Ten Years

11 years ago today, I asked my Wendy to marry me.  Well, technically “I” didn’t ask her, but that’s a whole other story.  In any case, for reasons that I still don’t understand, she said “yes” and my life was forever changed for the better.

10 years ago today, I stood in a church in Wisconsin.  It was hot, but I wasn’t thinking about that.  My brother stood by my side as my Best Man.  The music kicked in, I turned to my left, and saw an angel floating up the aisle.  Then it struck me… “I’m going to marry that angel.” We said our vows, looked each other in the eyes, kissed, and were forever joined by God. 

Since then we’ve moved several times, bought a home, brought children into that home, worked hard, loved deeply, and built a life together. 

Wendy is my best friend.  She’s the person who I want to talk to when things happen to me – good or bad.  She’s the person with whom I want to spend my time.  I want to talk to her, listen to her, eat with her, play with her, go to football games with her, and everything else. 

Wendy is the mother of my children.  She cares for them, mends their injuries, helps them with their homework, soothes their fears, shares their victories, and guides them through life with a loving hand.  I can see her love reflected in their faces.

Wendy is my partner.  We take on the challenges of the world together.  We share ideas, discuss the future, debate alternatives, and make decisions about our lives.  We each have our responsibilities, and have to live up to them.

Wendy is my wife.  I don’t like the word “wife.” It seems like such a short and gruff word for what it means.  But even if I don’t like the word “wife,” I love mine.  She’s a part of me.  We share a brain, a heart, a soul, a life, a past, and a future.  We are one being in two bodies.  Wendy is my one, my wife, my all.  And I love her more than should be possible for a mortal. 

We have been blessed with 10 years of marriage, but I have been blessed with 11 years of Wendy.  For that, I am unworthy, but forever thankful. 

Thank you, Wendy, for all that you have been, all that you are, and all that you will be. 

I love you.

Obama Forgets 1993-2000

Wow.  This is an Obama fund raising email. 

This has been a convention of extraordinary moments. Ted Kennedy passing the torch to a new generation. Michelle Obama moving the crowd to tears. And tonight, Joe Biden will give the biggest speech of his life.

Shouldn’t that torch have come from President Bill Clinton? 

27-Year-Old Teacher Gets 25 Days for Sexually Assaulting 14-Year-Old

This is a complete disgrace for the legal system in Wisconsin.

A former St. Francis math teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sexual contact with a 14-year-old student, and was sentenced to 25 days in jail and two years’ probation.

Kelly Marie Sweet, 27, has also permanently relinquished her Wisconsin teaching license. She was ordered to register as a sex offender for the duration of her probation.

Just Words.  Just a “Tiny Country.”

Reminder

Hat tip WISSUP.

Doyle Uses Taxpayer Funds For Politics

Um… how is it legal for Governor Doyle to use his taxpayer-funded official website to publish a press release about him addressing the Democrat convention?  Isn’t that a purely political event being advertised with taxpayer funds? 

Hat tip Charlie Sykes.

“The Fly” Goes Opera

Like I said earlier… Um… OK. 

“The Fly,” described as a classical re-imagining of the 1986 movie about an eccentric scientist who turns into a massive fly, will open the new season at Los Angeles Opera in September with LA Opera director Placido Domingo conducting the orchestra.

But fans be warned. Although “The Fly” reunited the movie’s director, composer, costume designer and creature designer, this isn’t just a revered film set to classical music.

“I didn’t want to remake the movie. I didn’t want to rewrite the screenplay again,” Cronenberg, 65, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. “This production has a power and charisma all its own.”

Choices, Choices

My options for the evening:

On Discovery:
Dirty Jobs.  Episode: Dirty Cow Midwife.  Mike visits and Indiana dairy farm where he learns how to milk a cow and clean her udders.  Also, how to artificially inseminate a cow and deliver calves.

Hillary Clinton.

Dirty Jobs it is.

Barbie Clubs Bratz and Takes Her Money

Good decision. 

A federal jury awarded Mattel Inc. $100 million in damages on Tuesday in a federal copyright lawsuit that pitted the house of Barbie against MGA Entertainment Inc., the maker of the saucy Bratz dolls.

MGA and its chief executive officer, Isaac Larian, were told to pay a total of $90 million in three causes of action related to Mattel’s employment contract with designer Carter Bryant, who developed the Bratz concept.

The jury also ordered MGA, Larian and subsidiary MGA Hong Kong to pay a total of $10 million for copyright infringement.

Don’t worry about the folks at MGA.  Bratz net them $500 million a year. 

Kid Rock On Politicians… Well… Not Literally

Cool.

“I truly believe that people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight, should keep their mouth shut on politics,” the rap-rock musician, 37, tells CMT Insider.

“Because at the end of the day,” he goes on to say, “I’m good at writing songs and singing. What I’m not educated in is the field of political science. And so for me to be sharing my views and influencing people of who I think they should be voting for ... I think would be very irresponsible on my part.”

Of the celebs who haven’t taken the same approach, Rock says, “I think celebrity endorsements hurt politicians. As soon as somebody comes out for a politician, especially in Hollywood, when they all go, ‘I’m voting for this guy!’ – I go, ‘That’s not who I’m voting for!’ “

UPDATE: Here’s a little Kid Rock for y’all:

Only God Knows Why

Cowboy

Porn Star Jenna Jameson: “Devout Catholic”

Ummm… OK. 

Adult film star Jenna Jameson is going to be a mommy.

[...]

But the 34-year-old Jameson — who split from adult film studio owner Jay Grdina in 2006 and from porn star Brad Armstrong in 2001— said they have no plans to walk down the aisle.

“I think I’m gonna stay unmarried and just go for the babies!” she told Us. “I’m following in Angelina’s footsteps!”

[...]

She previously told Us she discovered she was two months pregnant in November 2004 after being diagnosed with malignant melanoma. A day later, she miscarried due to the stress of cancer.

But the devout Catholic — who has tried in vitro — told Us, “It was all in God’s plan.”

Helping Out Old Friends

Kempinski is using his new position to put pressure on Waste Management in favor of the union. 

Germantown Village President Tom Kempinski said today he would seek to sever Germantown’s contract with Waste Management if a strike by the company’s employees causes major problems with garbage pickup.

[...]

Until a year and a half ago, Kempinski was the business agent for the union local that went on strike. However, he said he represented the employees of freight companies and not any waste companies.

I’m sure that his constituents are thrilled. 

Lawsuit Over Fund Raid Progresses

Yes, this is still coming. 

The Wisconsin Medical Society told a Dane County judge Monday that he should order the state to restore $200 million to a medical malpractice fund that legislators tapped to shore up the state’s budget.

Thomas Pyper, an attorney for the medical group, said legislators had no authority to take the money because it belongs to doctors who pay into the malpractice fund. Charles Hoornstra, a lawyer for the state, countered that lawmakers can move money from one state fund to another as they see fit.

Dane County Circuit Judge Michael Nowakowski said he would issue a written ruling on the case, but gave no time frame for doing so. Any decision is expected to be appealed, which means the final outcome will likely be determined by the state Supreme Court.

In October, lawmakers passed a budget that transferred $200 million from the malpractice fund to one that provides medical care for the poor, disabled and elderly. By doing so, they freed up money for a host of other state programs at a time when the state is short on cash.

Most people are pretty certain that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the doctors, thus punching a $200 million hole in the budget.  I hope that the lawmakers in Madison remember that when they are working on the budget next year. 

But the best part of the story is the statements of the government’s lawyer.

Hoornstra said the fund had “gargantuan wealth” and can easily pay the $20 million or so in claims made against it each year. The fund had about $840 million in it before the transfer.

In other words, “screw whatever the law says, there’s plenty of money there.”

Lawmakers have the power to dip into the fund to pay medical bills for the indigent because they are not bound by the policy decisions that legislators made in the past, he said.

What?  Can I be unbound from the “policy decisions that legislators made in the past” too? 

Trash Truck Drivers Strike

Yea for unions!!!

Waste Management drivers represented by Local 200 of the Teamsters walked off the job this morning in a contract dispute, union officials said.

Bill Plunket, a Waste Management spokesman, said company and union negotiators were at a bargaining session at a suburban hotel when the Teamsters walked out and went on strike.

“We are disappointed the union has walked away from the bargaining table,” Plunket said.

[...]

Plunket said the company expected there would be some delays in trash pickup, but added that regular service would be restored by the end of the week.

He said drivers would emphasize trash pickup at essential businesses like hospitals and restaurants. Additionally, Waste Management will pay particular attention to Harley-Davidson reunion sites where large crowds may gather.

Strikes drive me nuts.  Management has no recourse or comparable tactic available to them.  If the workers want to get together and walk off the job as a bargaining tactic, that’s fine.  Have at it.  But management should have the discretion to fire them and hire replacements.  If management thinks that the cost of hiring and training new workers is more expensive in both dollars and lost productivity than coming to agreement with the workers, then fine.  If management thinks that hiring and training replacements is a better option, that’s fine too.  But the law is set up so that union workers can strike whenever they want and they face no cost for that other than lost wages.  It’s an unbalanced legal framework.

Nice.

HopeChange!

**WARNING!  F-bombs abound.**

Hat tip:  Charlie