter said this week, "If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”

Now if we don’t put that into context, Coulter’s remarks sound despicable. But Coulter was merely playing off comments made in March by liberal Bill Maher of HBO who suggested that "people wouldn't be dying needlessly" if Vice President Dick Cheney had been killed in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan.

Of course, THAT KIND OF HATE SPEECH IS OK BECAUSE IT’S DIRECTED AT A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN.

By the way, Maher’s disgusting comments were made three months ago. Have any liberals condemned Maher since?

I didn’t think so.

The mudslingers hate getting it thrown back at them, did you ever notice?

Here is the video of the exchange between Ann Coulter and John Edwards’ personal bodyguard.

On June 12, the Milwaukee Brewers were no-hit by Detroit. Since that night, the Brewers have gone 12-2, including today's 11th inning victory against Houston.

The Brewers could have easily gone in the tank a bit after that demoralizing no-hitter, but they didn't fold.

True, they are in the worst division in baseball. Even so, they are winning games that normally, in the past, they would have lost.

At the All-Star break in a few weeks, the Brew Crew could have a comfortable lead in the NL Central Divsion.

That would be huge.

Two Milwaukee aldermen are proposing a Franklin-like sex offender ordinance to be enacted in the city of Milwaukee.

According to a piece by Doug Hissom at OnMilwaukee.com:

“It would be virtually impossible for registered sex offenders to live in the City of Milwaukee under a plan by two aldermen to restrict where the offenders can live. Alds. Jim Bohl and Tony Zielinski propose to ban offenders from living or loitering within 2,000 feet of places "where children can expect to be found."

Besides schools, day care centers, and playgrounds -- places where children are sure to be found -- children can also be expected to be found at museums, libraries, grocery stores and shopping malls creating quite the swath of prohibited living and loitering space.

The aldermen say that the ordinance would cover places that the city designates as locations where children can be found. They suggest such locations as playgrounds, recreational trails, swimming pools and day care centers.

By calling them "child safety zones," the two are hopping on a bandwagon that continues to gain steam among communities who have suddenly found sex offender phobia. Menomonee Falls, Franklin and Glendale have recently passed similar ordinances.

"We are watching the surrounding communities fall like dominoes as they restrict sex offenders from relocating to their communities, and we too need our own restrictions to protect our families and our children, too," Zielinski said.

Bohl insists that the ordinance would withstand legal muster and the city attorney's office has helped in the drafting.

Keep in mind that some folks who have to register as sex offenders are not predators in the evil sense, but include 17-year-old men who have been convicted of having sex with their 15-year-old girlfriends and vice versa. It's a rare occurrence for sure, but nonetheless would be covered under the ordinance.

Since 2,000 feet is nearly a half-mile, most anywhere in the city is within a half-mile of any of the proposed child-friendly locations.

The two aldermen are showing some compassion in proposing that current offenders can stay in their dwellings and they also suggest an appeal process can be held in court.

Offenders who violate the ordinance can be fined $1,000 to $2,500.

The loitering penalties should raise a few questions among aldermen since the supposed "anti-gang" loitering ordinance -- which has yet to be signed by Mayor Tom Barrett -- caused them to ponder why the city's current rules aren't enough to stop loitering by anybody.

The Milwaukee proposal continues the recent trend of using sex offenders as a hot way to score political points. Offenders were an issue in many fall legislative campaigns and as a result are the subject of legislation requiring them to have green license plates, state restrictions on where they live, and other draconian measures.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes last night as I watched the Anderson Cooper 360° program on CNN. Cooper featured a segment on a town in America where Spanish, not English is the official language.

Watch the CNN piece that I find appalling and disgusting.

Our country loses a piece of America, becomes less American when we allow citizens of a town to refuse to assimilate and it adopts a foreign language as their official language.

Even more troubling is that CNN didn’t break any news last night. Their piece on El Cenizo was far from being an exclusive news bulletin.

El Cenizo has been snubbing their noses at America for close to 10 years.