This Just In...

Absolutely brilliant!

By the way, if you heard me subbing for Mark Belling last week and if you’ve been keeping up with Senator Lazich’s blog, you know how we feel about the Senate Democrats’ Communistic proposal.

Just one thing, though, Fred………….”narrow-minded?”

I thought we were best buds?

Well, you can just forget about that backyard barbecue we were supposed to have at my place this weekend!



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ILLINOIS DAY - THURSDAY, AUGUST 9
Buy one $8 admission ticket, get one free (ages 12 and over), when you present your Illinois driver’s license at any admission gate.*Limit four tickets per person. Offer valid August 9th, 2007 only.


That is from the Wisconsin State Fair web site.

Yes, I know why Fair organizers have scheduled an Illinois Day. We want them to drive up here. We want them to spend their money here.

Click here to see the special days at this year’s Illinois State Fair. Do you see any Wisconsin Day listed on that schedule?

You don’t need to offer them a discount because you’re going to get carloads of Illinois people up here anyway. Why? Because take away Chicago and you have nothing to do in that God-forsaken state.

I say screw ‘em.

The heck with an Illinois day at the Wisconsin State Fair.



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Sex offenders, the welcome mat is out in the city of Milwaukee. It appears Milwaukee aldermen and the Mayor don’t care about protecting the city against sex offenders.

They have all but killed a measure to place Franklin-like restrictions on where sex offenders can live.

Mayor Tom Barrett threatened a veto, so the Common Council has decided to send the measure back to committee for further review. I covered local government long enough in my broadcasting career to know what that means: the idea’s dead.

While the aldermen celebrate tonight what they think is a procedural and policy victory, what will they do when all surrounding suburbs declare sex offenders off limits? What will they do when they themselves have opened up the floodgates?

The residents of the city of Milwaukee deserve far better representation than what they’re getting from the Mayor on down.

From jsonline.com:

Sex offender measure turned back

An attempt to declare nearly all of Milwaukee off-limits to sex offenders collapsed today.

The Common Council sent the proposed ordinance back to committee for an overhaul that may reduce it to a limit on where convicted sex offenders can loiter, instead of a broad ban on where they can live after they are released from prison.

In its original form, the measure would have prohibited sex offenders whose offenses involved children or violence from living within 2,000 feet of any school, day care center, park or playground. That would have limited the offenders to 359 housing units - just 0.14% of all Milwaukee residences - squeezed into a few tiny neighborhoods in five of the city's 15 aldermanic districts. It would not have affected the current homes of 793 offenders already out of prison, but it would have stopped most of them from moving from one Milwaukee home to another.

Mayor Tom Barrett had promised to veto the ordinance, and aldermen on both sides of the issue acknowledged the 15-member council would not have been able to muster the 10 votes needed to override a mayoral veto.

Ald. Tony Zielinski, one of the measure's sponsors, called sex offenses against children "one of the most heinous crimes that can be perpetrated" and said it made no sense to have sex offenders living near places where children gather.

But Ald. Michael Murphy said the ordinance was "based on fear." He pointed to the testimony of state Department of Corrections officials who said the restrictions would be so severe that sex offenders would drop off the mandatory state registry because they couldn't find anywhere to live legally.

Zielinski said his legislation was needed to prevent Milwaukee from becoming a dumping ground for sex offenders as surrounding communities pass similar ordinances.

Murphy and Ald. Robert Puente, who represent districts where sex offenders would be allowed, said the measure would turn their districts and three others into the sex offender dumping grounds.

Zielinski said it was possible that many of the 359 housing units wouldn't be sold or rented to sex offenders, or that day care centers eventually would open close enough to declare them off-limits as well, leaving sex offenders nowhere to live.

Ald. Jim Bohl, Zielinski's co-sponsor, agreed the measure would create what he called "small ghetto areas" of sex offenders. Bohl proposed dropping the residency restrictions and leaving only the less-controversial part of the ordinance, which would bar sex offenders from loitering near schools, day care centers, parks and playgrounds.

Zielinski opposed Bohl's change. But the rest of the council voted 13-1, with Zielinski opposed, to send the measure back to the Public Safety Committee to discuss the revision.



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I hope many of you have either contacted or are planning to contact Franklin School Board members to urge them to exercise inflationary restraint when they approve the school budget in late August. They need to be reminded that the community spoke loudly in April in favor of fiscal responsibility and sanity.

Be advised that school board members may attempt to argue in favor of a large tax increase, claiming it’s necessary because the state doesn’t give local school districts enough money.

In reality, the state is very generous when it comes to education funding. Here are some facts to consider:

• According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, “School levies, long the largest portion of Wisconsin property taxes, rose 5.4% in 2006-07.”
• The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance reports that from 1987-2007, school aids/credits jumped 249.1% (6.5% yearly average).
• Statewide K-12 spending per student is above the national average.
• State support through general school aids for K-12 education grew from $2.2 billion in 1993-94 to just over $5.3 billion in 2006-2007, increasing by $3.1billion, in just thirteen years.
• These increases in spending on public education, ranging from one percent to 33 percent per year stand out in stark contrast to the rate of inflation that was between 1.6 percent and 3.4 percent in recent years.
• About half of the immense state budget goes to pay for education.
• The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute reports that a large area of K-12 spending is employee salaries and benefits. That’s what really happens when money leaves Madison and arrives in local districts.
• State law requires public employers to pay half of employee retirement contribution. Even so, close to 100% of these expenses is actually paid by school employers, rather than by employees.

Please contact school board members soon. The short time it takes to make those contacts will be well worth the effort. Then consider attending the school board meeting in late August to make a stand for over-burdened taxpayers.

After all, it’s not their money. It’s yours.


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His name is James McClellan, and he’s the perfect example of how protected criminals seem to have more rights than law-abiding citizens.


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Last fall and winter, Scott Scherer and Melanie Hardrath had a paricular regimen they followed for each Green Bay Packers game: get up, shower, and head to Potawatomi Bingo Casino for six hours or more.

Hardrath and her live-in boyfriend (what a surprise) put Hardrath’s 7-year old son in his room and deadbolted him in, leaving the boy a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly. They also left him a bucket to use as a toilet. The couple made the boy empty it and clean it out when they returned home from partying all day.

Police found out about the disgusting couple in January. The couple pleaded guilty to a felony charge of false imprisonment and a misdemeanor charge of child neglect. Each was sentenced last week to more than six months in the Milwaukee County House of Correction.

According to the Journal/Sentinel:

”Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner called the treatment "abhorrent" and scolded the couple for leaving the boy, who is now 8 and living with other relatives, alone, when fire or illness could have left him stranded and badly in need of parental help.

"They're supposed to be available to (children) to nurture them," Wagner said, "not treating a child like that as an animal."

Wagner sentenced Hardrath to seven months and Scherer to nine months, followed by four months' probation each. He also ordered the couple not to be in each other's company when the boy is present.”

Wagner sent Scherer directly to the House of Correction. Hardrath began serving her House of Correction sentence Friday.

Hardrath’s son is alive. Both Hardrath and her live-in boyfriend are now in jail.

But wait. We’re not supposed to send parents or caregivers to jail who leave children unattended in a sweltering hot vehicle who then die?



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Over the past 10 years, 340 children have died in America from being left unattended in hot, sweltering vehicles.

Over half of the cases never were prosecuted.

The majority of parents or caregivers who left the children in vehicles claim they just forgot. Excuse me but how do you forget you left a child in the back seat of a locked car for hours in the heat?

I find it appalling that most cases aren’t prosecuted, and in the most of the rest, the punishment is light.

The timely topic, what with temperatures in the 90’s all this week, made for emotional discussion for 90 minutes today on WISN as I filled in for Mark Belling. I had my share of callers who defended the parents, claiming they had been punished enough, and that mistakes can happen. Where is the sympathy for the innocent children?

As I told one woman, one plus one equals three is a mistake. Leaving a child strapped in a car seat for eight hours to bake to death is a crime.

There must be consequences for the death of a child.

A Greenfield couple made news lately for locking their boy in a closet when they went out partying to watch Packer games. The boy survived, but the couple faces jail time. Shouldn’t there be jail time when there’s a fatality due to neglect?

Here are more details on an Associated Press review of kids dying in hot cars over the past 10 years.



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I’ve never been a fan of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel’s Whitney Gould, the supposed expert columnist on architecture and design. I find her writing to be snobby, elitist, condescending, uppity, and quite frankly, boring.

Today in her column that I spoke about on WISN, she offered her expertise on “good design,” in a response to a caller:

Why do you care so much about what a building looks like, he wanted to know, and what business do you have criticizing what other people choose to build?

This one's for you, John.

If you go to a concert and the performers are having an off night, the damage is transitory. Same with a bad meal in a restaurant. Sure, you may be disappointed, but you get over it quickly. The Brewers really stank last night? There will always be another game.

A bad building, though, can stink for decades, fouling its surroundings and lowering the bar for everything that comes after. (Think of the old Amtrak station, now undergoing a spectacular makeover.) A good one can stir the soul and challenge other architects and their clients to aim higher. (Think of the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum.)

Why is it anyone's business what other people choose to build?

That famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill says it all: "We shape our buildings; thereafter, our buildings shape us." They affect the quality of life in our neighborhoods; they establish the identity of our cities; they color our work days. If we don't make it our business to care about such things, we will deserve the awful results.

That was today.

Remember, Whitney knows good design.

Here is what she wrote on June 3, 2007 about the di Suvero sculpture and its juxtaposition to the Calatrava (a subject I blogged about yesterday):

Even before it was installed 25 years ago at the east end of Wisconsin Ave., people were arguing about "The Calling," Mark di Suvero's bold orange sunburst made of steel I-beams. The debate heated up once again in 2001 after Santiago Calatrava's poetic white addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum spread its wings just behind the sculpture.

The critics groused that the di Suvero was blocking views of the Calatrava and should be moved. They're still grousing, to judge from my never-ending e-mails on this subject.

I've always been dismayed by the complaints. To me, great works of public art and architecture carry on a musical conversation - in this case, di Suvero's exuberant symbol of the muscle that built Milwaukee playing off Calatrava's lyrical transformation of that heritage.

If you want to savor the complexity of urban life - the intersection of past and present, the layering of civic aspirations, the relentless reframing of views - here it is, in one corner of the downtown.

Di Suvero does with steel what Calatrava does with concrete: finds its soul and makes it dance.

Translation: Gould believes that orange piece of junk that the vast majority of us pedestrians despise is wonderful. She loves it when most of us want to blow the damn thing up.

That alone brings her credibility into question, a clear illustration she has dubious, questionable tastes.

Sorry, but Whitney Gould should not be the spokeswoman for what is good and not so good about design in Milwaukee.



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Drive down Wisconsin Avenue heading east toward the lakefront and ideally, you should see a breathtaking view of the most spectacular structure in all of Milwaukee.

Unfortunately, that phenomenal view is obliterated by the ugliest structure in all of Milwaukee.

You talk about Beauty and the Beast. The view of the Calatrava masterpiece, the Milwaukee Art Museum, tarnished almost like graffiti by the repugnant di Suvero.

Do you know the title of that 1982 di Suvero monstrosity? It’s called, “The Calling.”

Well, “The Calling” is appalling.

Back in 2001, my friend, the late James Auer of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel wrote an article about this very dilemma, and cited a poll the newspaper took:

“Of 677 ballots cast, on paper and via e-mail, 460 urged the Milwaukee Art Museum to move the sturdy I-beam sunburst away from Santiago Calatrava's boat-shaped pavilion, while 217 argued it be kept where it is.”

I say blow the damn thing up. And if we can’t do that, move it to an area best suited for artwork of this caliber, like Waukegan.

Read the rest of Auer’s article for more commentary on di Suvero vs. Calatrava.

It’s rare when this community gets anything close to perfect. The Calatrava was a shining moment in our city’s history. And then we have that great big orange blemish disgracing the lakefront landscape.

Ya ya Milwaukee.



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A few weeks ago on InterCHANGE on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, I listed the qualities I believe the next city of Milwaukee Police Chief needs to have:

1) First and foremost, the next chief must take an all-out aggressive approach to fighting crime. I don’t care if he/she comes from within or outside the department, the next chief must fight crime with a vengeance.
2) The next chief must gain the respect and must support the rank and file, something previous chiefs have failed at.
3) The next chief must have the public relations skills to win the trust of the community so that the public will want to work and cooperate with officers.


Yesterday, in my weekly “Weekends” segment, I included a WTMJ-TV story in which Mayor Tom Barrett is quoted:

“The first thing I’m looking for is someone who is going to be very aggressive and proactive as a police chief. The job of the police chief, first and foremost, is to fight crime and reduce crime,” Barrett said.

The other issue the mayor raised is getting a new police chief who can get out in the community and earn respect, especially to help the department recover from the credibility damage of the Frank Jude Jr. beating.

Selecting the next police chief will be the most important decision the mayor makes before next year’s re-election. Barrett must demonstrate, at the very least, a willingness to battle crime. He’s done nothing in this area during his tenure whatsoever.

Milwaukee Police officer Richard Sandoval writes a great column in the June issue of “Badge,” the Milwaukee Police Association’s newspaper. In the piece entitled, “We’ll See What He’s Made of,” Sandoval correctly points out that Barrett will actually select the next police chief, not the supposed “independent” Fire and Police Commission:

I’m all for putting as many officers on the street as money allows, but additional things have to happen as well. You can put a cop on every corner making arrests; but if those arrests aren’t prosecuted, and the convictions don’t result in incarcerations, then it’s all for nothing. This means that the DA’s office, the judges and the Corrections Department have to be on board as well.

Sandoval then praised new DA John Chisholm, and continues:

The next step is to address the severe problem of the weak sentences being handed down by many judges. Way too much probation is given for repeat offenders, many of which continuously show they don’t deserve probation by offending again and again. Yet our judges, many of which are extremely liberal, continue to ignore this obvious problem and don’t modify their sentences accordingly. This is one of the main causes of our crime “crisis,” and yes, it is a crisis. We need to speak out at the polls and put tougher judges in place. Many of the weak ones continually run unopposed. This needs to change, or the crime rate will keep rising. When there are no real consequences for wrongdoing, the wrongdoers won’t change.

Last, but certainly not least, the Department of Corrections is a complete joke. I cannot tell you how many time s I have witnessed criminals ion probation or parole supervision, commit additional crimes and remain free. Those that do get locked up take a deal where they only serve a percentage of their remaining time in custody. It’s never usually more than one third of their remaining time.

Milwaukee needs a TOUGH Police Chief. I don’t care what he/she looks like. We’ve done the warm and fuzzy hiring process here for decades, and it hasn’t worked. Who cares what the squeaky wheels say. The usual suspects have been getting greased for years and have only helped to drive up the crime rate. We need a no-nonsense, experienced (preferably first hand policing), and independent Police Chief. We need a strong leader who can lead by example. The majority of the citizens of Milwaukee, you know the ones that are leading busy lives and don’t have time to be marching, protesting, and chronically complaining about what the city owes them, want a tough Chief. They want the homicide rate to plummet, not drop a few numbers. They want to come out of their homes at all hours without fear of being victimized by some thug, yes thug, which should be in jail as opposed to running free terrorizing the neighborhood.

How weak have we become when a strong, proven leader is forced to retire because he used the word thug to refer to the criminal element? Now everyone is using it including the Mayor. The difference is when that former Captain used it, it meant something and wasn’t just tough talk without action. I’m hearing and reading a lot of tough talk, but so far, no real action. I’ve heard at the time of this letter that the former retired captain I referred to won’t even be given an interview for the job. That troubles me because that’s the type of Chief we need, someone that can motivate the troops to ant to

I’m not a strong believer in political messages being blasted from the pulpit. They generally make me queasy, a bit uneasy. Maybe it’s because I deal with politics all week long and don’t expect an ideological soapbox on Sunday. Or maybe it’s because the message is one that’s poorly delivered or one that I simply don’t agree with.

At today’s Mass, the visiting priest during his homily suddenly launched into a loud dissertation about child abusers and the general attitude most people have towards them. He gestured with his hands and asked everyone in the pews if they wouldn’t like to wrap their hands around the throat of a child abuser. The priest used similar rhetoric about identity thieves and illegal immigrants.

Hmmmmm, I thought to myself in the back of church. I don’t particularly have any affection for any of those groups. Last week while filling in for Mark Belling on WISN, I ripped child abusers. I ripped illegal immigrants.

The visiting priest preached on.

“As we forgive those who trespass against us! The Our Father! Oh, the Our Father can be a dangerous prayer!”

Why? Because, the visiting priest opined, the prayer challenges us to forgive the evildoers among us.

“Have mercy for the merciless,” the priest instructed us before slowly walking away from the lectern. Sermon over.

I was not impressed or convinced.

I have no sympathy for a child abuser. None.

I have no sympathy for illegal immigrants None.

I consider myself a devout Catholic, but after today’s homily, am I a bad one?

Finding it extremely difficult, if not damn near impossible to forgive vicious criminals or illegal immigrants, many of whom are vicious criminals, am I rejecting my faith, neglecting to follow its teachings?

I don’t think so.

There are commandments that tell us not to kill, steal, or covet our neighbor’s wife. There isn’t a commandment instructing me to forgive murderers, child molesters, or any other criminal.

Maybe, as we were told this morning in church, that Our Father could forgive people considered unforgivable. But as Father Mulcahy said in one particular episode of M*A*S*H, He was an exceptionally good sport.

This is an example of why politics and the pulpit aren’t always a comfortable fit. I am content and satisfied that I can detest killers and other violent criminals and still earn a path to Heaven. I won’t feel a single pang of guilt the next time I recite the Lord’s Prayer.



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It’s Sunday. That means it’s time once again for another edition of culinary no-no’s, and since State Fair is just a few days away, the focus is on a Fair food favorite.

Cream Puffs sold at the State Fair last year: 360,707

Not every one was devoured properly.

If you would prefer not to make a fool of yourself at the Fair, take note. You do NOT eat a Wisconsin State Fair cream puff like you would a Big Mac or Whopper.

Holding the cream puff in both hands and biting down on the pastry and cream is a serious no-no that will lead to cream slipping out of the puff, onto your shirt and onto the floor or cement, and a possible face full of powdered sugar. You will look like one of those ill-informed geeks from Illinois.

Also, avoid using a fork and knife. It might be a tad neater, but it will still be messy and might be difficult to handle.

The proper way to down a cream puff is to assume it’s not a burger but an Oreo cookie. After you’re done admiring that tower of cream and sugar, hold it in both hands and “unscrew,” if you will, the top and bottom puffs. If done skillfully, you now should have two puffs with equal amounts of cream to eat as easily and comfortably with minimal mess as you’d like.

Cream puff veterans would assume this is just common sense, that everyone knows how to eat one of these babies. Not so.

I work at the Fair doing backstage security at the Main Stage. For 11 days, I see a lot of people who have no clue how to handle a cream puff. Some stare at their purchase with a glazed look and you can read their minds: “Now what do I do?”

Just take a gander at all that cream on the floor of the cream puff building. I personally wouldn’t want to waste a single dollop of that phenomenal stuff.

Some of the performers backstage have actually shed their egos and inquired from the working stiffs about the appropriate technique that should be used. Smart move. You don’t want to ruin your performing ensemble before you go onstage.

So, do yourself a favor. If you truly want to enjoy your cream puff, all of it, it’s not a burger. It’s an Oreo cookie.

And one final note. With all due respect to the bakers at the Fair, why would you go to the cream puff building and not buy a cream puff? I know they also bake brownies and cookies, and those are good choices for the kids. But hey, you adults, what’s your excuse? YOU GOTTA DO A CREAM PUFF!


PREVIOUS CULINARY NO-NO’S

1) Ketchup on a brat
2) Green peppers on pizza
3) The dirty martini
4) Fruity brats
5) A Bloody Mary after dinner
6) Women “manning” the grill
7) Eating pizza at Festa Italiana, brats at German Fest, or tacos at Fiesta Mexicana. (Be adventurous. You can have those items anytime).




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In a front page story in the latest edition of the Milwaukee Business Journal, Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor says he welcomes Wal-Mart’s plans to expand the current Wal-Mart at 6701 S. 27th Street in Franklin into a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Wal-Mart Supercenters take the traditional Wal-Mart and expand the store by adding a grocery supermarket.

Rich Kirchen writes in the Business Journal:

Taylor said he will support the supercenter as long as Wal-Mart agrees to comply with the design standards in the new 27th Street corridor plan that was developed in cooperation with the city of Oak Creek over the last several months.

Among the requirements Taylor will seek are wider sidewalks, improved landscaping in the parking lot, better roofing and frontage roads that mesh with the city street grid.

“It would be real nice if Wal-Mart upgraded that business in that area,” he said.

Another issue is that Franklin officials want Wal-Mart Stores to upgrade its Sam’s Club, which is located on the same property, Taylor said. Wal-Mart representatives have yet to agree to that.

Wal-Mart’s Franklin expansion proposal will need the approval of the city plan commission and then the common council, Taylor said. He predicted the process would take six to 12 months, “if everything goes smoothly.”

My prediction: There is no way “everything goes smoothly.”

I wholehearted endorse the Wal-Mart expansion. Competition and greater consumer choices make for a better community.



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My wife, who doesn’t have a Greek bone in her body, will make her first attempt later today at preparing and serving saganaki for our dinner guests.



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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

Returning members of the 1st Battalion 121st Field Artillery Wisconsin Army National Guard.

The New Berlin School Board that approved a school tax levy increase of only 0.9%. Are you paying attention, Franklin School Board members?

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker who will, for the 3rd time, veto a Milwaukee County Board-approved measure to force a referendum on a county-wide sales tax increase.

Franklin High’s summer baseball team that made it to the state tournament quarterfinals.

Woman in Denver who used a clever tactic to flee her captors

Ohio judge Michael Cicconnetti

TV Land and the people of Hawaii



VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Thieves at Holy Hill

Lemonade stand bully in Oshkosh

The 10 Milwaukee County Board Supervisors who voted to approve an advisory referendum for next February’s ballot calling for a one-cent sales tax increase, in essence, a $120-million tax increase……because, as you all well know, we just aren’t taxed enough around here.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. It’s easy to criticize the Milwaukee Police Department in a week that saw guilty verdicts in the Frank Jude Jr. beating trial. But it’s quite galling when Barrett, who has done nothing to fight crime in the city of Milwaukee, makes negative comments about the department. And as I pointed out filling in for Mark Belling Friday, Barrett says he will veto a proposed ordinance that would restrict where sex offenders can live in the city of Milwaukee. Under the ordinance, sex offenders could only live in about 1% of the city limits, meaning 99% would be sex offender-free. Barrett says he feels sorry for the districts where sex offenders could live. Brilliant. So he’ll veto the ordinance, and 100% of the city will still be open to sex offenders. Meanwhile, one municipality after another around Milwaukee and around the state is passing a restrictive ordinance similar to Franklin’s.

State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma). Remember she couldn’t afford to buy health insurance, leaving her and her husband in a quandary when their son needed an emergency appendectomy later. Now we learn that at the same time she claims her family couldn’t afford health insurance and that’s why we need universal health care in Wisconsin, she lent her own election campaign thousands of dollars. Supporters of this boondoggle continue to be disingenuous.



QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Noted Milwaukee defense attorney Gerald Boyle joined me live on WISN Thursday shortly after the verdicts were announced in the Frank Jude beating trial. Boyle defended fired officer Jon Bartlett who was acquitted of all but one charge in the state trial, but found guilty on both counts this week in the federal trial. When I asked Boyle if he was disappointed, Boyle said no, and in the epitome of candor said that he told Bartlett after the state trial that he was lucky the jury ruled the way it did.


"I would have to think twice about staying here. Even as a resident, I would be giving that very serious thought."
Steve Scaccia, president of Freedom Plastics, Janesville, on the Senate Democrats’’ universal health care proposal. He said the government should not be able to save money by putting the burden on Wisconsin residents and businesses. Scaccia thinks the proposal will make Wisconsin the highest-taxed state in America, allow illegal immigrants to receive health care and encourage uninsured people to move to Wisconsin. He believes it also would discourage businesses from operating in Wisconsin.

” Wisconsin took a mid-July hit in the second annual Forbes magazine ranking of “the best states for business,” placing 44th out of 50 - barely ahead of auto layoff capital Michigan, Katrina-battered Louisiana and everyone's stereotypical image of Appalachia, West Virginia.

While not as harsh as the Forbes rankings, Wisconsin came across as somewhat lackluster in the Fortune Small Business.com survey of best places for small business (27th) and CNBC's Top States for Doing Business (33rd). Under the heading of “thank goodness for small favors,” Wisconsin did not place in the bottom 10 in the Tax Foundation's 2007 state business tax climate index - but it was 38th out of 50.

The mediocre-to-worse business rankings are still cause for concern, however. They consistently portray Wisconsin as being unfriendly to business, which is a perception that can be hard to live down - even if the reality is changing. Business leaders should talk about what's right about Wisconsin and political leaders must stick by policies that position the state for competitiveness.”
Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.


"We have given more favorable treatment to the beer industry than any other in this state. Everybody's so afraid of the beer tax and beer industry."
State Representative Terese Berceau (D-Madison), whose bill to increase the beer tax in Wisconsin has gone flat.

"It's (beer) one of our icons. You don't go lobbing stones at our icons."
Jerry Apps, who has written a history of Wisconsin breweries, on the proposed beer tax increase.


A “little midget man who knows (nothing) about baseball."
San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds describing sportscaster Bob Costas.

"As anyone can plainly see, I'm 5-6 1/2 and a strapping 150, and unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally."
Bob Costas, responding to Barry Bonds with a jab of his own.



OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Senate Democrats and others pushing universal health care were all smiles this week, touting a new survey they claim demonstrates overwhelming support for their $15.2 billion government health care proposal. They claim a whopping 69% of the public supports their crazy idea.

Take a look at the last page of the survey. The survey was conducted June 12-14, but the Senate Democrats’ plan wasn’t formally announced until June 25, and even then not everyone was clear on all the details in the massive plan. How could Joe in Waupaca being surveyed on June 12th know fully and truthfully what he was being asked out? The bogus survey is a complete sham and lacks any credibility.


MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

See outrage of the week.


MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

This.

The off-beat hype is everywhere.


STRANGEST, MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

Ballooning festival in New Jersey is counting on a virgin to insure good weather.


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.


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During the last hour of my program on WISN Friday filling in for Mark Belling, I took a lot of calls on the Wall Street Journal article on hotel guests who insist on wearing bathrobes in every part of the building.

The article demonstrates a sentiment I’ve had for some time: America is becoming far too casual, has lost a lot of class, and is turning into a nation of slobs.

A few of the article’s highlights:

Lisa Peterson, 46 years old, says the main reason she sports a robe in public is because "it alerts the world that I am in relaxation mode and that I am pampering myself because I believe I'm worth it." But the communications director for the American Kennel Club, who lives in Newtown, Conn., says it also makes her feel "a little bit naughty." Ms. Peterson says she found it particularly fun to slither past families in their Sunday finest in the restaurant at the Spa at Norwich Inn, in Norwich, Conn., on Mother's Day, freshly oiled from a deep-tissue massage and on her way to the hot tub.

For brides who hope to be the only ones in white, getting married at hotels is an increasingly risky proposition. Uninvited robed guests have been spotted among wedding guests in hotels from the Crowne Plaza in Clayton, Mo., to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers. Amy MacNeill, an event planner in Atlanta, says it's something to consider when choosing locations. At a wedding she put on recently at a small hotel in Roswell, Ga., two hotel guests and their child wandered into the reception's buffet area in robes -- the woman with a towel wrapped around her head -- and proceeded to help themselves to food. Luckily, she says, the bride and groom were on the dance floor, oblivious, but the groom's mother was "a little antsy about the whole thing" and complained to the hotel.


Read the entire article, it’s very good.




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As I promised today while filling in for Mark Belling, here is the column I talked about by a Canadian doctor on Canadian health care, the kind of system Democrats in Wisconsin want us to have.



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Another great ethnic festival opens today at the lakefront: German Fest.

Try the German pizza, it’s great.

Great pastries and desserts, too.

Spanferkel, of course.

The Human Glockenspiel is worth seeing.

And a bit unusual, but she’s the biggest name at German Fest this year.

Ein Prosit!



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Here is the Elvis statue unveiled in Hawaii earlier today.



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While filling in today on WISN for Mark Belling, I talked about a statewide survey being touted by Democrats as evidence there’s great support for their Healthy Wisconsin universal health care plan.

The poll claims 69% of likely voters surveyed support this specific plan.

The survey was conducted June 12-14.

Problem.

The plan wasn’t officially announced until almost two weeks later on June 25, the day the state Senate Health Committee held a hastily-scheduled hearing.

Prior to that hearing, there were no announcements about the details in the plan. The media didn’t know, the public didn’t know, other legislators didn’t know.

Yet somehow we’re supposed to believe that when the pollsters called Joe in Waupaca about the Healthy Wisconsin plan, Joe in Waupaca knew what was in the plan and loved it.

Angry callers flooded my phone lines for an hour. Then state Senator John Erpenbach, the architect of the proposal, called in to try to defend the survey and the plan. Back and forth we went.

John couldn’t explain why Governor Doyle doesn’t like the plan, or why the press release about the bogus, sham of a survey didn’t include the exact questions posed to the survey respondents. After we were done, more angry callers jammed our lines, totally unconvinced by Erpenbach.

The survey lacks any credibility. If 7 out of 10 people in tax-happy Wisconsin love a $15.2 billion tax increase, why couldn’t I get anybody to call in to express their support in two hours?

I also received this e-mail from a fellow blogger:



Hi Mr. Fischer,

I listened to your show today and I was literally stunned when I heard Senator Erpenbach's responses to your questions. I live in Kenosha and Kenosha is the first area that Senator Erpenbach traveled to in order to gather backing for Healthy Wisconsin. I have blogged on that experience on several occasions. ( Here and here).

The reason I am emailing you is that as you were challenging Senator Erpenbach on this poll, on several occasions the Senator stated that Healthy Wisconsin would drive down health care cost.

However- a week ago, Senator Erpenbach looked me straight in the eyes and admitted that Healthy Wisconsin will not drive down health care costs. I asked this question directly and the Senator told me that health care costs would continue to rise in Wisconsin- however, his hope was that costs would not rise as quickly as they have been.

Not only was the poll a bald faced lie, but the Senator bald faced lied to you again during your interview with him.

I am certain you know this already, but I just wanted to let you know that with every single challenge to Healthy Wisconsin- the Democrats and especially Senator Erpenbach are changing their stories.

Anyway- good job today- I look forward to hearing more from you on this disastrous health care plan.

Kathy Carpenter
Kenosha, WI
http://steppingrightup.blogspot.com/



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