If you have a warm butt

​on wednesdays i only do a 2.5 hour show. it's a whole different ballgame from the four-plus hours show. then it's breakfast with jean the web designer, angel the video wunderkind, and ryan, my producer at commander restaurant in munster for eggs, potatoes, bacon... and talk about how to improve our social media and video presence.

i won't tell you our plan, mostly because it pretty much changes every week. and since i'm not yet really telling anyone that this blog is here, by the time you read this we'll be several plans down the line. my team told me to get more involved in social media. i told them i'd keep this blog but that i won't guarantee anything else.

i asked for sunrise photos and here's two. first is on twitter from @jimmyjj13, who said it was cloudy in chicago but sunny in the region. second is from rich in lynwood.

yesterday the indiana supreme court basically okayed school vouchers. that's when you take the money alloted by the state for your kids' education and you take it to a private school. with the supreme court out of the way, the indiana legislature is revving up the engine to expand vouchers.

callers got revved up too. jim, a teacher for 40 years, says it's the first step toward the european system, where the "rich go to private schools and then public education is left for the less fortunate." jim says the american education system used to be the great equalizer. not no mo'.

caller rich said that teachers gotta quit making excuses. they make good money, good benefits... "teachers are all just me, me, me."

caller brian, a teacher, said he almost jumped out of his seat. "what? teachers just need to be quiet and teach? i've been a teacher for 17 years, and a lot of times when you get a kid in the classroom they come from a home where the dad's been laid off for two years, or there's not enough food, or the dad beats the mom. it's a societal problem."

jane says the vouchers may be ruining her private school, which she says is a catholic school in gary, hammond or east chicago. with the vouchers, the school increased by more than 60 students... and it's full. "the one-on-one teaching is going away... and so is the sense of community." caller joe from crown point sends his kids to a private christian school... and he too is concerned about the influx of lower-income voucher students into his small school.

many more region folk called in, including the much-maligned walt, who said, as introduction to his call... "a gary welfare mama - is she told where she has to spend that money? having a voucher is all about having a choice." or something like that.

i had to cut off the rather passionate discussion of vouchers to bring in the attorney general of indiana, greg zoeller, who was a little annoyed that with all the confusion i didn't give him a proper introduction with the perry mason theme. zoeller sent one of his top guys - tom fisher - to washington to be part of the arguments today on gay marriage. zoeller, a republican, said somehow president obama changed his position on states'  ability to outlaw gay marriage - "as the polls have changed."

zoeller kept coming back to the obama administration, through its own attorney general, actually advocating against what congress has come up with... zoeller reminding that it is his job to defend the state and its legislative laws.

zoeller also addressed the rather complex struggle in the lake county courts and the juvenile courts over the opening created when lc juvie judge mary beth bonaventura went to indy to head up the department of childrens services. i asked zoeller - "so what's the view from indy? the governor finally tabs someone from the region to head dcs, and all hell breaks loose about who should take to vacated judgeship... judges suing judges and so forth. are you surprised?"

"first of all," zoeller said, "i have been associated with the region since 1982 when i worked for dan quayle, and if there's one thing i've learned is that nothing surprises me when it comes to the region."  

al hamnik, longtime sportswriter from the nwi times, sat with me for a while also. in addition to following in the tradition of ring lardner, al also emulates gene siskel and roger ebert with his moviegoing habits and tastes.

"go see 'olympus has fallen.' two thumbs up," al said. caller dave told al that he's tired of watching college basketball players with "all them tattoos." al called it freedom of expression, and that if the ncaa tried to regulate it they'd get sued. john called in and was critical of munster basketball coach mike hackett for 1. not scheduling tough teams like chicago simeon and 2. for what he sees as "coaching to lose" at the end of the merrillville sectional loss.

stupid stuff i said today - if you have a warm butt, you have a warm body.

also, the revolution will not be televised... it'll be on radio. 

enough for today. listen or watch, watch or listen... weekday mornings at wjob1230.com.