For several years, I helped my good friend Jim Kaluzny spin music at weddings. We called ourselves, “The Cudahy Connection,” after Jim’s hometown.

We saw quite a bit on the dance floor, but nothing as cool as this!

 Take a look at this picture. 

What do you see?

Seems pretty obvious, doesn't it.

Two ballplayers are carrying another player who appears to be injured.

The two who are doing the carrying are obviously not the injured player's teammates.

Nice gesture?

Oh, it's more.

Much more than that.

This is an amazing story that could very well be the greatest display of sportsmanship.

Incredible.

 

I have blogged and also mentioned several times on WISN about my lifelong parish, St. Anthony’s on 9^th and Mitchell, calling it, in my opinion, the most beautiful church in Milwaukee.

Those were mere words.

One of my fellow parishioners and bloggers, Diana at St. Fiacre’s Garden has posted some phenomenal pictures of this wonderful church.

Diana, thank you for so much for the time and effort you took to lovingly share this marvelous place of worship with others.

“You don’t blog enough about dogs!”
Who said that?
My wife, Jennifer.
When did she say it?
What time is it?



Sam, you’re incredible.

“You don’t blog enough about dogs!”
Who said that?
My wife, Jennifer.
When did she say it?
What time is it? 



We all get them. I seem to get swamped with them.

I’m talking about the e-mails from friends who you just know as they’re hitting the “send” button are chuckling to themselves, “this is the most incredible story ever,”  or, “Oh my God is this hilarious.”

Reminds me of my days as a broadcast news manager. Ninety-five percent of my mail and phoned-in tips, like these e-mails, never lived up to their billing.

E-mail jokes and urban legends just clutter up the inbox.

Here’s one I received recently that has been going around for a long time that you may have seen. This one, though not entirely true, is still worth a look, especially when you go, as I did, beyond the initial e-mail. Here’s the story:


She is pregnant, he had just saved her from
a fire in her house, rescuing her by carrying
her out of the house into her front yard,
while he continued to fight the fire.

When he finally got done putting the fire out,
he sat down to catch his breath and rest.

A photographer from the Charlotte, North Carolina newspaper, noticed her in the distance looking at the fireman.

He saw her walking straight toward the fireman and wondered what she was going to do.

As he raised his camera, she came up to the tired man who had saved her life and the lives of her babies and kissed him just as the photographer snapped this photograph.

Scroll down for photograph.

 

 

 

 

And people say animals are dumb


Done with the Kleenex yet?

Great story?

Great photo?

You bet.

The photo is authentic.

But how about the story?

The fire took place in Charlotte in July 1999. Snopes.com quotes a Charlotte Observer article that quotes the firefighter in the photo, Jeff Clark who was photographed by Patrick Schneider:


“We didn’t do anything (special) to save Cinnamon. When we have a house fire, we have to do a primary search. There could be people home and inside. Our first major concern is life safety. That house was full of smoke and we couldn’t see it very well. All I saw was a dog run out, and one was (already) in the backyard. I think Cinnamon got out the door herself. The dog approached me. As soon as I knelt down and took my mask off, Patrick was coming around the corner of the house and took the picture.”


Maybe the original story is true, maybe not. Clark’s reaction, however, is common, and quite commendable, a hero downplaying his actions. 

I managed to find the Charlotte Observer article dated April 18, 2005 that featured a Q. and A. with then-35-year old firefighter Clark: 



SWEET MOMENT WITH CINNAMON TIMELESS
   JENNIFER WING ROTHACKER - Staff Writer, JEFF CLARK

Charlotte firefighter Jeff Clark and Cinnamon, a pregnant red Doberman, gained international exposure with this photograph snapped by the Observer's Patrick Schneider during a July 1999 house fire. Seen through wire services and the Internet, the picture has moved people around the world and is still a top reprint seller. Several readers recently wrote the Observer wanting an update.

Q. After that photo was taken, what kind of response did you get?

Oh my goodness. Patrick Schneider, a very good friend of mine, won a few national awards, but by no means because of me. I was the ugly one in the picture. People like the dog, especially licking somebody's face.

What was very interesting, the first couple of months, we started getting letters sent to the fire department and Patrick, who forwarded them to me, from all over the country.

One woman in England was a member of the (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and a Doberman lover who runs a rescue.

It was amazing that people saw this picture and wrote letters.

To me it wasn't any big deal, it's what we do every day. It was nothing out of the ordinary.


Q. What would people say in the letters?

A lot were "Thank you for doing what you do, thank you for your care and concern for an animal." A lot of people were surprised that we go in looking for anything that was alive. In the same fire, we brought out a snake and a parrot: neither lived.


Q. Do you have a personal copy of the photo?

Patrick got me an 8 1/2 by 11 photo. I'm not big on hanging anything, I keep everything in a file. I'm not a big display person. My wife ended up getting one framed, but it's not hung yet. My father has one hung in his house.


Q. Tell us about how the photo came to be. Apparently there are a lot of Internet rumors floating around.

We didn't do anything (special) to save Cinnamon. When we have a house fire, we have to do a primary search. There could be people home and inside. Our first major concern is life safety. That house was full of smoke and we couldn't see it very well. All I saw was a dog run out, and one was (already) in the backyard. I think Cinnamon got out the door herself. The dog approached me. As soon as I knelt down and took my mask off, Patrick was coming around the corner of the house and took the picture.


Q. Have you kept up with Cinnamon?

The owners had contacted me a couple weeks later. Cinnamon was their baby and they were ecstatic she was alive.


Q. Are you still a firefighter? 

I was at Station 4 downtown, but to broaden my training, I moved to 10 on Wilkinson, which is a special operations station. They run the dive team and urban search and rescue. It's been a good move, but I miss the guys at Station 4.

My wife and I are looking at opening a doggie day care. Every day, I'm looking for that right piece of property. 


Here is how the article concluded:

Her Life
Cinnamon, the Doberman featured in the picture with Clark, died in January, owner Jane Cook said, after a tumor was found in her uterus. Cinnamon was 9. "She was the smartest dog I ever had in my life," Cook said.

Cinnamon had puppies - Cook recalls she had five, all of whom were sold. The Cooks also received much public response from the Observer photograph, and have a big glossy copy of it. 


So the original story that may have cluttered your inbox wasn’t totally accurate, but it’s still pretty darn good.

Nice column in the Journal/Sentinel today about Christmas memories by TV/Radio columnist Tim Cuprisin:

TV commercials are sometimes more memorable than the shows that are programmed around them.

And, for me and my mother, one of them symbolized the very beginning of the Christmas season.

It was usually early in December, back when Christmas didn't really start on television until early December, that one of us would catch sight of a stop-action animated Santa Claus taking his first holiday ride over the snowy hills of Norelco's annual commercial. With the company's name transmogrified into "Noelco" at the end of the spot, the announcer would intone " . . . even our name says Merry Christmas."

There are other Christmas classics that still catch my eye, from the usual suspects - "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story - to smaller, lesser-known gems like "The Homecoming," the pilot for what would become "The Waltons."

But it's the Norelco Santa that stirs the memories from those long-gone Christmases of my childhood.

From black-and-white days and on into the color TV era, as I grew up and my mother grew older, we'd always be sure to tell each other the first time we saw the Norelco Santa floating across the countryside on those rotary heads.

I remember being away at college one year in the late 1970s and catching the Norelco spot. The first thing I did was call home to let my mom know that the season had officially begun.

The spot had been born back in 1961, just before my TV memories begin. It lasted until the mid-1980s, when the company retired it. In the early '90s, a higher-tech version was brought back. But the Norelco Santa just isn't the holiday standby it once was.

My mother has been gone for 20 years now, and I don't recall the last time the Norelco Santa has magically popped up on the screen while I was watching television. If it's still in the rotation, I'm likely to fast-forward over it, thanks to my DVR, which overcomes all sales pitches.

But thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can click my mouse on the screens. And, for a few seconds, I remember.

By TIM CUPRISIN
tcuprisin@journalsentinel.com

 

 

I have similar memories of my late father.

He absolutely loved an old Miller commercial (narrated by Gene “Burke’s Law” Barry) showing a horse-drawn sleigh accompanied by the music of, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

Whenever it came on, he’d always say, “Boy, that’s a good one! I wish we could tape it!”  (No VCR’s back then).

This one’s for you, Dad!

THE FOLLOWING BLOG IS NOT POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, CONTROVERSIAL, OR CONFRONTATIONAL. IT IS, HOWEVER, PERSONAL (That’s ok. Many blogs are). IT INVOLVES AN EPSIODE IN THE LIFE OF YOURS TRULY. YOU, OF COURSE, CAN CHOOSE TO REFRAIN FROM READING. BUT ADMIT IT. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO READ IT. SO, IF YOU WILL INDULGE ME, PLEASE.

Several years ago, my lovelorn friend Jim had just started dating a new gal. Somewhat the nervous type…okay, a really nervous type, Jim asked me if I would just materialize at what turned out to be only his second date with the young woman.

The plot was this: The date was on a Friday night. Jim would take his date to the Dan Jansen festival. I would arrive at the festival after my Channel 10 taping of InterCHANGE, and the two lovebirds would “bump” into me at one of the beer tents.

And so it went.

There I was, the only lunatic at the festival wearing a suit and tie, all by myself, at a beer tap.

Suddenly, out of the blue, there was Jim and………………….his date!

“Hey, look over there. It’s Kevin Fischer. What a surprise! Imagine running into you here!”

“Jim! What are you doing here,” I replied, confident we had completely pulled the wool over the poor girl’s eyes.

Jim’s date had this look on her face that seemed to say, “Uhhhh, what in the world is going on?”

I proceeded to walk around the grounds with the two who said about 8 words in an hour. After snarfing some brew at the Hooter girl’s beer stand, I figured that things weren’t going well, and that Jim was on his own to boost his confidence.

I left, predicting that I’d receive a phone call the next day from Jim that his date ended the evening telling him, “You’re a nice guy, but ………………”

I was wrong.

Jim made another date, a pretty important one.

At the time, I was helping Jim with his business on the side…….wedding and miscellaneous party DJ.  We had a gig to do music at a surprise 50^th birthday party. Jim invited his friend, Michele, but Jim invited some folks, too: his parents, to meet Michele.

It was Michele’s turn to be nervous, so, to keep her confidence intact and have moral support, she invited her best friend to accompany her.

Jim, meanwhile, found out about it and asked me to be on my best behavior to Michele’s friend.

“I’m always on my best behavior,” you silly fool!

Jim danced with Michele, I danced with Michele’s friend and the night went smoothly.

There were other highlights, but suffice to say that Jim asked Michele to marry him, Michele said yes, I was best man at the wedding and Michele’s friend stood up alongside me as Matron of Honor.

That’s how I met my future wife, Jennifer, Michele’s best friend.

I am a strong believer that certain events transpire for a reason.

Jim and Michele got married on November 4, 2000. November 4^th is Michele’s birthday.

It was because my good friend Jim had the good fortune to meet Michele and the good sense to propose to her that I was able to meet my lovely bride who has made me so very, very happy.

So, to my dear friend Michele Kaluzny, today I say:

Happy Birthday!

Happy Anniversary!

And Thank You!

 

My blog posting, “Internet anonymity as bad as Internet porn,” generated a great deal of reaction.

It made me recall an old U.S. News and Report article on civility from the mid-90’s that I wrote a piece on when I was doing daily radio commentaries at WTMJ-AM.

The article was timely then and it’s timely now.

Remember, there is no liberal bias in the news media.

None at all.

Even so, the Media Research Center in its watchdog role has been able to find numerous examples for the past 20 years.

To mark the MRC’s 20^th anniversary, it has compiled its list of the most outrageous examples of media bias.

Watch, enjoy, and keep in mind as you view these clips what the lefties moan and groan and whine all the time: There is no liberal bias in the media.

This is amazing video.

Watch what Jim Broussard does when he sees a Mexican flag flying above an American flag atop a Mexican bar in Reno. Watch the reaction from the cowardly Hispanic bar patrons.

Watch.

Here's audio of Broussard's interview with talk show host Mike Gallagher.

This morning on Newstalk 1130 WISN, I read portions of an outstanding column about Rick Rescorla, one of the remarkable heroes of 9/11.

This site has the column in its entirety.

It is a lengthy, but incredible piece.

As the Franklin School Board gets ready to jack up school taxes by 5.6% and is preparing predictable excuses as to why they have no choice but to do so, I hope you will read a few excerpts from an article that appeared in American Enterprise.

It dealt with myths about education in America.


Education myths
By Jay Greene

Myths aren't lies. They are beliefs that people adopt because they have an air of plausibility. But myths aren't true, and they often get in the way during serious problem-solving. This essay identifies seven common myths that dominate established views of education these days. Dispelling these misconceptions could open the door to long-awaited improvement in our nation's schools.

The money myth

If people know anything about public schools today, it's that they are strapped for cash. Bestselling books, popular movies, and countless lobbying groups portray urban schools as desperately underfunded, and editors of the New York Times write without fear of contradiction that "providing quality education for all America's children will take...a great deal of money." Bumper stickers declare, "It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." No matter what aspect of education is being debated, activists generally find the solution in more school spending.

This is the most widely held myth about education in America--and the one most directly at odds with the available evidence. Few people are aware that our education spending per pupil has been growing steadily for 50 years. At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002.

Since the early 1970s, when the federal government launched a standardized exam called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it has been possible to measure student outcomes in a reliable, objective way. Over that period, inflation-adjusted spending per pupil doubled. So if more money produces better results in schools, we would expect to see significant improvements in test scores during this period. That didn't happen. For twelfth-grade students, who represent the end product of the education system, NAEP scores in math, science, and reading have all remained flat over the past 30 years. And the high school graduation rate hasn't budged. Increased spending did not yield more learning.

This big-picture evidence is strongly confirmed by academic research. Though you'd never know it from the tenor of most education debates, the vast majority of studies have found no sustained positive relationship between spending and classroom results. Economist Eric Hanushek of Stanford University examined every solid study on spending and outcomes--a total of 163 research papers--and concluded that extra resources are more likely to be squandered than to have a productive effect.

Still, countless people assume that our schools are underfunded. One explanation is that people don't want to believe that large amounts of public money have been used without producing significant results. There's plenty of room for debate on how best to reform our school system, but the sooner Americans realize that lack of resources is not the real problem in our schools the sooner we can have a meaningful debate on how to make education more productive.

The class size myth

Just about everybody agrees that smaller classes produce better results. This view was captured crisply in a Chicago Tribune feature story on schools: "The advantages of small classes seem intuitive; who wouldn't want children to learn in a small class? Parents crave them, teachers love them, and policymakers push for them."

As popular discontent with the state of education has grown, class sizes have emerged as a key political issue for both parties. The National Education Association has been particularly aggressive, supporting "a class size of fifteen students in regular programs and even smaller in programs for students with exceptional needs." Given that shrinking class sizes means hiring more teachers, and thus putting more money into the pockets of teachers unions, it is hardly surprising that unions are the loudest supporters.

Unlike other myths, this one isn't totally baseless. Research suggests there may be some advantages to smaller classes--though if so, the benefits are modest and come at a very high price tag. And whether this research is actually correct is a matter of debate. So the strong claims for class size reduction made by political activists are not at all justified.

The centerpiece of class-size research was the STAR project, a 1980s experiment conducted by the state of Tennessee. Students were randomly assigned to one of three types of classes as they progressed from kindergarten through third grade. The first type was a regular-sized class of around 24 students with one teacher. The second option was a regular-sized class with a teacher plus a teacher's aide. The third alternative was a small class of around 15 students with one teacher.

The study found that students in the small classes showed a one-time benefit in test scores as compared to students in regular-sized classes (the teacher's aide resulted in no significant difference). The increase, however, was not large--the equivalent of an eight-percentile-point improvement in performance for a student starting in the middle of the pack. But follow-up research found that 44 percent of students in STAR's small classes took college entrance exams, compared to 40 percent among regular-class students--not so trivial a difference. If we could be reasonably sure that this increase resulted from smaller classes, and could be replicated on a large scale without sacrificing other educational priorities, then class-size reduction would be solidly supported. Unfortunately, the evidence does not allow us to reach those conclusions.

There were a number of shortcomings in the STAR program's implementation that raise doubts about the accuracy of its findings. Most significantly, students weren't tested when they entered the program--so we can't confirm that the three groups started out at the same level as the experiment began. There is no way to know if the project's random assignment method was accurate, and thus no way to be certain that differences observed among the groups weren't there from the beginning.

There is reason to be suspicious because of an anomaly in the research findings: If smaller classes really do improve student performance, we would generally expect to see these benefits accrue over time. But instead, the improvement in STAR test scores was a one-time event. This is unusual and unexpected. Considering that the project's supposed benefits were moderate to begin with, this raises serious doubts about whether the STAR results should lead to policy prescriptions--particularly since evidence on large-scale class size reduction is much less encouraging.

In California, the state appropriated $1 billion in 1996 to reduce elementary school class sizes. When California's test scores rose, advocates of smaller classes held up their program as a model. The reality, however, wasn't so clear. A RAND Corporation study concluded that California students who attended larger elementary school classes improved at about the same rate as students in smaller classes. Though California's overall educational performance went up, it did not seem to be due to smaller classes. (The state had also undertaken a number of other major education reforms at the same time it was reducing class sizes.)

Even if class size reduction does improve performance under optimal conditions in a small, controlled experiment like the STAR project, labor pool problems may prevent this from being reproduced on a large scale. Replicating the benchmarks of the STAR project would entail hiring almost 40 percent more teachers nationwide. Digging that deeply into the teacher labor pool would require accepting a lower quality of hire, likely bringing disappointing results.

And the financial costs of reducing class sizes on that scale would be exceptionally high--$2,306 per pupil according to calculations by Caroline Hoxby of Harvard University. There is only a finite amount of money available, so every dollar spent on class size reduction is a dollar that will not be available for salary increases, books, equipment, or the implementation of other reform policies. This will be true no matter how much money a school system has. Given that other reform strategies are more promising and less costly, the modest benefits of class size reduction simply can't justify the very large sacrifices that would have to be made.

Jay Greene is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of Education Myths, from which this essay is adapted.



DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.

Today’s Journal/Sentinel features part one of a series on the stress the Iraq War has put on children.

One of the accompanying photos shows Saharra Lane of Manawa watching as her parents, Jamie and Allen Lane, kiss upon her dad's return from Iraq last month. Allen Lane served 14 months in Iraq with the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery.

It is a great picture, taken by Kristyna Wentz-Graff.



DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.

Felix Cavaliere, the lead singer of the Rascals, will receive a national honor this weekend in Wisconsin, and yours truly played a small part in securing the former Young Rascal.

Cavaliere will be the honoree for the 2007 National Italian Invitational Golf Tournament for Charities Saturday at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva.

My role came totally unexpected last year working backstage at the Main Stage at the Wisconsin State Fair. Cavaliere was opening that Sunday afternoon for Johnny Rivers. Prior to the show, while I was near the front of the stage, a man motioned for my attention. He introduced himself, local attorney Joseph Alioto. Alioto was very polite and asked if I could get a message backstage to Cavaliere that his organization held this golf tournament and every year they honored an Italian and for 2007 they wanted to pay tribute to Cavaliere if he would accept.

Keep in mind, it is day 11 of a long, grinding, tiring State Fair. Working backstage, I have heard 11 days of stories. This person has a friend who has a cousin who once met the wife of the brother of the drummer and could he please get backstage. That kind of stuff.

However, I had already met Cavaliere and found him to be affable and very easy-going. Knowing that he was going to meet with several fans in a “meet and greet” backstage, I thought Alioto’s request could work.

“Why don’t I see if I can arrange to have you invite Mr. Cavaliere personally” I said to Alioto.

Alioto was ecstatic.

I walked into Cavaliere’s dressing room where I had met him earlier and found sitting in a large lounge chair. After briefly describing the situation and telling Cavaliere I believed it to be genuine, without hesitation he said, “Sure, send him in.”

When I went back to get Alioto, he had his young teenage son with him, apologized, and asked if his son could also be allowed backstage.

“Wait here,” I replied.

Back to the dressing room I went, Cavaliere gave another quick approval, and I ran out to usher Alioto and his son backstage.

I couldn’t just leave the two in the dressing room so I sat with Alioto during his entire conversation with Cavaliere, who, as he learned more and more, was flattered and very interested in the opportunity to be honored by Alioto’s group, of which Alioto is the treasurer. Alioto exchanged information with Cavaliere’s people and after about ten minutes, the negotiation as completed successfully.

Alioto must have thanked me what seemed a hundred thousand times on the way back to his seat.

Saturday, Felix Cavaliere joins a long list of past honorees of the National Italian Invitational Golf Tournament for Charities.

The impressive roster includes:

ALAN AMECHE

EDDIE ARCARO

SAL BANDO

CARMEN BASILIO

GINO CAPPELLETTI

BILL CONTI

VIC DAMONE

JOHNNY DESMOND

JOE DI MAGGIO

DENNIS FARINA

VINCE FERRAGAMO

JIM FREGOSI

JOE GARAGIOLA

TOMMY LASORDA

RON LUCIANO

JOE MANTEGNA

ROCKY MARCIANO

MARC MAROTTA

ROLLIE MASSIMINO

WILLIE MOSCONI

PHIL RIZZUTO

BOBBY RYDELL

CARMEN SALVINO

RON SANTO

FRANK SINATRA

PAUL SORVINO

JERRY VALE

JIM VALVANO

PHIL VILLAPIANO

KEN VENTURI

I'm very pleased good fortune allowed me to connect with Joseph Alioto, a very nice gentleman.

Congratulation, Felix Cavaliere! It was sure nice meeting you!

I enjoyed watching and listening to you back then and I still enjoy watching you now!



DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.

When the Wisconsin State Fair opens Thursday and The Doobie Brothers and Kansas hit the Miller Lite Main Stage, I’ll be working security backstage as I have the past several years. I got hooked into moonlighting when I had press credentials, and some of the backstage people whom I’ve known for a long, long time asked if I would put on a bright yellow Security shirt and give them a hand.

With the 11-day run of the Fair about to begin, I thought I’d share some backstage security memories, some good, some not so good.


WAYNE NEWTON

Mr. Las Vegas came to the Fair about 7 or 8 years ago, complete with full orchestra and state of the art lighting, lasers, and Vegas-style stage show.

It was an extremely hot and humid night, and tickets sold barely numbered a thousand.

About an hour before the show, I was backstage, keeping my eye on the dressing room trailers. Suddenly, out of the main dressing room walks Wayne Newton, about 15 feet away from me. The well-tanned, jet black-haired Newton was resplendent in evening tuxedo and bow tie. I was in a security baseball cap, bumble bee yellow shirt, black shorts and shoes, and sweating profusely.

I smiled at Newton and before I could say a word, he walked right up to me, extended his right hand and said, “Hello, I’m Wayne Newton.”

It wasn’t until later that I recalled how this particular moment reminded me of an interview done with one of Elvis’ back-up singers, the Jordanaires after Elvis had died. I believe it was Gordon Stoker who said that when Elvis had a recording session, he would walk into the studio and before getting started, he would make it a point to say hello to everyone, from the engineers to the janitor.

Bobby Vinton said the first time he met Elvis was in Las Vegas and Elvis introduced himself first to Vinton, Usually, its’ the other way around, with the lesser name addressing the bigger name first.
Being an Elvis fan, and knowing Elvis and Newton were very good friends, I was immediately impressed that Newton talked to a lowly security guard immediately after leaving his dressing room.

Newton and I, just the two of us, stood there and conversed for 15 minutes, just exactly about what I do not recall. But it was amazing to me how down to earth this guy was.

Newton went onstage in blistering heat before a crowd that could have been multiplied by ten and it still would not have been a full house, and he worked and worked for two hours and 45 minutes for that small audience. Certainly he could have shortened his show, but he did not.

After the show, an exhausted, drenched Newton was informed by other security that the Governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, was on the grounds and wanted to meet him. Waiting nearby was Newton’s private limo, ready to take him to the airport and his private jet.

Newton told security he would love to meet Governor Thompson.

Security then told Newton that Governor Thompson was elsewhere on the grounds participating in the Governor’s annual livestock auction and would be about another 30 minutes.

Without hesitation, Newton said, “I’ll wait.”

And he did.

The two celebrities enjoyed each other’s company before Newton finally did climb into his limo to drive to Mitchell International.

Now, I am not a huge fan, but I have always liked Wayne Newton. After seeing him at the Wisconsin State Fair, he will always be top-notch in my book.


KENNY ROGERS

The very next night after Wayne Newton, Kenny Rogers was the headliner.

When his huge tour bus pulled in, it stopped directly behind the stage. Part of our duties backstage includes organizing and overseeing the “meet and greets,” the impromptu photo opportunities for selected fans or fan club members or winners of radio contests to meet the stars. We were told by Rogers’ “people” that Rogers would come off the bus, immediately talk to the fans that we would line up, he would say hello and they would say hello, and after he’d pose for one photo, the fan was to walk away.

And that’s exactly what happened. When it was time to meet the fans, and as I recall there were only about ten at the most, finally Rogers emerged from the tour bus, and in robotic fashion said hello to each fan, signed an autograph, posed for a picture….NEXT!

Each fan encounter took no more than 15-20 seconds. When the line was done, in literally a few minutes, Rogers stormed right back into his bus until showtime.

Before the show, Rogers and his staff were told that Governor Thompson was going to be at the show with a group of people and wanted to meet Rogers afterwards. Rogers had agreed, but the plan was that as soon as Rogers walked offstage, the Governor and his entourage were to get backstage as quickly as possible to meet Rogers, who wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Knowing what Rogers wanted to do, we had Governor Thompson and his group leave their seats and come into the backstage area for the final few songs in order to save time. They were positioned along the side of the stage.

Rogers’ tour bus driver had lined up the bus so that Rogers could literally walk off the stage, down the steps, and right onto the bus. When Rogers ended the show, he climbed right into the bus, its motor running.

Around the corner comes Thompson in cowboy hat and jeans with his group, literally running to try to meet Rogers. Too late. He got there just in time to see Rogers get onto the bus, the door close, and the bus take off, exhaust flying in the direction of the Governor.

Contrast that to the way Wayne Newton handled himself the night before.

To this day, I wouldn’t cross the street to see Kenny Rogers.


AMY GRANT

Often, I have the tough job of helping performers walk up and down the steps that lead up to the actual stage. When it’s dark you use your flashlight to help guide them. Some of the female performers actually need to have their hand held.

A few years ago, I was helping Amy Grant down the steps. She started to extend her left hand to me, and I grabbed it, but she was carrying her guitar in her right hand and then stopped, handing me the instrument.

So I had Amy Grant’s guitar in my left hand, and Amy Grant in my right hand, all the while praying I wouldn’t drop either. As Amy took one step at a time, out of nowhere comes her manager, running frantically towards me.

“I’ll take that,” he said, referring to Amy’s guitar (yes, I guess we’re on a first name basis because she signed a CD for me later, “To Kevin, With Love”).

Amy said something to the effect that I had “it,” and everything was ok.

All the while, Amy’s superstar husband, Vince Gill, was at the top of the stairs, hiding from the audience behind some equipment. He had watched his wife’s entire show, but never stepped in to steal her limelight.
Gill took one look at Amy’s frazzled manager and just chuckled.

DANIELLE PECK

My, but you do get to meet some interesting people at those onstage steps. One of them was country newcomer Danielle Peck. I tried to help her onstage, but she had come out of her dressing area a bit early, so I was forced to stand at those steps and carry on a good, long conversation with her until it was showtime.


THE ABBA TRIBUTE GIRLS

Another rough assignment….again, at the bottom of the steps as the young galls waited to go on. When they sang all those ABBA tunes in their Swedish accents, the thousands of people in the crowd didn’t know that I had a great chat with them in their true native New Jersey-like tongues.

LITTLE RICHARD

“I’m not going on. No. Hear me and understand, Little Richard is not going on.”

The man who gave us Long Tall Sally and Lucille refused to get out of his limo and take the stage until he was paid. Apparently State Fair management pays their acts after the show is completed. Little Richard would have none of that, and he was serious.

After awhile, the State Fair brass got together and presented Little Richard a check.

With a holler of WOOOOOOO!!! Little Richard in his white flowing outfit jumped out of the limo and began his show, even inviting audience members onstage to dance, a practice normally frowned upon by management and security.

To this day, rumor is the check was a bouncer, and that the REAL check was given to Little Richard after he was done performing.


KOOL & THE GANG

Old enough to remember Kool & the Gang when they played jazz, I was thrilled to see them at the Fair. (They’re back this year). I was given clear instructions to keep an eye on their dressing room. Thousands of dollars worth of jewelry had been stolen from their dressing room the night before, I believe in Pittsburgh, so once the show started, no one, absolutely no one except band members were allowed in.

Shortly after the concert started, a young man started walking towards me and the dressing room, wanting in. I stopped him and informed him he couldn’t enter the dressing room. The man had every Kool & the Gang credential and pass ever created. I wouldn’t let him in. He was nice but was obviously in total disbelief that I was standing my ground, started to walk away and said he’d be back.

About 10 or 15 minutes went by when a figure comes walking off the stage with a bass guitar slung around his neck: Robert “Kool” Bell, the founder and leader of Kool and the Gang. With him, the young man I refused entry to.

Bell asked me if it was true that I wouldn’t let the young man into the dressing room. I said yes because……and proceeded to explain why.

In front of the other man, Bell thanked me for doing my job and doing what I was instructed to. Then he gave his permission to let the young man into the dressing room.

No jewelry or any other item was stolen from Kool & the Gang that night.


KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND

I love when KC comes to town. We spoke briefly about his concert at the Republican National Convention. (Yes, Casey Finch, better known as KC, is a staunch Republican). But again, it’s all about those stage steps, and the job duty of helping, in this case, KC’s scantily clad with bodies that won’t quit dancers in big boots make it safely on and off the stage.

JO DEE MESSINA

Big Al Hartmann (big as in around 400 pounds) and I had to walk Messina and her young son around the park a few hours before the show. No one, I mean not a single soul recognized her with hair bunched up under a baseball cap.

When we got back from a tour of the grounds, Hartmann went to another area and Messina told me she wanted to take a shower.

I just assumed that I was nominated to show her where the women’s showers were. She politely asked that I stand outside to make sure she’d be alright. I think I said something to the effect of, “Well gee, Ms Messina, I don’t know……WELL OKAY!”

I did shout once, inquiring if she was ok or needed anything. With shower running, I heard her yell, “Oh, I’m just fine!”

Yes, they paid me that day.


EDDIE MONEY

I got to drive him in a van to a corporate tent party, and then after his show, I stood right next to him as he signed autographs.

One young woman in a tank top insisted that Money sign her chest. Money wanted to oblige, so because it was completely dark outside, I had to get as close as I could with my flashlight so Money could more readily see and sign the desired area. Many flashbulbs were going off for that one.


THE JORDANAIRES

Elvis’ back-up singers

SARA EVANS

The summer of 2002, the summer after 9-11. Some State Fair police officers assigned backstage asked Evans for autographs.

I’ve always seen performers be very gracious to the guys in uniform.

Not Evans, who refused to honor the officers’ request.

JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY, DAVID CASSIDY, PETER FRAMPTON

I’m going to be candid. Montgomery was bombed when he went onstage. At one point, he climbed the ladder going up to the lights and was hanging onto the ladder with one hand with the microphone in the other hand. Many of the security folks immediately rushed to the bottom of the ladder at which point Montgomery’s manager came over, laughing. Don’t worry, he told us, Montgomery does this all the time. We respectfully said we weren’t moving, just to play it safe. Now the smile came off his face and the manager asked us to move away again. My boss backstage, Mike Wenzel told the manager in no uncertain terms that backstage security meant all of the backstage area and that we were going to be in perfect position in case Montgomery fell (especially in his inhibited state).

The next night, the Jordanaires were at the Fair. They asked me who else had been performing. When I mentioned Montgomery, Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires immediately asked, “Was he sober?”

David Cassidy also was blitzed before going onstage. There was a threat of rain all night, the show was delayed as a result of rain and lightning, and the top-notch stage crew told Cassidy and his folks that it would take some time to get everything in order before Cassidy could go on so there’d be no technical difficulties.
Cassidy wouldn’t listen, stubbornly went on, and the rest of the show was marred by microphone and sound problems, feedback, you name it. Cassidy used to profanities in blaming the stage crew, the worst he claimed he had ever worked with. That coming from a has-been who was drunk onstage.

Peter Frampton was just an ornery jerk, screaming at the local female disc jockey assigned to introduce him just because she brought some old LP’s along in hopes he’d sign them.

THE CRUSHER

One of my prized possessions is a photo taken alongside Milwaukee’s favorite son, the Crusher, in his usual sunglasses and cigar.

How bout dat!!

ISAAC HAYES

A very nice man, but obviously not as young as he used to be.

Walking him to the stage, I said to him, “Well Mr. Hayes, what’s it going to be tonight? Two, three hours.”

“@#$%& no,” he said with a big laugh.

His manager warned me that during, “Walk on By,” there would be a rather lengthy drum and keyboard solo, and that I should watch to help Hayes back to the dressing room. This was an intentional built-in bathroom break.


As a rule, I have found most of the entertainers to be gems. It’s their nervous Nelly, over-protective managers that drive you nuts.

I can’t wait for more backstage memories.

The University of Texas at Austin wanted to know.

So it asked.

Why do people have sex?

And people answered.

Oh boy, did they answer…….237 different ways.

My favorites:

“It would have damaged my reputation if I said no,” “the other person smelled nice," and "I wanted to see what all the fuss is about."

John Tierney has the story in the New York Times:


The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting
By JOHN TIERNEY

Scholars in antiquity began counting the ways that humans have sex, but they weren’t so diligent in cataloging the reasons humans wanted to get into all those positions. Darwin and his successors offered a few explanations of mating strategies — to find better genes, to gain status and resources — but they neglected to produce a Kama Sutra of sexual motivations.

Perhaps you didn’t lament this omission. Perhaps you thought that the motivations for sex were pretty obvious. Or maybe you never really wanted to know what was going on inside other people’s minds, in which case you should stop reading immediately.

For now, thanks to psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin, we can at last count the whys. After asking nearly 2,000 people why they’d had sex, the researchers have assembled and categorized a total of 237 reasons — everything from “I wanted to feel closer to God” to “I was drunk.” They even found a few people who claimed to have been motivated by the desire to have a child.

The researchers, Cindy M. Meston and David M. Buss, believe their list, published in the August issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior, is the most thorough taxonomy of sexual motivation ever compiled. This seems entirely plausible.

Who knew, for instance, that a headache had any erotic significance except as an excuse for saying no? But some respondents of both sexes explained that they’d had sex “to get rid of a headache.” It’s No. 173 on the list.

Others said they did it to “help me fall asleep,” “make my partner feel powerful,” “burn calories,” “return a favor,” “keep warm,” “hurt an enemy” or “change the topic of conversation.” The lamest may have been, “It seemed like good exercise,” although there is also this: “Someone dared me.”

Dr. Buss has studied mating strategies around the world — he’s the oft-cited author of “The Evolution of Desire” and other books — but even he did not expect to find such varied and Machiavellian reasons for sex. “I was truly astonished,” he said, “by this richness of sexual psychology.”

The researchers collected the data by first asking more than 400 people to list their reasons for having sex, and then asking more than 1,500 others to rate how important each reason was to them. Although it was a fairly homogenous sample of students at the University of Texas, nearly every one of the 237 reasons was rated by at least some people as their most important motive for having sex.

The best news is that both men and women ranked the same reason most often: “I was attracted to the person.”

The rest of the top 10 for each gender were also almost all the same, including “I wanted to express my love for the person,” “I was sexually aroused and wanted the release” and “It’s fun.”

No matter what the reason, men were more likely to cite it than women, with a couple of notable exceptions. Women were more likely to say they had sex because, “I wanted to express my love for the person” and “I realized I was in love.” This jibes with conventional wisdom about women emphasizing the emotional aspects of sex, although it might also reflect the female respondents’ reluctance to admit to less lofty motives.

The results contradicted another stereotype about women: their supposed tendency to use sex to gain status or resources.

“Our findings suggest that men do these things more than women,” Dr. Buss said, alluding to the respondents who said they’d had sex to get things, like a promotion, a raise or a favor. Men were much more likely than women to say they’d had sex to “boost my social status” or because the partner was famous or “usually ‘out of my league.’ ”

Dr. Buss said, “Although I knew that having sex has consequences for reputation, it surprised me that people, notably men, would be motivated to have sex solely for social status and reputation enhancement.”

But then, men were also more likely than women to say they’d had sex because “I was slumming.” Or simply because “the opportunity presented itself,” or “the person demanded that I have sex.”

If nothing else, the results seem to be a robust confirmation of the hypothesis in the old joke: How can a woman get a man to take off his clothes? Ask him.

To make sense of the 237 reasons, Dr. Buss and Dr. Meston created a taxonomy with four general categories:

Physical: “The person had beautiful eyes” or “a desirable body,” or “was good kisser” or “too physically attractive to resist.” Or “I wanted to achieve an orgasm.”

Goal Attainment: “I wanted to even the score with a cheating partner” or “break up a rival’s relationship” or “make money” or “be popular.” Or “because of a bet.”

Emotional:“I wanted to communicate at a deeper level” or “lift my partner’s spirits” or “say ‘Thank you.’ ” Or just because “the person was intelligent.”

Insecurity:“I felt like it was my duty” or “I wanted to boost my self-esteem” or “It was the only way my partner would spend time with me.”

Having sex out of a sense of duty, Dr. Buss said, showed up in a separate study as being especially frequent among older women. But both sexes seem to practice a strategy that he calls mate-guarding, as illustrated in one of the reasons given by survey respondents: “I was afraid my partner would have an affair if I didn’t.”

That fear seems especially reasonable after you finish reading Dr. Buss’s paper and realize just how many reasons there are for infidelity. Some critics might complain that the list has some repetitions — it includes “I was curious about sex” as well as “I wanted to see what all the fuss was about” — but I’m more concerned about the reasons yet to be enumerated.

For instance, nowhere among the 237 reasons will you find the one attributed to the actress Joan Crawford: “I need sex for a clear complexion.” (The closest is “I thought it would make me feel healthy.”)

Nor will you find anything about gathering rosebuds while ye may (the 17th-century exhortation to young virgins from Robert Herrick). Nor the similar hurry-before-we-die rationale (“The grave’s a fine and private place/ But none I think do there embrace”) from Andrew Marvell in “To His Coy Mistress.”

From even a cursory survey of literature or the modern mass market in sex fantasies, it seems clear that this new taxonomy may not be any more complete than the original periodic table of the elements.
When I mentioned Ms. Crawford’s complexion and the poets’ rationales to Dr. Buss, he promised to consider them and all other candidates for Reason 238.

You can nominate your own reasons at TierneyLab. You can also submit nominations for a brand new taxonomy: reasons for just saying “No way!” Somehow, though, I don’t think this list will be as long.


Here is the full list of reasons why people have sex.

Every summer in Milwaukee, including this one, rampant child abuse takes place.

The child abuse is committed by no-good parents, single parents, parents who are generally very good parents most of the year, poor parents, wealthier parents, city parents, suburban parents.

This abuse probably began around Summerfest, was especially evident during the July 3rd fireworks at the lakefront, and will continue through the ethnic festivals, church festivals, the Wisconsin State Fair and various county fairs.

I am referring to the many, many, many parents who make the terrible decision to take their infants, babies, or very small children out at night to any of the above mentioned outdoor events, and then keep them out until 10:00, 11:00, Midnight, 1:00 a.m., just so they can selfishly be out and have a good time.

There they are, not a care in the world these Parents of the Year, smoking, drinking, carrying on as their babies lie crying, screaming, attempting to sleep in strollers as fireworks, huge crowds, loud conversations, and other smoking, drinking, carrying on folks surround them.

Is 8:30 p.m. past a baby’s bedtime?

How about 9:00?

10:00, when now it’s dark?

11:00?

12 Midnight?

1:00?

Suppose you take your infant or baby or small child to the July 3rd fireworks. Those fireworks (this year, shot off in a rainstorm) begin at 9:25. They go until 10:00. You weave your way through the crowd to get to your car. When do you get home? 11:00? 11:30? Midnight? Is that being a good parent to that poor child?

Would you do this if you were a parent, say, in the middle of the winter? Would you, some random January or February night just keep your baby up until midnight?

I have brought this up as a topic twice in the past few years filling in for Mark Belling on Newstalk 1130 WISN. The response was overwhelming.

About half of the audience wanted to pin medals on me. The other half wanted to hang me from the nearest tree. “How dare you dictate to me how I should parent!”

I called it "borderline child abuse." Several callers said no, it's not borderline, it is child abuse.

One very young suburban mom told me it was no big deal because it was only one night out of the year. I proceeded to ask her if it was wrong 364 nights out of the year, why was it right on the 365th night? So you could see your fireworks?

Many “bad” parents as I called them said the kids were asleep anyhow, so why couldn’t they enjoy a night out.

Hello, idiot parent. It’s not about you. It’s about the child.

Did you not assume a large and vital responsibility when you decided to have a child, and then actually had the child?

If being out late at night to carouse with other being carousing late at night is that important to you, have no not heard of the concept called, “the babysitter?”

What is so difficult to understand? When it’s bedtime (clue to today’s raised on Spock-parents: when it’s dark out), that means very young children need to be HOME IN BED.

In today’s “me first” society, especially in an area that lives for the summer goings-on, this child abuse, unfortunately continue every year, and as long as there are clueless, selfish parents.




DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.

The federal minimum wage goes up Tuesday (tomorrow) from $5.15 an hour to $5.85, the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. Minimum wage workers will get an additional 70-cent boost each summer for the next two years, ending in 2009 at $7.25 an hour. That comes to just above $15,000 yearly before taxes for a 52-week work year.

USA Today interviewed fast-food waitress Fawn Townsend of Raleigh, North Carolina who gets a pay raise Tuesday.

"My goal personally is to get a vehicle so I can independently go back and forth to work and maybe pick up extra work so I can have that extra income, because minimum wage is not cutting it," said Townsend, who is 24 and single. "Being a single person, you can't pay all your bills with one minimum wage job."

I’ve got news for Fawn. The minimum wage is not intended to be, nor should it be a living, family wage.

Only about three percent of workers earning the minimum wage are single parents. Slightly more than one percent of all minimum wage workers were adult heads of households with incomes less than $10,000. About 60 percent of minimum wage workers are single individuals, many of them living with their parents.

Minimum wage workers are not parents struggling to feed their children. Rather, they are high school or college students living at home. The level of the minimum wage is irrelevant for most people in poverty. Only about 10 percent of poor people of working age have full-time jobs.

The minimum wage, along with increasing it, is a bad economic move for many reasons.

1. The vast majority of economists believe the minimum wage law costs the economy thousands of jobs.
2. Teenagers, workers in training, college students, interns, and part-time workers all have their options and opportunities limited by the minimum wage.
3. A low-paying job remains an entry point for those with few marketable skills.
4. Abolishing the minimum wage will allow businesses to achieve greater efficiency and lower prices.
5. When you force American companies to pay a certain wage, you increase the likelihood that those companies will outsource jobs to foreign workers, where labor is much cheaper.
6. Non-profit charitable organizations are hurt by the minimum wage.
7. The minimum wage can drive some small companies out of business.
8. A minimum wage gives businesses an additional incentive to mechanize duties previously held by humans.
9. Cost-of-living differences in various areas of the country make a universal minimum wage difficult to set.
10. The minimum wage creates a competitive advantage for foreign companies, providing yet another obstacle in the ability of American companies to compete globally.
11. The minimum wage law is just another example of government condescendingly controlling our actions and destroying personal choice. Citizens do have the ability to say no to a lower wage.

Poverty and the minimum wage are becoming a major issue in the Democratic presidential race. John Edwards and Barack Obama are emphasizing raising the minimum wage during their tours of impoverished areas.

I raise the following question: Just how poor are the poor?

The Heritage Foundation produced this report in January 2004. If you haven’t seen it, it has some surprising facts that Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards may want to consider before they embark on their next ghetto tour:

January 5, 2004
Understanding Poverty in America
by Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.

Poverty is an important and emotional issue. Last year, the Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States declaring that there were nearly 35 million poor persons living in this country in 2002, a small increase from the preceding year. To understand poverty in America, it is important to look behind these numbers--to look at the actual living conditions of the individuals the government deems to be poor.

For most Americans, the word "poverty" suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. But only a small number of the 35 million persons classified as "poor" by the Census Bureau fit that description. While real material hardship certainly does occur, it is limited in scope and severity. Most of America's "poor" live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or well-off just a few generations ago. Today, the expenditures per person of the lowest-income one-fifth (or quintile) of households equal those of the median American household in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation.

The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

• Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
• Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
• Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
• The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
• Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
• Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
• Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
• Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America's poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, supernourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier that the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

While the poor are generally well-nourished, some poor families do experience hunger, meaning a temporary discomfort due to food shortages. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 13 percent of poor families and 2.6 percent of poor children experience hunger at some point during the year. In most cases, their hunger is short-term. Eighty-nine percent of the poor report their families have "enough" food to eat, while only 2 percent say they "often" do not have enough to eat.

Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

Of course, the living conditions of the average poor American should not be taken as representing all the poor. There is actually a wide range in living conditions among the poor. For example, over a quarter of poor households have cell phones and telephone answering machines, but, at the other extreme, approximately one-tenth have no phone at all. While the majority of poor households do not experience significant material problems, roughly a third do experience at least one problem such as overcrowding, temporary hunger, or difficulty getting medical care.

The best news is that remaining poverty can readily be reduced further, particularly among children. There are two main reasons that American children are poor: Their parents don't work much, and fathers are absent from the home. (I wonder if Obama and Edwards ever mention this on their campaign trail?)

In good economic times or bad, the typical poor family with children is supported by only 800 hours of work during a year: That amounts to 16 hours of work per week. If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year--the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week throughout the year--nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty.

Father absence is another major cause of child poverty. Nearly two-thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year, an additional 1.3 million children are born out of wedlock. If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, almost three-quarters would immediately be lifted out of poverty.

While work and marriage are steady ladders out of poverty, the welfare system perversely remains hostile to both. Major programs such as food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid continue to reward idleness and penalize marriage. If welfare could be turned around to encourage work and marriage, remaining poverty would drop quickly.

Within the last few weeks, there have been the following stories….

Women do not talk more than men. They talk about the same.

Then we heard that women rule the households.

And now the latest…..men can’t win the argument!

What’s going on here, guys?!



DON’T WANT A BIG INCREASE IN YOUR SCHOOL TAXES? CONTACT FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS NOW.

Goldmann’s gets front-page treatment in today’s Journal/Sentinel.

My friend Dennis Shook at the Shepherd-Express also writes a nice goodbye piece about the historic store.

Neither story touched on the decline of Mitchell Street as I did.