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Practice What You Preach

Anyone who has spent any time with me can attest that I am a Twitter addict.

With a tap of a fingertip and swipe of a phalange, news and commentary from around the world can be accessed, and it’s just as easy to type 140 characters and have your opinion available to be seen by the masses.

But last week, I cleared my Twitter account. All 7,500 plus tweets that began in 2009, gone.

Why? Because my wife pointed out that I was being a bully in a post. I fought back against her claim: 

“I was just responding to a Fox News host who sold his soul to help get Donald Trump the GOP nominee.” 

“He has millions of followers. His feelings won’t be hurt by my post.”

“He probably won’t even see it.”

But her comment caused me to stop and think. I’m a dad now, and Samuel is the biggest blessing in my life. It’s my role as his father to shape him into a God-fearing, respectful man in a culture where coarseness and incivility is celebrated.

What kind of example am I setting if the commentary I tweet and post- regardless of whether they are serious or in jest- is rude, cruel, or mean-spirited? Sure, no one is perfect as a teenager or young adult, but I’m part of the generation where youthful transgressions can be found on the World Wide Web. Forever.

So from now on, I’m cleaning up my act. Both online and in real life. I’ll still be snarky and sarcastic, sure. But I won’t be doing it at the expense of others- especially Sam.

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Unforgettable

It’s past 1:30 a.m., my Fitbit tells me that I’ve walked more than 18,000 steps today, and I’ve consumed several classes of wine, but I can’t sleep.

I can’t get the image of an 8-year-old boy out of my head.

It’s been about six months since I first met Jonny Wade, and I still remember the first time I met him. He had lost his hair and a lot of weight, but the one thing he hadn’t lost was his smile. As he met with Rodney in the lobby of Jerseyville Community Hospital, I’ll never forget his smile, and his camaraderie with his twin brother, Jackie.

I’ll also never forget the pain in his mother’s eyes when I met her and Jonny in late November, just a month before he passed away. I’ll never forget the indignity of seeing a beautiful 8-year-old in a casket, being mourned well before his time had come.

But today is also a day I’ll never forget. 

Jacky and his parents, Jon and Kim, were guests of Rodney’s at the State of the Union address in Washington D.C., and I will never forget the reception they received, less then three weeks after burying one of their sons.

After inviting the Wade family to the State of the Union, Rodney’s office underwent the task of making sure every member of Congress knew Jonny’s story and his mission of making sure that no other kind has to suffer cancer.

The amount of love and support showed to the family from strangers throughout the country was nothing short of breathtaking. Nearly every corner they turned and every elevator they stepped into, a member of Congress showed the Jon, Kim, and Jacky a wristband that simply stated “#TeamJonny.”

Out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, it’s a safe estimate that at least 200 wore the wristband. Regardless of party affiliation, geographic location, or any other demographic, they went out of their way to show love to the Wade family. 

This grassroots campaign, which was started on Facebook following Jonny’s diagnosis a little over a year ago has been featured in the Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and television stations in the St. Louis market. That doesn’t even begin to cover all the elected representatives who wore the wristbands and showed loved and support to the family.

There is still a lot of work to be done to reach Jonny’s mission of making sure no other kid has to have cancer. But after seeing the impact that one family from Jerseyville can have on Washington, D.C., nothing is impossible. 

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Must-See Takedown of Roger Goodell

For all his faults (with which I have multiple), Bill Simmons has, at least for the time being, attempted to go from "Man Show"-esque online writer to credible journalist talking truth to power. 

His target? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has a lot to answer for in the wake of the Ray Rice suspension scandal. Although ESPN has suspended Simmons for insubordination on this issue, the "Sports Guy" does a great job of objectively putting all the pieces and issues in place for not only the Ray Rice scandal, but the mismanagement of all the scandals that have taken place during his regime at NFL commissioner in the attached podcast.

Simmons' podcast is about an hour long, and he speaks with Don Van Natta Jr., a well-respected investigative journalist who has done a lot of the heavy lifting in reporting on the Goodell failings. It's definitely worth a listen.

LINK: B.S. Report: Don Van Natta Jr.

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2013 Resolution: Accomplished

One of my resolutions for 2013 was to begin reading more regularly. I set an arbitrary goal of 24 books, which seemed ambitious as I did not know what my 2013 time constraints would be. I'm glad to report that I smashed my goal, which I am embedding below through GoodReads. 

For those interested, I haven't settled on my 2014 resolutions yet.

One of my resolutions for 2013 was to begin reading more regularly. I set an arbitrary goal of 24 books, which seemed ambitious as I did not know what my 2013 time constraints would be. I’m glad to report that I smashed my goal, which I am embedding below through GoodReads. For those interested, I haven’t settled on my 2014 resolutions yet.

2013 Reading Challenge

Philip has completed his goal of reading 24 books in 2013!

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35 of 24 (100%)

view books

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One of the benefits of my job, and living in Southwestern Illinois, is that I'm within a stone's throw of the meeting of the Great Rivers. It is easily the most beautiful part of Illinois, especially in the fall.

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There is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

George Bernard Shaw

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"Before you say something to your followers, consider being a leader instead."

-Brian Williams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=njY8IINfFFw)

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Courage

Courage is a word that means a lot of things to a lot of people.

For example, some view Michael Jordan's performance in the NBA Finals with a bout of the flu as courageous. Many also consider Kirk Gibson's one-legged World Series home run equally courageous.

On a deeper level, courage is seen as performing the correct action, and not necessarily the easy one. Atticus Finch famously speaks of this in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when he says: "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."

While I identify more with the fictional Finch's definition than the athletic examples of courage, a Hollywood A-lister is showing an indescribable amount of courage to provide hope for millions of Americans.

Throughout his life, Michael J. Fox has been role model to many. His performance in the "Back to the Future" franchise and presence on the hit shows "Family Ties" and "Spin City" drew him a large and varied fan base. But as often is the case, you don't truly learn about someone until they face adversity.

And adversity found Fox. Just as his career was beginning to take off, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. While he waited years to make  the prognosis public, it was worth the wait. He has since founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised more than $300 million toward finding a cure for the disease.

While the Parkinson's symptoms have become more noticeable on Fox, he's refused to let his diagnosis slow him down. In addition to being the face of his foundation, he has decided to undertake a new project, which will help inspire millions.

Starting this fall, Fox will be hitting the small screen again with "The Michael J. Fox Show." The show stars Fox as a news anchor who retires due to a Parkinson's diagnosis, but ultimately returns to the studio to resume his old job.

Not only does this show break the normal formula for TV programs, it can also provide hope to those quietly facing trials. If Fox can return to TV more than two decades after his initial diagnosis, why should anyone else let a hardship or medical condition slow them down?

I've long held that actors shouldn't be held as role models, but Fox appears to be the exception. It takes guts and courage to appear in front of millions of people when your symptoms are clearly visible. But he's chosen to take the road less traveled and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

While Parkinson's Disease has unfortunately turned into a punchline for crude and cruel jokes, the only ones that will be laughing at Fox and those he inspires are their doubters.

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(Peli)Can they pull off the name change?

After rumors and rumblings that have grown since Tom Benson purchased the team, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the New Orleans Hornets will hold a press conference Thursday afternoon the team's name will be changed to the "Pelicans." The name change will be effective for the 2013-14 season.

The ESPN TrueHoop blog for the Hornets, Hornets247, has been all over the "Pelican" rebrand story from the get-go, and has helped chronicle many of the complaints about the name change.

Former NBA star Chris Weber ridiculed the name choice on a teleconference call with reporters earlier in the season. In fact, all the New Orleans sports blogs and radio stations are filled with rants from fans who bemoan the change from Hornets to Pelicans.

I'm here today to alleviate all of the ridiculous complaints about "Pelicans" being a terrible mascot for the Hornets. Consider that when the Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City, fans from across the country snickered at the name "Thunder," saying it sounded like the name of a WNBA franchise. 

Why did fans outside of Oklahoma stop making fun of the name? Because the team was winning, and they all grew accustomed to it.

New Orleans is a city unlike any other in the United States with its own culture and traditions. Before John Stockton and Karl Malone were repeatedly denied titles by Michael Jordan, the name "Jazz" belonged to the New Orleans NBA franchise before it moved to Salt Lake City. Jazz music is one of the staples of the Crescent City, and was unavailable for the New Orleans team to use after the Charlotte franchise relocated to New Orleans in 2002.

The name "Hornets" has never gelled with New Orleans. Despite altering the colors and logo, the bee emblem still seemed foreign to the Big Easy. So, after long-time Louisiana resident Tom Bensen purchased the team, one of the first things he sought to do was to give the city's NBA team a genuine New Orleans flavor.

Does "Pelicans" fit in the traditional mascot mold of "Wildcats," "Hawks," "Tigers," or "Jaguars?" No, but New Orleans doesn't fit the mold of any other city in the United States, which is why the Pelican name should, and will, fly.

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Sunset on the Mississippi River. #nofilter (at Argosy Casino)

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I was able to capture a quick photo of my niece's first dance lesson before I was kicked out of the room. Apparently visitors aren't allowed in the YMCA studios when lessons are in session.

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Starting 2013 With a Humble-Brag

Since writing more was one of my New Year's Resolutions, I labored while deciding which relevant topic to start the year. Should I blog on the Fiscal Cliff, gun rights, or the our government's overall failure to address entitlements (my biggest pet peeve).

No, I decided to start the year with a humble-brag, since being unemployed leaves one with few things to boast about.

My big humble-brag goes all the way back to 2009, when I was a college student and columnist at the Daily Vidette. Following the "Balloon Boy Hoax" in October, I used my space on the Opinions page to describe the terrible trend of parents using their children to get a bit of notoriety. A screen shot of a portion of my column appears below.

Approximately one week later, nationally-syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts wrote a column on the same topic with the same underlying message. 

This may indeed be one of the worst humble-brags of the new year, I'm fairly proud that one of my original ideas was used by a nationwide columnist before he penned it.

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"Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither."

-Benjamin Franklin

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Please watch.

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'War on Poverty' fail. Photo courtesy of the Heritage Foundation.

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Marco Rubio, Evolution, and My Beliefs

While my IQ is nowhere near that of scholars like Christopher Langan or Bobby Fischer, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent individual. 

I'm not normally one to tout my educational credentials, but I graduated both high school and college with respectable grades and academic honors. On top of that, I have held steady jobs since I was 12 years old. 

Despite the evidence to the contrary, the media and academic elite in this country consider me to be an imbecilic rube. Why is that? Because I believe in the theory of creation over the the theory of evolution. 

This stale argument is back in the forefront following Senator Marco Rubio's answer to a question about the world's conception by GQ. While Rubio's answer was a typical politician's response that didn't directly answer the question, that didn't stop the typical elitist suspects from blasting him as an unintelligent bible-thumper.

Never mind the fact that a Gallup poll from June showed that 46 of Americans believe that God created humans in the present form, with only 15 percent believing that humans evolved with God having no part in the process. In fact, 78 percent of Americans believe that God played a role in the origin of life.

But according to commentators like Valerie Strauss, people that have the mindset of Senator Rubio and myself clearly need a better education. Forget the fact that it takes just as much faith to believe in the Big Bang Theory and evolution as it does the immaculate conception, those who don't buy into big science's  explanation are fools living in the 17th century.

The fact is that no one truly knows how utterly complex systems like the human body and universe were created. It takes faith to believe in either one, and I choose to put my full trust in an omnipotent God over the world's "omniscient" scholars.

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Washington's Math Problem

Full Disclosure: I struggled (mightily) with math in grade school, middle school, high school, and college. Even with my left brain deficiency, it's hard to watch the nightly news and not see the answer to getting the country off the precipice of its fiscal cliff.

The numbers speak volumes. In 2011, the U.S. government collected approximately $2.4 trillion in taxes while spending roughly $3.5 trillion. That's obviously a problem, but the even bigger dilemma is the cause of the deficit and the fact that few appear interested in acknowledging it. 

Last year, our government spent $2.5 trillion on the major entitlement programs and interest on our national debt. That isn't a typo. Remember that $2.4 trillion figure? Yupp, our government doesn't even collect enough from taxpayers each year to fund Medicare, Medicare, and Social Security. In fact, Uncle Sam could quit funding everything (including the sacred Sesame Workshop and Planned Parenthood!) and still run a deficit.

Where these's smoke, there's a fire, and unfortunately, our elected officials seem intent to ignore the entitlement burnout until our fiscal house is nothing but ashes.

Take Congressman Paul Ryan for example. The Wisconsin legislator and former vice-presidential candidate proposed several budgets that would have reformed our entitlement programs and ensured their viability for future generations. While his plan was imperfect, it was met with demagoguery, not compromise, on the House floor.

"Republicans want to end Medicare as we know it!" "Paul Ryan is essentially pushing senior citizens off a cliff!" "Our grandparents will be forced to live on the streets and eat dog food if his budget is passed!" These are just a few one of "intelligent" conversations that our country's leaders used to discuss Ryan's budget.

While these useless political games continue, our entitlement programs become more insolvent by the day. By 2045, entitlement spending will match the country's tax revenue average. In 2010, Social Security ran a $50 billion deficit which will only continue to grow. In fact, without true entitlement reform, federal spending will exceed 40 percent of the economy by 2050.

Last week, top Democrats in the Senate announced that they will not accept entitlement reform as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Again, I'm no mathematician, but it is beyond ludicrous that our country's leaders are putting demagoguery ahead of the country's future.

Republicans' hands aren't clean when it comes to our deficit and debts, either. Both parties have contributed to the mess we're in, and it will take both parties working together to fix it.

The old adage says that the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. Unless Congress gets serious about the future of our entitlement programs, the problem will continue to get worse. It isn't rocket science, it's basic math. And I could recommend a few challenging algebra classes for our leaders in case they want to brush up.