Ohhhhh Brother No. 38: Much Ado About Tweeting, Part II

Just when I think the reprimanding of a high school girl over a tweet she made concerning a politician was bad enough, now comes this story about a cheerleader losing her whole Twitter account!

This past Thanksgiving, the Dallas Cowboys were battling the Miami Dolphins, and at one point in the game, Cowboys tight end Jason Witten wound up out of bounds, tackling a Cowboys cheerleader, Melissa Kellerman.  It's one of those newsworthy stories that nobody can make up!

The story took a different turn, however, when it was reported earlier today that Miss Kellerman's Twitter account was deleted at the behest of the Cowboys organization after she tweeted about the tackle.

Ohhhhh brother!

Can somebody please explain to me how a cheerleader's tweeting of her own tackling is a bad thing?  What good reason do the Cowboys have in forcing Miss Kellerman to delete her own Twitter account?  In the end, it does nothing but make the Cowboys organization look like villains.  Shame on them, indeed.

Ohhhhh Brother No. 37: Much Ado About Tweeting

Do you know what the cost is to bring hell down upon yourself?  For a high school girl in Kansas, I'd say the cost was about two cents.

Apparently, while on a field trip to Topeka where they met Governor Sam Brownback, a senior by the name of Emma Sullivan tweeted that she told the Governor he sucked and in person, "#heblowsalot".  She later joked about telling him he sucked, but the Governor's communications director, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, got wind of the tweet, and the girl's principal, Karl R. Krawitz, read her the Riot Act for about an hour.  It was further reported the girl wrote an apology to the Governor.

Ohhhhh brother!

Joke or not, Emma Sullivan simply stated her opinion about Governor Brownback and that was it.  The communications director who initially raised hell over the tweet, and the principal who reprimanded the girl for an hour and had her write an apology for simply tweeting her opinion, should be the ones to apologize for their actions.

As for the girl, I'm glad to read she's not sorry about posting the tweet and the fact she now has over 1,000 followers on Twitter.  All the best to her, including an unhindered ability to exercise her right to speak (and tweet) freely.

The Height of Arrogance

Breitbart posted a brief video of a historian attempting to correct a Congressman's mistake:



So, you have Congressman Don Young acting like (what looks to me) an arrogant fool, incorrectly stating Douglas Brinkley's name, Brinkley seeks to correct the Congressman on his error, and it's Mr. Brinkley who's chastised for breaching protocol.

The video is a reminder that some members of Congress think that because of their current occupation, they can get away with doing whatever they want, and are offended when someone else calls them out on it. Congressman Young was wrong in his mistake and added insult to injury by overstepping his bounds in telling Brinkley to shut up.

It's a shame some members of Congress have forgotten they're only there because We the People put them there; hopefully, enough people in Alaska will vote out Don Young, thereby letting him know he can't get away with his crap anymore.

The Big 0-5

Eight days ago, there was a big milestone in my life: the 5th anniversary of my being a blogger.

It's hard to believe, even now, I can call myself a blogger (especially after taking a look back at some of my previous posts).  Nevertheless, taking a look at my very first post, it's amazing how far I've come; nowadays, I'm not worried about how to blog, just what to blog about!  Not to mention the places I've been, the events I've witnessed, the opportunity to write about all sorts of issues.  It has been a helluva journey, I will admit.

Looking back has also made me contemplate what kind of blogger I am.  Have I done a good job offering my two cents on the issues at hand?  To some extent, I believe I have, but I know I've also made mistakes in the past, I've gone one direction when I should've gone another, I didn't go as good a job in making my arguments as I thought I had, and I suspect I've also been harsh when I shouldn't have been (although I'm not sure where).  I'll have to let history judge me.

Hopefully, as I move on with the next five years, I'll do a better job blogging, a better job arguing my case, and actually blog more often!

On Tuesday's elections

This year's municipal elections had results I wasn't happy with.  I had hoped candidates like Paula Hughes and Zach Bonahoom in Fort Wayne would win, but they lost (especially after Hughes was smeared by her opponent), and it left a sour taste in my mouth.  A majority of Ohioans voted in favor of a referendum which repeals the law Governor John Kasich fought to pass in order to limit the bargaining power of public unions.  And in Mississippi, a referendum aimed at establishing personhood (and which caused a split amongst pro-life forces as to its merits) went down in flames.

I can just imagine the cheers and jeers from the other side for what they see as signs of more victories to come (although I wonder how the unions' victory in Ohio will benefit them).  In the end, I find it takes a song from Starship to make me remember that people like Paula Hughes and Zach Bonahoom will not go away, and neither will efforts to curtail the leeches that are the unions and protect the rights of the unborn.  And furthermore, I also know there were some great victories (like that of a good man getting elected to the Fort Wayne City Council).  Indeed, to quote from the song: “They play to win, we play for keeps/It's not over 'til it's over/It's not over 'til we get it right”

Win or lose, I'm in it for the long haul.  Now on to 2012.