The same professor who said that California is a “conservative state,” ended today’s class by announcing that we will have a special guest speaker before the end of the semester.

The speaker? None other than one of Milwaukee’s most-prized politicians… Michael Jackson-McGee Jr.

I am subjecting myself to a liberal hell. But it sure is diversifying.

A professor of mine just said, “California is a conservative state.” If California is conservative in his eyes… than I’m sure he would consider me an ultra-conservative. Yikes.

Here is the wrap-up to the Troy Gentry Shoots a Captive Bear story:

Troy Gentry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge on Monday morning (Nov. 27) in Duluth, Minn., in a case involving his killing of a captive bear in 2004. Gentry’s plea indicated that he killed the captive bear as a trophy, then falsely registered it as a wild bear. He paid a $15,000 fine, forfeited the bear’s hide and the bow he used to kill the bear. He is also not allowed to hunt, fish or trap in Minnesota for five years. In exchange for his guilty plea, felony charges against Gentry for possessing illegally registered wildlife were dropped.

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

- Benjamin Franklin

 

 

Thanks to WikiPedia for the pic and quote

The Bookstore at UWM has now officially added an Apple Store. My mind is crying, “YES!,” while my pocketbook is shouting, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Me = Apple nerd.

I was in my bedroom folding laundry. From the other room, I heard the door close. I assumed my daughter went into her bedroom to take a nap (wishful thinking). She was silent, however, and that scared me (two-year olds are seldom quiet.)

I opened her bedroom door and she was nowhere to be found. Then I saw that she had also closed the bathroom door, as well. I called out for her. She replied, “in the bathroom, daddy!”

As I opened the bathroom door, afraid of what she could be doing, there she was. First, she had taken off her pants, socks, and undies, and she went to the bathroom on the potty like a big girl (she’s good like that.) Then she got up on her step stool and covered her legs in foamy hand soap. I screamed, “what are you doing?” She said… “I’m shaving my legs, daddy.”

I love her. She’s the best.

Okay, the photos from my trip to Homestead, FL, for the NASCAR Championship are online.

Here’s they are.

Kathleen Falk conceded victory to J.B. Van Hollen.

Hopefully he’ll speed up the backlog at the state crime lab.

Hopefully he’ll put Jim Doyle in prison.

I’m looking forward to seeing what a Republican attorney general will do for the state.

I will be posting the pics from my racing adventure soon. Here’s a snapshot of the whole crew in Kenseth’s pit box.

Left to right, top to bottom: (back) Justin, (middle row) Scott, Lars, Steve, Tim, Fuzz, Jon, (kneeling) Don, Brent, Brian.

From CNN.com

Court OKs broad Web libel immunity

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Web sites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling in favor of free online expression was a victory for a San Diego woman who was sued by two doctors for posting an allegedly libelous e-mail on two Web sites.

Some of the Internet’s biggest names, including Amazon.com, America Online Inc., eBay Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., took the defendant’s side out of concern that a ruling against her would expose them to liability.

…

“The prospect of blanket immunity for those who intentionally redistribute defamatory statements on the Internet has disturbing implications,” Associate Justice Carol A. Corrigan wrote in the majority opinion. “Nevertheless … statutory immunity serves to protect online freedom of expression and to encourage self-regulation, as Congress intended.”

Unless Congress revises the existing law, people who claim they were defamed in an Internet posting can only seek damages from the original source of the statement, the court ruled.

And when I say good news for bloggers, I mean bloggers who let people post comments on their site.  Self-proclaimed internet know-it-alls will still have to watch their backs when writing scathing reviews about how much Rupert Murdoch sucks ass for putting a low-life POS like O.J. Simpson on tv for a “hypothetical” tell-all on killing his wife and her lover, and then recinding it. And we all know Murdoch is a step-and-fetch republican who loves nothing more than propping up his info-tainment anchormen into the realm of government, ala Tony Snow.  (that has nothing to do with the O.J. thing, it’s just a little piece of truth). 

Is it ok that I said that?  Fuzz, call the lawyers, just in case.

Watching the Jacksonville/New York Giants game tonight…I was struck by seeing Jack DelRio wearing a suit.  Wow, that looks sharp!

And Jim Tressel during the Ohio State/Michigan game on Saturday looked like a real leader wearing a tie, even under an Ohio State fleece.

It makes me wonder what happened to the by-gone days of coaches wearing at LEAST a shirt and tie (and maybe a Ditka vest).

Then you see slobs like Bill Belichick running around in wind pants and XXL hoodies every weekend.  You can make all the arguments you want about “Winning is the only thing that matters”.  Well, when these coaches are dressed professionally, they have an air about them that demands respect and attention because of the way they present themselves at their job.

Way to go professional coaches!

From… my dad:

Watch Fox 6 news tonight!

Gus Gnorski (of Ask Gus fame) and Fox 6 News did an extensive interview and preview of my wife, Carmen’s 2006 Balloon-A-Palooza, balloon art exhibit at the Mitchell park Domes. Last year was big, 34,000 or so balloons. This year is huge with more than 100,000 balloons arranged into both large and small sculptures. My favorites are the flowers and figurines made from uninflated balloons over wire forms. Some of these sculptures that are only a foot and a half tall have three hundred to almost one thousand balloons.

Carmen along with 14 balloon artist from around the world and a half dozen riggers and delivery people are well underway to setting up this huge event that is open to the public from November 18th through the 26th. On opening day the well known local musician, Cecil Negron and his band will be playing at the show.

The opening day coincides with the opening of the Christmas exhibit in the Show Dome. This is also a nice event to take the kids and family from out of town while your wife is up north deer hunting;)

It cost $5 for adults, $3.50 for kids 6-16 and free for the little ones. This give you access to the three domes, including the show dome, and the balloon art exhibit that is in the lobby and the pavilion behind the Domes. All proceeds go to the Domes and the Milwaukee County Park System so they can maintain some of these great landmarks like the Mitchell Domes.

This is possible due to the gracious donations made by Batallic Balloons suppliers of the 110,000 plus balloons used in the displays and maintenance of those displays over the 9 day show, Karls Party Rentals that supplied items like rigging stands and the backdrop curtains , Hospitality Inn and Suites who provided rooms for the out of town artist. Spanglish Magazine, Breager Auto and Latino Community Center sponsored the printed materials. D’Matrixx Salon who provided the door prizes for the children who attend.

Dollar off coupons have been distributed around the city. We have some at the Affordable Rentals office on 1020 W National and at Studio 611 Ballroom and Salsa Dance Studio across form the Domes at 611 S Layton.

You can see pictures from last years event at:
http://www.balloon-a-palooza.com/

Tim Ballering

Congrats, Carmen.

• If you watch ESPN at all today you are going to see the Bob Knight slap of a player that happened last night.  While I don’t think it is ok to hit your players, this is going to be blown way out of proportion by ESPN.  It isn’t as big of a deal as they will make it.  Get over it, he didn’t roundhouse the kid.  He needed to get his attention.
• The Brewers are rumored to be interested in Dave Roberts and Juan Pierre as free agents to play CF and bat leadoff.  Roberts is a great player who is a proven veteran and great clubhouse presence.  He could hold down the position until Tony Gwynn Jr. is ready to start in two years.  Pierre is overpriced and overrated.  Buyer Beware with him.
• The Brewers have also reportedly been in talks with the Baltimore Orioles about SP Rodrigo Lopez.  Rumor is the Orioles have asked about Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench.  Lopez is nothing special but if we can dump Jenkins salary or Mench’s lack of talent on them this isn’t such a bad deal.
• Baseball’s GM’s are meeting this week.  Look for the Crew to make some sort of move in the next few days.
• The Packers are 4-5 with the Patriots, Seahawks and Jets the next three weeks.  If they can win two of those three games they can make the playoffs.  (I said “if” not they will)
• The Wisconsin Badgers are ranked #9 in the BCS standings.  Their only loss came to BCS #2 Michigan.  If Michigan beats Ohio State Saturday, all Badger fans will say “Oh, what could have been”.  Remember they led Michigan at halftime of that game.  Great Job by Brett Bielema, the first Big Ten coach ever to win 10 games in his first year.  Plus this team has only 12 seniors, four of which are starters.  2007 anyone?
• If you like college football, make sure to tune in to Ohio State vs. Michigan on Saturday.  #1 vs #2.  Both Big Ten teams.  I can’t wait.  Peace-OOS.

Is this piece of crap still being used?  What is the fan-base in Milwaukee saying about it?  What is the organization saying about the (needed) backlash?  Fill me in, I only get Minneapolis news up here.

I still can’t believe they chose this logo. *sigh*

I have been assigned some group work at school. I have to say… I HATE group work. Not because I don’t like working with people, though. I HATE group work because getting 18-year-olds to work a) anytime right before the project is due, b) before midnight, or c) at all is a royal pain in the ass.

When I was a kid (here we go) I worked three jobs at the age of 18 in order to pay my bills and have my fun money. I learned a lot of great work experience from that. I don’t think that most kids these days have ever worked a day in their lives. At least the kids that I am currently going to school with.

I think one of my determining questions when I hire people, for now on, will be: “What kind of work did you do from the ages of 16-22?” If they worked one or more steady jobs, they’ll get a point. If they didn’t work at all (or worked for their daddy), minus one.

After work, today, I get to go do the work for 7 other people in order to save my grade. I can’t wait.

I just bought tickets for a concert in February.

WTF is up with all of the sur-charges?
Concert ticket: $45.50 - ok, I can live with that, they are good seats.
Venue fee: $9.50 - ? This is crazy. Doesn’t the act pay the venue?
Transaction fee: $2.50 - WHAT?
Shipping fee: $1.75 - only because I am printing my own tix at home.

If you want your tickets mailed to you, the cheapest rate they have is $19…NINETEEN DOLLARS TO SHIP 2 PIECES OF PAPER!

So, all of these charges end up making a big impact on the cost of the show (not to mention parking). So wouldn’t the promotors be a lot better off if they rolled all of the charges together and just said the tickets cost $60 each? It sure wouldn’t have pissed me off so much. (Of course, I still bought the tickets, so they win in the end).

How about that fall season finale on Lost?  Pretty great stuff, right?

So, what does everyone think?  Conspiracy theories, time warp theories, 6-degrees of seperation theories?  Let’s hear it!  I will post mine in a week or so…I want to hear what you out there in FuzzMartin.com-land think!

I am still willing to answer questions related to the show (to the best of my ability).  So post those here, too.

WTMJ was proud to project Kathleen Falk as the winner in the Attorney General election at about 8:15 last night with a whopping 2% of the vote counted.  Did the media not learn from 2000 or 2004 that projecting a winner too early is just stupid.  If we based the results on the media’s projections then Al Gore or John Kerry would be president or both.  Luckily when I awoke this morning I saw that J.B. Van Hollen was actually the winner.

So to get a head start on the 2008 election, based on our own exit polls, OOS is proud to project that our next president is … (hell you fill in the blank, I can’t even come up with a punch line for that)

In other election news:

Arizona passed English as its official language, 74%-26%.  Only 74%?

Nevada shot down a marijuana Legalization bill.  If that can’t pass in Nevada, it isn’t passing anywhere.

South Dakota said no to allowing anyone with a debilitating medical condition to grow no more than 6 marijuana plants.

Ohio did not pass a bill to allow slot machines at nine venues, seven of which were existing race tracks.  Thirty percent of revenue from these slot machines would have went to educational scholarship and grant programs.  Another eight percent of revenue would have went to economic relief in the towns the slots were located.  Ohio has a very repressed economy and this would have been a good thing for a majority of the citizens, but what the hell, vote no for education and economic assistance.

I didn’t have my camera on me, and honestly I would feel kind of funny taking pictures at a polling place, but the sign at the door at the Mayville City Hall said, “please have your driver’s license ready.” I was impressed… but then again, I’m not a Democrat trying to double (or more) vote.