Implosion

Ramon here!

It has come to my attention what is the honest and the real reason for the departure of the Star from The View.

Look at these pictures of the Star from a while back and more recently.


She was not fired. The producers of The View finally acknowledged that she's collapsing under her own mass and they wanted her out of the studio before she turns into a black hole and sucks in all the matter around her, much like she did the small child in the first picture.

Run away! Run away!

Need a Flag?

As part of a promotion for Independence Day, AmericanFlags.com is giving away one million flags to those who ask. It's true. Check it out. All they ask is that you pay the $5.99 in shipping and handling.

Best part about these flags? They're made in the USA.

I haven't lived in my parent's basement for years!

Sometimes I can be a total fanboy. For instance, anytime I learn a childhood favorite from the oh-so-long-ago early '80s is going to make it to the big screen, I get so excited that I have to breath into a paper bag and have someone pat my back until my face regains its natural color.

You can just imagine how I reacted when I first heard that Transformers was being made into a live-action film. Since I've heard rumbling about this for some time, I thought I'd be able to handle the first teaser trailer to hit the web.

I wasn't. Co-workers have been fanning me and offering water ever since I came to on the floor of my office. Which isn't much different than any other day of the week, other than this time they weren't feeding me grapes as well.

Sure, it's by Michael Bay, so that means were going to see some huge panoramic shot at the end of the film as a bunch of Autobots drive off into the sunset, or somewhere in the middle of the film a bunch of autobots will walk in slow motion towards the camera, but I think I can live with that.

Ask Me Later: 10,000, 500, what have you...

Seriously...it's not a virus.

But today is a very special day in the annals of Ask Me Later.

And what better way to bring it to you than with a very special installment of Ask Me Later Now.

Run-time is just short of ten minutes. If you do nothing else today, watch Ask Me Later Now*.

*Okay...you can breathe...but not until you watch this.

Kane Watch: Web Gems

I went to high school with a kid we nick-named Einstein. We did so because he had a tendency to state the obvious.

I haven't thought of "Einstein" in years. Until, that is, I was perusing the fantabulous writings of Mr. Eugene Kane. Check out some of his most recent gems:

Yet more stuff from the White House we didn't know about.
What a shocker: The White House keeps some things secret. Who knew?


It's important for all of us to know exactly what kind of evidence the government has against them.
Yes! You are correct, sir!


If either of these black Republicans wins because of the black vote, that will be a significant development that bears watching.
If they've already won...how can it bear watching?


The show has become pretty popular for female viewers of all races. (I've watched it on occasion doing research on chick stuff.)
Umm...yeah because I recommend that all my male friends watch The View to learn about "chick stuff".


Even the attorney general described them as more "aspirational than operational".
Actually, and now I'm just getting nit-picky, but the story he links to in that post reports, "US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has warned that "domestic terrorists" could become as big a threat as Al-Qaeda." And for the record, the quote he was referring to came from John Pistole, the FBI's deputy director. Annnyway....

You could have knocked me over with a feather after I discovered that some conservatives love the show 24 because they think it's real. OK, so they don't really think it's real...
Huh??

Alright. That's enough fun for one night. Thanks Gene.

Some Things to Ponder

In light of the Surgeon General's recent statement and editorials like this, I decided to go on a fact-finding mission. Here is what I found.

- Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 35,000-62,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

- In 2004, about 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.

- The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that in 2004, 1,272,374 crimes were committed with the use of a firearm. 16,137 murders resulted from these crimes.

After examining these numbers, I'm curious: Of the following scenarios, which do you find most likely to happen to you or someone you know?

a) Dying as a result of secondhand smoke inhalation
b) Encountering a drunk driver on the road
c) Becoming the victim of a violent crime
d) None of the above

Consider Yourself Warned

Cantankerous has emerged from her recent foray into the non-blogging universe. After what she described as a, "few months of a self-induced return to normalcy," she concluded that normalcy is a sick fallacy and has returned, more cantankerous than ever, to grace the pages of Ask Me Later.

Consider yourself warned.

My Final Word?

New York Times?

Treason.

Another race without a horse

At least for me.

19-year-old John Weber is running for 24th District State Assembly as a Republican.

Fox 6 (which, y'know, I watch because of Nicole Koglin, Rene Banot and Mark Concannon's shirts), did a story on him this morning. In it, Weber said his main reason for running was that his opponent, Suzanne Jeskewitz, has run unopposed for the last 8 years. When asked about this, Jeskewitz said that wasn't a very good reason to run for office.

WHAT?!?!?!? THAT'S A FREAKIN' EXCELLENT REASON!

People may forget about this, what with the Kennedys, Clintons and, yes, even the Bushes, having become the very royalty George Washington and gang hoped to oppose, but governance in this country wasn't intended to be manned by a select few turning it into a family business. Candidates like Weber are nipping it in the bud rather than letting it turn into a decades-old debacle nobody can get out of.

If you're in the 24th district, vote Weber, if for nothing else than this kid actually understands what representative government is all about.

By the way...still haven't heard from Jim Ott...

Where the Hell is Matt?

Everywhere, apparently.

This is pretty damned cool.

Who dresses Mark Concannon?

Fox 6 WakeUp host Mark Concannon is apparently taking fashion tips from Seinfeld's Kramer.

Ask Me Later Now: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

We try and we try and we try...

If anyone's been wondering what this post was all about, the truth is that Ask Me Later is taking full advantage of available technology and moving into the world of video blogging.

The unfortunate thing, though, is that while we may be technically adept, we're seriously lacking in many of the other aspects of what it takes to produce a video anything.

But that doesn't mean we're just gonna leave you hanging! If you've ever seen Cannonbal Run, you know that one of the greatest things in the world is the blooper reel.

So without further adieu, here's the very first installment of Ask Me Later Now. If nothing else, at least you didn't have to wait until the closing credits to see some unadulterated behind-the-scences action.

Oh...yeah...sorry.

Asleep at the Modem

A Comcast employee shows up to fix a modem and gets a little tuckered in the process.

And someone gets it on video.

[h/t Betapundit]

In a van, down by the lake...

Via Shark and Shepherd, an interesting post from Renee Crawford of Crawford's Take on the police crack-down of cruisers on Lincoln Memorial Drive and the potential racial motivation behind it, including comments from a police officer.

I'm torn on this one. Frankly, I don't have much appreciation for cruisers, be they the white guys on Highway 100 some years back, my 19-year-old Mequon-raised brother and his buddies, or the predominantly black cruisers on LMD today. It seems that cruising somehow always leads to trouble, something that's just a constant with the activity (see American Graffiti). And to be totally honest, when I drive down LMD after work every day, I don't want there to be anymore traffic then there needs to be.

At the same time, Renee makes a lot of good points related to profiling, not just of cruisers on the lakefront, but of pretty much anyone of color whether they're in a car or not. She also points out how it seems the lake is being "controlled" more and more by the rich homeowners on the hill above rather than by all the taxpayers who subsidize it. Seriously...why can't I be down there after 10pm?

What it comes right down to is that the relationship between police and Milwaukee's blacks is so poor that even when they try to enforce the law there's always a risk of it being considered racially motivated, but that doesn't mean the law shouldn't be enforced.

It's an uphill battle.

*****************

As an aside, before today I hadn't heard of Crawford's Take. The strange thing is that Renee and I know one another.

It really is a small blog world, isn't it?

How 'bout me?

So nobody wants to run against Herb Kohl.

I'll do it!

Anyone? Anyone?

Dennis York: BDHS

Either Dennis York is a graduate of Brown Deer High School, or he went to our freakish clone school, which was always believed to exist somewhere in northwestern Wisconsin but consistently treated as an urban legend.

Seriously, if our nation could survive the era of acceptable mullets, I honestly believe we can make it through just about anything.

Berkman, Hissom, Axed

Via Charlie Sykes, Dave Berkman relates why both he and Doug Hissom are no longer with the Shepherd Express.

Having once worked for the Shepherd, I have my own fair share of tales about the once-respectable paper's downward spiral over the years. Granted, my time there was short-lived and nearly ten years ago, so I can't say with any certainty that what took place back then is related to what's happening now. But, it seems that short of any direct correlation, the similarities are stunning.

Frankly, the place was run worse than a high-school newspaper. I started out selling advertising and was offered a nice base salary plus commission. After quitting the job I worked at all through college, I found out on my first day at the Shepherd that my salary was actually a draw on my commission and that there really wasn't any base at all. On top of the that I was handed a list of existing clients and asked to start enforcing the contracts, which meant encouraging the clients to run the ads they had committed to as well as performing collections. The only problem was that many of the contracts had never been signed, so I had very little to work with. And having a boss that called clients to bad mouth me (which I found out about when the client called me wondering what the problem was) didn't help matters much either.

At the time, the late Scott Kerr was editor of the paper, and no love was lost between him and either Doug Hissom (who was publisher back then) or the sales department. But he and I got along well, and since part of my advertising background was in graphic design, he offered me a position as a layout artist.

After having just won a sales competition in which I brought in a $10,000 contract from a local, popular restaurant (big bucks for the Shepherd), my boss and her cohort, the woefully inexperienced marketing manager, sat me down and told me my sales were awful. I had to agree, but there wasn't much I could do about it, considering I spent most of my time trying to enforce invalid contracts, countering what my boss was telling my clients and attempting to convince potential new clients that advertising alongside 1-900 numbers or editorial content to which they objected wasn't so bad. And I let them know this. I also let them know how their less-than-stellar methods of motivation really didn't do much to encourage the sales people. Nobody ever spoke to them that way before, so their jaws dropped. They dropped even further when I quit on the spot.

And they were quite surprised to find the next day that I was reporting directly to the editor, and as a layout artist, had direct control over where their client's ads would appear in the paper.

Being the layout artist also meant coming in at 7am on the Tuesday before the paper went to press and not leaving until we hand delivered it to the printer. One night in particular, Kerr had had it with the paper, and put together a three page article outlining all its shortcomings. Eventually we (the other artist and I) convinced him not to run it, but completely forgot to remove the "-30-" that appeared over the banner on the front page.

In newspaper terms, "-30-" means "end."

That was Kerr's last issue. Hissom took over as editor and I was gone within two weeks to bigger and brighter pastures.

While there I also witnessed the paper attempt to shut down attempts at unionization and being regularly unable to even make payroll.

Some very talented people worked at the Shepherd Express during my brief tenure, including Berkman and Hissom. While I may disagree with much of what the paper stands for philosophically, I believed their efforts were sincere.

I always thought when I was at the paper it couldn't get any worse.

Lou Fortis just keeps digging the hole deeper and deeper.

Looks like I was wrong.

Justice...

...served.

Some teen goes around randomly throwing punches and kicking people once they're down.

That's horrible.

An ex-boxer witnesses the entire thing and decides to teach the kid how to properly throw a punch.

That's great.

See the video here.

Coming Soon

That's all for now.

Why Bono should stick with singing

Those, such as Bono, Bob Geldof and the economist Jeffrey Sachs, who still advocate the traditional approach he calls Planners, while those looking for a bottom-up alternative are Searchers. According to Easterly: "In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don't motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward. Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them; Searchers accept responsibility for their actions … Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom; Searchers find out what the reality is at the bottom."

Read the rest here.

NOT Drinking Right

At the end of this post is an example of what does not constitute Drinking Right. In fact, the only thing right about it is the fact that the guy is being filmed by a passenger sitting to his right.

But before you check it out, check this out: Drinking Right, after two successful events, is now official. What started out with me, Phel, Aaron and guests, became me, Aaron, Nick, Elliot (yes, we are ADA compliant) and even more guests. Phel wasn't scared away, she just had a conflict. So, yes, we are "female friendly."

For the time being, I'll schedule the monthly Drinking Right at downtown locations. In all honesty, I'm being totally selfish: I work downtown and don't live too far away. When things pick up, we can start exploring new locales. And if things don't pick up, well, then I haven't driven too far from home all for naught!

So, remember, the next event is July 11th, 7pm, at McGillicuddy's on Water Street. The place has a great beer garden and is within view of City Hall, so after a few you can stand on the sidewalk and shout obscenities at politicians. They also have good food, so bring your appetite.

Additionally, I've invited a certain candidate to attend on the 11th. Drinking Right does not and will not endorse any particular candidate, but it does provide a great forum for them to press the flesh and get to know Joe Six-Pack. I'm not sure he'll show up, but if he does, that would be great. And anyone else who'd like to attend is more than welcome, be they a candidate for office, a current office-holder, liberal or curious. Members of PETA are not welcome as I plan wearing my mink tennis shorts.

Finally, if you think you're going to attend, leave a comment. This will not only let me know how many to expect, but also let me know if I should keep an eye out for a person wandering aimlessly looking around for a group of bloggers without their computers, which is just tough to find. Just ask Nick. The recently resurrected Disgruntled Car Salesman (who, by pure chance, I know outside of the blogosphere) has already RSVP'd, so take his example to heart!

And now, the video...

Another one makes the list...

...The N**E List, that is.

Stop on over and check out what's nice about Downer Hardware.

More Flashback: I hear helicoptors!

Below I hinted at my dance club days. Trust me, Madonna had nothing to do with it. It was all about the "industrial." I've never seen the videos for the songs before today. Maybe I did, but I was too busy jumping up and down, kicking in rhythm, which was actually a dance at one time. Oh yeah, there was also that one girl with the nose ring I was checking out.

Flashback

15 years ago, this is what I was doing. Club Marilyn. I carried a cane. Oh yeah.

Nacho!

I took my brother to the pre-screening of Nacho Libre last night. I have been excited for this movie to come out, as I am a big fan of Jack Black. Personally, my sentiment about the movie seemed to echo thousands of others: It’s going to be great or it’s really going to suck. I am very happy to report that I found the movie to be classic Jack Black. It boasts a humor that is not run of the mill. The fighting midgets, the corn cobs, the overdone accents and, of course, the wrestling scenes all provide for an entertaining experience. While I won’t say the movie was excellent, it was definitely good, especially if you enjoy the kind of movie where you find yourself saying, "That is so wrong," at various intervals. As such, I give the movie two thumbs up. I know I will be recommending it to all of my friends.

Chuck

Chuck Norris built a time machine and went back in time to stop the JFK
assassination. As Oswald shot, Chuck met all three bullets with his beard,
deflecting them. JFK's head exploded out of sheer amazement.

I love the man. You should too.

Help a fella out

I knew this but quite often forget it.

Screech, from Saved by the Bell lives right here in Wisconsin.

And he needs our help!

Desecration

The topic of tattoos and piercings is put into (recent) historical context by Triticale.

Somehow I missed it, but apparently Owen is surveying his readership to determine who's inked.

For the record, I have two tattoos. One is regrettable, and someday I'm going to get it changed.

But I have a plethora of tattoo/piercing stories...

1) My father has a tattoo of a heart with my mother's name in it. They've been divorced since I was eleven.

2) I had my ear pierced for the first time when I was 18 and still in high school. It was part of a group effort among a bunch of guys who were about to go to a national competition. My parents were on vacation and this was my act of rebellion. When my grandfather saw it, he thought it was pretty cool. I think he wanted to be a pirate.

3) One of the friends with me when we got our ears pierced (at Boston Store, nonetheless) was 17. He had a credit card but claimed to have no ID. The piercer didn't want to do it. At the time, I worked at a bank and somehow managed to vouche for the guy's age. She pierced him. Things were pretty easy back then.

4) At the national competition, piercings were a big no-no, so we all removed them before our events (only days after we'd been pierced). I promptly returned to my hotel room and re-pierced my ear. It hurt like living hell.

5) By having re-pierced my ear, I learned how easy it was to do on my own. Two years later I had pierced my ears in my bathroom with a lot of paper towel and ice seven times. Years later I would come to discover that with that look I had scared the crap out of many of my classmates, but somehow made them think I was much cooler than them.

6) I got my first tattoo when I was 19 and my parents, once again, were on vacation. It's in a very painful place to have a tattoo and when I told the artist that I'd like to get a better grip on the arm rests she told me it was a bad idea as I would probably pass out. I bit my lip and lived through it, the entire time having my friend Diana laughing at me.

7) I hid it from my mother for a year and eventually moved out on my own. When I moved back home I fessed up. A year later she was actually recommending tattoo artists to me. Now, she has more tattoos than me (all small and lady-like). In fact, her and my sister went together once to get tattoos. Amazingly, we're not white trash!

8) When I was sitting in the waiting room for my second tattoo, another guy was there who was extremely nervous. He asked if I was waiting to get a tattoo done as well. I said, "No, I'm here for a haircut."

9) In my early twenties I got a non-ear piercing. I was very much in love with a girl I worked with and we agreed to get pierced together. I had my nipple done. She went much more private. I won't go into details, but her nickname after that was Delores.

10) Today I still have the tattoos but no piercings. The nipple-ring fell out while I was sleeping one night and I was never able to get it back in. I've grown out of the ear-piercing thing. Oddly enough, the only hole that's still open and allows me to throw in an earing for joke purposes from time to time is the one I had done when I first decided to desecrate my body.

Good times. Good times.

Kane Watch: Any Way You Can

Apparently Eugene Kane interviewed a convicted tire-slasher for his article on Riverwest.

Frankly, I liked Kane's article. It was a great exploration into how citizens of a community take ownership over their community and don't just wait for someone else to handle their problems.

But it would seem that one of Kane's sources was none other than "Gibson Caldwell III, who is currently serving his sentence for slashing the tires of Republican Get Out The Vote vans."

Owen Robinson, of Boots and Sabers fame, pointed this out.

Eugene Kane, of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel infamy, used this as an opportunity to go after Charlie Sykes, not Owen, who through the help of an attentitive reader in the first place, made the good catch.

Whether or not Kane knew who he was interviewing, at this point, is beside the point. That he's going after another person's unfortunate personal history speaks volumes. This reminds me of attorneys who don't necessarily go after the responsible party, but the party with the deepest pockets.

Owen picked up on the fact. Charlie exposed it. Kane went after Charlie.

Talk about shooting the messenger!

As one buddy of mine would put it: Typ.

Temptation

I have a question for other bloggers.

Ask Me Later enjoys exposure to approximately 50 readers a day. By no means does this make us "big media," but it does mean that 50 people who would not normally get to hear our opinions get to.

Lucky them.

So, my question is, how often have you considered using your blog for evil? How often have you thought, "if I blogged about this, that would show 'em!"? With what frequency have you had to stop yourself from posting something not necessicarily because you didn't think anyone would care to read about it, but because you thought it might be petty or just uncalled for?

Blogging can be cathartic. But once you're "exposed," be it by being added to a far more popular blogroll or by just attracting that regular readership, is your cathartic release inhibited?

Or is it just me?

Good Eats

Ask Me Later would like to extend a huge congrats to our friends Andy and Mina Tenaglia and their restaurant, Lagniappe Brasserie, for making Dennis Getto's list of top 30 Milwaukee restaurants.

One evening over drinks, Andy shared with me a number of his trade secrets, including writing down his recipe for a fantastic red sauce. It turned out great. But having eaten at his restaurant, I'm certain he didn't share all his secrets with me. Check them out for yourself!

Best. Bar. Ever.

Tonight I discovered, with the assistance of a friend, the best bar ever.

And I liked it so much that I'm not telling anyone about it.

So...nyah.

Quoted

Vikki Ortiz quoted me in her ongoing debate between single guys and their married friends.

It's an interesting conversation. And a lot of guys are offering their thoughts.

Check it out.

And, by the way, I'm not from Racine.

(And my middle name is Edward)

Random. Eight. Now.

Phel did it. So did Belle. I'm not a follower, just a copy-cat.

1. I'm two degrees of separation from William Shatner. That's not a big deal unless you're a Trekkie. And I'm a closeted Trekkie. That I'm posting this on my blog kinda takes me out of the closet, doesn't it? But the uniform stays firmly there.

2. I make killer gumbo. The recipe is inspired by something I had in New Orleans when I was in my early teens. I've returned to the Big Easy several times since and discovered, to my disappointment, that my gumbo is better than theirs.

3. Heart. Sleeve.

4. I couldn't care less about baseball. I can't stand going to games. I have no desire to watch it on television. But I love movies and documentaries about it and will not change the station if it's on the radio.

5. Boxers.

6. I'm immensely superficial but feel guilty about it. Well, that is, only if the person judging me is good looking.

7. Until I was in high school, I had trouble falling asleep every night for fear of the Soviets launching nuclear warheads...specifically at Milwaukee.

8. I'm superstitious, but make up my own superstitions.

Making It Official...

...and, of course, getting it right.

Drinking Right has always been a good time, even if there relatively few of us and we end up doing things so very, very wrong.

So I'd like to make the scheduling of Drinking Right official. That means there'll be a day to which everyone can look forward. It also means that by putting it on a regular schedule, I won't have to put up pictures of John Belushi or drunk dogs to get people there.

Effective today, Drinking Right will take place on the first Tuesday of each month.

The next one will take place at McGillicuddy's, located on Water Street in downtown Milwaukee, on July 11th.

I will provide more information as the day draws near, but eventually I hope everyone will just know it's going to happen. It's like the sun rising. Like it or nor, there it'll be.

Mark your calendars now. In pen. Or crayon. Or by cutting out letters with the safety scissors you're allowed to have.

And always remember: drinking right isn't about being right, it's about being drinking.

Silliness

A number of bloggers have been questioning the citizenship of criminals.

To them, I say, you're missing the argument of illegal immigration as much as those who wish to eliminate the word illegal from the argument.

Don't go there.

You're starting to look foolish.

And starting is being kind.

One would think...

...when someone is running for elected office and received multiple requests for information in order to endorse that someone, someone would reply.

One would think when someone's lack of communication is pointed out, they would make an effort to rectify that situation as soon as possible, particularly considering someone's opponent took the initiative to open a line of communication.

One would think when someone's opponent points out the coverage someone is receiving regarding the lack of someone's communication on their campaign website, someone would really make an effort to rectify the situation.

One would think those who run for public office understand the public they hope to represent.

One would be wrong.

Everybody Cut; Everybody Cut!

JSOnline's Daybreak reports:

THURSDAY, June 1, 2006, 8:24 p.m.

Roots loses its dance license

It's the last dance for the Root Cellar.

The Milwaukee Common Council has revoked the dance license for the Brewers Hill bar, 1818 N. Hubbard Ave., after noise complaints from neighbors. The move does not affect liquor licenses for the bar and its sister restaurant, Roots.

I don't know about you, but I think the Reverend Shaw Moore was behind this. After all, it makes far more sense to revoke an establishment's dance license than it does to revoke its liquor license. Those crazy kids and all that dancin'! Someone's likely to get hurt!

No One is Safe

Looks like Xoff is in a tizzy due to some missing h/t's from the Spice Girls. For what it's worth, it's an amusing read to say the least. You know, I never would have pegged Xoff as the sensitive type:

Oh, that's it. Right here Wednesday morning. The NY Times editorial they mention was here on Tuesday morning.

The Spiceblog says:

Journal Sentinel columnists Cary Spivak and Dan Bice trudge through the scores of local political blogs so you don’t have to.

I'm thinking of a new slogan: Xoff reads the NY Times and WashPost so the Spice Boys don't have to.

From here on out the Spice Girls will have to get their h/t's in order, or I think someone is gonna start pulling hair.

Jim Ott: Quickly Losing my Support

About a week ago I commented on how I felt Jim Ott is a good candidate for the 23rd District Assembly position, even though I don't live in that district. I even went so far as to send him an e-mail looking for further details regarding his candidacy.

In response, I received a lengthy personal e-mail from his primary opponent, John Wirth, asking me to consider his qualifications as well. I replied to him that since I'm not in that district, and that since Jim Ott's name recognition was what initially drew me into researching the Ott platform, I was simply unaware of his candidacy. A couple of e-mail exchanges later, I'm now receiving Wirth press releases.

For the record, John Wirth opposes the proposed regional sales tax as a way of funding "cultural assets." According to him, "the problem is not that government taxes too little, it is that government spends too much, and is badly run."

Meanwhile, I've yet to hear anything in response from Jim Ott, the man or the campaign, in spite of two requests for information submitted via his campaign website. Now I realize I'm not in his district, but some of my fifteen readers are, as well as my parents. Is the Ott campaign willing to lose even one vote just by being non-responsive to someone who gave unsolicited support in the first place?

For the most part, Wirth and Ott have the same platform. I expressed to John Wirth that I felt voters in that district were in a win-win situation, believing they had two good primary candidates from which to choose. But now it appears one candidate is interested in personally engaging voters while another would rather disregard them.

This isn't about sour grapes. I wouldn't normally expect either candidate to pay attention to little old me. But I was surprised to hear from Wirth in the first place, which raised my expectations and, quite frankly, impressed me.

A campaign is more than just a platform, it's about the person as well. So far, one is impressing me more than the other.

Demand a Refund

A woman in England is refusing to pay her taxes until the city cleans up her crime-infested neighborhood.

This is a great idea. Residents of Milwaukee's high-crime neighborhoods should consider doing the same thing.

Getting it Right

Elliot, Aaron, Nick and I, along with countless, adoring fans, enjoyed fine weather and even better liquor at last night's Drinking Right (see below).

In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I didn't even go to work today!

Actually, an ex-squirrel fried itself on an electrical post behind my house this morning, so I decided to burn a vacation day, wash the dogs, hang out in the garden and, obviously, blog. The power's now back on, but the lesson I learned is that I should always have at least one ironed shirt and one pair of pressed pants...just in case.

At least I had clean underwear. After last night, the prospect of that was a little sketchy.