“You won’t believe what neighbors found when they looked in the windows of this house,” the teaser says and we see a “live” shot of a nice white house on a suburban lot. Stay tuned to Live on 5. (Cut to commercial)
[click to channel 7]
A sultry weather babe with bodacious ta-tas exclaims with a worried look “Tornadoes headed for your backyard?” Stay tuned for a full report.
[click]
And so it goes through the rest of the so-called news program. What is presented to us as a news weather and sports program has evolved into a mélange of infotainment snippets, which seem to be comprised of mostly teasers, urging us not to switch the channel: “Wait till you hear what this woman had to say after she was found working in a meatpacking plant in Chicago after being missing for twenty years…”
Getting their cues from supermarket tabloid headlines, the modern day news programmers have strayed pretty far from the traditional role of presenting news as ‘just the facts ma’m’. Now, the weather is news. The Red Sox is news. Gossip is news. Speculation is news. Paris Hilton is news..
[click][click][click][click]
Pundits assure us that everyone wants to know about Paris Hilton’s bowel movements in the county jail, and remember just a few weeks ago, the world watched with great anticipation to learn the identity of the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s money child.
I don’t think most of the people, who tuned in to the news because they are wondering ‘what’s going on in the world,’ care a fig about such gossipy items.
I could be wrong on that. A lot of young people I know will actually admit that they watch programs like American Idol and Survivor. I guess seeing what dolts other people are can be comforting to an ordinary person struggling with a lousy work situation and the extraordinary demands of raising a family.
I don’t watch much TV anymore. I wish I could say that I am doing something noble with my time like reading great works of literature, or working on my novel, or helping the needy. But, no. I just putter around the yard, cursing the rodents that gnaw on my marigolds trying to invent a device that will be as efficient as an outdoor cat at diminishing the exploding population of squirrels chipmunks and rabbits...
I had an Elmer Fudd moment the other evening. when I saw a small waskally wabbit nibbling at the yellow marigolds I had recently planted (to fill-in spots where other flowers had been eaten)... Enraged, I picked up a rock and threw it hard at the rabbit. Amazingly, the rock struck the unsuspecting rabbit on the head and it keeled over, like a dishrag. Feeling a mixture of guilt and satisfaction, I removed the carcass to the compost heap. (Before you gasp in horror, I must admit that the rock apparently just knocked the rabbit unconscious, because when I came back from the shed with a shovel to bury it, the bunny was gone.)
Good thing the neighbor kids weren’t outside. If they had seen me they would probably have called the Animal Planet cops to turn me in for animal cruelty.
I can see the 10 Oclock news tease: “ Is this man (Mug shot of me) going to be Paris Hilton’s new cellmate? Stay tuned to find out.”
[click]
6/18/2007
6/04/2007
How The Dems lost the Election Last Night
After watching the debate last night, I think I am voting for a Republican in the next election. When asked if they would support a measure to declare English the official language of the United States, only one candidate (the loony comic relief character from Alaska) raised his hand.
It suddenly struck me that there is not a credible Leader among them.
I am neither xenophobic nor nationalistic, but it seems to me that it just makes sense to carry on the business of the government in the national language of its citizens. I am firmly against giving welfare hand-outs to non-citizens. Instead of being an expression of mercy, free stuff is just an incentive for people to line-up here, rather than fixing the system in the country they escaped from.
English is the language of our constitution, our laws and our public discourse. How can anyone vote intelligently if they are not versed in the issues, the positions or the facts?
I have no real problem subsidizing the gas company’s costs to publish it’s safety warnings in multiple languages, but I do object to the practice of the government publishing applications for benefits, ballots, and voting instructions in 36 languages. Why do we want to encourage people who are too ignorant or lazy to learn English to participate in our elections?
The US does not want or need another president whose appeal is that he is “not as bad as the other guys.” We need a real Leader and common sense problem solver.
It is clear that the majority of the Democratic candidates think that the only way they can win is to appeal to the vast numbers of immigrants (and others who depend on the largess of the American welfare state.)
They are collectively soft on the issue of illegal immigration and not one of them convinced me that they had a plan that would work to secure our borders and to create a dis-incentive against future invasions. The simple solution is not to split up families, but to induce families to go back where they are citizens. Maybe they could work to improve their own countries?
The simple statement of policy I want to hear is: US Citizenship is only for babies of US citizens or those who go through the naturalization process. Voting should be for non-criminal Citizens who can demonstrate proficiency in English. Welfare is for citizens. Social Security is for people who contributed to the system.
I see that none of the Democratic candidates really has the will or desire to seriously deal with the illegal problem. None really wants to beef-up the border enforcement, force non citizens to register, fund the administration of enforcement and deportation of those aliens who commit additional crimes in the US.
Is there a non-English speaking country that prints their welfare literature in English for their American “guests”?
It suddenly struck me that there is not a credible Leader among them.
I am neither xenophobic nor nationalistic, but it seems to me that it just makes sense to carry on the business of the government in the national language of its citizens. I am firmly against giving welfare hand-outs to non-citizens. Instead of being an expression of mercy, free stuff is just an incentive for people to line-up here, rather than fixing the system in the country they escaped from.
English is the language of our constitution, our laws and our public discourse. How can anyone vote intelligently if they are not versed in the issues, the positions or the facts?
I have no real problem subsidizing the gas company’s costs to publish it’s safety warnings in multiple languages, but I do object to the practice of the government publishing applications for benefits, ballots, and voting instructions in 36 languages. Why do we want to encourage people who are too ignorant or lazy to learn English to participate in our elections?
The US does not want or need another president whose appeal is that he is “not as bad as the other guys.” We need a real Leader and common sense problem solver.
It is clear that the majority of the Democratic candidates think that the only way they can win is to appeal to the vast numbers of immigrants (and others who depend on the largess of the American welfare state.)
They are collectively soft on the issue of illegal immigration and not one of them convinced me that they had a plan that would work to secure our borders and to create a dis-incentive against future invasions. The simple solution is not to split up families, but to induce families to go back where they are citizens. Maybe they could work to improve their own countries?
The simple statement of policy I want to hear is: US Citizenship is only for babies of US citizens or those who go through the naturalization process. Voting should be for non-criminal Citizens who can demonstrate proficiency in English. Welfare is for citizens. Social Security is for people who contributed to the system.
I see that none of the Democratic candidates really has the will or desire to seriously deal with the illegal problem. None really wants to beef-up the border enforcement, force non citizens to register, fund the administration of enforcement and deportation of those aliens who commit additional crimes in the US.
Is there a non-English speaking country that prints their welfare literature in English for their American “guests”?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)