Media Needs to Do Their Job

In the Preamble to its Code of Ethics, the Society of Professional Journalism declares:

One doctor warns the encroachment of health and medical marketing threatens journalistic integrity.(ABC News Photo Illustration)
... public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy ... Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty.

We should strive to be independent from the agendas and timetables of journals, advocates, and industry and government agencies. We should nourish and encourage original and analytical reporting that provides audiences/readers with context.

Although the writer is talking about writing medical articles, these ethics should apply to all journalists. At least the reputable ones. I am not nearly optimistic enough to hope that one day Perez Hilton will write articles eligible for the Pulitzer Prize, but is it too much to ask to get some factual reporting without the bias from supposedly legitimate journalists.

Since I have already mentioned the waste of human DNA, let's look at Mr Hilton's journlaistic contributions. Lately he reported Kate Jackson near death from a self inflicted gunshot wound. Did a fat little fairy give him his facts or was he just spinning the wheel and using what lie came up? Granted, he is the bottom of the barrell, but even legitimate news seems to be a higher class of lies and misinformation.

I have always believed that news is to educate the public based on facts. Now I feel like the media decides the facts and reports based on opinions the haved already formed. Take the recent case of the so called "balloon boy." The media decided it was a hoax on day 1 long before law enforcement. Now it may turn out that it was all for show, but consider what if it isn't. This kid is being hounded, the dad lost his reality show and the parents face criminal charges. All based on stories written before any real facts emerged. The media outlets are more interested in scooping each other rather than reporting the truth. Maybe it is an after effect of the Susan Smith debacle? They certainly bought her bullshit in the beginning didn't they?

I just think it is a sad state of affairs when you have to fact check the news story you just read. It is time we demand the FACTS and not the writer's opinion or the version of the story that is more sensational. We need to stop reading the bullshit until there is a journlaist who is willing to give us the unvarnished facts, the truth and nothing but the truth.

School Nurses

What the hell has happened to school nurses? When I was a kid, school nurses were concerned about the students they saw and did whatever they could to alleviate the suffering of those students. Now their job seems to be to say what they can to get the kid back to class. The whole attitude has changed. The assumption from the beginning now is that the kids are faking and it is up to the kids to prove there really is something wrong.

What alot of parents don't know is that not all school nurses are actually nurses! I have filled in at our local school district a few times. What I learned is that out of the 4 schools only 1 has an actual nurse! The other 3 has a nurse's aide. If there is an emergency, the nurse leaves the other school and comes to check out the problem. They may be close, but 10 mins is a long time if you have an arterial bleed or diabetic crises! When I questioned the safety of this, I was told that alot of school districts do this now to save money! I am not sure that I want the budget balanced by cutting back on my kids healthcare while they are at school!

Just a few examples of issues I have personally had:

• My daughter broke her arm a couple weeks ago. I filled out the necessary forms for my daughter to have Ibuprofen at school. She was on Vicodin at home, but I did not want to have to send Vicodin to school. I wrote out the doctors instructions. Tylenol or Vicodin then in 2 hrs Ibuprofen and in 2hrs Tylenol/Vicodin, etc. Having worked in a doctor's office I knew this was common for severenpain or high fever. The first day she went to the nurse at 9am (like I told her) and when the nurse found out she had Vicodin at 7am, she refused to give her the Ibuprofen. She would not give it unless it had been at least 4 hrs. I was irate. So I called the doctor and they faxed orders for her to have 1/2 a Vicodin 4 times a day. This was the 1 week after the injury, mind you. My mother, who is also a nurse, drove the Vicodin to the school with the doctor's order, but they wouldn't let her administer it because she was not the parent. After phone calls and a faxed note from me it was 12:30pm. She tried to refuse to give it because my note said 12pm. My mom had a fit and she got her meds. I kept my daughter home for a week after she reinjured her arm because I did not trust that she would get her meds without an argument. She went back this week and when she went to get her Vicodin (its now been 2 1/2 weeks) the nurse refused her again because she felt that she should be weaning off it by now! She has a doctors order to have it for the first 4 weeks but she overruled the doctor?
• My nephew was injured on the playground at last recess. (1st grade) He was taken to the nurse's office and was given an ice pack and made to sit there until school was over. The nurse was going to send him home on the bus, but he was still crying, so after over 1 1/2 hrs his mother was called. He had fractured and dislocated his elbow and was taken to emergency surgery that night!
• My youngest daughter has asthma. She told her teacher she was having trouble breathing and was sent to the nurse's office. She used her inhaler then was sent home on the bus. She was so bad by the time she got home we had to go to the ER. Her oxygen level was 88%! She needed 2 breathing treatments to be able to breathe normally again.
• My middle daughter suffers from seizures. She had a seizure in class but it was not obvious so no one noticed til she was staggering down the hall and was not coherent. The nurse got her a lunch tray and told her she needed to eat. One look at her medical profile and she would have known she had a seizure disorder, but she just told her to eat and went back to her desk. After an hr when my daughter still wasn't 'right', they finally called me. Every year since I send a form to her teachers describing what her seizures look like, what to do, etc. I do not trust the nurse to recognize a seizure when she sees one.

I could go on and on. I have talked to parents who have had kids sent home on the bus, with no call from the school nurse, with broken bones, blood sugars way high/low, and with fevers of 103. Why have a nurse that does nothing for the students? If the school insists on using aides in place of actual nurses, then these people need some kind of training and need to be required to read the medical profiles we have to fill out every year. Basically, if there is no fever, excessive bleeding or vomit when they can send the kids home, they tell them to lie down for 20 mins and send them back to class.

I am sure that there are some school nurses out there that care about their students and do a wonderful job, but they are not in our school district that is for sure! So parents beware! You send your kids to school thinking that if something goes wrong there is adequate medical care to handle the situation. But the nurse you have may not be a nurse at all! Educate yourself and ask your local school district if you actually have a nurse or an untrained aide!

Paparazzi

These days it is not unusual to see hordes of photographers outside celebrity homes or surrounding a stars vehicle as they try to leave a restaurant, store, hairdresser, etc. But when is enough going to be enough? Princess Diana was killed while fleeing paparazzi and that was not enough. Brittney Spears has flipped out, in no small part thanks to the constant pressure from the paparazzi, and that was not enough. We have watched stars feud, flash their vejayjays, crash and flip out and still it is not enough. Now Madonna has been injured after a photographer jumped from the bushes, startling her horse. Mercifully she suffered only minor injuries, bur she could have been another Christopher Reeves. If we do not start curbing our morbid fascination with everything a celebrity does, someone else is going to die. A star, a photographer, or some unlucky sap who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think this new wave of 'anything goes because stars have no right to privacy' started with the Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson sex tape. A tape stolen from their home, that the courts ruled they could not block its distribution, has been seen by millions all over the world. I, personally, have not seen this video because I totally disagree with the court's decision. So I refused to watch it even though it is in a thousand places on the net for free. Millions of us have done what they did and videotaped themselves during intimate moments. Imagine how you would feel to have it plastered all over the net where anyone, from your mother to your childhood Sunday school teacher, could not only view, but comment or criticize it?

That case seemed to open the door to more intrusive behavior by the media. Suddenly. there seemed to be less of a boundary. Since then that line has become more and more blurred to the point there really is no line anymore. It seems anything goes in the name of freedom of the press(yea right) and entertainment. The more humiliating, compromising, or controversial the better. If you have the misfortune to be even somewhat famous, you have no right to privacy of any kind.

And who is to to blame for this debacle? We are. We the American public. If we did not lust after every last piece of a celebrity's soul, there would be no market for this trash. If we didn't buy this claptrap, the paparazzi would be out of business. To that I would say 'good riddance.' Because this can only end badly. For us and the stars. For the celebrities it will mean that so many talented people will either walk away and decide it is not worth it or just not do it to begin with. And that will be our loss. Or like I mentioned earlier, someone will end up losing their life to this craziness. We have already become so jaded and so blase in our response to this rubbish, we have stopped noticing the effects it has on our children. Let's face it kiss emulate their heroes and when their heroes are barely legal drug addicted, alcoholic floozies who are lucky if they can find their way home most nights yet seem to have little or no consequences, what kind of behavior do we expect from them. By not censoring what they see and by not talking to them about it, we essentially condone it.

By continuing to buy the magazines and watch the shows that use the photos and video obtained by these vultures, we are supporting an industry that we are contributing to the demise of our own morality. Everyone has a right to some privacy and respect. As human beings we need to have things we keep just for ourselves. Imagine for a moment how having your private life beamed all over the globe would affect you. Some stars, like Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher on twitter, are willing to share pieces of their lives. That's great but when they don't wish to share and the paparazzi get that story buy any means necessary, a line is crossed. The only way to get back across that line depends on us and us alone. If we do. we may get back a little bit of the dignity we have lost as a culture. If we don't, then we can only blame ourselves when it all, inevitability, goes so horribly wrong.

Religion

I want to begin by saying I am not an atheist, Satanist or anything else that does not believe in God. I absolutely do. I consider myself to be a Gnostic Christian. (You can look that up for yourself) I also do not believe that religious people are evil, at least not all of them. I have a friend who is a minister that I find to be honest, sincere and nonjudgmental, as well as a good friend. As a matter of fact, I find her to be the kind of minister (and person) that all religious leaders should aspire to be like. Never, no matter the differences in belief our ideology, has she ever judged me, belittled me or declared me to be wrong in some way.

Religion is defined as an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth.

Nowhere in this definition does it declare one group more right or wrong than another. Nor does declare one group to be so superior that they are righteous in judging others outside of their faith. Where does it say that just because you believe one way that you have the right to; judge people, judge their actions, or judge what they believe? I must have missed that declaration. My only conclusion is that this right must be self-imposed and self-assumed.

I do not have a problem with religion, or God. But I have issues with the kind of people that think they have the right to decide for everyone else. They are not all in church but it seems to be where I find a lot of them these days. We live in a country of religious freedom, so we are supposed to be able to choose for ourselves. So why do we degrade, snub and gossip about those who believe differently? A prime example is the Muslim faith. We do not understand their faith or we disagree with it, so we call them all terrorists. There are some political issues tied up with this as well, but how many emails have you gotten that indicate Muslims are all terrorists in disguise?

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  A few examples:
  We were invited to attend church by an acquaintance. We attended for a few weeks and the people seemed very nice and welcoming. While in a conversation with the acquaintance I learned that one of their beliefs was that women could only speak through men on church matters or in any committee in the church. Personally I found this offensive. Did I snub this person or berate her for attending a church that believed such things? No, I exercised my right to freedom pf religion and DID NOT GO BACK! What a bold concept this has become these days. It seems if something offends us anymore we feel the need to publicize or litigate it when exercising our rights is so much simpler. But too many people feel like they have some right to judge someone else’s beliefs.
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  My children have been guests at another church many times. The big issue arose when it came to gay rights. We have always tried to teach our kids to judge others by their character, not their color, culture or preferences. But for some reason our beliefs and teachings are ignored. My kids have now been told repeatedly about parts not fitting and your moms wrong and the bible says… I could go on, but I will spare you here. I thought the bible also said, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” When did we stop living by the golden rule anyway?
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  The most egregious example I can think of is the church from KS that feels that they have the right to picket soldier’s funerals and torture the families because of their beliefs. Their beliefs disagree with military policies and believe it is God’s will whenever a soldier dies. They are certainly entitled to believe whatever they like. But what gives them the right to try to force those beliefs on others and torment already suffering families? Why is it not enough for them to just to believe that and not join the military? Why can they not accept that others choose not to believe as they do?

As I said in the beginning I do believe in God. I believe that I do not have to be in church whenever the doors are open for God to hear me. I am entitled to my beliefs and do not feel like anyone else has the right to harass me to go to their church or tell my family that I am going to hell because I don’t. I understand that some of the things I believe in, e.g. reincarnation, may not be everyone’s cup of tea and I accept that. Why is that so difficult for others to do? My theory is simple: be the best you can be, be good to each other, then shut up and go home.

Take it or leave it.

Obama

I just read an opinion post regarding Obama that has me shaking my head. The poster had photos of people with signs saying they were sorry for voting for Obama. They even went so far as to post a pic of Jesus with a sign saying something about 'it was supposed to be a second coming.' Really? Jesus voted for Obama? I would've thought that was a good thing.

What did people really think would happen? The man hasn't even been in office 2 months and we are angry that we haven't gotten some miracle cure for the country? Did we really think that once Obama was in office that, Boom! there would be world peace, the economy would soar, global warming would magically reverse itself and people world-wide would all join hands and sing Kumbaya? Come on, seriously.

I, too, voted for Obama because I wanted change. His ideas have been different and therefore, have faced opposition. I have heard alot of political commentators saying 'we don't know if this will even work, it has never been tried before.' Well duh, isn't that the point? First of all, we won't know if it will work if we don't try it and secondly, what we have been doing to this point obviously isn't working, so we have to think outside the box don't y0u think? Isn't that what we wanted, what we voted for, something different? So let's give different a chance. Things can't get a whole lot worse and we might just make things better.

Obama inherited a whole lot of problems most presidents never had to face. Before we build the guillotines, let's give him a chance to do the job we hired him for. The issues he is facing are not of his making, so let us start by putting the blame where it belongs. Obama requested 2 things during his campaign time and help. I don't think that is too much to ask for. So let us all do our part and help bring this country out of this economic funk we are in. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Good luck Mr. President. With wolves like these at the door, you are gonna need it!

Gay Marriage

It never ceases to amaze me how we can scream 'separation of church and state' and yet when it suits us, we will pull out the bible and hold it up as the final argument. Where were these folks when we took prayer out of schools, God out of the pledge, the 10 commandments out of government buildings, etc etc etc? A faith of convenience is a hollow faith indeed.

There is the argument that there is no proof that your are born gay. Where is the proof that we love our family? Where is the proof that we believe in God and country? The proof is in our choices and actions. If that is to be good enough in those scenarios, then why cannot it also be proof that 2 men or women can love each other?

We are quick to proclaim our progressiveness and equality for all, but slow to actually attain that equality or prove it by our actions. If we truly believed we treat all men as equals, why was it front page news that we were finally smart enough elect a nonwhite president? Not all African Americans were treated as equals in all areas and we know it. Now we want to pat ourselves on the back and say see? we told you we were all equal. Again our secret standards are showing themselves.

What will it really cost us to allow gay marriage? How is really going to change our day to day life? There are already gay couples living together in our communities as families so what really will change? The people's lives that will be changed are these couples. Why should they not be allowed the same privileges as everyone else? Why not prove that we are all equal isn't just lip service?

Octomom

By now everyone on the planet has heard of Nadya Sulemon, aka Octomom. Let's face it, the only thing we like more in this country and in our media than building people up, is tearing them down. And why not a single mom with 14 kids?

Why do people hate her so much? She is certainly not the 1st person to have alot of children. We watch one family every week on tv who have 18 kids and call that entertainment. We have John and Kate plus 8 and they aren't getting death threats. So why Nadya? Personally I think it the 'single' that offends people so much. As is no single woman should be a mom without a man there to protect her. As progressive as we think we are, we still secretly hold those 50's standards in our hearts. If it truly was the government assistance then we would hear about death threats to any single mom in government housing. I am not picking on government assistance or anyone who receives it. It's there to help people put themselves in a position to better support themselves. What better way to help yourself than by completing a master's degree for God's sake! When did it become shameful to have a child who has a disability? We don't know that child's circumstances, yet we feel like we have some right to judge. If that's our requirement for being shames, I should go hide in a closet!

I think people have overlooked a few essential details in this story. 1. She did not intend to have 8 kids. She didn't plan to have all these kids to become famous. Based on her history, she counted on 1 or 2 at most. For her to have had 8 is a 1,000,000 to 1 chance. So people need to stop acting like she intentionally stole their best doll! 2. NO ONE has said anything but good things about her parenting skills. Even her mother who seems to be Nadya's worst enemy at times, has stated she is a very good and attentive mother. OMG how dare she be such a good mom! It's just outrageous. 3. IT IS NO ONE ELSE'S' BUSINESS!!! This lady did not drop these babies off to you to raise. She did not prevent anyone else from having kids. She did not even approach the media with the story. WE WENT TO HER! She hasn't beaten or neglected her kids. Did the people in CA who chained the boy in the fireplace get this amount of hate and media attention? NO! And they actually deserved it. Did she make a mistake? Sure, even she admits that. But she did it to herself and HER family. Who the hell are you to judge?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one has the right to judge what is right for someone else. I seem to remember a verse that went something like "judge not, lest ye be judged." And those that feel like death threats are appropriate need to 1 look in the mirroe and 2. go see a shrink immediately because you definitely have a few screws loose. What on earth you think that will solve I cannot begin to imagine. If you disagree with her, fine, that's your business. But every negative thing you say or print, affects those children too. So mind your business and let her take care of hers.

UFO's

I never intended for my first blog to be on UFO's, but after reading this article I had to speak my mind. Most people when they think, if they think about it at all, about UFO sightings they think it is something that happens only to weirdos and crackpots. But more and more we are hearing from 'everyday people' about their experiences with strange lights and strange aircraft in their area. I, myself, have seen what I believe to be UFO's on 2 separate occasions in my life.

My biggest gripe is the 'pooh pooh' response the government has shown the public and people who have experienced this phenomena. It is the feeling that the government can't trust the American people with the truth. The initial stories from the 1947 Roswell crash stated that it was a UFO that crashed in New Mexico. Once the government came in, it changed to a weather balloon. Pilots report that filing a report about UFO encounters to authorities ruins careers and tarnishes their reputations. Even public safety officials have been 'punished' for reporting encounters with UFO's. Now they want to give us another excuse about 'lightening fairies' or some such nonsense so there is one more excuse to use to exploain away any reports of strange lights in the sky, If there really is nothing out there visiting us, why are these people paying a price for reporting it and why do they keep coming up with excuses to explain it away?

I think it is a great disservice to the American public to lie to us and 'protect' us from the truth. When are they going to stop censoring the information disseminated to the public? When a UFO lands on the White House lawn? Do they think we are so self involved with our own self importance that we would believe that we are all alone in the universe? To quote Eleanor Arrowway, "it would be an awful waste of space."

I think as a people we are smart enough and rational enough to accept the truth whatever it is and move on with our lives. So I say, "let me have it!"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090223/sc_space/naturalexplanationfoundforufos;_ylt=AlAg952Z8fgIVy31KcQC6I.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFhNWc0bG9oBHBvcwM2BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA25hdHVyYWxleHBsYQ--