Parenting gone bad

What's up with fathers these days? Over the past couple of weeks I have witnessed unfortunate interactions between fathers and their kids. That's witnessed not saw in the news or on the internet.

Went out for the Cowboys vs Giants game 2 weeks ago, and the father at the table next to me refused to talk to his son. That is actually an understatement, he wanted nothing to do with his son. All he cared about was something on his phone. Every time his son spoke to him he responded with "shut up". At the end of the meal the father actually went on a rant repeatedly say "shut up", and "how many times did I tell you to shut up". I think at one time I heard him say something like "I don't want to talk to you shut up". It was hard for me to keep quiet and mind my own business, and the rant at the end had me so stressed out that I had to walk away and go smoke a cigarette. I could only imagine how the kid felt.

Last week was a little different. I was walking around center city Philadelphia when I came across a father and his daughter walking down the street. The girl was shaken up about something and was crying, I thought she was being punished for something and throwing a fit. But after walking behind them a couple of blocks I realized what was going on, she was pleading with her father not to leave. I don't know where he was going or why she didn't want him to go, but you could tell it was the only thing in the world that she wanted. He just ignored her and kept walking. He even stepped around her a few times because she stood in front of him, just completely dismissing her. I finally couldn't watch anymore and made the next left to get some distance.

What did these 2 kids do to deserve to be treated that way? I thought fathers were supposed to love and protect there kids. I'm not sure which father above is worse, to me they are both dicks, but I'm sure there are a lot more saddening situations than these in the world. Then again what do I know.......

I'm just one man and this is my opinion
Thanks for reading
Dustin Dominiak

Congressional spending problems

The aircraft carrier the Enterprise, commissioned 1961, oldest active ship in the fleet. In 2008, the Navy wanted to retire her. Congress instead voted out a $662 million refurbishment, as a giveaway to the congressional delegation of Virginia, where her home port is located. In 2010, the refitted Enterprise went back to sea; she will be decommissioned at a December ceremony in Newport News.


That's $662 million to keep an obsolete boat afloat three extra years, when the Navy already has 10 times as many carriers as the rest of the world combined and faces no blue-water threat. Wonder why the national debt is skyrocketing? Congress keeps throwing money out the window, or in this case, overboard. The appropriation was supported by now-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, who constantly denounces federal spending, unless the money goes to his state.

I'm just one man and this is my opinion.
Thanks for reading,
Dustin Dominiak

**editors note** this is an excerpt from Gregg Easterbrooks TMQ column published weekly on ESPN.