I figured that Barack Obama, simply by his name, was a non-practicing Muslim. It turns out that he’s actually a Christian (United Church of Christ) and that when he was a boy he went to both Catholic and Muslim schools. His dad was a non-practicing Muslim and his mom had been left in the dark by the church (all signs point to agnosticism).

I don’t agree with him on abortion or gun control, but I was intrigued to hear a little about his religious background.

Apparently, either Hillary Clinton doesn’t know how to properly salute/pledge allegiance to the flag, or she has some extremely incompetent web designers. (*Claude pointed it out to me… I wasn’t actively searching Clinton’s website )

Hillary, your RIGHT hand goes over your heart. Or… are you THAT liberal?

Catch up with the first 3 seasons of Lost with this 8 minute, 15 second recap.

Now you are good to watch tonight’s Season 4 premier!

You heard it here first… Synergy Health and Aurora’s deal didn’t go through, but now it looks like Synergy is possibly going to team up with Froedtert & Community Health.

My main main, Mark Morris, will have all the details on WBWI in an interview with Synergy’s Greg Banasyznski at 8:45 this morning.

Okay, maybe you didn’t hear it “here” first… but it should be interesting.

 

That’s right boys and girls…Lost is FINALLY back.

Of course, it will probably be an abreviated season, with the writers strike, bummer…but sources claim that all 8 episodes that are “in the can” are knock-outs.

Be sure to tune in and find out how Jack and Kate (and ? others) got off the island.

During one of my on-air contests this morning, a West Bend middle-school student got through as my contestant. I asked her if she was excited to go back to school this morning, and her reply was, “yes, we’re going bowling.”

Now, I know this caller goes to Silverbook Middle School in West Bend. My question is this, if the school district is so hard up for money that they are forcing kids to have class in trailers, then why the hell are they wasting time and tax-payer dollars taking kids friggin’ bowling when they should be learning? Pat Herdrich, can you answer this, please?

Yesterday, on the air, one of the school-board members was talking about how West Bend School District is not competing with Slinger or Hartford schools, but rather with China and India. Okay, so do you think the Chinese students take time out from learning four different languages in order to go bowling? I’m guessing not.

The student’s mom did call me and tell me that the kids were being rewarded for good work and that the parents paid for the bus, the bowling, and the shoes. The parents, however, are not solely paying for the teachers’ salaries or the fixed costs of the heat/lights in the school building while these select kids are out breaking pins.

They could easily hold this “reward” at night after school or even on a weekend. I know that some schools have deals with places like Pizza Hut or McDonald’s that give the students a gift card when they do well. Why can’t the kids get a “bowling party” gift card or something like that?

Seriously, the school board can’t talk about how badly they need money when they are spending some of ours at the bowling lanes. Furthermore, don’t talk about “competing with China” when we’re taking our kids out of the classroom and putting them in a bowling alley/bar during normal learning hours.

The proposed smoking ban is dead for now and the reason is that Democrats wanted to put in an exemption for taverns until 2011. This would mean that taverns could allow smoking until their ban went into effect in 2011. Senate democrat, Roger Breske, said that without the exemption, taverns would go out of business.

If the ban went into effect for ALL public places, then how would taverns “go out of business?” Wouldn’t allowing taverns to permit smoking while not allowing restaurants that same privilege make restaurant-&-bar establishments go out of business? It clearly gives one the upper hand over the other.

I’m normally not for government bans, simply because less government = good government, but I do not like walking into a restaurant only to breathe in a cloud of nicotine and tar. Certainly the government wouldn’t allow you to blow some other cancer-causing gas around an environment with other citizens, so why does smoking get the free pass?

Oh… I know why… tax dollars. That’s why public smoking is still legal. Gotta get that $3 per pack or whatever the tax rate is at now. At least the citizens are funding their own population control?

I’m not all about bans, but seriously, if they’re going to pass a smoking ban, pass it across the board.

Every one of us gets through the tough times because somebody is there, standing in the gap to close it for us.

~Oprah

I have always been empathic towards animals…but continue to eat meat.  After watching the video in this CNN.com report on the abuse of weakend/injured cows at a California slaughterhouse, I am about ready to jump the fence.  (I know Fuzz went veggie for a different reason…but I’m just throwing in with him).  

Recently, I switched banks. My old bank was nice and had lots of locations throughout Southeastern Wisconsin, but my new, smaller bank has a much better interest rate on their checking accounts (and really hot tellers ).

Last night, I had to pay a buddy of mine for $360 worth of car repairs (thanks Aaron!). I went to an ATM and punched in $400. I looked down at my dash for a second and then when I looked back there was nothing on the ATM screen. So, I ran it again. This time, a notice came back that read, “Max daily limit exceeded.”  My old bank had a $500 daily limit, so I  figured this account had a $400 limit or something like that (I had taken $20 out earlier in the day). So, I ran it again but at $300. This time it read, “Unauthorized usage.”

At this point, I figured that the ATM at the location I was at had some sort of fraud protection that kept you from trying the same card multiple times. I called Tracy, the hot teller/my girlfriend, and she told me that my card has a $300 daily limit. She also suggested that I call the number on the back of the card to make sure that they didn’t lock it out or anything.

So, I called the number listed on the back of the card. It said that they were closed and that if I needed 24-hour assistance with my debit card, I should call an alternate 800 number. Immediately, I dialed the 800 number that they gave me. The so-called 24-hour assistance was also closed, “please call back during normal business hours.” WTF?

Now I’m kinda getting a little frustrated since I have to pay Aaron for the parts and his work.  I drove down the road to another ATM and punched in $200. Surely this will allow me to get some cash, and then I can pull some more out of my old checking account that I still haven’t closed.

The effing machine ate my card. “Unauthorized usage. Card detained,” was the error that the ATM gave me.

Luckily, I had some starter checks from my new account, and Aaron was understanding.

This morning, I called my bank hoping that they could “help” me. The nice operator transferred me to customer service … where I waited…. and waited…. and then waited some more. Then, a voice came on the phone telling me that all of the operators were busy. The part that annoyed the piss out of me was that the voice then asked me to “press four to remain in the queue” or “press five to leave a message.” I pressed four. Then, the voice started coming on every twenty to thirty seconds asking me the same question. I had to keep pressing four just to wait on hold.  Finally, after ten minutes, I left a message. A sternly worded message.

I’m not very pleased with my new bank right now. They weren’t there to help last night, and they weren’t here to help this morning. So much for “each and every way.”

Phack.

Absolutely hilarious! Big thanks to Willy for sending me this!

Ok, looks like CNN.com and the govt. are clearing up the mystique around the falling satellite…

…and I have to admit, we’re not ALL going to die, but this falling US spy satellite could really mess up someone people’s afternoon commutes.

I think the funniest comment of the whole story is…

“I’m not aware that we have a security issue,” he said. “It’s really just a big thing falling on the ground that we want to make sure we’re prepared for.”

Right…just a BIG THING FALLING TO THE GROUND…FROM SPACE!  Nothing to worry about.

According to the CNN.com article…

The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who heads of U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and will hit the ground.

“We’re aware that this satellite is out there,” Renuart said. “We’re aware it is a fairly substantial size. And we know there is at least some percentage that it could land on ground as opposed to in the water.”

Renuart added that, “As it looks like it might re-enter into the North American area,” then the U.S. military, with the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will either have to deal with the impact or assist Canadian or Mexican authorities.

Well, maybe not…but I am sure you haven’t heard that a large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and propulsion and could hit the Earth in late February or March.

According to a CNN.com story (that was buried behind their report of how to sneak bombs past TSA guards, The State of the Union Address and anything dealing with Britney Spears) goes on to say the satellite can no longer be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down.

Be sure to wear your helmet on the way to work today.

DUUUUUUuuuuude. PC-UK looks like my buddy/brother Dognutz. Why didn’t you tell me you got a gig, ‘Nutz?

For the record, ‘Nutz’s teeth are much better than that guy’s. You’re welcome Dog.

I have to give a “Wag of the Finger” to CNN for a story I saw on their Early Edition this morning and now the main post on their website, CNN.com, they tell of a method of breaching TSA Security. (From CNN.com)

Jason – that’s the name CNN was asked to call him – slides a simulated explosive into an elastic back support. The mock bomb is as slim as a wallet; its fuse, the size of a cigarette. He wraps the support around his torso, and the bomb fits comfortably into the small of his back.

It’s hard to tell he’s concealing anything; harder still when he dons a black T-shirt and a maroon golf shirt.

Then, with CNN’s cameras in tow, Jason heads to Tampa International Airport, where he’ll try to sneak the fake explosive past security screeners.

While I am a fan of the freedom of the press…I have to give CNN a little shot to the solar-plexus for this one.  TISK TISK!

Look, in my  opinion the best thing you could do is find somebody who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood/bad mood, ugly/pretty, handsome, what have you. The right person’s still gonna think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.

~The dad on the movie Juno.

Dear 35-year-old woman at Pick ‘n Save in the 10-items-or-less lane with a shopping cart full of produce and Kessler’s whiskey… when you see a guy behind you with an arm full of frozen veggies, a gallon of milk, and a bottle of merlot, please either let him go first - OR GO TO A LANE THAT ACCEPTS MORE THAN 10 ITEMS!

Thanks for being a bitch.

I seriously feel better now.

This morning I am busy reworking BGSGlass.com. It’s been a project that has been in the works for awhile, but time and schedules weren’t meshing. Now that I am gung-ho on getting this together, I needed some quick text filler to hold my paragraphs before the content could be installed.

That’s when I found the Lorem Ipsum generator! It’s friggin’ cool (mostly because it saved me time).

Okay… back to work.

(oh, and thank you to Panera Bread in West Bend for letting me siphon off their WiFi, electrical outlet, and coffee spigot. )

This was on a PowerPoint slide in my business ethics class, and it’s very true:

The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.

~Maimonides

Society has just gone off the deep end.  Seriously.

People need to just unplug and read a book, talk with neighbors and just get out.  What the hell is going on?!?  A 16 year old wants to hijack a plane and smash it into a Hannah Montana concert?

From CNN.com

Authorities have charged a teenage boy who said he planned to hijack a commercial jetliner in an attempt to commit suicide, an FBI spokesman told CNN late Thursday.

The 16-year-old was taken into custody by airport police without incident on Tuesday evening after flying from Los Angeles, California, to Nashville, Tennessee, on Southwest Airlines Flight 284.

The teen wanted to crash the plane into a Hannah Montana concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, two CNN television affiliates in Nashville, WSMV and WTVF, reported, citing unnamed sources. The concert is scheduled for Friday night at the Lafayette Cajundome.

Thanks to showbuzz.cbsnews.com image.