Today is Rejection Day,

marking this date in 1915 when the U.S. House rejected a proposal to grant women the right to vote.  Eventually, the measure passed but not until sometime later.  Speaking of Congress, we spoke with Congressman Steve Pearce on Your Morning Show about the Tucson shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and other matters.  Click to listen: here

Music History 101: January 12, 2003: Maurice Gibb died four days after being admitted to a Florida hospital for emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. He suffered cardiac arrest. He was 53.

History 101: January 12, 2010: The worst earthquake in 100 years devastated Haiti one year ago today.

The 101 number one song of the day came from a guy who most observers thought his best work was behind him even though he never had a hit. And that (a hit) didn’t happen until after he recorded eighth album.  He was the son of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin pathologist. While in college he and Boz Scaggs fronted a band that was the rage of frat row. Later, he drifted down to Chicago to play the blues and eventually headed west to San Francisco and became an immediate local favorite in the days of psychedelia. He developed an enthusiastic following but remained a relative unknown. Determined to come up with something that would get airplay he came up with something that was two and a half minute long and would play on top 40 radio. What resulted became the title cut of album number eight and he achieved his goal: it was played on the radio and audiences loved it. It arrived at number one on January 12, 1974 – It the Steve Miller Band (The Joker)

Other stuff:

The 101 Gold Nugget of Knowledge: There was a guy in Italy shot in the head by a stray bullet during a New Year’s Eve celebration. The bullet passed through his eye and lodged in his nostril. While he was waiting for a doctor in the emergency room – he sneezed – and the bullet popped out of his nose. He’s expected to recover.

One of the guesses for the nugget was “a worm” and that got talking about that ditty that goes “the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out” and Mike and KC had heard slightly different versions.  And so had many other people.  Eric emailed a googled version of the entire poem which reads as follows:

Do you ever think as a hearse goes by,

that you may be the next to die?

They wrap you up in a big white sheet

From your head down to your feet.

They put you in a big black box,

And cover you up with dirt and rocks.

All goes well for about a week,

Then your coffin begins to leak.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

The worms play pinochle on your snout.

They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,

They eat the jelly between your toes.

A big green worm with rolling eyes,

Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.

Your stomach turns a slimy green,

And pus pours out like whipping cream.

You spread it on a slice of bread,

And that's what you eat when you are dead.

It looks like we’re tightening up our borders - A Winnipeg woman recently stopped at the U.S. border for a random search of her car. The customs official discovered a tiny bit of contraband – a Kinder Surprise Egg, valued at about $2 for a two-pack at Canadian grocery stores. Turns out, the chocolate egg is banned in the U.S. for fear the toy inside is a choking hazard. Linda Bird saw her Kinder Surprise promptly seized, with a stern warning that she could have faced a $300 fine for secreting it into the country. “It was just a chocolate egg,” Bird said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s so ridiculous.” Bird says she then recently received a seven-page letter from the U.S. government formally asking her to authorize the egg’s destruction. Should she like to contest, she’ll have to cough up $250 for storage. “I had to read it twice,” Ms. Bird says. “But they are serious.” Border guards have reportedly seized roughly 25,000 eggs in 2,000 crossings.