Parents freak out over summer camp?

Seriously. These parents need to calm down. Yes, every parent worries when their child is out of sight. But at some point, you have to put your trust in the camp counselors and (ultimately) your kids.

They’ll get alone fine without you. And dare I say, they’d get along better if you’d stop interfering about every little thing.

This quote from a camp parent liaison blew me away:

“Nobody goes to school for how to send your child away from you…We help the parents become independent”

Are you freaking kidding me? As a parent, I completely understand missing your child, and wanting to keep them safe. But if you can’t handle your child growing up, then you are being a bad parent. What’s next? Are you going to quit your job and move with your kid when he/she goes to college? Are you going to do their laundry until they’re 40? Give me a break.

Sports journalists have higher ethical standards than news reporters

How can I say that? Easily.

Sports reporters, when attending games, are not allowed to:

1. Cheer openly for a team when in the press box
2. Wear apparel supporting one team
3. Ask for pictures/autographs with players or coaches after the game.

If a reporter does this, I can guarantee that they wouldn’t have a job for very long. Of course, reporters covering a certain “beat” develop relationships with teams, their players and coaches — that’s obvious. But the good ones keep it to themselves.

Compare and contrast this attitude to the UNITY convention wrapping up in Chicago this weekend. It’s a meeting of about 4,000 journalists representing the four major minority journalism associations in America.

Barack Obama held a town-meeting style sppech/Q&A there today. You can watch it on CNN. What was said isn’t important (it’s the same old, same old). I don’t care about the content — But I do care deeply about the reaction of the audience….let me reiterate, it’s 4,000 journalists.

I have several friends in attendance who were embarrassed by their fellow “objective” and “unbiased” reporters. Prior to the speech, a speakers panel discussed the ethics of political reporting — telling told the crowd to keep it respectful, professional and in no uncertain terms overtly cheer for Obama. The CNN producers even told the audience to tone it down because “it was going out on national TV” (I guess they didn’t want to show the obvious bias either).

But of course, all of that went out the window once the presumptive democrat nominee arrived. My friends report their fellow journalists giving Obama several standing ovations. Many also pushed and shoved after the speech to shake his hands and take pictures, much like pre-teens at a Hannah Montana concert.

The confrence wraps up today. And these same people will go back to their newsrooms to report the news of the day. Many of these are the same people who will report, produce and make the news on the political campaign.

If they are so overtly cheering for Obama amongst their peers, how can that not reflect in their reportage? How can they claim righteous indignation when people like myself call them on their obvious media bias.

For those of you, my fellow news-people — Shame on you. You didn’t act professional, you acted like groupies. I hope throwing away your ethical standards was worth that digital snapshot or signature.

You should go ask the sports department about how to report an event like this, because you obviously need a refresher course.

EDIT: Tip of the hat to Michelle Malkin, who noticed this as well.

Breaking News!

Just how difficult was it to persuade the media to follow their anointed one? Andrew Malcom writes in the LA Times campaign blog:

All of this [Obama coverage] prompted Investors Business Daily to publish a trenchant op-ed by William Tate that reported on his examination of Federal Election Commission records for donations by journalists.

You’ll never guess what he says he found — 235 journalists donating to Democrats while only 20 gave to Republicans for a total of $225,563 to Democrats and $16,298 to the the GOP-inclined.

That’s small potatoes moneywise in terms of the nearly $1 billion collected so far in this election cycle. But Tate sees a valuable built-in bias among Democratic journalists for candidates of their party.

Last summer Bill Dedman at MSNBC did a massive research project, examining political donations by journalists over several years and found a similar overwhelming number of Democratic journalists (125 of 143 political donors while only 16 gave to Republican candidates and two others were bi-.

Shocking huh? As a denizen of many newsrooms in my time, I can agree with this. I would be shocked to find out if anyone else in my newsrooms were conservative/libertarian. We became sort of a secret club. Usually, it was the sports guys and a few meteorologists.

I still find it funny that some people actually see a pro-McCain media bias. At least the Project for Excellence in Journalism is rational. They have found that in two-thirds of the election stories, Obama has been the more prominent story. But the PEJ is quite mealy-mouthed in revealing its findings:

“No matter how understandable it is given the newness of the candidate and the historical nature of Obama’s candidacy, in the end it’s probably not fair to McCain,” [project director Tom Rosenstiel] said.

Really? That’s the best you can come up with?

One wonders what the outrage would be had it been Fox News covering McCain’s campaign with half the fawning rhetoric that the rest of the mainstream media does.

I do wonder if people will tire of all of this sweetness and light and hope and change coming out of the Obama camp and its adoring media. On one hand, I chuckle at this column from the Times’ (London) Gerard Baker, telling the Obama story like it’s a Psalm:

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

But on the other hand, it seems to me that there are just too many people who are tired of Bush, and will vote for someone, anyone who brings the message of change, even if they know deep down it’s nothing but empty rhetoric. I certainly can sympathize with this, but if you really start looking at it, the true candidate of unity really is McCain.

That’s not an endorsement of McCain, it’s just simple — McCain has shown he’ll compromise with democrats; Obama has been a rubber stamp for the democrats.

Still, it’s encouraging that McCain is still close in the national polls. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens post-convention and during the debates. And despite what the media wants you to think and believe, Obama isn’t inevetable. After all, these are the same people crowning Hillary as the next president years ago.

Technorati? I feel so John McCain.

Bah! In my day we didn’t have this crazy Internet dealie. I still remember days before MTV and remote controls. Kids these days….

Technorati Profile

Mommy! What’s that smoke coming from that man’s face?

I’ll admit — I’ve never seen a single episode of AMC’s Mad Men. I’m sure it’s great TV, I’ve just got better things to TiVo. But I do love the uproar the show gets from the anti-smoking Nazis. You see, because it’s a show based in the 1950s, there’s a lot of cigarettes. Everyone smokes. And no one (at least not yet) has keeled over from lung cancer, nor have any children been afflicted with a deadly asthma attack within seconds of entering a smoke-filled room.

I hate cigarettes. Having worked in a fair share of bars and restaurants, and having a few friends who smoke them, I think they’re nasty and disgusting. They’re an unnatural form of tobacco and are addictive. My grandfather died of lung cancer, partly because he smoked cigarettes.

Now, here comes the conundrum: I love cigars. I believe they are a totally different animal. Because they are made completely out of tobacco, and (most importantly), you don’t inhale, they are far less addictive and far less harmful than any nicotine products. Are they 100% safe? Of course not. But since I’ve dramatically cut down my drinking, started eating healthier and exercised more, a man needs a vice. And like a fine wine, whiskey, or even cheese, fine hand-rolled cigars are a thing to be enjoyed, relaxed with and savored. As my palate gets more sensitive, I’m able to pick out floral and taste notes (much like wine) and the region it’s made.

The anti-smoking Nazis can’t make any distinction. Reports like this contain holes one can drive a truck through (maybe in a later post). In fact, anyone even hinting of using a tobacco product is someone to be shunned and put in a colony in some remote island, like lepers.

Personally, I think all these smoke bans are ridiculous. Like most everything else, the market is best suited to handle this. There is no reason I shouldn’t be able to open my own bar/restaurant catered directly to smokers, employ only smokers, and post signs in front telling non-smokers that they may want to go elsewhere. Instead, the state deems to tell me that they know what’s best for me, and bans smoking across the board, sequestering all tobacco users to some remote corners.

If private companies want to ban smoking, force smokers to pay more in health insurance, or something else, I have no problem with that either. It’s up to us, the public, to make the choice.

With that being said, I have to chuckle at the backlash toward Mad Men. I also noticed at the end of the movie Iron Man, there’s a disclaimer that basically says the movie doesn’t endorse tobacco use and its use was purely for artistic purposes (Jeff Bridges’ character Obadiah Stane is the evil villain and *gasp!* smokes cigars).

Meanwhile, we can show basically all the violence we want to. Drug use is cool, as is teenage, unwed pregnancy (yay Jamie Lynn Spears!)

But God forbid we show someone smoking. What will the children think? Lord forbid we force their parents to teach them to think for themselves. That’s the government’s job.

NFL Training camp starts, Chris Cooley a whiner?

Sorry it’s been a while. Quite busy on the home front this past week.

Regardless, I’m happy to hear it’s football season once again. Because my Mariners (and the Braves) are mired in….let’s be generous and say mediocrity….I can’t wait to start watching some pigskin.

One thing I love about this crazy Internet thingy and especially blogging is that we can hear things firsthand. From the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Which is why I love this post on Kissing Suzy Kolber by Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley (warning: language NSFW). He probably speaks for 98% of NFL players when he says that he hates training camp.

The one cool thing about the first month of camp is living in a dorm room. I love it when I get to leave my 2.8 million dollar house and live in a 400 square foot box, trade in the Mercedes for the bus, and curl up in my twin bed. The TV’s are great too, who isn’t happy when they pick up 10 total channels on a 24 inch box? Yea, I guess now people can say what a ungrateful bastard I am and how much anyone would give to play pro football, but please, whether it’s a high school or NFL training camp, it’s still gonna be as fun as a bag of (expletive removed).

Ha! That’s possibly the most honest thing I’ve heard from a pro athlete in a while. And most of my fellow bloggers get it — they (like myself) appreciate his honesty and understand his complaint.

But of course, I’ve also heard from the usual suspects. You know, the “Why are these guys complaining? Anyone would love to have their job. I’d do it for free!” crowd of idiots.

So in a futile attempt to sway some of these people’s opinions, let me offer up a scenario:

Your boss calls everyone in for a meeting. He says “Bad news people. We’ve got to fire 1/3 of you. So here’s how we’re going to do it. Beginning next week and lasting for about a month, we’re going to travel to a college campus. You’ll all get roommates. You’ll all have to work 8+ hours a day. No visitors. No wife, no kids, no girlfriend. Oh, and you’ll have a curfew and your day will be structured hourly.

And that’s not all. You’ll all get a complicated book chock full of technical information — about the size of two of those intro to Psychology books you used in college. You had better know everything that’s in them after the first week.

From time to time, we, the bosses, will meet to determine who’s doing well and who needs to get fired. Mind you, it won’t necessarily be based on who is the best, it’s also about who is making more money and if you can be replaced by someone cheaper.

At the end of the month, we’ll cut everyone down by 1/3. Maybe you’ll get a paycheck, maybe not. Then, you’ll be on your own to find some other work. Sure, there are some companies in other cities that may or may not pay you about what we did. If you can’t find a job with one of those companies, there are a couple others out there that may give you a few hundred bucks a week. And if you can’t get one of those? Well, I’m sorry. Most of you may be qualified to be a stockboy or a burger flipper.

Best of luck, and we may see you in a month.

Ok, back to reality. Doesn’t sound like a ton of fun, huh? If you want to imagine it even further, let’s harken back to those “great” dorm rooms of your college years. Remember those awesome twin XL beds? The ones where you’d fall out of if you moved six inches How much fun would it be to be sleeping in those things when you’re 6′4″ and 250+ pounds?

I don’t want to underestimate the factor that a lot of these guys are playing for their jobs. The average NFL player is done in their mid to late 20s. That’s a tiny window to get paid the six figures (or more) they’re likely never to earn again. An acquaintance of mine is one of those guys on the fringe of the NFL. He was an undrafted free agent as a rookie, got cut at the end of last season’s training camp, and didn’t get picked up by another team until the middle of the season. He’s in camp now, and may or may not get cut again. For every Peyton and Eli Manning there are hundreds of guys like this — spending every day living in fear this will be their last in the game.

And if you don’t have a significant other to lean on, I couldn’t imagine how stressful that would be.

So the next time you tell yourself, “These guys are so selfish…I’d play for free!” take a closer look at what they have to deal with. You may just change your mind.

Boys should be boys

There are many times I don’t agree with Dennis Prager, but I do consider him a great thinker. And I think he’s one of the few national media personalities on the forefront of the war against boys in today’s society. As a father of a four-year old, this is an  issue I am truly concerned with.

I graduated college almost 15 years ago. My school was about 60/40 female-to-male. As a happy, straight male, this was a great thing. But my freshman year, I noticed that the women’s crew, cross country and other teams were actively recruiting women to join the team — no experience necessary! Meanwhile, it was a dogfight to join any of the men’s teams. Despite the fact I played football and baseball in high school, there was no way I was fit to be on the same field as my college teams.

As the years progressed, I noticed some other things. Colleges around me were dropping men’s teams. Wrestling, baseball, swimming and diving, tennis….gone. That’s when I learned the lesson of unintended consequences. While Title IX proponents were praising the advances of women’s sports, men’s teams were getting cut left and right to meet the easiest standard, “proportionality.”

Title IX is a great thing for women’s sports. My college’s softball field was pathetic, and Title IX forced them to revamp it. But should women’s opportunities be expanded at the expense of men’s opportunities?

Unfortunately, many feminists say “yes.” And since this has been the trend of thinking and teaching for years, we are now reaping what we have sown.

Prager brings up a point that really got to me: Unless a boy plays a sport, most never see a male until dad (if he’s still around) comes home at night. Think about it: How many male day care providers are there? Heck, if there were, I bet most people would suspect him of being some sort of creep, or completely inept. How many male schoolteachers are out there? Fewer and fewer.

And because we have been taught that men and women are equal, and there are no differences between them, the school system is failing our boys. Increasingly, more and more boys are being prescribed Ritalin. While there are certainly cases of ADHD amongst kids, it’s almost a certainty that those kinds of drugs are over prescribed. With fewer and fewer schools having recess, it’s giving boys no chance to let off steam, instead keeping them sequestered in chairs all day — something that boys aren’t hard wired to do.

Fortunately, people are starting to get it. Christina Hoff Sommer’s “The War Against Boys” is a seminal work on the case. And now, “Boys Should Be Boys” by Meg Meeker gives us sound advice for us raising our kids in this culture. She argues that male values have been completely undermined. And male masculinity is degraded or brushed off. And she’s right.

In my father’s teenage years, shows like “Father Knows Best” or “Leave it to Beaver” or the many westerns out there helped mold what men are supposed to be — confident, smart, masculine role models. In my teens, the portayals of men became uber macho and violent (think “Rambo,” “Rocky” or “The Terminator”). Modern portrayals of men are nothing more than buffoonish cartoons (Homer Simpson or any Chris Farley character). Want proof? Just watch commercials. How many portray dad as lazy, stupid, or just an idiot.

What I find most interesting (and disturbing in a way) is that most, if not all of the research and criticism of this is done by women. I believe that most men have been taught to kowtow to the radical feminists. We can’t ever criticize something that empowers females, lest we be considered sexist. Yet women are free to poke fun at anything and everything men do, say or stand for and they get a “you go, girl!”

Cynthia Good can (allegedly) vandalize a “Men Working” sign and she gets praised. Bring up the fact that her magazine can be considered anti-male? You’re a sexist pig.

It’s time for men to stand up and be counted. It’s not in our nature to band together in some show of brotherhood. So I say we do it the way our dads and grandfathers did. Let’s be the type of men we want our sons to be. Let’s be great role models. Take a couple hours for lunch and meet your kid at elementary school or daycare. I’ve done it before and you’d be amazed — kids are starving for male attention. Let’s start concentrating on the little things that really add up.

I

AJC job cuts

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the latest newspaper to announce job cuts. On Wednesday, they announced that 189 jobs — 85 of them in the newsroom. In addition, some bureaus are closing and special sections will be eliminated.

As a member of the media myself, I hate to see my colleagues out of work. But it’s a sign of the times. Thanks to the Internet, blogs and news sites are making it easier to get news customized for your needs and tastes. For example, as a transplanted Seattleite, I can get news from Washington state, Mariners scores and even my high school’s football scores in a matter of seconds.

I had a feeling the AJC was in trouble when I subscribed. I just wanted the Sunday paper, but it was actually cheaper to get it seven days a week. It was obvious they wanted their subscriber rates up for advertisements. And when fewer and fewer people are reading the paper, what company wants to advertise in it?

Is it a sign of the times? Sure. And yeah, I’m sure the economy and gas prices have something to do with it. But it’s also a tried and true business fact: If you’re not providing the product your audience wants, you’re not going to succeed.

I’m sure the editors and leaders of the AJC don’t want to hear it, but Georgia — even the Atlanta area — is conservative. So why is there only one conservative on the editorial staff?

I’m not privy to their meetings, but I’m just putting a bug in their ears. Maybe taking a hard look at their news coverage and making those hard decisions may not be popular with their friends, but it may just make the AJC relevant again.

Laura Ingraham “Unhinged”?

A friend of mine pointed me to this post at Harry Shearer’s blog. If you haven’t seen it, it’s tape of conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham that was rolled before taping of her Fox News show.

Apparently, Harry Shearer thinks it’s funny because Ingraham is being “a bitch.” Apparently, Harry Shearer hasn’t spent time on a TV news set.

Look, I’m no Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite. My on-air TV experience was in small markets, where chaos often reigns supreme. But from my experience, it’s par for the course.

News, like sausage, is really something you don’t want to see made. Controlled (sometimes uncontrolled) chaos reigns supreme. In the newsroom, starting about two hours before air-time, things start getting hectic. Reporters come back from their stories, they’re cranking out a script, getting it approved and tracked so the videographers can put it all together. Producers are scrambling to fill their shows. Associate producers are getting scripts ready and the studio crew is getting the lighting and set ready. News anchors are looking over scripts and getting their “face on.”

When so many people are involved under tight deadlines, stuff happens. I’ve seen verbal spats that spill out into the hallways, I’ve even seen fistfights. I’ve had producers scream in my ear and videographers using spit and duct tape to get live shots up. Like I said, it often isn’t pretty.

And in the end, mistakes are made. Cameras aren’t set, scripts don’t match the video, equipment malfunctions…you name it, it happens. It’s the anchors job to make sure the viewer doesn’t notice them.

Yes, anchors can be a pain in the butt. I was one once. But let’s be honest — they’re the face of the news at that time. And if an AP messes up, or an audio person cuts a mike (or leaves it on, right Jesse?) or the prompter operator falls asleep, the anchor gets the blame. It’s why they’re paid so much money (not in my case, but what can you expect in small market TV?). And it’s why we tend to be a little ticked off when things aren’t going right.

In Laura’s case, it seemed like she was trying to maintain composure through the chaos. When you start a new show with a new crew like that, the craziness can be exponentially bad. She didn’t blow up like Bill O’Reilly, she didn’t curse, she didn’t really get out of line.

The Radio Equalizer said she looked uncomfortable up there, and perhaps she’s not ready for prime time. I somewhat agree, despite the common misperception that anchoring is easy, it does take a while to learn to deal with the lights, the prompter, and the general distractions that take place behind the camera. For example, the “Mexican man” she saw in the prompter was just a feed, and can be switched with no problem. Still, to me this looks like a team effort more than just her.

She was being confident and was taking charge, like any good leader should do. And female anchors in the business do have to deal with stereotypes and be somewhat of a pain sometimes, lest they be stepped on by the other members of the team.

If Harry Shearer and the rest of the liberal numbskulls don’t get that, they need to face reality. Besides, aren’t they the ones who complain that if a man stands up for himself and takes charge, he’s a leader, but if a woman does it, she’s a bitch?

Apparently, those rules only apply if the left agrees with what the woman is saying at the time.

Josh Hamilton, redux

Was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio the other day. And he brought up an interesting take on Josh Hamilton. To paraphrase, Cowherd puts Hamilton’s success on a different level than others who have come back from adversity, because his struggles were self-inflicted.

I get where he’s coming from. Back in the ’80s, Dave Dravecky came back from cancer. Lance Armstrong’s comeback was also from the dreaded c. Both were things they had no control over — afflictions that came through a medical condition.

Josh Hamilton came back from heroin addiction. Cowherd (I’m sure playing radio a bit, like he’s wont to do) didn’t think that was entirely worthy of the praise and adulation given to him during the all-star game.

I’ve never done drugs in my life. Nothing more than a little (ok, a lot) of underage drinking in college. My addiction was alcohol for a while before it switched to food. And I’m trying to recover from that. Fortunately, my addictions are socially acceptable, so I never had to endure the stigma of being a drug addict…just a fat guy (which carries its own problems).

My addictions were (and are) a sign of weakness. I compensated for my low self-esteem by drinking and eating too much. I’m sure Josh Hamilton’s addictions were masking the same for him.

Imagine for a second you’re in his shoes. An 18-year old kid from North Carolina, a “5 tool player” that people are hyping as the next Ken Griffey Jr. or A-Rod. The next superstar, taken as the #1 draft pick and given millions of dollars by the Tampa Bay (at the time) Devil Rays to be their superstar, their savior, the guy they want on billboards, commercials and on magazines. That’s a whole lot of responsibility for a young man…not to mention a whole wad of cash to spend on whatever he wants.

But I’m sure there was a lot of self-doubt going on, and a sense of having too much too soon. Unfortunately, Hamilton apparently was taken in with the culture and paid the price for it. He was fortunate. Most people can’t kick H and wind up spending the rest of their lives chasing the dragon, doing anything for their next hit. And I’m sure he struggles with those demons daily. He says that finding Jesus was the answer, and as a fellow Christian, I’m incredibly happy that he has done so.

I just hope that he’s also dealt with the underlying factors that got him there in the first place. I’m no shrink, and I have no idea what that is. But as this (still young) man progresses and starts becoming the star people thought he was, I’m afraid those demons will come back.

So while I agree with Cowherd – his setback was of entirely his own making – I also think that he’s going to have to struggle more mentally than others who fought debilitating diseases. I just pray that he makes it.