A witness has testified that a New Orleans police officer was laughing after burning the body of a man who had been gunned down by police in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, according to FoxNews.com.
First off, this startles me, and it raises some serious questions as to what kind of situation is happening.
A man who had been gunned down by the police after Hurrican Katrina makes me wonder what kind of situation had occured due to this. What caused the police to kill this man? Who was this man? According to Fox News, this man was killed by a seperate police officer, and officer Greg McRae and Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann are charged with the burning of the deceased, 31-year-old Henry Glover.
The witness, Lt. Joseph Meisch, testified in court during the trail that he was outside a police station after witnessing the car with Glover's body inside drive over a levee and was set on fire. He also claimed that he saw McRae laughing as he and Scheuermann approached Meisch, and when asked about the event, McRae had informed him not to worry about it.
This causes me to worry about the mentallity of these officers, who were assigned to protect and enforce the law. Another question that comes to my mind is why would they do something like this? My first instinct is telling me that they're trying to cover something up. Corruption, possibly? Or they knew the officer who had shot the man, and perhaps there was foul-play involved? Something just doesn't sit right to me, and add to it to be laughing about it? As if this was some kind of joke?
I don't understand why these men would find it so amusing to burn the body of a deceased in a car. I can't even fathom what might be going through the mind's of the family members, who never had the chance to truly say goodbye.
To me, there's something going on beneath the surface with these officers, specifically these two. If I was a part of the investigation, I would figure out who the other officer was that shot this man, and what the story was behind that. If it was a cover-up or corruption, then there's a deeper investigation that has to take place. If these two officers just simply took amusement out of doing it, then I feel they should be locked up for life, as there is something mentally wrong with them.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Journalist Finds Teaching College Students Rewarding
By: Elizabeth Lucas
Pacific Tribune Staff Writer
Jerry McCormick, having worked in journalism throughout his whole career, now inspires a classroom of college students seeking to know what he does.
Having worked at Southwestern Community College for three years, McCormick, 42, originally from a small town in South Carolina named Dillon, has been a part of the journalism world since he was young. He came to San Diego for a job at the San Diego Union-Tribune, which, after ten years, had left him.
“I’ll never forget that day,” McCormick stated. “I was here, at school. I was teaching my class, and my friend called me, and said, ‘They’re laying people off.’ And driving from here to Mission Valley was one of the longest drives I’ve ever had to do, because I was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t going to get laid off. But when I got in the parking lot, and I saw all the people who had already gotten laid off, and they were crying in the parking lot, I knew. I went upstairs, I talked to my coworkers, and I said, ‘Do I even need to sit down?’ And that’s when my former boss appeared behind me and said, ‘Come with me.’ So I knew. And when you hear those words, ‘your job has been eliminated,’ it does something to you. This whole experience, the laid off experience, even though it was only six weeks for me, it showed me that I’m not my job.”
Luckily for McCormick, there was an opportunity that had opened up for him at one of the biggest news stations in San Diego, NBC 7/39.
“I started as a writer July 8th, 2009, which was exactly six weeks after I left the U.T.,” he explained, even though now he works as an Associate Producer for NBC 7/39. “My job is to support the producer….Basically everything they can’t do, I do.”
As an Associate Producer, McCormick has seen the world of broadcasting as much different from the newspaper business, and explained the long hours that he works.
“It’s a long day,” he stated. “I leave my house at 11:35. I get back home at 11:35. So I work from 11:35 p.m. to 11:35 a.m. So it’s twelve-hour days. But [teaching] does not feel like work to me, even though it is. That job at NBC is a lot of work in a short period of time….In broadcast, I’ve learned this the hard way, now is five minutes too late.”
Although he is obliged to work forty hours a week, McCormick explained that it really seems more like fifty to fifty-five hours. However, his job at NBC seems to work with his schedule at Southwestern College, which he said is more rewarding, because “I get to pass on everything that I know. Over there I work with everybody who knows everything.”
“Here’s the thing, I’ve had some fun. And I’ve had some not so fun times in this,” McCormick further explained. “I believe in order for us to help support good journalism, we have to educate each other. And the reason I teach is because I don’t want my [students] to go through everything that I’ve gone through. This career has had me smiling like I knew a special secret, and crying in the corner with ice cream. It has had me going to those extremes. But I wouldn’t trade anything about it. It’s a high. The adrenaline, the storytelling, I mean, every day, when I go to work, in the middle of the night, I think, ‘oh, God, why am I getting up at this time?’ But then, I leave that shift, it’s like, ‘I did good work today.’ I helped somebody. I changed somebody. I educated someone. And I want my students to know that feeling, too.”
In teaching his classes, McCormick never falters on informing his students about experiences that he’s had in the business, having even shared with his students of an interview he had with the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, which he described as “a difficult experience, but I got through it, and that particular story showed me that I can write anything, I can do anything….”
As he further went on to describe it, “Here is a man who clearly hated me and everything that I stood for. And I was responsible for telling his story….I’m black, and I was a young black man, and during the course of the interview, he said the people he hated the most were young black men. And I don’t know if that was intentional because I was a young black man looking at him, or that is how he really felt.”
While McCormick shared this story, he also shared what the experience had showed him, and, in turn, shared the lesson with the class.
“I was angry. I was hurt. I even felt doubtful, because I had this man telling me, or trying to tell me, who I was. But, inadvertently, he showed me who I was,” he said.
As he continued, he also revealed that, when he had worked at the Union-Tribune, he had felt this way practically every day.
“The thing of it is, here’s the dirty side to journalism,” he said, “It’s a competition. And in order for people to feel more than, sometimes they have to make you feel less than. And, here’s another thing about journalism, you’re only as good as your last story….If you wrote a wonderful story, you’re going to feel good for that moment, but then they’re going to say, ‘what else can you do?’”
As he further went on, he also shared that he still enjoys the newspaper business.
“Had this job [at the Union-Tribune] not be taken away from me, I would still be doing it,” he said. “I’ve read newspapers since I could read. I still read newspapers….And that’s where my heart is. Newspapers are the love of my life. [Teaching] is like the new person in my life….”
Despite his enjoyment of the newspaper business, McCormick explained that he will not go back into it, stating, “The newspaper industry is trying to figure out what it’s trying to do. And they don’t know. And so, I can’t be in an unstable environment. And broadcasting seems to be a little more stable.”
As those in the field can see, the business is shrinking, especially with newspapers, and McCormick shared it from his own point of view.
“It’s not a thriving business anymore. I mean, let’s just face it, I have students who tell me, ‘I get my news through Facebook.’ And that troubles me,” he stated. “Because any and everybody can put any and everything on there. But at the same time, I’m no fool. I recognize this person isn’t the only one, a lot of people are moving in that direction.”
As he went on to explain, he provided his view of how he would change the field of journalism.
“I would just get back to telling good news stories,” he said. “I mean, we live in a Facebook-Twitter-TMZ world. And we don’t seem to care about things that are worth caring about.”
For this, teaching seems to provide an opening to changing the industry. McCormick eagerly added that, for the three years he has taught at Southwestern College, he has taught a rough estimate of 250 students.
“A lot of them are doing well. And some of them it’s to be determined. And some of them, it’s like, I can’t wait to see how they turned out, because there’s some movers and shakers in the bunch,” he said. “And some day, I’m going to look up on some TV or read some byline, or get some press release, and I’m going to recognize the name. And I’m just going to smile to myself, because someone else made it. And to me, that’s worth more than any paycheck. Somebody else made it. Because, here’s the deal, this business is shrinking. And if I can help you get in, I’m going to do it, with the hope that you help somebody get in, and so on, and so on. So, even though my old, dusty bones will be long into the ground, I can go to my deathbed knowing that good journalism will thrive through me, and the work that I do, and the people that I’ve touched.”
And it is through his students that he might see the change of journalism, and the inspiration that they take from him to go out into the field and change someone else’s life, as he has changed many.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010
Canadian Military Commander Gets Life
A highly decorated Canadian military commander Col. Russel Williams has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences on Thursday for the murders of two women, several sexual assaults, and many so-called fetish burglaries, as reported from Paula Newton of CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/21/canada.colonel.killings/index.html?hpt=T2)
First off, I need to state that this story makes a lot of people just cringe and scratch their heads for the whole reason that it is a "decorated military commander" that has been convicted of such gruesome crimes. Not only are the victims on my thoughts, but I can't help but think to myself, "What was going through this man's head? What was he thinking?" I can't answer that (personally, I don't even think the shrinks can answer that). It just doesn't make sense, but I would like to know what had caused this man to do it.
As any loyal audience that follows court cases, there are only certain questions you would want to know, other than the typical, "who, what, when, where, why, and how." But I want to know the story before this. I want to know if this man had shown signs or behaviors prior to the killings that something was wrong with him. And the fact he was the kind of killer who, according to CNN.com, "saved and catalogued hundreds of photos, videos and hundreds of pieces of lingerie as 'trophies' of his crimes," tells me something was highly wrong with this man, that he possibly even obsessed with his crimes.
Personally, I don't even believe that he is even remorseful for his crimes. Again, according to CNN.com, Williams had stated, "I have committed despicable crimes ... betraying my family, my friends and colleagues and the Canadian Forces. I shall spend the rest of my life regretting that I have ended two vibrant, innocent and cherished lives." It's also important to add that Williams had told the victims' families he pled guilty to spare them more pain. It's sounds like a pretty bad sob story, but I don't think it's even the truth. I think he pled guilty because he knew he was going to lose the case, that whether or not he fought it, he still was going to be found guilty. A person who is remorseful for their crimes would not keep trophies of the crimes committed, (that's just sick, and tells me he enjoyed the act of committing them a little too much).
Another thing that I'm dancing over is the fact that this man is a commander for the military. I'm sorry, but don't they give psych-exams in the military? Wouldn't you recognize if something was wrong with one of your soldiers? I want to know exactly what would cause this man to go out and do these things. Was it an aftereffect of him being in the military? A PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) result of him seeing battle? Or could he be a sociopath? Could this have been a collapse of his entire life come down into one huge attack? I want to know what's going on with him mentally, but, unfortunately, with him going for life in prison, we might never know.
First off, I need to state that this story makes a lot of people just cringe and scratch their heads for the whole reason that it is a "decorated military commander" that has been convicted of such gruesome crimes. Not only are the victims on my thoughts, but I can't help but think to myself, "What was going through this man's head? What was he thinking?" I can't answer that (personally, I don't even think the shrinks can answer that). It just doesn't make sense, but I would like to know what had caused this man to do it.
As any loyal audience that follows court cases, there are only certain questions you would want to know, other than the typical, "who, what, when, where, why, and how." But I want to know the story before this. I want to know if this man had shown signs or behaviors prior to the killings that something was wrong with him. And the fact he was the kind of killer who, according to CNN.com, "saved and catalogued hundreds of photos, videos and hundreds of pieces of lingerie as 'trophies' of his crimes," tells me something was highly wrong with this man, that he possibly even obsessed with his crimes.
Personally, I don't even believe that he is even remorseful for his crimes. Again, according to CNN.com, Williams had stated, "I have committed despicable crimes ... betraying my family, my friends and colleagues and the Canadian Forces. I shall spend the rest of my life regretting that I have ended two vibrant, innocent and cherished lives." It's also important to add that Williams had told the victims' families he pled guilty to spare them more pain. It's sounds like a pretty bad sob story, but I don't think it's even the truth. I think he pled guilty because he knew he was going to lose the case, that whether or not he fought it, he still was going to be found guilty. A person who is remorseful for their crimes would not keep trophies of the crimes committed, (that's just sick, and tells me he enjoyed the act of committing them a little too much).
Another thing that I'm dancing over is the fact that this man is a commander for the military. I'm sorry, but don't they give psych-exams in the military? Wouldn't you recognize if something was wrong with one of your soldiers? I want to know exactly what would cause this man to go out and do these things. Was it an aftereffect of him being in the military? A PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) result of him seeing battle? Or could he be a sociopath? Could this have been a collapse of his entire life come down into one huge attack? I want to know what's going on with him mentally, but, unfortunately, with him going for life in prison, we might never know.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Trapped Chilean miner meets more than what he's bargained for at the surface....
First off, my heart goes out to the 33 miners who had been trapped 2300 feet underground in Chile for the past 69 days. Although they have been rescued, they now face some serious adjustment back into the world that they haven't had the opportunity to be a part of for the past couple of months. Another that I would like to send out to one particular miner that he's now facing another drama that he might not want to have accompanied him down to the mine.
Yonni Barrios, 50, is now faced with a dilemma that his wife, Marta Salinaz, 56, and his mistress for five years, Susana Valenzuela, now are fully aware of each other, and both will confront him upon his arrival back to the surface. Salinaz and Valenzuela came to know each other at a vigil held for the trapped men. Now, after the men have been freed and the madness is over with, the scandal will unleash itself onto Barrios, and his family.
There's nothing better than after a horrible tragedy is concluded than a scandal to break the tension. Absolutely nothing better. It pulls people in, asking questions of "who will he pick?" and "what will his wife do? Will she leave him? Will she stay with him?" And of course, let's not forget about his special mistress. "Will she want him after this?"
Afterall, no one really cares about the 69 days that these poor men have suffered underground in 90 degree heat, in the dark, sweating, with little food and water other than what had been provided for them, in horrible conditions, panicking on if they'll get out alive or if they'll ever get out at all. Yes, no one cares about that. Everyone's just interested in the superficial scandal that broke at the end, of this poor man having to choose between his wife and passionate mistress. That's what is news, that is what makes headlines. Who knows, he might even get a special on Larry King to tell the whole world about his affair and how he has to choose between the two women. Someone might even write a book about it, make millions of dollars, and he could become the next Tiger Woods holding a press conference to pull off the facade of an apology. Who knows? Maybe his wife might even take him back?
By now, for those who already know me well enough, you can tell that I'm being seriously sarcastic here. This man has endured horrible conditions, agonizing days of wondering if he will ever get out to see his beautiful wife and loving mistress. Who cares that he had an affair? He must be traumatized by the ordeal he's just suffered and wants to just be with his family. Who cares about his personal life? That's his deal, his life, he should be thankful that he still has it. And we should just be happy for him that he's able to get out of there alive and see everyone that he loves -- his wife and mistress included -- again.
Leave the poor man alone. This scandal is enough to make the experience even more tragic. Despite the fact that he's been in the public, there's certain things we shouldn't expose drastically to the world. Because then it will only make his life, and the lives of everyone that he cares about, even more difficult. He's a human being, treat him like one, and let his private life be his private life.
Yonni Barrios, 50, is now faced with a dilemma that his wife, Marta Salinaz, 56, and his mistress for five years, Susana Valenzuela, now are fully aware of each other, and both will confront him upon his arrival back to the surface. Salinaz and Valenzuela came to know each other at a vigil held for the trapped men. Now, after the men have been freed and the madness is over with, the scandal will unleash itself onto Barrios, and his family.
There's nothing better than after a horrible tragedy is concluded than a scandal to break the tension. Absolutely nothing better. It pulls people in, asking questions of "who will he pick?" and "what will his wife do? Will she leave him? Will she stay with him?" And of course, let's not forget about his special mistress. "Will she want him after this?"
Afterall, no one really cares about the 69 days that these poor men have suffered underground in 90 degree heat, in the dark, sweating, with little food and water other than what had been provided for them, in horrible conditions, panicking on if they'll get out alive or if they'll ever get out at all. Yes, no one cares about that. Everyone's just interested in the superficial scandal that broke at the end, of this poor man having to choose between his wife and passionate mistress. That's what is news, that is what makes headlines. Who knows, he might even get a special on Larry King to tell the whole world about his affair and how he has to choose between the two women. Someone might even write a book about it, make millions of dollars, and he could become the next Tiger Woods holding a press conference to pull off the facade of an apology. Who knows? Maybe his wife might even take him back?
By now, for those who already know me well enough, you can tell that I'm being seriously sarcastic here. This man has endured horrible conditions, agonizing days of wondering if he will ever get out to see his beautiful wife and loving mistress. Who cares that he had an affair? He must be traumatized by the ordeal he's just suffered and wants to just be with his family. Who cares about his personal life? That's his deal, his life, he should be thankful that he still has it. And we should just be happy for him that he's able to get out of there alive and see everyone that he loves -- his wife and mistress included -- again.
Leave the poor man alone. This scandal is enough to make the experience even more tragic. Despite the fact that he's been in the public, there's certain things we shouldn't expose drastically to the world. Because then it will only make his life, and the lives of everyone that he cares about, even more difficult. He's a human being, treat him like one, and let his private life be his private life.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Miracle To Hear
There's always new miracles appearing now thanks to advances in technology, science, and medicine.
There are some people out there who don't believe in miracles. There are some people that don't think anyone does something to change a person's life for free. Here's a story to prove them all wrong, to prove to these nonbelievers that there is something to witness to as one boy's life is dramatically changed and he is given a miracle.
A twelve-year-old boy, Diego Neumaier Ortiz, is a miracle in his own way. After being born with a birth defect that leaves rather deformed ears and his world practically silent, Diego is now capable of hearing out of his right ear thanks to the generosity of doctors and advances in surgery and technology. Diego is now fully looking forward to a life of being able to hear and listen to things he hadn't been able to beforehand. The simplest things that we take for granted as the blare of a car horn, rushing water, and music is now a new world to him.
Can you imagine the shock in his mother's face, who had been taken aback by the caring doctors willing to operate on him for free, when they unwrapped the gauze from his ears, and she says hello to him, and he replies right back? Just the thought of it brings awe to me, knowing that such a miracle can exist, and that this boy now has the world at his fingertips.
This opens people's eyes. It's incredibly breath-taking story, showing disbelievers, skeptics, and critics of any form of miracles in the modern world that, not only are they wrong, but here is a perfect example of it. Certainly it is not a "spiritual, holy, God-like" miracle blessed by angels and saints and changing everything in a matter of seconds, but it is a miracle, in itself. For instances, what kind of coincidence is it that a doctor would happen to watch this child win at Mexico's gymnastic tournament, for this doctor to contact a pioneer in ear reconstruction who offers to take the complex case for free? And then for this professional and another doctor, an ear, nose and throat specialist, who also works for free and will actually create an ear canal, allowing Diego to hear? It says a lot, more about people than about any form of spiritual miracle.
Add on top of it, it shows a lot about these doctors who take the time, effort, and money to help this child. It opens people's eyes that there are certain individuals out there willing to give help where it's needed, willing to change people's lives. It also wakes up the fact that technology is advancing, medicine is advancing, and this only proves a point that eventually there will be cures, procedures, and surgeries to help what used to be thought of as inevitable and inescapable. If this twelve-year-old boy is now able to hear after his lifetime being submerged in quiet, what does it say about the future for any other deaf individuals who seek to hear again? Or the blind? Could Lasik actually save a person's eyes and give them their sight back? After seeing this, there's no doubt of what can be done.
It's surprising, and I would love to be in the boy's shoes when the doctor removes the bandages and he hears his mother's voice for the first time. I would love to know what went through his head, what went through his mother's head, and what thoughts the doctors shared after knowing that they changed this boy's life. I wonder what these professionals would think knowing this. Would they consider that this could work for other patients suffering from deafness? What about blindness? Would this open the door for surgeries and medicines to cure certain ailments and diseases?
This story is nothing short but a bright, and delighted miracle that is not touched by mythical and paranormal influence. Simply the personal whim of several individuals, the advancing in technology, and the hopes and wishes of a simple boy.
There are some people out there who don't believe in miracles. There are some people that don't think anyone does something to change a person's life for free. Here's a story to prove them all wrong, to prove to these nonbelievers that there is something to witness to as one boy's life is dramatically changed and he is given a miracle.
A twelve-year-old boy, Diego Neumaier Ortiz, is a miracle in his own way. After being born with a birth defect that leaves rather deformed ears and his world practically silent, Diego is now capable of hearing out of his right ear thanks to the generosity of doctors and advances in surgery and technology. Diego is now fully looking forward to a life of being able to hear and listen to things he hadn't been able to beforehand. The simplest things that we take for granted as the blare of a car horn, rushing water, and music is now a new world to him.
Can you imagine the shock in his mother's face, who had been taken aback by the caring doctors willing to operate on him for free, when they unwrapped the gauze from his ears, and she says hello to him, and he replies right back? Just the thought of it brings awe to me, knowing that such a miracle can exist, and that this boy now has the world at his fingertips.
This opens people's eyes. It's incredibly breath-taking story, showing disbelievers, skeptics, and critics of any form of miracles in the modern world that, not only are they wrong, but here is a perfect example of it. Certainly it is not a "spiritual, holy, God-like" miracle blessed by angels and saints and changing everything in a matter of seconds, but it is a miracle, in itself. For instances, what kind of coincidence is it that a doctor would happen to watch this child win at Mexico's gymnastic tournament, for this doctor to contact a pioneer in ear reconstruction who offers to take the complex case for free? And then for this professional and another doctor, an ear, nose and throat specialist, who also works for free and will actually create an ear canal, allowing Diego to hear? It says a lot, more about people than about any form of spiritual miracle.
Add on top of it, it shows a lot about these doctors who take the time, effort, and money to help this child. It opens people's eyes that there are certain individuals out there willing to give help where it's needed, willing to change people's lives. It also wakes up the fact that technology is advancing, medicine is advancing, and this only proves a point that eventually there will be cures, procedures, and surgeries to help what used to be thought of as inevitable and inescapable. If this twelve-year-old boy is now able to hear after his lifetime being submerged in quiet, what does it say about the future for any other deaf individuals who seek to hear again? Or the blind? Could Lasik actually save a person's eyes and give them their sight back? After seeing this, there's no doubt of what can be done.
It's surprising, and I would love to be in the boy's shoes when the doctor removes the bandages and he hears his mother's voice for the first time. I would love to know what went through his head, what went through his mother's head, and what thoughts the doctors shared after knowing that they changed this boy's life. I wonder what these professionals would think knowing this. Would they consider that this could work for other patients suffering from deafness? What about blindness? Would this open the door for surgeries and medicines to cure certain ailments and diseases?
This story is nothing short but a bright, and delighted miracle that is not touched by mythical and paranormal influence. Simply the personal whim of several individuals, the advancing in technology, and the hopes and wishes of a simple boy.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Meg Whitman and The Illegal Immigrant "Smere Campaign"
After Tuesday's governor debate between Republican candidate Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown, a new source of news came out about Meg Whitman's hiring and firing of an illegal immigrant from her household as a maid.
The illegal woman, Nicky Diaz Santillan, has now hired Democratic supporter and attorney, Gloria Allred, in an attempt to file a lawsuit against Whitman. According to the statement given by the attorney, the woman felt she was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused." (Source: Whitman: "We Did Everything That We Could" | NBC San Diego )
In response to this, Whitman said, "We were stunned when Nicky told us she was illegal....My husband and I did everything we could to hire someone who was documented to work here. When I found out this woman was not here legally, we let her go. It's a tough thing to do when you hve a personal relationship, but it's the right thing to do...." (Source: Whitman: "We Did Everything That We Could" | NBC San Diego )
Okay, now that I'm done with this brief summation of what's going on with Meg Whitman and this sudden smere on her name and campaign, there's something I'd like to point out to everyone reading this: We have all been guilty of hiring an illegal immigrant at some point or another to do a work around the house or somewhere else for us, whether it be someone we pick up from the Home Depot parking lot, or we know someone who has done it. Granted, we're not supposed to, but we've all done it, even the officers who come by and check a person's legal status is guilty of doing it (that's right, I called THEM out). Members of the Homeland Security and the organization that checks for people's legal status in this nation (I forgot the name of it, something like IRN) are guilty of doing it.
So why is this such a huge surprise? Granted, Meg Whitman actually hired an illegal woman to work in her house for the years from 2000 to 2009, (which is different from hiring a person for a day to come do the job), and that she's a public figure, a running-candidate for the position of governor for California, but the fact that she's done this shouldn't be created as such a huge surprise. What should be a huge surprise is the fact that she's lying about it, either that, or she's plainly stupid about this, (which isn't possible, considering she was the CEO of E-Bay for such a long time).
One thing that stands out, however, is that the attorney for the woman that Meg Whitman had fired is a Democratic supporter. Quite frankly, that raises some red flags, as it says to me this attorney has an ulterior motive, being a Democratic supporter, and quite possibly trying to support the Democratic governor candidate. Gloria Allred is also well-known for taking on public cases and turning them into celebrity scandals and drawing in so much attention from both the public and the media. And with her taking on a case against Meg Whitman, it says a lot that, (well, as attorney period), she's looking for a case that will not only take on attention, but rake in money for her.
Gloria Allred, personally, is just an attorney taking on a case she feels she can win, (and she might). What doesn't make sense to me is that Meg Whitman is spinning this situation, claiming that she had fired this woman after finding out about her legal status in the country, even though this woman had worked for her for nine years. Another concern for me is that she is referring to having a personal, close relationship with this woman, and she still didn't know about it. It does not make sense, and this is blatant evidence that she is lying.
Meg Whitman, who is in the running for governor, should not be throwing her credibility under the bus because of what she calls a "smere campaign" against her. She should come right out and say "yes, we hired her, we thought she did a great job despite being an illegal immigrant, and we grew close, though we had to let her go for the sake of the campaign." Might sound heartless, but at least she's coming out and telling the truth.
The illegal woman, Nicky Diaz Santillan, has now hired Democratic supporter and attorney, Gloria Allred, in an attempt to file a lawsuit against Whitman. According to the statement given by the attorney, the woman felt she was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused." (Source: Whitman: "We Did Everything That We Could" | NBC San Diego )
In response to this, Whitman said, "We were stunned when Nicky told us she was illegal....My husband and I did everything we could to hire someone who was documented to work here. When I found out this woman was not here legally, we let her go. It's a tough thing to do when you hve a personal relationship, but it's the right thing to do...." (Source: Whitman: "We Did Everything That We Could" | NBC San Diego )
Okay, now that I'm done with this brief summation of what's going on with Meg Whitman and this sudden smere on her name and campaign, there's something I'd like to point out to everyone reading this: We have all been guilty of hiring an illegal immigrant at some point or another to do a work around the house or somewhere else for us, whether it be someone we pick up from the Home Depot parking lot, or we know someone who has done it. Granted, we're not supposed to, but we've all done it, even the officers who come by and check a person's legal status is guilty of doing it (that's right, I called THEM out). Members of the Homeland Security and the organization that checks for people's legal status in this nation (I forgot the name of it, something like IRN) are guilty of doing it.
So why is this such a huge surprise? Granted, Meg Whitman actually hired an illegal woman to work in her house for the years from 2000 to 2009, (which is different from hiring a person for a day to come do the job), and that she's a public figure, a running-candidate for the position of governor for California, but the fact that she's done this shouldn't be created as such a huge surprise. What should be a huge surprise is the fact that she's lying about it, either that, or she's plainly stupid about this, (which isn't possible, considering she was the CEO of E-Bay for such a long time).
One thing that stands out, however, is that the attorney for the woman that Meg Whitman had fired is a Democratic supporter. Quite frankly, that raises some red flags, as it says to me this attorney has an ulterior motive, being a Democratic supporter, and quite possibly trying to support the Democratic governor candidate. Gloria Allred is also well-known for taking on public cases and turning them into celebrity scandals and drawing in so much attention from both the public and the media. And with her taking on a case against Meg Whitman, it says a lot that, (well, as attorney period), she's looking for a case that will not only take on attention, but rake in money for her.
Gloria Allred, personally, is just an attorney taking on a case she feels she can win, (and she might). What doesn't make sense to me is that Meg Whitman is spinning this situation, claiming that she had fired this woman after finding out about her legal status in the country, even though this woman had worked for her for nine years. Another concern for me is that she is referring to having a personal, close relationship with this woman, and she still didn't know about it. It does not make sense, and this is blatant evidence that she is lying.
Meg Whitman, who is in the running for governor, should not be throwing her credibility under the bus because of what she calls a "smere campaign" against her. She should come right out and say "yes, we hired her, we thought she did a great job despite being an illegal immigrant, and we grew close, though we had to let her go for the sake of the campaign." Might sound heartless, but at least she's coming out and telling the truth.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Profile of Jesse Garcia
By Elizabeth Lucas
Pacific Tribune Staff Writer
The Assignment Editor and Internship Coordinator of NBC Universal had paid Southwestern College a visit on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010.
Jesse Garcia, age 33, a native of San Diego, is the Assignment Editor and Internship Coordinator of NBC 7/39. He has worked at NBC for three years, and prior to that he has worked the same positions at the ABC affiliate, Channel 10, for seven years, making it ten years total in the business, eight years as an Internship Coordinator.
Before starting off in the business, Jesse Garcia had graduated from the University of San Diego as a Communication with Media Emphasis and Spanish double Major.
Jesse Garcia was pulled into the business in an interesting manner. He explained the situation that started his career into the media:
“Basically, I was at a San Diego Gulls’ hockey game. I saw the news crew doing a live shot down from the tunnel area where the hockey players come out, and I’d always had a curiosity about news…I went down there, kind of checking it out. I saw them doing their live shot, recognized that it was a sports guy at the time….During in between hits, he was hanging out. I got his attention, kind of introduced myself, told him I was interested in sports….So, how can I get into this? How can I be on a sports team or, you know, reporting for one, or ESPN and all that stuff? He told me, ‘well, you got to start by interning.’ So, how do I intern? I didn’t know anything about it. I was already in college, but I never really asked about it, didn’t know anybody who’d gone through one, and backing up even further than that, I was the first generation college student, so I couldn’t ask my parents about it. So I was kind of taking my first steps by myself. He told me how, asked me some questions, told me to call him on a certain date for an interview. As a sports junkie, I aced his little quiz, and he brought me on board.”
Working for the sports department, though, had some disadvantages for the sports fanatic.
“So, I interned at the sports department at Channel 10, really enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun, but I kind of noticed that as a die-hard fan of sports, working in sports was kind of like it took away from being a fan,” Jesse Garcia explained in discussion of his internship. “I kind of noticed that about myself, it was a job….I never thought about that. I’m a die-hard fan, but does that translate into what I want to do for a living, and covering everything else? Not so much.”
Then Jesse describes the shift in career path that he took during his internship for the sports department.
“Well, in between doing that and running tapes down from the sports department, which was upstairs, to the news room to the tape room, I would notice all the chaos in the news room, and at one area in particular, called the Assignment Desk,” he explained. “So, I started poking around the Assignment Desk, ‘hey, what do you guys do?’….They said, ‘well, we oversee pretty much the news of the day, we’re in charge of breaking news, we monitor police scanners, we make phone calls, we set up stories, we assign stories.’ [It] pretty much the main, central part of the news room, as far as information gathering, assignments, and everything else. I thought, ‘wow, that sounds pretty cool.’ Second semester came around, I decided, well, I’m going to apply to the Assignment Desk. Got an internship as an Assignment Desk intern, poked around, got to know what everybody did, started doing it myself, started developing my own networks, making phone calls, and just kind of being involved, they’re all hands-on, asking them what I can do, and trying to be as helpful as I could. Asking lots of questions and what not.”
Transferring over from the sports department to the Assignment Desk at the Channel 10 station, an opportunity opened up for Jesse Garcia that he jumped at the chance to have.
“That translated into the possibility of getting a job because somebody was going out on maternity leave, and they decided that they weren’t going to come back,” he further adds in detailing how the internship turned into a career. “So I knew the position was coming up. I asked about it, I applied for it, and they said, ‘well, the job is yours, but under one condition….’ This is back when I’ve been out of college for a while, so they said, ‘Your first day is going to have to be an overnight shift, December 31st, 1999.”…I told them, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it, no problem,’ on the spot. I did it, worked the overnight shifts….And I’ve been in the business for ten years, so it was worth it.”
In further explanation of the situation that led to his job, he added, “There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to work at an ABC affiliate, there was nothing more important to me at the time than getting my foot in the door and starting off my career. That’s everybody’s goal out of college, I would hope. So I took it….”
Of course, there shouldn’t be a job where there aren’t places and benefits for someone to look forward to, and there was no exception to Jesse’s job. He specifically enjoys the breaking news part of his job. “When something crazy is going on, a major news story, it gets my adrenaline going. I’m real competitive by nature…so, when big stories like that come up, I have the opportunity to perform and get people moved to where they need to be so I can beat the competition. To me, that’s number one. Getting the information out accurately, getting it first, being there on the spot first, and having it covered first, is what drives me.”
Jesse Garcia also goes further into detailing the method that he goes into upon hearing of a breaking news story, and how his employees are sent to cover it.
“Literally, we have twelve scanners on the assignment desk. We listen to anything that has a dispatcher….Soon as I hear something, I’m locking it down, I’m listening to see where it’s at, I’m listening to see what it is, what the location is, and at the same time I’m thinking about where all my news crews are, as far as the geography,” he states. “So, I’m thinking of that, I’m thinking about the newsworthiness of it….I’m thinking all of these things while I’m making phone calls….You kind of kick into reporter mode yourself, start asking the appropriate questions that are going to get you the story. So, basically thinking all that stuff, at the same time.”
No job, though, wouldn’t be as fulfilling without the challenges provided.
“Three years ago I was brand new at NBC, so knowing who the people were, what their strengths are, who was who. A lot of the times things happen so you’ve got to call them at home, so where they live, that type of thing,” he explains. “Any general assignment, a reporter can report on any breaking news story, but you get to the point as an Assignment Editor where you kind of have an idea of which ones you’d rather send for certain stories, so that’s where I’m at now.”
The biggest challenge that he’s had to face in his career, though, seems to affect every form of career and position in today’s working environment.
“I’ve seen a lot of turn-around in the business. We’ve had, just at NBC, three waves of lay-offs, people tend to bounce around between stations, too,” he stated. “So, I think one of the biggest challenges is when the economy hits, just like everybody else. People are getting laid off, they’re eliminating positions, so it’s just kind of the fear. It’s a cut-throat business, really.”
With all these changes in the media, and multiple platforms blossoming as methods and ways for the networks to share their information, Jesse Garcia is no exception to the rule that journalism is following the digital and quick path.
“We’re following the trends, already,” he said. “It was a slower process than a lot of the younger generation would’ve liked….Now that [the social networks] exploded, they’ve seen that and seen how it can be useful, and they’ve caught onto it ….We’re all required to have them now, which is great, because it’s now they don’t have one source doing it, now. Now it’s everybody.”
With the success about his job at ABC, there is concern and curiosity about changing over to NBC.
“My switch-over was due to the changing in upper management at ABC,” he explained. “They changed news directors, they changed general managers, their overall vision on news was changing. They were trying to make everybody into a one-man band, so to speak….Which is fine and it works, I don’t think it necessarily works if everybody is doing it, because of the quality. Photographers are experts in photography and video-shooting, editors are experts at editing…writers are experts in writing. I think that’s why they have each position and I think that’s what the majority should be. Now, we do have some one-man bands…and they’re good at what they do, but it’s not like a whole crew doing that and putting together a subpar quality story.”
To him, though, the most rewarding part about working, “as an assignment editor in that position in itself, I would say beating the competition. That’s what I enjoy the most.”
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