You’ve heard it. That story about the Defense Department about to announce that women can become Navy SEALs if they meet the same physical and mental requirements as men.

And that has the talk shows and social networks burning with comments from active and retired military.

Among the comments at UT San Diego.com,

"They’re going to get a lot of good men killed with the new policy. The SEALS are not a place
for females no matter how politically correct it may sound."

"The major problem will be upper body strength. Like it or not, males & females are designed differently. No desire for gender equality is going to change that. "

And a former Navy officer writes…"I see no problem with this IF the standards are the same. If it says you have to do 100 pushups, 75 situps and run 2 miles in 15-min with 20lbs on your back….then you must do that whether you’re male or female, 18 years old or 80 years old. One standard for EVERYONE."

So, in the end, the Navy may change the rules and allow women as SEALs, but rules don’t change minds.

San Diego’s celebration in Balboa Park marking the 100^th anniversary of the  Panama-California Exhibition in 1915. is still two years away, but there has been plenty of controversy already.

From Irwin Jacob’s proposal to build a parking garage and re-route traffic…to Mayor Filner’s battle with tourism officials over how much money would go to Balboa Park….to even the
naming of the celebration…we’ve seen differences of opinion.

But there is good news.

It looks like the original name of the Balboa Park centennial celebration in 2015 is being dumped.

During a presentation at City Hall the other day, organizers did an about-face and said the theme that had been selected for the Balboa Park celebration was being dropped.

And that’s good news to many including several city leaders, including Mayor Filner who didn't like the theme name.

It was Edge 2015.  Not exactly a name for the event that tells you much of what it’s all about, does it?

So now it looks like instead of Edge 2015, they’ll be using themes like San Diego Alive and Innovation.

Much better idea.

If you’re a dad, you can relate to Phil Mickelson.  Not because you think you’re a pretty good golfer too, but because Phil is a dad.  And a pretty good one.

Specifically, it was Phil’s decision this week that instead of heading to the U.S. Open for a day or two of practice for the start of the tournament, he stayed here in San Diego to be at his daughter’s graduation from 8^th grade.

Flying overnight to the U.S. Open, he had four hours of sleep before he teed off to start the first round. And despite a bogey on the first hole. Phil had a great round and took the
early lead in the tournament.

If you’re a dad, you too probably have stories of making sure you were there for your kid’s special event be it graduation, an awards ceremony, a show or a big Little League game.

And if you do, you know how important it is for dads to be there for their kids.

Sadly, with the increasing number of single and divorced moms raising kids by themselves, a lot of dads don’t get it.

With Fathers Day on Sunday, may it be a reminder to all dads, that being a dad means being there, and not just for special events, but for your kid’s entire life.

It was the morning after the Obama administration announced its decision in the morning after case.

The Justice Department had announced the day before that t was dropping its appeal of a federal judge’s ruling that allows girls of any age to buy the morning after emergency
contraception pill over the counter.

But watching NBC’s Today Show that morning after, it became pretty clear the debate would continue.

Host Al Roker said that allowing girls of any age to go down to the drug store to take care of any baby that might have been conceived the night before raises serious concerns about
the rights of parents to be involved in a pretty important decision for an underage daughter.

But the female co-host of the show said the Plan B decision just means that parents today will have to have a conversation with their kids at a younger age now so they will know how to make the right decision.

So a real important question remains. Will letting adolescent girls take a Plan B morning after pill without their parents consent be a plan for disaster?

While spending some time in and around Boston this week, I was curious to see the reaction of people there to the big news that was all over radio and TV there like it was here.

All the news about that classified program by the government to secretly collect cell phone and email records of millions of Americans to prevent terrorism and find terrorists...certainly had people talking in a city that is still hurting from the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon just weeks ago.

So you'd think that a lot of people in Boston might be okay with giving up some personal freedoms to go after terrorists.

But there were a lot of talk show callers, TV commentators and newspaper editorials blasting the secret government operation even if it was being credited with preventing terrorist attacks.

And what's interesting is the debate was going on in a city where our founding fathers debated the rights of the Constitution.

But little did they know that one day it would not be the British spying on Americans but the U.S. government itself.