|
The Blogtastic Blogonator
February 2009
Friday February 13, 2009
Posted by: psloth at 10:33AM CST on February 13, 2009
I must give credit where credit is due. That’s not my bit. It’s Dave Blaska’s. He used it on Joy Cardin’s week-in-review show Friday on Wisconsin Public Radio. Blaska, an online blogger for Madison’s Isthmus weekly newspaper, pulled that one out during the panel’s discussion of the “right to breastfeed” bill. The bill had a public hearing earlier this week before a state Senate committee. It was clear the three men — Gene Purcell filling in for Joy Cardin and the Isthmus’ Bill Lueders, the other guest on the show — were a bit uncomfortable discussing a topic like breastfeeding. That’s when Blaska dropped the bomb (in homage to Bob Hope, at least that’s who he credited). Funny or not, the joke helped the three men segue into another discussion. No sooner had I changed the station when I found another group of guys talking about breastfeeding. This time it was the zany folks at Jonathon Brandmeier’s drive-time show from Chicago giggling about the actress Salma Hayek nursing a baby in Sierra Leone. It wasn’t clear if they were giggling about breastfeeding in general or Hayek nursing a stranger’s baby in particular, but giggling is giggling and that is often a response from someone who is uncomfortable about the subject, especially if it’s guys talking about breasts. This is odd considering Brandmeier (who is often hilarious) is no stranger to breasts. He often hosts zany radio gimmicks like getting scantily-clad women (often the well-endowed variety) to parade around, presumably for some kind of prize. So here we are. In a nation with a weird obsession about breasts (the source of food for humanity for millions of years), states like Wisconsin are asked to protect nursing moms from a public that doesn’t flinch at a lady in a bikini selling the image of breasts, but gets a little squeamish when a mom uses her breasts for their intended purpose, in public god forbid. It’s no wonder that some people shake their heads at the fact that Wisconsin’s only real action on the issue of breastfeeding has been to remove it from a list of lewd behaviors. Nice. Wisconsin has a long way to go, so does this country for that matter, before “thanks for the mammaries” is anything more than a punch line.
Thursday February 12, 2009
Posted by: psloth at 2:55PM CST on February 12, 2009
San Juan ... we have a problem. Apparently 100 rooms just opened up at the El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico. Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Dan Bice for reporting about the Associated Bankers’ now-cancelled trip to Puerto Rico. Unpack your Bermuda shorts and your flipflops gang. You’re not going anywhere. The idea of jet-setting executives sipping mojitos in Puerto Rico while the economy circles the drain is a bitter pill for the rest of us to swallow, especially when the bank's top officials are feeding at the government trough. You have to love a columnist who gets the head of one of the state’s largest banks to cancel a trip for 100 of his highest performing execs. My guess is Bice won’t be getting an invitation to the next Associated Bank company picnic. I’m guessing he doesn’t care. You go Dan!Friday February 6, 2009
Posted by: psloth at 10:48AM CST on February 6, 2009
Oh how quickly we turn on our heroes. We set them atop our pedestals hoping beyond all hope that they will be the symbols of perfection that we can never be. Then, when they slip up — and yes more often than not they slip up and do something that runs contrary to the perfect image we’ve formed in our minds — we turn on them. And so it goes with our newest American hero Michael Phelps, the superhuman swimmer with the charming smile and the great backstory. He swam his way into our hearts winning all that gold in Beijing. He was everything we knew we’d never be, which is often how it goes with heroes. His skill was otherworldly. He shattered records and brought crowds to their feet. Then, he went and acted like an average, run-of-the-mill college kid and did something that most of us hope we never do — he got caught doing something stupid. He got caught being human. He shattered the illusion we’d all cooked up in our minds. Do all college kids take hits off a bong? No. But many of them do. It’s inevitable. Is there always some opportunistic slob with a digital devise that can record everything? Yes, sadly there is. Sadder yet, is the fact that in this hero-obsessed culture of ours, where celebrity scandal trumps all else, people like Michael Phelps can never let their guard down. I don’t care how Michael Phelps chooses to party. That’s on him. Listen, I still haven’t forgiven him his dismal appearance on Saturday Night Live. I think that was a greater sin. But society will demand its pound of flesh from this undoubtedly mortal fellow. He’ll lose a lucrative endorsement or two because companies don’t like a flawed figure hawking sneakers or underwear or cereal. While Michael Phelps’s minor drug offense will be immortalized online, this will pass from our collective memory. Then we’ll continue our search for the next flawless person to become the embodiment of all our dreams and hopes. And once again, he or she will no doubt let us down. Wednesday February 4, 2009
Posted by: psloth at 3:45PM CST on February 4, 2009
Great! Just GREAT!!!
Just when I thought it might be over. Apparently, the constant reminders from the TV news folks in Milwaukee, about the upcoming digital transition, will continue.
The country is one step closer to avoiding the bleak scenario laid out in a Public Service Announcement on the Spike Feresten Show.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill to delay the nationwide transition to digital television by four months, from Feb. 17 to June 12. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill, which was passed by the Senate last Thursday.
The House of Representatives was clearly lobbied by local TV media types who saw spring coming and worried about the dearth of weather coverage and feared that American Idol promos would only fill a portion of the void. I’m guessing they knew four more months of digital transition promos would help.
The transition mandates that full-power television stations cease broadcasting on over-the-air signals, and had been set to occur just over a month from now on Feb. 17, 2009. Of the 21 million Americans who are estimated to rely solely on over-the-air broadcasts, forty percent of them are seniors, according to Sen. Herb Kohl.
Kohl co-sponsored the legislation, which also allows the National Telecommunications Information Administration to issue up to one replacement converter box coupon per household for coupons that have expired without being redeemed.
This provision will go into effect when additional funds are appropriated to the coupon program. The Senate and House stimulus packages include $650 million for additional coupons, as well as outreach and installation assistance to vulnerable populations, such as senior citizens.
Tuesday February 3, 2009
Posted by: psloth at 11:14AM CST on February 3, 2009
Senate Bill 16, which was introduced in the Senate last Monday, creates a $200 penalty for anyone ticketed for interfering with a breastfeeding mother. The bill will get a public hearing Feb 9 before the Senate Committee on Public Health, Senior Issues, Long-Term Care, and Job Creation. Similar bills have been introduced in both houses of the Legislature in previous sessions, but have failed to move forward. There is nothing in state law that currently prevents mothers from breastfeeding in public or restricts their ability to breastfeed in public places. |
About This Blog
While I write on a daily basis, as a reporter, I'm new to blogging.
Rather than mix business with pleasure, I've decided to use this blog for writing about subjects different from my work on the Education Beat. Since this is all new frontier to me, it may be a few days before I start a blog here devoted to education related topics, but I plan to do so. I'm no one trick pony. On this blog, I will occasionally wax poetic on a variety of delightful topics, like the ethics of Charlie Brown or finding spiritual nourishment from bad TV. All I ask is that, if you must comment, be kind. I do not suffer fools gladly. Enjoy!  0 rating(s)
Older Posts
Latest Entries
Loading...
Links
Loading...
 |
Leave a Message
Leave a Comment
Request a Friend
