Jon Stewart is back this week from a mini vacation and last time the Daily Show was gone for this long, a gay Senator bathroom sex scandal broke. This video further proves why I stay away from watching the Cable News shows. It is mostly tabloid driven, mindless dribble.
CNN's used the California fires to promote their global warming piece and Fox News cited a 4 year old FBI memo about one Al Qaeda member mentioning starting fires in the US to suggest that terrorists ignited this blaze. Stewart takes the Katrina Analogies to the woodshed.
Since no one cares except random anonymous commenters, and this is MY blog, I watch PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer(Add it to your TIVO) every evening for my main TV source of current events and news discussion. They actually will analyze a topic, policy or event, instead of just glossing over them like the Network nightly news shows do. Networks usually spend 5- 10 out their 30 minutes on some puff piece human interest story too.
Plus, the News Hour's guests are highly intelligent people with real work credentials, who actually discuss and debate the issues. Not these self glorified pundit contributors on cable news, who spend most of their time yelling the same broken talking points. When you are done watching the 24/7 cable news shows, you just want to yell at or blame someone. After viewing the News Hour, you can actual retain some knowledge from it.
For example on last week's show, the topic was foreclosures. They were exchanging ideas on how to assist homeowners with the sub prime crisis with a consumer advocate and a president of the mortgage lender association. You can click on the streaming video or scroll down for the text of their talk. The first part is about a Chicago bank program that helps out homeowners restructure their loans so they will not lose their homes. The next part is the sub prime discussion.
News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS
Mac Gs World
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Californinicineration
Posted by Mac G at 9:04 AM
Labels: Jon Stewart, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, Sub Prime, the California Fires, The Daily Show
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8 comments:
I'm that random anonymous commenter. And I acknowledged that it's your blog and you can do what you want (although you have since deleted my comments).
I think it's great you watch Jim Lehrer. I think that guy's pretty great, too. Another great source for in-depth and informative (and non-biased) reporting is The Economist. It's a magazine (which is also on the web) that's simply wonderful. If you like Jim Lehrer, you should check it out. You won't be disappointed.
Hey anonymous, what is up? I guess you got my subtle dig, eh? Sweet.
I love feedback and the fact that I you take time to read my blog. I apologize for deleting your comments, it was early in the morning, I was hungover and had not drank my morning java yet. I do not want to be a fascist. My Bad.
You were right about the med school students not knowing about the Geneva convention, it should not really matter. It was the wrong link, I should have used this one.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/stalag-911_b_35476.html
I have since removed it.
I planned on responding to your comments about staying away from politics because you inferred that I did not know what I was talking about, arguing I spend so much time on lefty blogs or just repeat their points. I disagree.
I want our troops out of Iraq, I do not want any more american soldiers killed, I want Osama's head on a platter, I want our government leaders to be honest to its citizens and held accountable for their actions.
I want the media to stop cozying up to these leaders and act like the 4th state again. I want the corporate influential money out of our public officials' pockets.
McCain/Feingold just made interest groups way more powerful than ever before.
I want the government out of my mail, email, and phone records, unless they have court approved warrant. No matter if my phone call is to my boy in Europe or not.
I want mary jane to be legal. I want the war on drugs to be treated as a health issue, instead of a criminal one. I want to end mandatory sentences and leave them up to judges.
I want the arbitrary death penalty abolished. I want our Bill of rights granted by our forefathers reinstated. No more BS signing statements. I want REAL, Checks and Balances. I would be arguing the same stuff, no matter what party was in office.
I want a new immigration policy that we can enforce, instead of these PR driven, random ICE raids, that destroy communities. Or look the other way towards companies that hire illegals, which deflate the wages of legal workers.
I want health care to be reformed, cutting out the layers, eliminating the profit by the HMOs and insurance companies, focusing more on providing affordable health care to our citizens.
I want more investments into inner cities to create job opportunities to help with poverty and alleviate our costs for social programs.
I want our government to actually fully fund No Child Left Behind.
I want to end predatory loan practices, eliminate all check cash places, and stop allowing credit card companies to target broke college kids.
I want more aid to college students, less loans, and honest affordable loans to students.
I want a real energy policy that comes up with changes to our dependency on foreign oil. Not just band aids that make the problem worse.
I want our govt to come up solutions on social security, instead of kicking the can down the road.
I want our government to stop borrowing from China and Japan.
I want clean air and water for my great, great grandchildren.
I want our govt to stop spending half our budget every year on feeding the military industrial complex.
I want no more political debates on patriotism, supporting the troops or abortion.
Most of all, I want our country back. I want to be proud to travel the world and tell people that I am American.
On 9/12/2001, the majority of the world had empathy for America and had our backs against the people who attacked us. We have since pissed all of that away and I want that back.
Bombing another country and starting another out of control hornets' nest is not the road back to recovery.
macgsworld@gmail.com for more of my mindless thoughts. word. I am serious about saying thanks for reading. I do enjoy the Economist.
You have a pretty nice blog and a humorous writing style, but I agree with anonymous. You might want to pick a direction for your blog. Sports or politics. One or the other. It might help to mainstream it a bit. (Unless you don't want that. Which is cool, as I'm sure it makes a nice hobby too.)
I'm not saying this from a Liberal v. Conservative perspective. In fact, I would put you as an idealist after reading that comment. The truth is that there are many people in America working on the problems you list. They work hard and often for little pay. When they come home they turn to sports or humor for a little escape. They don't want to be reminded of problems or America's "shortcomings." If they did, they would read the paper or turn on the news. Your blog can't provide that escape if you're mixing the two.
Just my two cents, and good luck with the blog!
Thanks Steve, Maybe I need to put a more narrow of a focus on my blog. All depressing news that I see happening in our world daily, combining it with an apathetic populist, a constant stream of fear mongering by political leaders, american kids still dying in a never ending preventable military conflict, just sends me over the edge.
I understand the escape argument of the needing a release from the Fd up monotony of their daily lives.
Thanks for your suggestions and I appreciate your constructive criticism. word
Mac, it's random anonymous commenter again. I'm sure you're sick of hearing from me. Just thought I'd follow up.
I certainly didn't mean to imply that you were being fascist in deleting my comments. Again, it's your blog, you can do whatever you want. If my comments annoy you, feel free to delete them. No biggie.
I didn't mean to imply that you're not intelligent. If that's how it came across, then I owe you an apology. From your other writings, I think you probably are intelligent. And I agree with many of the things on the list of your political ideas.
I tend to be distrustful of people who are so sure of their political position that they think the other side has no good arguments. In my experience, those people usually are not well informed about the issues and arguments. If they learn more about the other side's arguments, they tend to be less emphatic.
If you are well-informed -- and I would expect someone who Tivos Jim Lehrer to be well-informed -- then I owe you another apology. I apparently had a knee-jerk reaction to your certainty.
Anyway, I enjoy the blog. If you think it's fun to write about politics, then by all means, do so. I'll either skip those posts, or maybe I'll leave more annoying comments. Regardless, if I was un-civil, I apologize, and I'll try not to be in the future.
Hey Mac G don't listen to that crap. Write about sports and politics or what ever trips your trigger. It's your blog and there are people who enjoy all of it.
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