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Reinventing Television
I seldom watch television but have grown up in a television culture. I would probably make the effort to watch more but when I can get content like Jon Stewart skits straight off the internet, I probably won't.
The Daily Show, Jon's smart cable comedy program, is the primary "news" source for many young people and has grown to almost 1.4 million viewers per night. His "America - the Book" sold 2.5 million copies, and his DVD is coming out in October. The Daily Show is also thought to be the most popular program on the internet. Using blog links and downloads, hundreds of thousands of people watch on-line rather than on tv.
Stewart's scathing critique of CNN on "Crossfire" last year was spot-on and he is not finished. Something like three million people saw it, mostly on-line, as a hugely viral phenomenon.
Stewart estimates that tv is approximately 12% goodness, 88% crapola. He thinks that the internet works best, at the present time, for short things without alot of production required so there is kind of an underground, guerilla flavor. The media companies aren't making a killing off the internet, at the moment. As Stewart told Wired magazine, "The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom."
Stewart: "It's the idea that content is no longer valued by where it stands, in what neighborhood it lies. What matters is what you put out there, not its location. I think that's what people have come to learn from the internet - it doesn't matter where it comes from. If it's good, it's good."
"We make the donuts. We don't drive the truck."
(There are several more future-of-media articles in the latest Wired magazine, with emphasis on consumer choice.)
It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004
SLASH SPENDING ON HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN NEW ORLEANS: Two months ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped New Orleans prepare for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million" reduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001 levels. Reports at the time said that thanks to the cuts, "major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. ... Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now." (Too bad Louisiana isn't a swing state. In the aftermath of Hurricane Frances -- and the run-up to the 2004 election -- the Bush administration awarded $31 million in disaster relief to Florida residents who didn't even experience hurricane damage.)
Center for American Progress report for today
3 tv stations from New Orleans:
http://www.weatherserver.net/livevideo.htm
Internet is fine - don't need a teevee
Also, for those who know Michelle Lindsay or Sandra Dearie, they're both safe.
Knock off the armchair Quarterback Crap!
Ira...you always bust my balls about getting involved...well here is your chance Buddy...
I spent 9 days at Camp Casey I, II and the Peace House and now MY HOME TOWN and the people of one of the oldest cities in America needs your help.
All donations are accepted regardless of party affiliation, race, creed or nation.
Howdy!
Just got a call from Sister No. 1...she and husband and child were rescued from their two story home ROOF in Old Metarie, Louisiana. (See New York Times Map of New Orleans)
She called me from the Baton Rouge air port...they are going to stay with in-laws family in Florida (yuppie scum could not even hang around to help)
BUT!
All in my family are alive. YAY! (even though they ar Republican Bush Supporters)
I am trying to join up with the Camp Casey Round Table Warriors for Peace who are headed (with local juristiction's permission) to Covington, Louisiana, the staging ground for relief work in rescuing people.
I will be taking a leave of absence from work and have requested a satellite phone from wealthier friends so as I can keep in touch in the efforts.
Most of my family are still stranded, but I have calls to friends for boats, gasoline, diesel, water and ice.
Hey! It is my home town...I know the streets whether they are flooded or not!
Hopefully I will meet up with the group in the alotted 48 hours. Friends are lending me a pick-up truck to haul donated water to the area.
Come on People now...smile on your brothers and sisters everybody get together try to love one another right now.
I'll let you know if I get to go.
Indy =]
Indy,
Glad to hear your family is safe.
OC...
Come on down...the weather is fine and we could use an experienced...person such as yourself.
This is my reply to an earlier post on the previous thread:
I agree that this disaster needs Herculian humanitarian efforts. Bush however has to be held accountabe for his negligence. His promotional tour around the Gulf States will be a self serving political sideshow, bereft of any meaningful assistance to those who most desperately need it. His decisions to cut funds to NO-LA Army Corps. of Engineers is a critical point to demonstrate his stupidity. Some may say that we are taking political advantage of other people's misery. That is true. But the truth sometimes hurt. Hold the bastard accountable.
Indy:
I'm SO GLAD everyone in your family is alive and got through this horrible time!!! Thank you for sharing your good news with us so we can be happy with/for you all!!! :-)
mazel tov Indy, you went to Crawford.
I believe if I am not mistaken that there is currently a human tragedy going on about 300 miles from my home. Sorry if my housing hurricane families and working at the Red Cross this week 'doesn't bust your balls Indy.
"Most of my family are still stranded, but I have calls to friends for boats, gasoline, diesel, water and ice.
Hey! It is my home town...I know the streets whether they are flooded or not!"
Hopefully I will meet up with the group in the alotted 48 hours. Friends are lending me a pick-up truck to haul donated water to the area."
glad Indy you are doing more than your part with hurricane victims as well. Even our republican scum friends and relatives deserve help in this situation.
we all need to pitch, especially friends here in texas and the gulf coast.
we all need to pitch in, especially friends here in texas and the gulf coast.this is a time for us to show the world what it truly means to be a progressive and our love of humanity.
Just popping in, working 15+ hour days running stuff for the CG in response to Katrina. Being pulled in three or more directions, everyone wants me to deploy here, deploy there, run this...crazy stuff. Please say a prayer for our Coasties. They have lost everything, homes, possessions, relatives. They are leaving dependents in shelters far away while they stay in very primitive conditions and work very long days so they can rescue and be first responders.
I'll check in later when I get another breather (my cell phone rings in the bathroom these days).
Prayers go out to all those with relatives or friends in harm's way, I know even more than what is being shown on TV, things are not good down there and it will take a lot of work and time to clean up and reconstitute.
Watched Aaron Brown tonight...
He made a very good point, over and over... where are the National Guard?
Near fifty percent of our National Guard are in Iraq; they make up half the forces there. Before Bush invaded Iraq, the National Guard would have been all over New Orleans and the whole gulf coast. Now, we're waiting for them to come in from many hundreds of miles away, and many of them are already exhausted from tours of duty in Iraq.
A Pentagon spokesman suggested that the NG are only supposed to be support for the local authorities, but as Aaron Brown pointed out, there are some things that only the military can do. And considering what our National Guardsmen have been asked to do in Iraq, it's curious that the Pentagon is arguing that they're only supposed to be support staff, doing things like "handing out water and other supplies."
Which is it? Are they soldiers, or aid workers? And if they're only aid workers, shouldn't we at least give them armor when we send them to do soldiering?
Amy,I too watched A. Brown tonight and almost puked when he said:"the president will be cutting his vacation short by a few days and flying to the big easy to have a look. Certainly NOT political in these trying times."
Just wait till bushie boy meets up with Haley Barber and the "favors" for votes come in 06'. And to think most of 40% in that state already live way below the poverty line!
Posted by: Amy at August 31, 2005 12:19 AM
Amy,
Your questions are too logical. If you ask a conservative those questions you are sure to get the deer caught in the headlights response.
Just have to repost 'cuz I didn't notice the new thread. The link Madame and Oncall referred to is ultra important and a must read....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/026_bw.html
Madame: THANK YOU for posting this VERY, VERY important link!!! I read it twice - the second time I didn't just skim it! I've copied and pasted it into an email and sending it to my email list of people.... I think I'll send it to my senators and representative, too, while I'm at it. Maybe even that slimeball neoCon senator....
Oncall: You nailed it!!! What the senators do about #11 is what I will be carefully watching when it comes time for the Judiciary Committee hearings. (Other things are in second place for consideration, but #11 is the most blatant reason to vote against Roberts' nomination and/or filibuster.) I realize the House won't be voting on the SCOTUS nominee, but whether or not they support a thumbs-down decision regarding Roberts' egregious lack of ethics in not recusing himself will be an added reason to vote for or against them in '06 or '08 if they are up for re-election, and how new candidates opinions' stack up will also matter to me in the polling booth....
It's WAY past time for Congress to restore the balance of power between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government!!! Dem (and moderate Repubs) legislators were railroaded into giving Nitwit war powers after 9/11 when they should have known a person as juvenile and stupid as Bu$h is would abuse that very power and claim dictatorial powers for himself, and none of the senators or reps even read the first Patriot Act before voting for it (the ink wasn't even dry when it came out of the Rules Committee to vote on!); why they approved the second version is beyond my ability to comprehend. It needs to be repealed - all of it.
The fact is, all senators and representatives who want the votes of their constituents need to apologize to us for giving Nitwit more powers than were granted a president in the Constitution. War powers belong to the Congress.... and they all knew invading Iraq was the wrong move, even if they didn't all know the "justification" was a pack of lies at that moment in time. The facts have come out since then, and very few have spoken out against the monstrous abuses of power by the Bu$hCo administration that cry out for impeachment proceedings!
It's time for a reckoning come election day '06 and then again in '08.....
show the world what it truly means to be a progressive and our love of humanity.
Posted by: Ira at August 30, 2005 11:39 PM
Wrong again IRATE...
It is time to show the Nation and the World what AMERICANS are made of...
There are many converts I would Love to talk to you about from Camp Casey Ira...
Never does seem to fit your model of the optimum line of bullshit....
Connection not confrontation works best.
And person to person seems to be especially rewarding...
Damn I wish you were on America's side for once IRA instead of politicising everything into party
I read this post on DU:
Hurricane George: Nation Destroyer
Newsflash: Hurricane Central has just announced that it has added a new category to comprehend the devastating impact of Hurricane George. Up until now the most powerful hurricane was category 5, catastrophic.
But category 5 storms only destroy geographic areas, whereas category 6 storms, like Hurricane George, can devastate the entire infrastructure of a major industrialized nation.
This is accomplished though ignoring and/or contradicting all of the established and recognized wisdom of experts -- such as scientists, meterologists, physicians, members of the intelligence community, military strategists, etc. -- in favor starting illegal wars to enrich yourself and your friends, dismantling all environmental protections also to enrich yourself and your fellow corporate mobster pals, dismantling public education, abridging civil liberaties on behalf of so-called homeland security, rigging elections, winning public office by smearing your opponents, giving great big fat tax breaks to the wealthiest one percent, bankrupting the government, allowing corporate mobsters like Halliburton to plunder the national treasury, pretending myths like creationism are facts and facts like global warming are myths, underfunding and/or eliminating all social services, sending young men and women to fight, kill, and die on foreign soil for no reason, and going on two-hour bike rides every day to have fun and look fit and bronzed while the rest of the nation goes to hell in a hand cart.
Category 6 storms are formed when diva sockpuppets like George Bush come under the influence of evil suckcurrents like Karl Rove.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9527.htm
This article is from July 20, and I know I posted the link at that time or the day after. It references #11 from the link Madame and Oncall posted.
Posted by: Indy at August 31, 2005 12:48 AM
Indy,
What was that about? From my reading of yours and Ira's posts. I think you are both actually saying the same thing.I was the one who talked about politicizing the disaster, not Ira. However, I still stand by my comments.
Progressives need to show....
BULLSHIT!
Americans....
Inclusive...alll of us....need to come to the aid of our country...
Period.
I am SICK of partisanship and the ONLY WAY to beat them is not to join them but to be AMERICANS and human beings.
Nuff said.
Actually you should direct your anger at me. Ira *was* saying the exact same thing as you were in the last thread as well.
I am not angry...
WOuld you like me to be mad at you OC?
Silly...
I was going by what I read on THIS thread...I cannot rea danyone's mind (except Monkey's)
Go figure...
Wanna joust OC?
Just checkin...
Ira,
I read your comments at the bottom of the last thread. There are going to be hundreds of questions about why this disaster is so much worse than anybody imagined. Those answers have to be directed to those guilty of misjudging N.O. needs. It is after the most urgent needs can be attended to that those questions are going to surface. I believe that Bush's responsibility has to be made clear to the public. Just as the public is starting to understand his complicity in the Iraqi lie, they will come to understand his duplicity as he tries to use this disaster for his political well being. Still I do hope that somebody has a sign that says what I posted in the previous thread. This disaster did not have to be so horrific.
Wanna joust OC?
Just checkin...
Posted by: INdy at August 31, 2005 01:12 AM
jousting,
surely you jest. :-)
Posted by: DiAnne at August 30, 2005 10:52 PM
DiAnne
Thanks for the news on Sandra.
Posted by: Indy at August 30, 2005 10:59 PM
Glad to hear your family is safe.
Democrats Demand Probe of Demotion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/083005E.shtml
Congressional Democrats demanded an investigation Monday into the demotion of a senior US military contracting official who publicly criticized a controversial no-bid contract awarded to Halliburton Corp. for work in Iraq.
Republicans Accused of Witch-Hunt against Climate Change Scientists
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083005EA.shtml
A far-reaching inquiry into the careers of three of the US's most senior climate specialists has been launched by Joe Barton, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce. He has demanded details of all their sources of funding, methods and everything they have ever published.
{{{ Ah, yupper-doo....... If he can't fire them or demote them if they disagree with his corporate buddies, he'll harrass them with disparaging statements and lies about scientific conclusions.....!!! Gee, where have we heard similar stories before??? Oh, right... the person who questioned the no-bid contracts about Halliburton is also in the news today; and then there were the generals who said the invading force for Iraq was to small, or the experts on intelligence who knew the facts were being fixed around the lies promoted as truth to begin with as justifications for invading Iraq.... ETC.}}}
Law Could Mean Death Penalty for Doctors
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083005HA.shtml
Texas doctors who perform abortions without parental approval or after the third trimester could face capital murder charges because of a new law that takes effect this week, a prosecutors group says.
Dee Mahan | The Medicare Gold Rush
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/083005HB.shtml
The new Medicare prescription drug benefit starts this fall but it will offer too many confusing choices, give patients too little and cost taxpayers more than it would if it had been run through the Medicare program. It is a benefit aimed at drug and insurance companies, not people.
In Largest Tax Fraud Case Ever, KPMG Cost Taxpayers $250B
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/083005C.shtml
Eight former partners of KPMG, the accounting firm under investigation for its role in creating and selling questionable tax shelters, were named by federal prosecutors in an indictment unsealed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan.
Governor Appears before Grand Jury after Issuing Pardons in Personnel Probe
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/083005R.shtml
Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher issued blanket pardons to his staff charged with handing out state jobs as political favors. Supporters said the grand jury investigation into hiring practices was politically motivated and critics said the hiring practices were part of a "corrupt political machine."
{{{ Will another governor bite the dust???}}}
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina31aug31,0,5304114.story
KATRINA'S RISING TOLL
Misery and Water Keep Rising
Destruction: New Orleans is deluged; in Mississippi, neighborhoods vanish Human toll: The dead must wait as stranded survivors plead for rescue Lawlessness: Looting is out of control
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050831/ap_on_re_us/katrina_new_orleans
Crisis Grows As Flooded New Orleans Looted
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050831/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_katrina
Bush Expected to Visit Storm-Ravaged
Excerpt - LAST paragraph was scary... it barely touched on the truth!!! ('Scuse me while I faint!):
A one-time oilman, Bush has rejected charges that the war in Iraq is a struggle to control the nation's vast oil wealth. The president has avoided making links between the war and Iraq's oil reserves, but the soaring cost of gasoline has focused attention on global petroleum sources.
Hundreds dead in Baghdad stampede
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4199618.stm
At least five hundred people have been killed in a stampede in northern Baghdad, Iraqi officials say.
The incident happened on a bridge over the Tigris River as over a million of Shia pilgrims marched as part of an annual religious festival.
So far no group has said it carried out the attack.
It was clearly intended to foment sectarian tensions, the BBC's John Brain in Baghdad says.
Iraqis are currently preparing to vote on a proposed constitution for their country, with Shia and Sunnis sharply divided on its contents.
Wednesday is the last day the majority of Iraqis can register to vote in October's referendum on a new constitution, our correspondent says.
Panic
Television pictures showed large crowds of Shia pilgrims gathering at the mosque to mark the martyrdom of the eighth-century religious figure Imam Musa al-Kadhim.
The stampede was triggered by rumours that suicide bombers could be among the pilgrims, causing panic.
Iron railings on a bridge gave way in the crush, and hundreds of people fell into the water.
More than 200 people were injured in the incident, hospital officials in the capital said.
"We have lost count, we have hundreds and hundreds of dead and injured," a Health Ministry official told the Reuters news agency.
"We can't tell how many are dead. Many bodies are still in the river," the official added.
The government has declared three days of mourning, state-owned television reported, quoting a statement by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
It was sparked by rumours of suicide bombers in a crowd. In the ensuing panic many pilgrims were crushed and some fell into the river.
Mortar rounds had been fired into the crowd earlier, killing 16 people.
About 36 others were injured when four mortar rounds landed close to the Kadhimiya mosque.
Disasters all over--it must be September.
This time we are awake already. This time, we are ready to help, to speak up, to act.
No quibbling here, please--we have a lot of work to do.
Let's get going.
thanks, Karen.
New Thread!
I agree with Indy's logic about being Americans instead of progressives or partisans but I want to be global citizens. It is even more powerful as people everywhere have the same needs and will sympathise with ours since we do not have the power (unless we band/bond), so are not the enemy. Also, we any of us could have been born anywhere.
Notice also that Bush tells us who is the enemy and who to pray for? I resent that. It's so dictatorial.