OMG I GET TO TALK TO DARYL HALL TODAY!!!! Hall and Oates provided a huge part of the soundtrack of my youth.  At 10:40 you will hear what might be the worst interview ever as I gush over Daryl Hall and what he's doing now.  I'm not proud. Watch Live from Daryl's House on the web by clicking here!

LOCAL AUTHOR ANDREW MCNEILL AT 9:30 He's written a fast read fiction book that you might enjoy for summer. See him tonight at 7pm and get him to sign at book at Carmichael's on Frankfort Avenue.  Can't make it?  Buy the book here.

TO MERGE OR NOT TO MERGE Surprise, surprise, the Mayor's task force on MSD has come back with a suggestion to merge with Louisville Water.  On the face of it, I'm not opposed.  However, I would ask if we could get a comprehensive audit of Louisville Water before we move towards merger.  That way, both houses will be running at peak efficiency before the merger.  Because rumor has it that Louisville Water may have some serious problems of it's own.

EREBODY SUING THE FAIR BOARD Apparently working at the AngryYUM!* Center was not a bouquet of roses for everyone.  And now another person has filed suit claiming they were retaliated against for reporting bad behavior.  What a great place to work, and now we the taxpayers get to pay the legal bills for the Fair Board.  Super. 

*Since my friend from Seattle asked why there was an Angry Bird on the side of the YUM! Center I have decided to call it AngryYum from now on. 

THANK GOD FOR LEXINGTON! If you want to feel better about our pension mess, just look at what Lexington is dealing with because of the police and firefighters pension mess.  And if public sector workers want to know why people are mad about things right now, look no further than these two nuggets about how this is set up. 

ƒÞ The minimum age when a retiree may start drawing a pension went from 50 to 46 in 1994 and was eliminated entirely in 2002.
ƒÞ Police and firefighters may retire with 20 years of service, or they may work 16 years and buy four years of "ghost time." A public safety officer as young as about 37 may retire and draw a lifetime pension.

I realize that not all public sector workers get this kind of sweet deal, but why should ANY public sector worker get anything remotely close to this???

WE HAVE A CRAPLOAD OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS This is a super interesting article about our energy supplies in this country.  T Boone Pickens makes an appearance, but oddly doesn't mention that stupid wind company he was yelling about four years ago. 

HE'S AN HISTORIC NARCISSIST.  You will not believe this article.  Seriously, you will not believe how pompous PrezBO is.  Seriously.  Read it.  And be embarrassed for the man. 

PROVING DEMOCRATS ARE ON TH WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY I've decided to use the phrase  "wrong side of history" whenever anyone disagrees with me.  It's fancy.  That being explained, check this column on Project Veritas (which means truth, fyi) vote fraud investigation.  We need id at the polls because people are awful.  And now there is proof.

MARCUS CAREY IS RUNNING FOR THE 4TH DISTRICT SEAT And he joins me at 10am to discuss why you should vote for him. 

ETHICS SMETHICS.  Some awesome stories in the news about ethics (and what should be) violations.  From allowing a vendor to pay for an unauthorized European trip to paying a grandson while he was in jail, today has some doozies.  But take a look at the penalties doled out for ethics violations at the bottom of the first story.  $400 for access to stars at the Speedway, $4000 (which can be appealed, fyi) for hiring a relative.  There is no teeth in this policy.  People entrusted with collecting and spending taxpayer dollars should pay dearly for doing things that violate the trust placed in them by said taxpayers.  Maybe jailtime should be a part of this. 

BUT I THOUGHT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG JCPS is considering changes to the student assignment plan that they will tell you everyone loves.  Don't think I will stop harping on this until they scrap it completely and go to neighborhood schools. 

MORE LAWSUITS ABOUT THE BRIDGES PROJECT This story accuses the State of not doing it's due diligence before grossly overpaying for the Drumanard Estate.  I just got info that the Transportation Cabinet sent out a Request for Proposal for litigation purposes regarding "…historic properties…."  The best part is the maximum hourly rate is $350 per hour when the going rate is $125 per hour.  Anyone want to bet Frost Brown Todd is gonna be a player on this? 

CHRIS MATTHEWS IS AN IDIOT And now it's not simply opinion, it's proven fact.

AND LET THE GAMES BEGIN! The attack ads are gearing up in the race for POTUS.  I have to say, it was a real gutsy call to attack Romney's Bain credentials.  If I were Romney, I'd be happy to compare and contrast lifetime accomplishments with Barack Obama as those accomplishments pertain to being qualified to be POTUS.  Very happy indeed. 

I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY Hint: it doesn't have anything to do with me or Bryan.  If it works out I'll let you know when to listen in the am.  Nope, it got pushed until tomorrow.  Or some other time.  Dang it.

WHAT??? IT'S GONNA COST A GAZILLION DOLLARS?  I will clear the phone lines to take apologies for Todd Blue tomorrow.  All the people who called him a greedy developer when he said it was going to be prohibitively expensive to repair Whiskey Row can call and apologize.  And if any taxpayer dollars go to this, I will lose my mind.  If they Mayor can hustle up some private bucks, I am all for that.  But to act like this is a surprise is just foolish.

WHO KNEW UNION HEADS WERE FIRMLY IN THE 1%?? This story is crazy on many levels.  The union bosses are living high on the hog while the members are just squeaking by.  And here I thought that was only corporate fat cats.  I guess the obese felines have branched out. 

 GO LEXINGTON!  STOP SOCIAL PROMOTION! The Fayette Schools Superintendent is considering a program to hold children who are not performing on grade level in 3rd grade back.  This is an EXCELLENT idea.  Social promotion has done more to harm the educational performance of struggling students than any other single educational theory, imho.  Holding a child back at that age is not going to have devastating effects on his or her psyche, but can allow a struggling child to get a strong foundation going forward.  It has worked in other places, it can work here.

PEOPLE ASK ME IF I MISS FLORIDA Mostly no.  But I miss the heck out of 7-11.  I'm not kidding.  And now they've made a low cal Slurpee.  Sigh.

MORE OIL THAN THE WORLD'S RESERVES? According to the GAO, the Green River Formation contains 3 TRILLION barrels of shale oil, HALF of which is recoverable using today's technology.  That's 1.5 TRILLION barrels of oil for you math challenged types.  That is an amount equal to the world's reserves.  And most of it is on federal land, meaning the federal government could streamline the process so we can access our own oil reserves.  Let's see what this President does with this information.