Brian Gongol
Graphic of the day: Coupe d'Or
EPA sets tough new rules for Kansas
Notes from today's show on WHO Radio
Online gambling sites taking bets on "Sopranos" outcome
The current betting line suggests people think Tony Soprano will survive the finale. For other entertainment purposes, Ocean's Thirteen comes out this weekend. The Washington Post's review is unforgiving, but the New York Post thought it was fun but forgettable. Roger Ebert suggests waiting for the DVD.
State senator punches a colleague in Alabama -- at the capitol
The puncher says the punchee called him an SOB. How that warrants a fistfight is up to question. The idiot even had the gumption to declare, "I might whup you again" before leaving.
A $60 billion aid package for the developing world
That's what the G8 promised to do today, but Bono is mad because he says it wasn't earmarked for Africa specifically. They also agreed to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. There's definite need to get Africa to develop economically -- and not just for humanitarian reasons: African crooks are using technology intended for deaf people to steal from American companies. These crooks use telephone relay services to place fraudulent Internet orders and steal from the American merchants.
Immigration reform would've made sense
Populist and nativist reactions, though, appear to have won out over a reasonable compromise
Space Shuttle to take off today in one of its last missions
It's only the Shuttle's 117th mission, and only another ten or so are left, depending on how everything works out.
Man in wheelchair gets stuck to truck at 50 mph
Passers-by were calling 911 and the state patrol was able to pull the truck driver over. The wheelchair's tires were smoking and probably would've failed catastrophically only a few miles later. The photos of the guy who got caught in the truck's grille (he survived, by the way) show him wearing an ancient "I'm a Pepper" t-shirt, which just sort of adds to the surreality of the event.
What's wrong with socialism? For starters, it's slavery.
In addition to the very long list of examples of what's wrong with socialism, we have specific examples -- like the fact that the son of a Communist Party boss actually held 31 workers as slaves in his brick factory. The central tenet of socialism holds that the collective will exceeds that of the individual.
Omaha man arrested for having 1,600 pounds of explosives in his house
Investigators think it was just a "hobby", but several of the explosives were a lot like IED's
American travel demands overwhelm passport services
Iowa's state auditor says we're going in exactly the wrong budgetary direction
Warns: "If Iowa followed the good budgeting practice of funding all its General Fund costs out of only General Fund revenues, a $764 million, or 12.7%, revenue increase would be necessary in Fiscal Year 2009 to cover the increased cost commitments" -- and that's before adding in the state's rising costs for energy and health care.
Don't fall for fraudulent calls about jury duty
And keep kids away from unsupervised use of hand sanitizers. Really, there's nothing that hand sanitizers do that soap and water can't; it's just that hand sanitization is a quick and lazy approach to hygiene and soap takes a little bit of effort. But given the growth of drug-resistant bugs, we should probably get back in the habit of using plain old soap.
