My dear friend Amy is visiting this morning from Panama along with her two sons, 8-year-old Sam and 6-year-old Gus. I’ve known them since before they were born and now they’ve grown into smart, funny, adorable little boys or as they refer to themselves “evil monsters”.

They’ve never been to NYC before. They tell me the highlight of their trip was seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway.

And seeing behind the scenes of FOX, of course.

This was one of our funnier problem-solver segments (though probably not to Darra Kollios who lost her job).

Darra was fired from her position as bar manager at a restaurant in Tampa, Florida for laughing. Not hysterically, not constantly, not, as far as we can tell, annoyingly. Just laughing. I can relate: I remember my first job in tv where my boss, the executive producer, told me to stop smiling. He said it sent people the wrong message.

(Yeah, that I was actually happy at work).

That boss later died suddenly of a massive heart attack in his 40s. So perhaps his admonition to look miserable was not a great life strategy.

What’s the most bizarre thing your boss has told you to do — or stop doing?

Hey everyone–I’m on from 7-9 today but I will try to blog throughout the show. Here are some topics to discuss this morning:

-What do you think of the reported teen pregnancy pact in Gloucester, Massachusetts in which dozens of teenage girls actually tried to get pregnant.?

-If you haven’t heard much about the Countrywide mortgage scandal, you’re not alone.  Much of the media is ignoring it.  So is this story an outrage or business as usual?

-And do you have a favorite website?  Any site you find particularly cool or helpful? (nothing x-rated please!) At 8:30 I’ll post my favorite one here.

Verne Troyer from the upcoming movie The Love Guru!

We all know the problem:  $4 dollar a gallon gas.  So, let’s talk about some solutions.  John McCain will be giving a policy speech today on oil.  He favors lifting the federal moratorium on domestic exploration and wants to give state’s the option to drill.  But he does NOT believe in tampering with the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) where analysts believe millions of gallons of oil lie.  What do you think?  Is domestic drilling the answer?  Is ANWR the answer?  (I do like the spelling symmetry). 

You may have noticed we’re here on a Saturday.  Tim Russert was by all accounts the gold standard for a fair yet probbing, civil yet tough journalist.  He’ll be missed in Washington and far beyond.

We’re having a blast with our contest winner Bill Fahy and his family. Bill’s more popular than Angelina Jolie on the red carpet: “Bill, can we get a picture? Bill, can I get you some breakfast? Bill, wanna climb into bed in front of a million people?” Yes, yes and yes. Bill’s the subject of photo ops, gifts, free food! And it’s not just Bill that we’re entertaining today. There are dozens of winners from contests held at local FOX affiliates across the country. Check out some of our behind-the-scenes photos. I’ll keep updating this page as our fun-filled unfolds.

2:00 P.M. UPDATE: Hey yall! Audra here. Alisyn has been working hard writing a story all day and after seeing what a huge response we have had to this topic she asked me to respond to some questions for her. Thanks for sharing all your great comments and ideas!

You probably heard our 6:45 guest, Marion Lambert, justify his reasons for constructing and flying one of the biggest Confederate flags in the country from his yard in Tampa, Florida. The flag is positioned so it flies prominently over an extremely well-traveled highway. Mr. Lambert feels the flag is the best representation of Southern history and heritage. Well, many residents of Tampa vehemently disagree. They think the flag is a symbol of racism and bigotry but what can they do about it? We asked the Judge for his legal opinion. He says the Confederate flag is legal and it’s perfectly legal to fly it, particularly from your own front yard. So, what’s the recourse for those who oppose it?

I hope you all heard the debate we had this morning about Arthur Mkoyan, the Valedictorian at a high school in Fresno, California who is now facing deportation. His family came to the U.S. from Armenia 14 years ago when Arthur was just three years old. They entered the U.S. legally on work visas and immediately applied for political assylum. Arthur performed admirably in school, earing a 4.0 GPA and has now been accepted to two top U.S. universities. He wants to go into medicine. 

The family is law-abiding and hard working. But in April, 14 years after their arrival, the courts denied their assylum case and they all must be deported back to Armenia. Is this the kind of immigration policy we’re hoping for when lawmakers attempt to fix the broken system? If you missed the interview, check it out below.

Why, oh why, does Brian insist on fighting every boxer, wrestler, alligator tamer or, in this case, mixed martial arts champ that comes on the show? As Tito told me in the Greenroom, “I was just worried about hurting the guy!” So, for Brian’s own good I think, Tito just picked Brian up and flipped him over his shoulder upside down and let him hang around. It looked like Tito did it with one hand. The only mark Brian left on Tito was smearing him with his “man-makeup” (as Steve called it). Here’s a photo of Maureen having to clean up Tito’s suit after the fact. (we’ll post it in one second — hey Audra!) Tito couldn’t have been nicer or more charming. Suddenly we’ve all become mixed martial arts enthusiasts.