Fire Timeline, Pumpkins Taxed, and Weird Haloween Treats

Good Morning...

Hope your Beggars night went well whether you were watching the trick or treaters coming up the walk or if you were out with the kids last night. We'll get back to Halloween in a minute...

First to the News

Barton Solvents
We got a good explanation of what happened at the Barton Solvents plant in the minutes before and after the huge fire started there. The company seemed to be very up front about what happened and I even think I heard the President of the Company speculating about the cause of the spark that started the fire. I thought it was an interesting move...

By opening the site of the fire up to cameras and by telling everything they know about the circumstances surrounding the fire, this story has nowhere to go. A lot of companies first instinct would be to circle the wagons and make sure "the sensational media" doesn't get anything from them. Instead, he opened his business up, allowed us to see what was going on. The result? Stories this morning don't speculate on a cause or about the safety record of the company...they focus on the information we were given yesterday. If you have nothing to hide...why hide it? It''s a smart lesson. I also think side result of this is that the stories of the fire will die off a lot faster. We'll of course follow up when the Federal investigation is over but that will be months from now.

I'm not saying this guy tried to pull one over on the Media, I'm just saying, it can pay off just to be up front about a situation.

Cancer Study
There's a new study that links weight with risks for all kinds of cancer. It's the first time the two have been connected in a study. Here's a link to the summary of the study online. It's got some interesting facts including the foods that the panel concluded increase and decrease a person's chance at getting 6 types of cancer.

Democrats Debate
Did anyone else see the large bulls-eye on Sen Hillary Clinton's back last night. She might as well have done the debate standing with her back to the audience...it would have made it easier for all of the other Democrats standing on stage to stab her in the back. It didn't matter what question it was...every candidate took the time to say why Hillary Clinton isn't the right candidate for the American people. I'm sitting there thinking...if I'm a Republican strategist, I'm taking notes and clipping sound bytes for commercials in the General Election.
I know The Republicans are doing the same thing during their debates...It just was so much more pronounced last night.
By the way... I thought by any objective measure, Sen Clinton took the beating and deflected the criticism without looking defensive. She turned every criticism on it's ear by simply stating and restating her views.

The Great Pumpkin Debate
We watched this on TV last night. Still funny at 33. Poor Charlie Brown. But no other story generated as much buzz on the set this morning. Iowa is now taxing pumpkins because they're used more for decoration than for eating? Really? Are we that hard up for money in this state? And if I eat the seeds but use the pumpkin for decoration, which category do I fall into? I'm sorry but someone should have seen the PR nightmare this was going to create and stop this one before it started. What's next?...tax candy canes extra because they're decoration? How about valentine's candy while we're at it. Maybe we can do an Easter Bunny Surcharge? In the month of March and April all rabbits sold in the state of Iowa can carry an extra tax!

My Playlist Monday...
We're going to take another shot at this starting next Monday. You can blog here with your favorite five songs you've downloaded lately on your MP3. We're all looking for new music so we don't get bored. Send us your favorite new music with the artists and your name and hometown. We'll pick one of the playlists and announce it Monday morning. It's that simple.
Here's a couple of my most recent downloads:

1. Where You Are-Mark Broussard
2. Grey Sky Eyes-Carbon Leaf
3. Chicago-Ingram Hill
4. When She Loves You-Emmerson Hart
5. The Best-John Ondrasik
   
   To get things started... here are 5 songs I recently downloaded. I tried to pick songs that you won't hear on the radio but are some of my current favorites. In the meantime, I am excited to find out what some of you are listening to these days. I like being introduced to new artists who are not well known yet. Or, being reminded of some of the old classics that I love but haven't heard in a while. We plan to get a local celebrity playlist going as well. I think it is fascinating to see what well-known people are listening to. I think it gives you a glimpse into their personal side.
   

Brooke's Playlist

1.Ray LaMontagne, "Trouble"

2. James Morrison, "You give me something"

3. John Legend, "Save Room"

4. Julie Roberts, "Unlove Me"

5. Joe Cocker, "Feeling Alright"

Weird Halloween CandyWhat's the weirdest treat your kids brought home last night? I've seen some pretty outrageous candy in the stores but I wonder how many people actually give it out?

One of the things I love about Halloween around here is that children almost always tell you a joke to get the treat. Where I grew up, this never happened. It's really cute. My favorite last night was, "Why did the golfer wear two pair of pants? In case he got a hole in one."

PWD and BB

Chemical Plant Explosion, Electrocution and Beggar's Night

Today we were continuing our coverage of the Barton Solvents Plant explosion that happened yesterday afternoon. I have a feeling quite a few of you saw the smoke in the sky yesterday when you were driving home from work. I noticed it when I was running errands yesterday and apparently people living in Pella could even see it. As we were watching video this morning of the massive fire and the tanks getting tossed into the air, we couldn't help but be amazed that no one was seriously hurt.

Explosion

Investigators from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Board are in town today to figure out what caused the explosion. They investigate fires like this one. One of the interesting parts of this story is that another Barton Solvents plant burst into flames just four months ago. That one was down in southern Kansas. People lived near that plant. Luckily there were no homes close to this plant in Des Moines but today our reporters will be asking what, if any, impact the chemical explosion will have on air quality in the surrounding area.

Electrocution

This is a sad story. An Indianola man was electrocuted Sunday night on the city's south side and police now think he was trying to steal copper wire because the metal is so expensive to purchase these days.

Beggar's Night

Parents and their children have some great weather for trick-or-treating. It it supposed to reach at least 70 degrees today and will be the perfect evening for walking the neighborhoods. We have all the information about trick-or-treat times on our website if you don't already know when your town celebrates Halloween. Pat mentioned the other day that Beggar's Night was actually created because some people were not comfortable with the idea of celebrating Halloween which has its origins in pagan rituals.

Hope you all have a safe Beggar's Night and enjoy this beautiful day. It might be the last of the warm weather for a while.

One more thing....

Brad pointed out this morning that some people have been posting on a blog from about a week ago. I've gone ahead and deleted the entire line of posts because it's a conversation irrelevant to this blog.

If you want to have a blog about Brad's personal life go have one. One thing I won't have here is comments about people in our lives. Brad, Brooke Jeriann and I put ourselves in the public eye through our work. We are careful not to do too much with our families on air or online for a lot of reasons. One of them is that they do not deserve, and there is no reason to be critical of them...especially here. It doesn't matter how it came up or what your intentions were. A person who never asked for any publicity does not deserve public scrutiny. Say what you like about Brad, Brooke, Jeriann and I...leave the people who are in our lives out of it.

With my hand already on the delete button, I wish you all a good day.

BB +PWD

Caucus Date Set, A-Rod Walks Away, and You can Never go Home

Good Morning,

As many of you heard this morning my voice is recovering from a weekend in Columbia, MO. I went down to see some friends from school and watch the ISU/MIZZOU game.

More on that later, but I found that my voice is not trained to have a screaming conversations with someone in a loud college bar anymore. I sounded a little like Peter Brady at times this morning. Sorry some of the pics are so small...I'll try to get them so you can see them later...

To the News:

Caucus Changes

Finally! We've got a date and it's the third of January. Democrats decided this Sunday that they'd Caucus the same day as the Republicans. All of the Media around the world thank Iowa Democrats for this decision. Now it's up to New Hampshire to set it's primary date.

We also ran a story about how the caucus date will impact New Year's Eve plans here in Des Moines. Apparently the Embassy Suites is cancelling its New Year's bash because all the media and candidates will be in town and have already booked a lot of the rooms and ballrooms.

Waukee Fire

There was some discussion of response wines for fire departments after a Waukee home burned down this weekend. The official response time was 11 minutes, but neighbors told us they thought it was much longer. I commented off air this morning that I tell my friends this a lot. If you look at the property taxes and how much each city pays, the taxes in the suburbs are much cheaper but it's in part, because of the lack of a fully staffed, around the clock fire department. This is no knock against the professionals who do work out in the suburbs. They do a fine job. I am saying many of the suburban units supplement their force with part time or volunteer firefighters. That keeps benefit costs down for the cities, but it also means sometimes, especially at off hours, your response times are going to be a little slower. This is an issue that a lot of those suburban communities are talking about as they look toward steady growth and the future.

A-Rod Walks Away

Alex Rodriguez is walking away from the option years of his contract. To you and me that's 72 million dollars. He's opted to be a free agent and try to move. I read a couple of articles about this and it makes some sense. Apparently he doesn't like the Media spotlight in New York all that much. A city like Chicago or even LA might be a little better for him and that's where he's thinking about going. But any way you slice it Red Sox Fans can't be happy this morning about A-Rod stealing the thunder of another Red Sox World Series.

You Can Never Go Home.
Some College friends and I found ourselves mumbling this under our breath as we walked around trying to find some of our old haunts in Columbia this weekend.

Unfortunately bars and restaurants come and go. We muddled through finding a few new spots to hang out and counting on some old classics that will always be around.

We met up from all points on the map to see one another and our beloved Missouri Tigers...who by the way looked pretty good against a scrappy Iowa State team this weekend.

We had great seats in one of the newly constructed suites at Farout Field. These things are a great way to see a college football game. If you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up.

When people refer to lifelong friends, these are truly mine. We fall into the same old shtick whenever we get together, and whether it's been two weeks or two years since we've seen one another, I feel like we haven't lost the fun that made us friends in the first place.

We started at one of the most beautiful views in Missouri in my opinion. The Les Bourgeois winery along the Missouri River was one of our favorite Friday afternoon hang outs. They still have really bad, cheap wine, but they've also developed a really good, more expensive wine. Thank God we've all developed salaries in the years since we were poor college students and could only afford a bottle of "Riverboat Red"...yes that's what it's called.

We are, however, not 21 anymore. We tried our best to keep up with the kids this weekend and while some of my friends were more successful than I...we all have lost a step in this category. And so it goes.

We had a great time and will do it again when time permits.

The only low-light of the weekend was getting a ticket on the way home. I was only going ten miles over the limit on I-35 and was in the middle of a pack of cars when the trooper pulled out behind us all. we all pulled over to the right lane. he want past me...looked at all the other cars (all Missouri plates) then slowed down and pulled me out of the line. When I asked him about it, he says...yeah the guy in front of you was going faster ands the guy behind was going just as fast but you just stood out. Why, I asked...because I have Iowa plates and am less likely to come to court and fight the ticket? Something like that...he said. I might just go down to Clay County and have my day in court.

I had a lovely weekend. Spent yesterday at Gray's Lake enjoying the nice weather. Evan is feeling a lot better and most of his rash is gone. I am sure this is just the first of many doctor visits and illnesses to come. We have his Halloween costume ready. He will be a chicken this year and the costume is hysterical. If it were socially acceptable, I would take him trick-or-treating around the neighborhood so I could get a nice stash of chocolate. Have a great day!

Anyway, Have a good day.

PWD

More Maytag, Recall Info and A Really Fun Friday!

Good Friday Morning!

I'm headed out of town this weekend so I'm going to be uncharacteristically brief this morning so I can get outa town. I'll explain.

While Pat is off having fun recreating his college days, I will be home hopefully catching up on sleep. I absolutely love this shift but by the end of the week I think we are all running on empty. To make matters worst, last night I spent three hours at the Urgent Care Clinic because Evan developed a rash all over his body. Come to find out, he has Fifth Disease. It's a viral infection also known as Slapped Cheek Disease because it looks like the child got slapped in the face. Poor little guy. There is nothing you can do but let it run its course.

To The News:

More Maytag

The one thing I never got an explanation on was why the workers at the plant yesterday left their shoes on the fence outside the plant ? I'd like an explanation if you know why. The biggest thing I noticed in all of the coverage surrounding the Maytag closure, it's like reopening an old wound. We've had a year to deal with this and there's been a lot of GOOD news for the City of Newton. Still you get a sense of how deeply the community feels it's roots in Maytag when people speak emotionally about the loss.

Recalls

A couple of products for kids are being recalled this morning and our producer Heather was nice enough to send s the information...

Crib repair info:
http://webmail.localtvllc.com/owa/redir.aspx?URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.simplicityforchildren.com%2f … or the company's hot line at 888-593-9274.
Both the bumbo seat and crib repair are on the cpsc website too:
http://www.cpsc.gov/

Caucus Date

Channel 13's Dave Price was the first to report that the caucus date for Dems will likely be moved to January 3rd like the Republicans did. This means we'll all caucus the same night. As a reporter covering the Caucuses that night, I can say without reservation that I'm glad we won't have to recreate our coverage twice.

Dave is also doing a series of interviews with the candidates in November. He's excellent at asking the hard questions and really digging to get the not-so-scripted answers, but if you have anything you would like to hear from the candidates, let us know. It is always nice to hear what voters want to know about the candidates.

California Fires

The number of dead in the California fires is going up. As homeowners and fire crews get back into the neighborhoods that burned, they're discovering bodies.

Do you Believe?

In Ghosts...that's the question AP presented to more than 1000 people. A little more than a third said yes...about the same believe in UFOs. 19% believe in the existence of spells or witchcraft. If you believe in ESP...you already know how many people believe in it.

Weekend Plans

Iowa State fans I apologize. This is the one weekend of the year I set aside my loyalty to the state of Iowa. I'm headed back down to Columbia Missouri to visit the City I attended college in, and see some friends. We all went to college together and are spread out across the country so it will be really good to see everyone. This is one more reason my wife is a gem. She knows she's welcome, but also knows the conversation is going to be mind-numbingly boring to someone who didn't go to school with all of us. She's going to stay here and hold down the fort. I hope to have some blog appropriate pictures to share Monday.

If there are any Iowa state fans in Columbia that happen to see me out this weekend...please stop to say Hi.

PWD

and BB

Maytag, Bullying, and Cox and Dix

I'll explain that last reference in a minute...

First Welcome back Brad Hook! We were happy to see you blogging. By the way, my bad for not returning your last call. I'm still waiting for that tidbit of info you were asking about.

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry. I've been side tracked by a few other things going on in the newsroom. But I am happy to be back.

To the news:

Maytag

(With apologies to J Peterman)It'll always be Maytag to me. I'm having trouble with the "Whirlpool plant that was the former Maytag plant...."???????

(For those of you who haven't watched every episode of Seinfeld at least 5 times, this is a reference to a character on the show who talked about the country of Myanmar and says, "It will always be Burma to me." Just thought I would let you in on this in case you were confused like me.)

Anyway there have been rumors for weeks that the plant is going to close down a day earlier than the company announced. The idea would be to avoid media coverage when they close the place down. Do you really think that's a possibility? I can see that conversation in the newsroom:

We were gonna go to cover the Maytag closing but that sneaky Whirlpool Company pulled one over on us...Oh well!

We'll have coverage of the Newton closing whenever it happens over the next couple of days.

Rice Protest
I'm all for protesting, I would say I am for just about any form of speech, but I have to admit, the form of protest used in a Congressional hearing yesterday turns my stomach a little.
If you missed it, a woman walked up to The Secretary of State as she was coming into a committee hearing room. The woman had red paint on her hands to signify the "blood of Iraqis killed in the war". Of course, the idea is that that blood is on Rice's hands.
Again, before I say this, I want people to know that I support this woman's right to protest, and in the end day I support her right to do it in this way, but I just have this sinking feeling that a lot of the protests happening, especially in regards to the war, aren't done out of a genuine effort for change. This was a publicity stunt plain and simple. I'd have to question if she really thought that her screaming was going to change Secretary Rice's mind on the issue of the war. She didn't trying to engage in a conversation or even ask questions. She was shouting at the Secretary of State so she would make the news. And you guessed it, we bit.
I had a thought this morning: I wonder if early on in the Civil Rights movement, the protesters were doing what they did to make headlines, or to seek a real change. Anyone would have a hard time arguing Rosa Parks not giving up her seat was a publicity stunt.
If the body of people wanting to end the war is large enough that the administration should change it's course...why not march on the Washington Mall every week until there is overwhelming public support in your favor? It seemed to work for Martin Luther King Jr.
The March on Washington was a demonstration of a real and growing sentiment in the United States. Hardly a publicity grab.
All forms of protest are legal and in my opinion, should be protected. So if you want to run up to Cabinet members with paint on your hands screaming...feel free. I just see no real effort at change there. It's simply a way to get your face in the papers and for you to feel like you've, "done something".
One more thing...There's a group of protesters that have been in Nollen Plaza pretty much every week since the war started. They don't call us every week asking us to come down there, they don't scream and yell. They organize a group of people who honestly believe something about this country should change. By their mere presence in the plaza they remind anyone passing of their opinion, and they might even get people to think about the war, talk about it and debate it. I have a lot of respect for those protesters and the way they're exercising their rights.

Bullying Conference

Down at Simpson College today, they're going to have a conference on helping schools develop an anti-bullying policy. This, of course is due to the state mandate for a written policy in every school on bullying. I'm back and forth on this one.

On the one hand I'm surprised more school districts didn't have a policy in place already. I think a lot of them did...they just called it a disciplinary policy. If a student did something an adult didn't like they'd discipline the kid. The law grew out of a concern that, teachers, administrators and school districts around the state wouldn't do anything about kids being bullied because of real or perceived sexual orientation.

I am of the opinion that a lot of the "bullying" that goes on can be dealt with without a law. But some of the things I hear about kids going through would put me in therapy.

It sounds like the school's approach to bullying is changing with the times. One of the things Megan talked about in her story was the need for these rules and laws because this generation of students doesn't get the kind of social conditioning they need at home that teaches them not to bully kids at school. A college professor Megan talked to said kids are spending more time alone at home playing video games. They are also spending less time at the dinner table with their families. Add all of these things up and you get children who aren't getting guidance about how to treat their peers at school. What do you think? Are schools and lawmakers going to far by creating all these laws?

Cox and Dix

As you can imagine I had a few choice nicknames growing up. I probably wouldn't call it bullying, but it bordered on it. My Dad tells the story of all of my siblings coming home at one time or another and asking if we could change our last name. I hate even hearing that today because I'm so proud of my family...but kids are kids.

Anyway, I finally found a way to turn that teasing into what would have been the greatest Student Council President campaign ever.

Going into Junior Year of High School my friend Dan Cox had just finished his time as Sophomore Class President. He wanted the job again, but he wanted other people on the student council he could work with . The Junior Class planned the Prom and Dan didn't want to fight with people he didn't like all year. So he convinced me to run with him as his Vice Presidential Candidate. We thought we'd work well together. That's honest to God why we got into the race.

So we're thinking about possible slogans to try to communicate that sentiment...

We came up with , "Cox and Dix for Junior Class President and Vice President because: 2 heads are better then 1."

Needless to say we both realized what we'd done and decided we were on a roll.

We put some up over the Urinals saying, "Our Future is in your hands"

I won't go into all of the rest.

We thought it would work and it did at first. Administrators approved the signs to hang up and didn't realize what we'd done until one of the deans of the school went into one of the boys bathrooms.

We were quickly called into the office. We tried to argue that we were shocked and our feelings hurt by the implication our names were in some way offensive. It didn't work.

The Dean threatened to suspend us and call our parents in unless we withdrew. We caved. Nothing was a bigger threat to me than calling my parents in. We didn't tell them about it until we were in College. They claim to this day that they would have backed us up. I believe it now.

I know this is long so the last thing I'll say is that the Principal of the school came up to us on Graduation night and said, "That Cox and Dix campaign thing?....I loved it...it was the most creative campaign I've ever seen. Good luck in College guys"

Now that it's on the Internet I can officially stop telling that story...something my wife wishes I'd done years ago. She's heard the story about a thousand times.

GPS Jacket

This story made me laugh. A jacket that has a Global Positioning System in it is now being marketed to parents who worry about their children. It sells for about 300 dollars and the navigational technology will set you back about 20 dollars a month. If you ask me, it would take about a day for kids to figure out that this was a GPS coat. So parents shouldn't even bother! See you tomorrow.

Hope you have a great day.

PWD

California Fires, Hospital Hoopla, and Fun Forecast Hits the Road

Good Morning...

For the record I drive a Honda Pilot, the Learjet is down for maintenance right now....

See yesterday's posts for one of the most confusing, amusing and irrelevant assessment's of our personal lives ever written on this blog...and that's saying something!

To the News

California Fires

You know it's bad when they're putting Iowa DNR firefighters on notice that they could be called out to help in California. Bad it is. More than a million people are out of their homes, thousands of homes burned down or damaged by fire and smoke and that number is expected to go up. I don't know why this doesn't feel like the kind of disaster we had during Hurricanes Rita and Katrina but the scale is approaching that kind of incident. Firefighters say they have no control over most of the fires and that many of them will burn all the way to the ocean. Here's an interactive map on MSNBC that explains where some of the fires are. I also saw some good video shot by MSNBC viewers. As always Iowa Red Cross will step in to help as well. Red Cross personnel are already headed out to California to help.

Hospital Hoopla

Do you live out west? Do you feel like you need a hospital in your backyard and if so, why don't you like the locations of the hospitals we have right now? These are the questions I have as we get ready to build two new facilities out in The western suburbs. The State Board that hands out "Certificates of Need" to the hospitals will take up plans for a new Iowa Health Systems Hospital. I'm sure there are people smarter than me who are planning ahead for the growth of this community. I hope they're right.

Unhappy Trails

Two of my neighbors stopped by last night to tell me the city had changed it's plans for the extension of what they're calling the Waveland Trail. Since I'm in the neighborhood near where the trail extension is planned they wanted me to know about a change in the city's routing. It's closer to a lot of my neighbor's homes and that's why they're concerned. No one is saying they want the trail to go somewhere else, they're just concerned there won't be any privacy. The trail was supposed to be routed on the other side of a creek that runs along all of these properties but I guess another home down the street complained a little too loudly about that plan. Anyway, the point of all of this is that I'm feeling like a bad citizen this morning. I feel like I should have gone to that meeting and expressed my opinion. I told me neighbors they could speak for me but there's power in numbers and if I'd gone I would have first hand knowledge of the plans. Right now I'm just dealing with the neighborhood rumor mill/information network.

I often think of this when people get mad at a city or a school board or a county about some plan that effects their lives. Usually, no one speaks up until the end...not because there's a lack of opportunity...it's usually because chances like the one I had last night are blown off or deemed a low priority.

If you want to know what's going on in your neighborhood, take the initiative and make it your business to know. If you don't, I'm not sure how solid your argument will be when you don't like the results.

Fun Forecast Hits the Road

Jeriann will be hitting the road during the month of November. Each Friday she's going to find an interesting community to go out and have breakfast with on a Friday morning. She wants your suggestions. Go to the weather page and find Jeriann's Fun Forecast for more details.

Have a good day.

PWD

9/11 Memorial, Women and a Financial Wake-up Call and What is Art?

Good morning....

We've got some questions for you this morning...I thought there were an unusual number of stories that could spark some interesting conversation I hope you think so too and I hope you respond.

9/11 Memorial

The Traveling memorial featuring the stories of a lot of the survivors of the attacks on New York City, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. Megan had a live guest who lost his son, who was a firefighter in NYC. He travels with the exhibit because he says he doesn't want people to forget what happened, and that the attacks were an attack on every community in the US not just NYC.

Even seeing some of the photos on TV was a reminder of what a powerful and emotional memory this is. The exhibit opens at 10am and is set up near the Capitol building.

Shuttle Discovery

It's set to take off this morning from Florida but the weather isn't looking good. If Discovery lifts off today it will be the first week in November when Iowa State University grad Clayton Anderson comes home. He's been at the International Space Station for four months now.

Wildfires

The description of conditions in California sounds horrible. Ash from wildfires is filling the air, and along with the ash that falls like dust on just about everything, it's got to make it hard to breathe. A quarter million people are out of their homes this morning and that number could grow.

SE Polk AD on Leave

We talked a lot about this story off camera this morning. The AM crew agreed, based on the description of the incident in the Police report, this is not grounds to charge the AD at Southeast Polk with Assault. They don't just ask kids to leave football games for no reason, so something, no matter how minor lead up to this incident. The Administrator then has the right to ask the kid to leave the game. If that's the case, you leave. If you feel like you were wronged in some way you take it up with the District later. The description of the kid being pushed from behind, and therefore feeling assaulted sounds like an insult to people who are actually physically assaulted. How much can you do pushing someone in the back? You could push a kid down, you might even bruise a kid if you smacked him in the back. There's no description on any injury like that. I'd like to hear more from both sides.

I'd also like to think the kid had a legitimate claim here but I am leaning toward an overreaction by a parent who thinks their kid can't do anything wrong. When any of us reading this were kids, we could get picked up by the scruff of the neck and back of the pants and tossed out of a High School game and it would end up being OUR FAULT when we got home.

To be clear: I'm not saying administrators don't abuse power over kids at times, but in cases like this I would think the lesson for the kid is that there are rules, and the guy who makes the rules, is not the one to argue with if you want to stay at the game. I also think School administrators should have the right to discipline kids...not physically, but if a kid isn't cooperating with verbal instructions...he or she should be escorted out of the event.

Women and a Financial Wake-up Call

If you missed our business segment today you missed Jean Chatzky. She's a regular contributor to the Today Show and I think is one of the people who best explains complicated financial decisions for those of us who are mathematically challenged. I let Brooke talk about her pitch this morning.

Second Grader Suspended

In New Jersey a second Grader was suspended over a stick figure drawing he made of himself shooting his friend. The friend's parents called the school when they saw the picture and the second grader who drew the picture was suspended. Now I believe the zero tolerance policies for violence set in place after school shootings in the late 90's are a good thing. I think the District in NJ took this one step too far. A second grader need to learn why people would think this picture is disturbing or inappropriate. He doesn't need to be kicked out of school for the day. Again, where are the parents of the second kid? Why do we need the District to step in here? What do you think, did the District take it's zero tolerance policy too far?

What is Art?

The question came up because the Great Ape Trust is selling off some of the paintings that the Bonobos and Orangutans did at the facility. They're hanging in Zanzibar Coffee Shop if you'd like to see them. But we were asking...what is Art? Can a Bonobo's creation be just as artistic as that of an accomplished and formally trained painter? I think so. Art can be almost anything you want it to be. If it's an expression or interpretation of your feelings, movement, singing, music, even speech can be artistic. The only thing I don't like is the black or white canvas that inevitably hangs in every art museum I've ever been to. I think that's someone just trying to see how far they can go pulling the wool over the audiences eyes. Put something on there and call it whatever you want.

I'm going to call that a blog for the day and get a nap.

Hope you have a good day and remember, please try to keep your comments appropriate for the discussion, we've got a lot of good things to talk about.

PWD

Republicans Raucus Debate, Teacher Sex Offenders, and Adventures in Babysitting

Good Morning....

It was a great weekend! I really felt rested by the end of it. I hope you're waking up feeling the same way. Sally and I spent Saturday night babysitting for our nephews for the first time. It was an adventure. I'll get to that in a minute...first the news

Republicans

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee summed it up well this morning, the Republican presidential candidates had a demolition derby on stage again last night. The front runners (who is that again?) spent time talking about why they were the "real" conservative in the group. Everybody attacked Hillary Clinton, the Democrats front runner.

Teacher Sex Offenders

An Associated Press investigation that took almost seven months is set to be released this morning. We'll get more details later, but essentially it finds the incidents of teachers sexually abusing students or having inappropriate relationships with students is at an alarmingly high number. The AP looked at records from all 50 states and DC. This is how the AP reported it's initial findings over the weekend:

There's a dirty secret lurking in America's schools: sexually abusive teachers who prey on the very students they're supposed to be nurturing.
Students are groped, raped, seduced and think they're in love.
And very often, their abusers get away with it.
Most of the abuse never gets reported. Often, cases that are reported end with no action. And molesters are allowed to keep teaching, because no one has found a surefire way to keep them out of classrooms.
In a seven-month investigation, The Associated Press examined disciplinary records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Reporters found more than 2,500 cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions from bizarre to sadistic. And young people were the victims in at least 1,801 of them. And more than 80 percent of those were students.
The investigation turned up a variety of efforts to stop individual offenders, but also found a deeply entrenched resistance toward recognizing and fighting abuse.
Fellow teachers look the other way. State efforts to strengthen laws against sex abuse by teachers have run into opposition from school boards and teachers unions. In Congress, a measure that would train investigators and create a national registry of offenders hasn't even gotten a hearing.
Every school has rules governing teacher behavior. Every state has laws against child abuse, and many specifically outlaw teachers taking sexual liberties with students. Every district has administrators who watch out for sexual misconduct by teachers.
But legal loopholes, fear of lawsuits and inattention all have weakened the safeguards, and the system fails hundreds of kids each year.

It's not just teachers, to my mind, there are too many organizations that protect themselves or their members when something like sex abuse is involved. We've done stories here before about teachers being passed along to other districts, quietly dismissed, after administrators find out they've been sexually involved with a student. It's just wrong. There should be a national registry and those people should never be allowed to teach again. I know there will be people, especially members of the teachers union, who will say teachers are accused falsely all the time. I think you can be careful about what you do and say to students and not put yourself in a position where anyone can accuse you of misconduct. The unions should be the organization LEADING the charge to have harsher penalties on teachers convicted of abusing students.

Marathon

The marathon looked like a big success this weekend and I'm glad. It would not be something I think I'd ever want to do, but I really admire people who take the time to set a goal like that and accomplish it. If you finished, I'd love to know what you think about the course and the event.

Adventures in Babysitting

Saturday night Sally and I got5 our first taste of what it would be like to be parents. She passed with flying colors, I'm not sure I am qualified.

My brother and his wife had symphony tickets so Sally and I volunteered to take the boys. We had a great time at the park before dinner. Sally and I decided man-to-man defense was best in this case so she took Henry and I took Elliot. We had a great time running around. and Every time Elliot would go down the slide he'd yell, "see ya".

Back at the house Sally made dinner while I tried to entertain the boys. Now, it wasn't until dinner was done that I really screwed things up. I was trying to get Elliot out of his chair when we was done...he's just got a booster seat. I went to go put my glass down on a table in the living room and I swear in the second and a half I turned around, he had climbed up on the booster seat, lost his balance and fell backwards on to the floor. That's it, I thought...they're never having me back again....the kid is going to have nightmares about having his uncle come stay with him and DHS is probably outside right now ready to slap the cuffs on me.

Not so. Elliot recovered quickly...I wish I could say I did too. When we were getting ready for bed, we split up for the man-to-man plan again. I took Elliot and when I got into his room, realized...there's no diaper here. "Where would I get a diaper" I asked out loud, mostly talking to myself. Elliot, in his 2 year-old wisdom looked at me like I was crazy and said, "it's in the closet". No joke, clear as day, a two year-old is looking at me like..."it's so hard to find good help these days".

We all survived and had a good time doing it. They're good boys, a fact I attribute to their wonderful parents...it certainly doesn't have anything to do with their Uncle.

Brooks Backpedals, Marathon Men and Introducing the New Crew!

Good Morning and welcome to your Friday!

Every once in a while on our shift things go a little haywire before the show. Today was a good example. We're trying to give a few people the day off before the end of the year and that means we were down a few of our regular folks today. The result was some confusion about who was coming in when. The greatest part of working on this shift, however, is the way people step up to the plate. Our producer, editors and a new morning reporting crew (I'll introduce you to them later) all collaborated to get the work done before the show. I doubt you noticed a lot of difference and believe me when I tell you, we were close to you noticing a BIG difference.

To the News:

Brooks
Archie Brooks will be in court this morning to change his plea on at least one of the charges against him stemming from the CIETC salary scandal. We don't know the details of any plea agreement or if Brooks simply decided he couldn't win in court. This might be a day where we get more information about what happened at CIETC over the months this misuse of taxpayer money allegedly happened.

Also in the Courts:

Former West Des Moines councilman Brad Olson is back in court today on possession of stolen property charges. State Senator Matt Mc Coy is also making headlines from the courts. He's asking a Federal Judge to throw out extortion charges against him saying the Federal Prosecutors used false information to obtain the indictment against him and that the prosecutors withheld information from the defense.

Brownback Backs Out
I updated the blog yesterday to bring you the news that Sen Sam Brownback is bowing out of the presidential race. Maybe now some of the third and fourth tier candidates will stop campaigning and we can get a better idea where their supporters will land. I think some of Brownback's supporters might move over to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's camp. This could give even more momentum to an already rising campaign.

SCHIP Debate

Did you see this yesterday. One of the dems on the floor of the House of Representatives made what I think is a totally unwarranted and irresponsible comment during debate about the SCHIP program and Dems efforts to overturn a presidential veto.

Democrat Pete Stark accused Republicans of sending troops to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

What kind of sicko do you have to be to accuse the president of getting his jollies from killing young men and women? I don't care what your political affiliation is, this is inexcusable no matter who's in office or what Oliver Stone, Aliens at Roswell Never landed on the Moon conspiracy theory you subscribe to.

Don't we elect these people to be Statesmen? If you ever get the chance, go to CSPAN and watch some of the debate, especially on the floor of the House. It's like watching a Kindergarten class at recess. The worst part about it is that a lot of the people who are elected to office have NO IDEA WHAT THEY"RE TALKING ABOUT. That doesn't stop them from running their mouths about almost anything.

I am glad we have free speech in this country but what this guy said is irresponsible. No matter what you think about the war and the President, you cannot really believe that George Bush gets pleasure from seeing men and women die. I expect some of Pete Stark's constituents in California will not be happy about these comments.

Marathon Inspiration

Jon Cahill told us this morning about two men from Norwalk who are running the Des Moines marathon. Two guys named Todd Harper and Chris Albright decided to get serious about losing weight over a year ago. They started eating right and exercising and each one lost about 100 pounds. When their waist lines started to dwindle, they started to take up running. Chris said when he first started he could only run for a few minutes at a time. Now he's aiming for 26 miles on Sunday. This story shows us that ANYONE can lose weight and get in shape. Very inspiring!

State of the Schools

Dr Nancy Seibring will be giving her assessment of the Des Moines School district today. the event is open to the public so grab your lunch and go down to the Science center to hear what she has to say.

New Team

We're going out for a few adult beverages and some chicken wings this afternoon to say our Today in Iowa goodbyes to Jon Cahill. Jon has done a great job as our morning reporter, but apparently they need him for the evening newscasts. Jon's flexibility and ability to adapt to most any situation we put him is made him a great member of our morning crew. It's also why he seems in high demand around here.
Because we're losing Jon...We're gaining some new faces.

The Today in Iowa team is really happy to welcome Megan Reuther and Trent Reicks. Megan and Trent will take over as our morning reporting team as of Monday. They're an experienced crew that's already worked in the state of Iowa in Waterloo. Megan is also a graduate of The University of Missouri School of Journalism. Anytime we can get more Tigers on the morning team...I'm a happy guy.

We've had a little bit of time to get to know these two this week and I think Brooke Jeriann and I would all agree we expect great things from them.

Have a good weekend...

PD and BB

Holy Cow... 1-235 is finished but not really... Garth Brooks... and birth control at school

We had a really fun show this morning with the AE Dairy Cow story. I'll get to that in a moment. Plus, we had a story out of Maine that is a real talker. And, we can finally say that I-235 is now complete. (even though it really isn't) Oh, and Garth Brooks is coming out of retirement. Here's the best part -- you can catch the Kansas City concert without leaving Des Moines.

Cow Kidnapping

When Patrick and I heard about this over the police scanner we immediately sent out one of the morning photographers to go get video. As most of you know, the AE cows are a landmark here in Des Moines. According to an AE employee, someone ran into the two cows with their car, then took off with the smaller of the two animals. Annie, the large cow was damaged but someone took off with Eric. Don't know how, but they did. Police found Eric at about 5:00a.m. a few blocks from the East-side Dairy. Pat joked that this sounded like a fraternity prank. I agree. I think someone had a little too much to drink and decided to do something stupid.

As you'd expect the cow jokes followed quickly...Police were udderly shocked. The Media will Milk this one for all it's worth etc...

Speaking of we got a little feedback from our viewers about calling Eric a cow. Now I get it. If he's a boy, he's a bull right? I almost called Brad Hook for confirmation on this one. If you read this Brad, go ahead and guest blog with an opinion. Brooke looked it up, so did I. Apparently Cow can be used to describe either sex...especially when they're young and...lets just say nondescript.

I-235 Reconstruction Project

The Department of Transportation is finished reworking this 13 mile stretch of road. Well, sort of. Even though the DOT is celebrating the end of the project, the entrance ramp at MLK still needs to be finished. It's been closed for over a year and I for one cannot wait to see it reopen. It should reopen in a few weeks. The project cost taxpayers 450 million dollars to fix. An interesting fact -- it only cost 50 million to build back in 1960.

Garth Brooks at a Theater Near You

Garth is coming out of retirement... even though he said he never would. He decided a few months ago to do ONE concert in Kansas City in November. But when those tickets sold out in 5 seconds, he declared he would hold NINE concerts in that city so that all his fans would get the chance to see him. All of those concerts sold out too so now he will simulcast one of his concerts in 300 theaters around the country and sell tickets for 10 dollars. Jordan Creek's Century Theaters is one of them. A few other movie screens in Iowa will also air the concert. Here's where you can get tickets to those shows starting tomorrow: Fathomevents.com or GarthBrooks.com. Would you pay to see him at a theater?

Birth Control Pills at School

I am appalled by this story. A Middle School in Maine is offering birth control pills and birth control patches to students without parental consent. This is disturbing on many levels. First, remember that middle school students are 13 and 14 years old. Should these young teenagers even be taking body altering drugs? Is this safe? Second, this is completely irresponsible on the school's part. Parents -- not schools -- should be in charge of giving their children birth control if they so chose. I would pull my child from school if this happened to me. I will follow this story and see what kind of reaction comes from this. What does everyone else think?

I'd have to agree with Brooke, this is different than condoms. This is not about stopping the spread of a disease, this is straight birth control. There are other medical reasons to take birth control drugs, but that medical decision should be up to the parents when kids are still this young. My guide on this is like a lot of other things I've written about here. I think it's not about this drug or this choice. If schools can give a girl birth control pills, what's to stop them from giving a child another kind of drug...this is not the school district's choice to make.

A Couple more headlines as I update the blog on the set of the Noon News:

-There will be a new non-stop flight from Des Moines to LA. United Express is going to run the route. It will take off at 7am and land around nine in LA.

-It looks like Sen Sam Brownback is going to drop out of the race. He's had trouble raising money and had a very disappointing finish in the Ames Straw Poll. Look to Iowavotes2008.com or to Dave Price's Blog, The Price of Politics for more info.

That's it for now. My lovely mother is in town today which means she will be spoiling Evan and I will get a nap. It's the simple things in life that make me happy these days.

BB

Pat will contribute later. Hope you all have a great day and stay dry.

Gunga A gunga Lunga...It's a little known fact....and Jeriann Gets a Little Help with the Weather

Good Morning,

I mean no disrespect to the news headlines of the day but I'm feeling a little goofy this morning.

Gunga La Gunga
That's all I could think about reading the fact that the Dahli Lama is getting the Congressional gold medal this morning.

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one -- big hitter, the Lama -- long, into a ten-thousand foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

Anyway, The President is going to be there and China is not happy about it. They do not like his holiness all that much.

Republicans Shift..

We told you about this yesterday. This morning one of the central committee members came in to talk about the calender shifting and how ridiculous it is. Brooke may have some more insight on her interview with Ted Sporer.

Republicans will caucus January 3 instead of the 15th. They had to move the date in order to preserve Iowa's first-in-the-nation status. This part I understand. But will the new date be good for caucus goers? The third is the Orange Bowl and it's at a time when some people might still be on vacation. Ted Sporer who is a member of the Central Committee said he thinks there's a chance fewer people will come out. But, he says it's better than having it on the weekend which is what Democrats are considering.

It's a little Known Fact...

One of my favorite characters of all time is Cliffie Claven! John Ratzenberger is on town to do a forum on manufacturing jobs tonight but again, I can only go back to Cliffie sitting on that bar stool in Cheers. Here's a collection of Cliffie trivia at cliffordclavin.com.

Diego

I am not a parent so I am sufficiently lacking in many areas of my life. One of them is adequate understanding of Dora the Explorer. Diego was in to help Jeriann with the weather. He did a great job, and he's back at the Civic Center today and tonight.

Shawn Johnson Day

I love writing about Shawn. Anyway, the Governor says today is Shawn Johnson Day. She'll be at the State Historical Building at 4:00 for the ceremony. Jeriann is the emcee for the event and apparently there will be a big announcement about a sponsorship Shawn is getting. We'll have more tomorrow. By the way, have you hear about the new Tiger Woods Gatorade. Here's more on it from the Associated Press:

Tiger Woods will have his own brand of sports drink next year under an endorsement deal announced Tuesday with Gatorade that marks a couple of firsts for the world's No. 1 golfer - his first U.S. deal with a beverage company and his first licensing agreement.
Gatorade said it will introduce ''Gatorade Tiger'' in March, with more products to follow. Woods even picked out the flavors himself, with the drink available in a cherry blend, citrus blend and grape.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Golfweek magazine reported last month it was for five years and could pay Woods as much as $100 million, moving him closer to the $1 billion mark in career endorsements.

The picture shows Tiger undergoing sweat analysis testing that will allow scientists to develop the perfect Gatorade for his body.

I'm going to add more in a little bit but I've got to get home. I'm expecting a plumber this morning to fix the toilet.

Have a great day!

BB and PWD

Caucus Changes, Extreme Burrito, and Brad Gets Touchy

Good Morning!
We all decided we were a bit off this morning...a normal state of affairs if you ask me.

To the news:

Caucus Changes

It looks like Republicans in Iowa will meet to move their caucuses to a different date. January 3rd looks like the target. Really? I think if they want one of the lowest attended caucuses in a while. There's a BCS game that night right? Yep, the Orange Bowl will be that night. Ok I know the Caucuses are more important than a game that no Iowa team will be involved in...but I imagine that people who might have caucused, will instead be caucusing at a bar, watching the game.

I, for one don't think they should switch the date. We've already seen on the Dems side, that a word or two from the candidates can neutralize these moves to get ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire in the process. If the Republican Party of Iowa did the same...if the candidates made a pledge not to spend a dime in the states that moved...we could end this now. If states aren't going to get any benefit(money) for moving up their caucus or primary...why do it? To be more a part of the process? How's that going to work out when the National party pulls your delegates. You've just made your entire state irrelevant. Congrats! Everyone's known for four years when the Iowa caucuses are going to happen. I think they should stay right where they are.

Also a correction of a mistake. We said it would be the first split Caucus. 1st since 1980 is what we should have said.

833rd
I'll let Brooke write about this but we're back to watching Iraq headlines very closely on Today in Iowa.

We reported this morning that four soldiers with the 833rd based in Ottumwa were injured by an IED. Two were so badly hurt that they had to be transported to Germany. This usually means something very serious has happened. My brother-in-law is part of that group but we haven't heard any news from the National Guard that he was one of the injured. Every time I hear anything about the 833rd in the news, I hold my breath and hope no one had died.

Christmas Trees

Yes we're talking about trees already. Some white House staffer went and picked out the tree for the 1st family. It's from North Carolina again. So Brooke says they've got a fake tree. I can't be too critical cause that's what I grew up with. We love picking out our Christmas tree every year! We used to go up and actually cut it down and (warning to family) we may try again this year. But the tree farm we used to visit has been spotty at best for Frasier Furs (that's the kind of tree we like). So I'd be interested to know where bloggers get their trees?

Christmas Wish List

Apparently the latest survey out shows computers are #1 on people's Christmas wish list, with Peace and Happiness a close second. The study was done by the Computer industry. Look for our crack research team to dig out a few more studies before Christmas like, Turkey: America's Favorite Meat sponsored by the Turkey Farmers of America, and, Why Gift Bags are Bad by the American Institute for Wrapping Paper Science.

Burrito Supreme

Sorry if this offends but...I wanted to throw up in my mouth a little when I heard what was in that Hardee's Breakfast Burrito. Eggs, ham, sausage, hash browns, gravy, and maybe some straight pig lard.

Our floor crew was joking you get a free defibrillator with your fifth purchase!

Here's the thing. If no one was buying it, they wouldn't sell it. We're not Lemmings...well, most of us. If you don't want to be grossly obese, this will not be your menu item of choice. Either that or you'll work out all of the waking hours you're not eating.

Here's a link to a site that tells you how many calories and grams of fat are in the fast food items you eat.

Brad Gets Touchy

If you missed it, Brad is now using our Screen Writer Program to deliver some of the traffic information. This gives Brad a lot more to do in the morning. Closures are easier to show you. Accidents on side streets where there aren't cameras will be easier to show you. He's got a lot of work to do before he masters the system, but I think you'll like the reports a lot more. It won't just be...here's a dark traffic camera. And before we get into a "Des Moines doesn't have traffic" debate...there are a lot of people, for whom, a ten minute delay in the morning is a big deal. If you could avoid a closure, would you? We're going to try and give you that kind of information. No one's saying the world is going to end and traffic is becoming like LA. It just gives Brad an extra tool to explain.

Final Final Season Numbers

We were all rooting for this movie about an Iowa High School baseball team that does the unexpected. But the numbers are out and it didn't do that well on a national level. The movie made about $650,000 and was the 20th top grossing film. However, it was only played on about half the number of screens as some of the bigger releases. I hope people keep going to see this movie before it leaves movie theaters. I am going this weekend. I want this movie to do well.

I hope you all have a good day!

I'll be back to post some pictures so Jeriann doesn't yell at me later.

PWD

Rainy Week, S-Chip Fight, New Ticker and Meet Joe Biden

Good Morning!

Honestly, sometimes I wonder why they're paying us to be here. It sounds weird, we work hard and all, but the show is so much fun sometimes during the breaks, that I forget I'm "working". Monday morning's are that way most weeks as we get reports from one another about the weekend.

Speaking of, I'm sure somebody out there was upset about the rain. Don't count me among them. We were planning on spending the day Saturday doing yard work...and we need to do it...but we got a good excuse to stay inside. Actually we got some work done cleaning out the basement. I'm not sure why but it's satisfying to get all the crap out of the way or organized a little better.

I'll give a plug to one of the chores we got through... returning our bottles and cans. Does anyone else dread this as much as I do? A few years ago one of our photojournalists gave me a tip...Patterson Recycling. It's a business down on SW Raccoon that will take your cans and bottles and give you the redemption. It's great!

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. At least that's what Karen Carpenter said. But if you love your job, you don't mind. Today was a fun show. We always have a good time talking about what we did over the weekend. I think Patrick can take the prize for having the most enjoyable weekend. He got to meet one of the Presidential candidates and he had some fun observations about him. I'll let Patrick tell you more. But I will say that is nice to hear that they are just regular people, too.

I sometimes like rain on the weekends because you don't feel guilty for staying inside. Which is exactly what I did most of the weekend. My sisters were in town and we just hung out and ate chips and salsa.

By the way, I got my blue jacket from Talbots a couple of years ago. That's for the blogger who wondered.

To the News:

Overnight Accident

Don't know if the rain was a factor in the accident but a car ran off of I-235 overnight in West Des Moines. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Initially the DOT thought there was enough water in the ditch that firefighters and paramedics would have to use a boat to get to the car.

S-Chip:

Congress tries to override a presidential veto. Democrats saying this is a move against children. President Bush says he wants to continue funding health care for children who come from families that don't make enough money. But under a new bill, Democrats want to extend health care to more families. The President says this encourages families to opt out of their private health care and use the government program. The battle continues...

New Ticker

You may have noticed that our news looks a little different. The station recently purchased a new program that allows us to run a ticker at the bottom of the screen containing news headlines, weather and when necessary, school closings. It gives you the opportunity to review headlines and forecasts you may have missed in the show. We are excited to have this new tool and think you'll like it. Any thoughts?

By the way the new Timesaver Traffic launches tomorrow. I'm overhearing a conversation in the newsroom right now with Brad and some of the

Meet Joe Biden
So Sally and I went out to a "Once in a Blue Moon" treat for our anniversary and had dinner at 801 on Saturday. We had dinner in the bar because Missouri was playing Oklahoma and I wanted to at least keep an eye on the game (how romantic). So this guy walks by the booth and up to the TV to take a look at the score. He's sitting there watching the TV and I say to Sally...That guy looks a lot like Joe Biden from the back. I'm not sure how I know what the back of Sen Biden's head looks like but sure enough...he turned around and it was the Presidential candidate himself! He stopped by our booth and chatted for a couple of minutes. I told him it was our anniversary and he told us it took him five tries before his wife agreed to marry him. Anyway, the reason I tell the story is that I thought it was a telling moment. It may sound stupid to some of you, but before he know anyone was watching him or that there was a member of the media sitting behind him, he wandered up to the TV and checked out the game for a few minutes. I thought, it wouldn't be that bad to have someone as President who, along with the war, the economy and the big issues facing the nation, is also interested in a college football game or two on the weekend. It was a pretty genuine moment. Not that it's a surprise with Sen Biden. I think it's clear what you see is what you get.

Ring-xiety?

Most of us carry a cell phone. The question is, do you ever get Ring-xiety? It's a new term coined by a researcher at Stanford University. Apparently more of us are feeling phantom buzzing on our hip because we carry a cell phone so much. when it's not there...we feel like an appendage is missing. Thoughts? My phone is often on buzz so I admit to feeling the phantom ring tones every once in a while. Though, I don't have any anxiety about it.

Hope evertone has a good start to the week.

PWD and BB