The Absolute Height Of Media Arrogance
Prepare to be disgusted and pissed…this is a fantastic story. Pukey little asshat goes to the Green Zone.
What I am linking you to is what some people have managed to grab from Google Caches and put back together as this media wimp tried to delete his posts and cover his whiny little ass. Kudos to Doc Weasel, Ace of Spades HQ, and Michelle Malkin for piecing the whole thing together.
This puke from the Sacramento Bee complains about getting checked for ID at a Green Zone gate, belittles a soldier, and then talks about his own bravery in his blog. Comments ripping him a new one ensue, he backtracks, then tries to disappear…
I have no more words here, just click. ~Bash
Click here for the Bobby Caina Calvin Blog: The entire post with comments preserved.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Nice picture of Harry Reid.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:42 amWhat an asshole… all of the comments were spot on. But 95% plus of these ‘journalists’ ARE assholes.
My first personal experience with them was in 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac. I was at the Tampa airport waiting on it to catch it to its final destination in Ft. Lauderdale. I was on the pay phone telling my wife what was going on and a TV reporter came up to me, interrupted my conversation, shoved a microphone in my face and started asking if I was there waiting for a passenger on the flight and if so did I know it had crashed and how did that make me feel. They were en masse asking everybody in the terminal the same shit. I told her to fuck off.
I’m pretty sure it ended up on the cutting room floor.
BTW, anybody else catch this asswipe trying to start new fires from smoke?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y838vto6los
October 25th, 2007 at 10:45 amYep, a shoe in for Asshole of the Month, Jan thru December.
K
October 25th, 2007 at 11:31 amFROM The Asian American Journalists Ass.:
Bobby Caina Calvan, Board Member
Reporter, The Sacramento Bee
Bobby Caina Calvan is a general assignment reporter at The Sacramento Bee. He arrived at The Bee in January 2006 as a copy editor.
Prior to landing at The Bee, he spent three years covering Northern California as a freelance correspondent for the national desk of the Boston Globe. His love of travel and adventure temporarily swept him away from journalism in 1999, spending much of his time in the Philippines and reacquainting himself with his heritage.
He was born with a parachute on his back, and the winds have taken his career to newsrooms across the country, including the Virginian-Pilot, the Seattle Times, the Detroit Free Press, Contra Costa Newspapers and the Redding Record Searchlight.
His skills extend beyond storytelling, headline writing and the other crafts of journalism. He also knows how to debone a chicken, grill a leg of lamb and open a bottle of beer without the aid of modern tools. To his mother’s pride and joy, he can cook perfect rice without the aid of measuring cups or a rice steamer.
At last count, he also knows how to offend people in at least a dozen languages – the list is growing – although he can take part in civilized conversation in a mere handful, namely Ilocano, Taglish, Spanish and, of course, American. Had he studied harder, there would be no need to pardon his French. While he can only read (some) Latin, he is fully conversant in pig latin, which he teaches to nephews and nieces.
- yep, a jackass.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:37 amWhat a little bitch…..
It reminds me of a source of pride I have of my son; in 2005, in the ’stan, a cnn reporter ignored his command to stay out of an area he had secured and tried to advance past him to video the scene where a soldier was fatally injured by a land mine; the camera slipped from the weasels greasy hands and was rendered inoperative. Or something like that.
It’s not surprising Dollard was looked on with skepticism when he first went to Iraq.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:57 amSomeone needs to rip that guy’s blinkers off. He has this idea of Iraq being a tourist’s paradise and can’t believe that he’s being given this much hassle while trying to get through what should very rightly be a secure zone. This guy must really have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:05 pmI wrote the little biotch, the little biotch’s bosses at the Bee and the big biotch at McClatchy. Ya’ll should all do the same. Be polite but firm and demand that these asshats link to folks like Michal Yon, Pat and Bill Roggio to atone for their sins. I doubt it will help, but it might make you feel better.
Here are their e-mail addresses:
Here’s what I had to say:
Mr. Tira, Ms. Heaphy, Mr. Canale and Mr. Calvan,
I am writing to express outrage at Mr. Calvan’s arrogant treatment of a U.S. soldier in Iraq. The soldier had the gall to ask Mr. Calvan for a second form of ID before he would let Mr. Calvan back into the Green Zone this week. Mr. Calvan expressed his over-inflated opinion of himself to the soldier and then had the gall to write about the incident on his blog. Over the next 3.5 hours some 190 people commented on Mr. Calvan’s arrogance. Then Mr. Calvan shut down his entire blog, and deleted the post AND all the comments. Fortunately, other bloggers captured the post and the comments for posterity. Here’s the link.
http://docweasel.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/bobby-caina-calvan-blog-the-comments-preserved/
Mr. Calvan’s actions provide disturbing insights into what I am afraid is the typical mindset of many reporters in Iraq and highlighted the pitiful job most media outlets do in reporting on the situation in Iraq. Further, his arrogance and his contempt for the soldier, who was literally risking his life at that checkpoint to protect folks like Mr. Calvan, is an attitude that is far too common among reporters. Since Mr. Calvan has harvested a bumper crop of lemons for your organization I thought I would suggest a mechanism whereby your might turn some of those lemons into lemonade.
Michael Yon, who many refer to as the Ernie Pyle of our time, has been embedded with our troops on multiple occasions since 2004. He is a fantastic journalist and an even better person. He was visiting the United States when General Petraus testified before Congress and he was shocked and appalled at how poorly the media covered Mr. Petraus’ testimony and the situation in Iraq. Upon returning to Iraq, Mr. Yon decided he would make his dispatches available to members of the National Newspaper Association free of charge in an effort to promote more and better coverage of the situation in Iraq. My humble recommendation is that McClatchy and Scripps (I noticed Scripps Howard News Service is a McClatchy partner) begin running Mr. Yon’s stories and that they encourage readers to contribute to Mr. Yon so he can continue reporting from Iraq. I also recommend that Mr. Calvan track down Mr. Yon and join him on a embed, if possible, so that he can gain some insight into the incredible nature of the young men and women that are serving in Iraq. Mr. Yon’s dispatch is linked below.
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/resistance-is-futile.htm
Once you have had a chance to review Mr. Calvan’s blog entry, the reactions to it, and Mr. Yon’s dispatch I would appreciate a response advising how McClatchy and the Sacramento Bee intend to address this issue. Personally, I would like to see Mr. Calvan arrange a meeting with the soldier he accosted and apologize. A follow up story describing the job performed by the soldier and his comrades would be nice to see as well. Finally, few stories focused on the incredible heroism of our troops and the good they are doing would be refreshing as well. Nothing in Mr. Calvan’s blog entry leads me to believe that he is anything other than a sniveling, spineless little excuse of a man who is nothing but a legend in his own mind. And I must say, that view is shared by the 190 individuals who posted comments on his blog. But I stand ready to be corrected. Accordingly, I would welcome an effort by Mr. Calvan, McClatchy, The Sacramento Bee and Scripps to improve the the quality of reporting that comes out of Iraq by accepting Mr. Yon’s challenge.
Thank you for your time. And again, please let me know how you decide to proceed.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:24 pmThanks for the link. Added you to my blogroll. Crazy hits today, this is a real one-day wonder for a small blog like mine
October 25th, 2007 at 4:31 pmI ditto all the responses
October 25th, 2007 at 4:52 pmI find Bobby Calvan’s blog post to be disrespectful and insulting to the brave men and women who are in harm’s way. His behavior toward that soldier was reprehensible and then to gloat in such a public display demonstrates a lack of professionalism, deccency and class.
But what goes around comes around. As a means of pressuring Mr. Calvan and his employers into publicly apologizing to the soldier who was the recipient of the brow beating, I have registered the domain www.bobbycalvan.com and have posted Mr. Calvan’s blog entry in its entirety as well as replies and more importantly, the contact information of his employers at The Bee and The McClatchy Company.
You can help the Bobby Calvan apology campaign by posting the www.bobbycalvan.com link on other message boards. I’m not receiving any monetary gain, just saw an opportunity to make a point for only $10 and took my shot.
___________
If you have story ideas or thoughts you’d like to share with Mr Calvan he can be reached at One can only imagine the amount of work and pressure he is under and as such he may not be able to respond to each and every one of your emails.
In case of such an event, you can direct your thoughts and story ideas to the conglomerate that employs Mr. Calvan. I am certain they will pass along your comments and questions. Operators are standing by.
To reach the folks at The Bee:
The Bee: 2100 Q St., Sacramento, CA 95816 | P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95826 | (916) 321-1000
Joyce Terhaar, Managing Editor: 916-321-1004
Mort Saltzman, Deputy Managing Editor: 916-321-1012
The Bee’s Public Editor, Armando Acuna, investigates complaints of unfairness, unbalance or inaccuracies in The Bee’s news reporting. His conclusions are his own. To make a comment,
Send mail to P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852;
Call him directly at (916) 321-1250;
FAX: (916) 556-5690; or
Send e-mail to
Likewise, the folks at the Bee may very well be overwelmed with fire coverage (our thoughts and prayers are with the Californians) and as such they too might not be able to respond to your thoughts and suggestions. Just in case, here’s how to reach the corporate head honchos that Mr. Calvan so thoughtfully alluded to in his blog.
The McClatchy Company
2100 Q Street
Sacramento, CA 95816-6899
916-321-1855
Financial/Investor Inquiries
Elaine Lintecum, Treasurer
916-321-1846
General Inquiries
October 25th, 2007 at 5:14 pmPeter Tira, Communications Director
916-321-1941