I am so proud of the CBS Television Network.' There's been a ridiculous furor over a planned Super Bowl ad featuring college football star Tim Tebow, funded by Focus on the Family.' It recounts the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987.' After getting sick, she ignored doctors' recommendations to abort her fifth child, and gave birth to Tim Tebow, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy and guide the Florida Gators to two BCS championships.'This should be an inspirational story for women.' Not according to NOW (the National Organization of "I don't know what kind of" Women), NARAL, and other organizations which support women killing the babies in their bodies if they wanna.' These "feminista" types generally call themselves "pro-choice."' Well, it looks like they're not too happy about the promotion of women who don't make the choice to kill their baby.'When a woman's inspirational story of making the choice to avoid an abortion to take the risk of giving birth to her child becomes controversial in a culture, that culture has degraded to a horrible point.' It is frightening to me that NOT killing the baby in your body is controversial, but killing the baby in your body is not controversial.'Here's my idea:' let's make an ad for the "pro-killing baby" feminista types.' Show a brief clip of the baby being macerated and then shift focus to a happy woman who's celebrating that death and her resulting freedom.'Then let's make an ad for a woman who doesn't want her baby who goes to term and gives the baby to a stable family - a married mom and dad -- for adoption, and shift focus to a happy woman who's celebrating that life and her freedom.'Then, let's vote. More >>

Why don't I like so-called "reality" or "actuality" TV shows?'' Because they're mean.'They are intended to be mean, because "mean" is entertaining to some segments of the audience, and that scares me.''Throwing Christians to the lions and watching gladiators fight to the death used to be considered wonderful entertainment in ancient times.' And while I'm not comparing actually killing someone with humiliating and demeaning them, there is a continuum here.''Christians and slaves didn't volunteer to become fodder for death to those eating popcorn in the stands.' The people on TV do volunteer to put themselves in situations which contribute to the demise of public taste, humane behavior, compassion and sensitivity.' They humiliate themselves for attention and profit.' That they volunteer for it doesn't make doing it to them right.' It just makes them terribly pathetic.'When people go on an " American Idol "-like program in the hopes of being discovered for their talents, a simple "winning" or "losing" seems sufficient to me.' However, having judges who become popular by hurling horrendously insulting comments seems to be the real motivation for these programs.' Hurting people in front of others is an egregious act.' Televising it, or making money off of sponsors who support it, so that people at home can feel superior and powerful (because they're not the ones being attacked) is purely disgusting.'These shows bring out the worst in people.' Martians watching our entertainment media would probably choose not to come to our planet, or else just wipe us off the face of the galaxy, because of how humanity displays itself on television (much less the Internet and the United Nations).''No one is ashamed anymore.' They pass it off as giving the audience what it wants.' "It's only TV," or "it's only a way to make a living," they say.''Sad. More >>

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There is very little broadcast television that matters, but there is a lot of broadcast television that tears down morale and morality.There is one ray of persistent sunshine - the one minute spots produced by The Foundation for A Better Life.' These are the most touching, moving, elevating, lovely video essays you can imagine.'The one I saw in the middle of watching the 5:30AM morning news showed a ferocious scene of a very physical professional hockey game.' The scene then shifts to the locker room where all these sweaty, huge and muscular macho guys are getting ready for the next game.' One of them is on the telephone, trying to hide his face and voice from the rest of his buddies.' He's clearly uncomfortable, but doing what the person on the other end of the phone is asking him to do:' sing the "itsy bitsy spider."' The scene cuts to his little daughter giggling with delight as Daddy sings to her while Mommy holds her on her lap.' Daddy finishes the song, and tells his daughter he loves her.' He hangs up to find his buddies surrounding him and doing the hand motions of the itsy bitsy spider going up the water spout.' He says "Hey, it's my girl - my daughter," and all the guys smile like crazy.It's just so lovely.' The Foundation for A Better Life has a website - check it out at www.values.com .' Look at their archives.' Be touched and moved like me, and be elevated in your mood as you try to survive the moral decay of our society.' There is a light! More >>

In a recent radio interview, I discussed the issue of "webtribution," a term coined by Elizabeth Bernstein in The Wall Street Journal to describe people who use the Internet to get revenge - i.e., publicly to hurt another human being with whom they are not happy.The Internet is anonymous, immediate, and gratifying in the moment.' In human history, vengeance is not unfamiliar - people haven't changed that much.' Their means of delivering pain has evolved from poison, duels, clever rumors, and Machiavellian manipulation to the world wide web.' In some ways, damaging someone's reputation is akin to murdering them, as their reputation is devastated world-wide and forever, making it difficult for them to function in private relationships as well as in the community and at work.To quote The Wall Street Journal: "Most of us have heard of someone posting naked photos of an 'ex' online.' Or writing nasty reviews for a restaurant or book, not because they dislike the product, but because they dislike the person who created it.' Or signing up an acquaintance for [unwanted] e-mail advertising lists." My opinion is that it should be illegal, as it is immoral, to post information or opinion about people without identifying yourself.' Obviously, it is also cowardly.' Google and all other such carriers should not permit anonymity.' That would immediately change the complexion of what is posted, and I don't think they'd lose business, except from those who use the Internet for evil (terrorists of the international and interpersonal kind). More >>

I remember when the Unabomber was caught.' There was an uproar of indignation concerning the fact that it was his brother who "ratted" him out.' When his brother saw the published ramblings of the serial murderer known as the "Unabomber," he recognized the sentiments, mentality, and writing style of his brother, and informed the police.' If memory serves me right, The Los Angeles Times had either an editorial or an op-ed piece castigating the brother for essentially "turning on blood."That was a morally repugnant point of view.' Protecting the innocent against evil is the responsibility of every human being, regardless of the "job description" of the evildoer - in this case, a sibling.Fortunately, in England, a wife of twenty years understood her responsibility to others (in this case, children), and set aside emotional pain and potential embarrassment.' She set out to trap her husband, whom she suspected of being a pedophile.' Apparently, her husband chatted with teenagers as he groomed them for sex.The wife pretended to be a 14 year old girl, and caught him in the act.' She was in the neighboring living room while he was in his study sweating over a hot computer, setting "her" up for a meeting to have sex.' He also used a webcam to carry out sex acts and send the videos over the Internet.' Our plucky wife watched this in absolute disgust and horror.She then contacted police who seized his computer.' She didn't march into his study to confront him, cry, or threaten.' Like a good citizen, she just turned it all over to the authorities. GOOD FOR HER! He only received three years of community service and was banned indefinitely from having access in person or online to children under the age of 18.' He also had to register as a sex offender, and, oh yes, she divorced him. "I did the right thing, and I don't regret it.' Now I just need some time to think and put this all behind me," she said to a reporter.She should have gotten a medal. More >>

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Facebook and MySpace and other social networking sites have become a means of not only communicating with so-called "friends," but they also allow for showing off and "going wild" in ways that often come back to bite...even when you think your site is private.According to the Arizona Daily Star , Ashley Payne, a teacher in an Arizona school said that she was forced to resign after photos and a comment posted on her Facebook page were forwarded to the superintendent of schools in her county.' And she said she had the highest level of privacy controls on her site.' The photos in question showed her in pubs and beer gardens while on summer vacation.' In a comment on her Facebook page, she announced that she was headed to play a game called "Crazy Bitch Bingo."According to the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, the bottom line is that "the state code addresses on and off-campus behavior, including inappropriate relationships with students and anything that violates the mores of the community."I'm good with that, because teachers have a profound influence on young minds, and being role models seems an obvious obligation.' Not enough teachers think about the consequences of their conduct, not just in terms of their own employment, but in terms of the well-being of the children for whom they are responsible.' Posting extremely inappropriate sexual content and nudity on the web as well as posting photos of teachers yucking it up with booze is a breach of professional conduct.For teachers, this is obvious.' However, each and every one of you must understand that anybody with knowledge can hack into your private site and edit as well as download and reproduce material elsewhere.' Don't write or post pictures you would not want to see on the front page of The New York Times , unless, of course, you're into being infamous.' The word "friend" is simply a term for someone with access to your site.' Don't imagine that they necessarily have the honor of a real-life friend.' Anything you write or post might be used against you.Now that this is all said, how about your just inviting real friends over for dinner and meaningful conversation? More >>

I bet there were long lines to get the newest issuance of a video game series called " Call of Duty:' Modern Warfare 2 ."' Ordinarily, I would ignore this "news," because I think spending more than 30 minutes a day playing any video game is a monumental waste of time, and the fast lane to psycho-social problems.That said, I hope everyone buys one of these games as soon as possible.' If you care, the reviews for this latest title in the series are glowing, and in particular praise the "realism."But from "realism," we get to reality .' Activision Blizzard, the company behind the game, is using the proceeds from the sale of Modern Warfare 2 to fund organizations that provide veterans with job training and placement.'There are more than a half million unemployed veterans living in the United States.' For soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines making the transition back into civilian life, funding job training and placement are important and earned considerations. Call of Duty Endowment (or CODE ), Activision Blizzard's non-profit benefit corporation's first grant is $125,000 to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, to help build a new vocational services center in Boston.' CODE's directors say they hope to raise millions more for such projects.I look at this as a video game company doing the right thing by servicing those glorified on their highly profitable videos:' we glorify fighting men and women; we honor them when they fall; now, one video company exploiting those realities to make a huge profit is honoring them in their need. More >>