Showtime!

It's Showtime! Or should I say Snowtime. It's Blizzard '09. No, no one has named it yet but I can feel the hounds (newstations) all elbowing each other to figure out when is the right moment to name it and be the first station to do it. Every year we have at least one bad snow storm and many other small ones. Why is it that every time it snows more than an inch the media circus comes out to play? All other news is nonexistent due to the snow being a more "pressing matter". Reporters are predicting they will be losing sleep and doing it all over tomorrow. Again, Why?!?! Did you not spend an additional two hours (cutting of Good Morning America) saying how bad the weather is today and will be bad tomorrow too? Were the interviews with the people who "survived" the weather not good enough? Were the hand measurements of reporters all over the city not accurate enough? Or was over 400 school and business closings not proof that just maybe the weather is bad? The horse has been beaten to dog food. There is no need for overtime reporters! It is as if the reporters went home and stop reporting the snow, the sun will instantly come out and melt it all away and any additional moments of glory. And if two additional hours of "news" (use of that term is very loose here) wasn't enough, they had the nerve to cut into Tyra, my refuge from the snow. In the words of my former employer Citi (who is not closed today), the news should just keep it "business as usual".

Yeah, I said it! And the snow did not stop it!
Koko Bella

Should parents go through their teen’s cell phones? Question posed by Russ Parr Morning Show

I predicted the answers that would follow before they got to the hot line. “They (teens) don’t get any privacy, I am paying the bills.” “I will take the hinges off the door to their room.” “I told my daughter not to delete her text messages because I will check all of them online.” My immediate response was what the hell is wrong with parents today!! Granted I don’t have kids but I know how I would raise mine to become responsible adults. Today’s parents are failing big time raising kids. They are taking a reactive position instead of a proactive position. What would these same parents had done before the invention of cell phones? I refuse to believe that by searching through your teen’s cell phone like the CIA is going to give you dirt you need to clean up. Their whole life story isn’t on their phones. Kids are smart. They will go to greater lengths to hide whatever they wanted to. What’s becoming the Incredible Hulk and ripping their door off going to do? I’ll tell you what it will do. You will have successfully ruined what little trust and communication you may have had with your teen. And why use all that energy and still have a teen who will find alternative ways to sneak around (now out of spite)? I would rather have conversations with my child from the moment they can talk to teens and throughout their adulthood and beyond. I would create a space for me and my child to discuss right and wrong. I would want my child to be comfortable coming to me with their issues so that we can work them out together. I want my child to understand why certain actions are wrong. Why has it become acceptable for parents to be lazy? They rather protest to ban Britney Spears music and dress than to tell their children that just because they see others doing it; it does not mean they have to. Or that the world sends many messages but stick to the rules we have set forth because it is the right way to go. Parents are too afraid of what the world is doing or saying but not equipping their kids with the proper tools. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sparing the rod. There will be moments where talking won’t get through but I will be sending a clear message: You know why the rules are in place. Listen to the rules or there will be consequences. By snooping it also sends a clear message: Hide the evidence better. Which do you want to send?

Yeah I said it, and I don’t need to snoop for it!

Koko Bella