TODAY IS WEDNESDAY - JULY 1, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on
SPIRIT FM

TODAY IS:

Today is Second Half of the New Year Day, a checkpoint for those who made New Year's resolutions

Today is National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day.

July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month, a time to remind the 180-million U.S. cell phone users to hush once in a while.

This is National Dog House Repairs Month.

July is National Hot Dog Month, National Grilling Month, National Ice Cream Month, Family Reunion Month, National Baked Bean Month, National Blueberries Month, With all of that maybe it should also be National Maalox Month!

Today is National Postal Worker Day

1963: The U.S. Postal Service introduced the 5-digit zip code.

1979: Sony introduced the Soundabout, a Walkman that sold for $200..

1980: McGruff, the crime-fighting dog, debuted as an advertising symbol to take a bite out of crime.

1983: After 120 hours, the Rev. Ronald Gallagher finally stopped preaching at the Baptist Temple in Appomattox, Virginia. It was history's longest sermon.

1984: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" became the first PG-13 rated movie.

IN THE NEWS…..

People magazine says FARRAH FAWCETT's 24-year-old son, REDMOND O'NEAL, was allowed to leave the jail where he's currently serving a time sentence for violating his probation on drug charges, to attend his mother's memorial service yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles.

Today's Michael Jackson update:
THE FACTS ON THE MJ MEETING WITH ANDRAE CROUCH
“Andrae and Sandra did in fact visit with Michael Jackson two times, once at the recording studio, and once at his home in the last two months, as recently as three weeks ago, asking for prayer concerning the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and how he could make his music more ‘spiritual,’” noted Crouch’s Facebook administrator.
“So Andrae and Sandra explained to him about the anointing and about Jesus. He wanted to know what makes your hands go up, and makes you ‘come out of yourself,’ and what gives a ‘spirituality’ to the music? He then requested to hear his favorite song that he loves and wanted then to sing to him, so they...joined hands and sang together, and he said, ‘it was beautiful.’ He first heard it in New York, and loved it and wanted it on tape. He had the engineer tape the song sang to him by Andrae and Sandra. He definitely had an encounter with them.”

As to whether or not the legendary singer had prayed to receive Christ, through his spokesman Crouch responded: “He did NOT reject Jesus or the prayer when (we) prayed, and gladly joined in prayer.”

“He usually doesn’t touch anybody, but he touched them, and held their hands in a circle as they sang and prayed,” continued Andrae Crouch’s spokesman. “There was NO actual ‘sinners prayer’ however, but they did talk and pray about Jesus and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They also told him, ‘Michael, we consider you as our son,’ and he said, “yes, yes, yes” and gave him his latest music on a CD, and he told him, ‘Andrae I trust you with this,’ and gave him CD’s of 2 songs...unpublished, beautiful music.”

In the story, the Crouch’s reported one peculiarity about Jackson’s rented home: forbidden as a child from celebrating Christmas because of his Jehovah’s Witness faith which precludes such celebration, Jackson was still celebrating Christmas in June: “He still had his Christmas decorations up at home,” noted Crouch’s spokesman.

Did MICHAEL JACKSON nearly die five years ago under the exact same circumstances? A source close to the late singer tells Fox News' Pop Tarts gossip column that his brother, RANDY, found him unconscious back in 2004 and called a life-saving friend who happened to be a paramedic. Obviously, they were able to revive him but a doctor who normally didn't treat Michael was "absolutely shocked" by the amount of prescription medication in the home. The same insider claims the Jackson family had a meeting over the situation in 2001 when he was getting ready for a concert series in New York City. Apparently Michael's mom, KATHERINE, started asking a lot of questions about how ELVIS PRESLEY died and was worried about her son's health.
So with all the continual agonizing over MICHAEL JACKSON, somebody turned up Michael's former best friend, Bubbles the Chimp. Turns out the chimp isn't dead and gone, like many thought — in fact, People magazine says Bubbles is now 26 and living out his middle age in a private, Florida primate sanctuary called the Center For Great Apes.

There's 42 chimpanzees and orangutans which live at the Center, which is in Wauchula, FL, and Bubbles has been there since 2005, hanging out with a group of six chimps. And the primate center says he could live to 60 or so, given the right care.
FYI: The Center is a non-profit organization and supported by donations. To see a picture of Bubbles (their featured primate), head over to centerforgreatapes.org. They're using Michael's death as a fund-raiser for the "Bubbles and Friends Fund."
We haven't heard the last of MICHAEL JACKSON. The Times of London says the late entertainer has more than a hundred finished recordings that he left as a personal legacy to his children. Michael didn't want them to ever be released, but seeing as how his estate is in the minus column for more than 400-million dollars. These tracks could help clear up, or even eliminate that debt.


Billy Mays update:
Doctors told reporters yesterday after the autopsy that Billy had an enlarged heart and likely died of a pulmonary embolism, or blocked artery. There was no sign of head trauma (he was hit on the head when a tire blew out as his plane landed Saturday night and speculation was that it might have caused his death). The autopsy also revealed no indication of drug abuse, prescription or otherwise.

This morning's Philadelphia Inquirer also reports that Media Enterprises, the local company which syndicates BILLY MAYS' infomercials, will pull his pitches for its Mighty Putty and Mighty Mendit products until Jul 06, after he's buried, in agreement with family wishes.

The funeral for television product pitchman Billy Mays will be held Friday in the Pittsburgh suburb where he was born and raised.

The funeral Mass for Mays will be 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Church in McKees Rocks.


Madoff Sentence
Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison, making him the only man in America who knows he'll still have health care coverage for more than the next 3 years.

Amish Hurting
The weak economy is even taking a toll on the Amish. Farm income is down, building material costs are up, and the horse union won't budge until it gets a $25 billion dollar federal bailout for the buggy industry.

A Florida school board is considering a ban on the "zero" as a grade. Instead, students would get a grade of 40% even if they miss a test completely or fail to turn in an assignment.

The lowest score that a student could get, even for poor work or miserable performance on a test, is a 49.

Officials of the Hernando County School District tell the St Petersburg Times, that the goal "is to give kids a statistical fighting chance to turn around their overall grade — something tough to do even with a couple of zeros or a few very low marks on the books."

Critics argue that "kids are getting more coddled every day, and a policy that lessens the consequences of failure only makes things worse."

The school board will vote on the proposal next month.

A 40 percent grade even if they miss a test completely? That would imply that kids did at least 40 percent of the work which they did not do. That's called a social promotion. How does getting a grade you didn't earn send the right message?

Businesses do not give you half pay for zero effort. They will, however, show you the door. Zero work deserves a zero grade. Sitting down for a test doesn't deserve a minimum grade. Simply attending class doesn't deserve a minimum grade. If you want a fighting chance at a good grade then do your assigned work.


A New Generation Gap
From cell phones and texting to religion and manners, younger and older Americans see the world differently, creating the largest generation gap since the tumultuous years of the 1960s. A new study released by the Pew Research Center found Americans of different ages increasingly at odds over a range of social and technological issues....including marriage.

Regardless of your age and how you feel about marriage, take this advise from Ogden Nash:

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the marriage cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
Whenever you're right, shut up.



Church Kids Break Legos Record

ELGIN - According to the Bible, God instructed Noah to build an ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall.

Not sure how big a cubit is? Well, if a cubit were a LEGO piece, that would equal about 34,900 LEGOs.

More than 150 grade school-aged children found that out this week when they built an expected record-setting 1:37 scale model of Noah's ark made of LEGOs at Harvest Bible Chapel's "High 5" summer day camp.

the LEGO model features the ark as well as a five-color rainbow overhead, surrounded by the words of Genesis 6:8: "But Noah found favor with the Lord." It measures 12 feet long, 2 feet wide and 18 inches tall and includes a 3-foot wide exposed side revealing its three inner decks.

That should find favor with LEGO World Records.

The model will set the record for the largest LEGO model of Noah's ark both "by dimension and brick," according to Pastor Craig Steiner of the Elgin church's Adult Ministries Department.

It will be on display during worship services at Harvest Bible Chapel through July 11. Services are at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9 and 11:15 a.m. Sundays.



TOP GROSSEST THINGS IN YOUR HOUSE

5. Your garbage pail
4. Your loofah, wash cloth or sponge
3. Your vacuum cleaner bag
2. Your toilet seat

1. YOU!
At the end of the day, YOU are pretty disgusting. Your body is home to a wide array of microbes, from bacteria and viruses to (perhaps even) bugs and parasites. There are 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the ecosystem that is your body -- and as many as 182 different species of bacteria live on your skin alone. Yep, if you're looking for the biggest source of grossness in your home, you need look no further than your own fingers, feet and belly button, not to mention those disease-carrying mucous membranes. Much of your own cohabitants are harmless to you, but can potentially cause problems for other humans. So, if you wanted to be supersafe, you could simply avoid all human contact. Sounds like a plan.



July 5th. is DEPENDENCE DAY…ON GOD!

American Christians across the nation will band together the day after Independence Day to repent and pray for God to heal the country.

The newly launched initiative Call2Fall, organized by the conservative Christian group Family Research Council, will focus on the spiritual and moral problems growing in the nation.

"America is a nation in moral crisis,” says FRC President Tony Perkins. “Four out of every ten children are born out of wedlock, and every day roughly 3,000 unborn children are aborted in our county. From homosexual 'marriage' to proposed curbs on religious speech, there are serious matters for the church to address, humbly and with great earnestness, before God.”

Held a day after Americans celebrate their “independence,” Call2Fall will be a day when Christians declare their “dependence” on God, Perkins explains. The name of the initiative means call to fall on our knees.

With July 5 being a Sunday, churches are being called to have their entire congregation pray for at least three to five minutes for the spiritual health of their church and for America. Some churches, according to FRC, are holding a prayer event the entire day.

With July 5 being a Sunday, churches are being called to have their entire congregation pray for at least three to five minutes for the spiritual health of their church and for America. Some churches, according to FRC, are holding a prayer event the entire day.

Call2Fall organizers hope to have eight million Christians participate in the prayer event and declare their dependence on God.



President Interrupted By Annoying Ringtone

We've all been there - deeply embarrassed after our mobile phone has gone off unexpectedly during meetings, conferences, films, and so on.

So this poor journalist's mortification is understandable - though she gets no extra sympathy for her choice of ringtone.

Barack Obama was giving a speech yesterday when - to a reporter's horror - her mobile phone went off, interrupting the U.S. President.

To make matters worse, for some unimaginable reason the unidentified journalist had picked the sound of a duck quacking for her ringtone.

'Whose - whose duck is back there?' asked a confused Mr Obama, who had just been delivering a solemn address on homosexuality and civil rights.

'It's a duck,' First Lady Michelle Obama confirmed, breaking down into giggles.
'Where do you guys get these ringtones, by the way?' the president asked to laughter. 'I'm just curious.'

The President and the First Lady were hosting a reception for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month in the East Room of the White House
And, as the quacking - and the laughter - fell silent, Mr Obama launched straight back in to his speech on fairness and equality.

TO SEE VIDEO:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1196465/Obama-interrupted-speech-journalists-quacking-duck-ringtone.html