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Posts Tagged ‘Fox News’
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
As I was thinking about President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address that we will all be listening to tonight, I couldn’t help but become a little bit frustrated by what we will all hear after the State of the Union – the spin doctors. It really aggravates me that in 2010 we will have to be subjected to two completely different “fact-based” opinions on what the President said during his Address. What also bothers me is that every single Democrat or left-leaning media person will praise Obama like he’s the Second Coming (like they did during the election cycle) and every single Republican or right-leaning media person will decry his Address saying that he completely missed the point.
Frankly, in 2010 in America – that’s disgusting.
I’ll be watching the speech on FOX News and probably listening to their post-Address wrap up and thoughts. The reason why I choose FOX News is because they will at least bring on both Democrats and Republicans to give their points of view. While their standard slate of commentators (note – commentators) tend to lean to the right on most issues, at least I know that by watching FOX News I’ll be able to hear both sides of the story and that I’ll have a greater chance of getting a news person acting as a fair and impartial arbiter of the discussion. You can’t find that on MSNBC or CNN (though CNN has come a long way).
As for the speech itself, let me turn to the Asbury Park Press which published an article today that said the following:
It has been widely reported that Obama will announce programs aimed at the middle class on issues such as student loans. However, those measures will have limited appeal if unemployment remains high.
“He can do all he wants on college loans. But for those in dire straits, he has to go farther,” Greenberg said.
FYI – David Greenberg is an associate professor of history at Rutgers University. I’m interested to hear what Obama has to say about student loans. Those of you who frequent this blog know that I write about my student loans – a lot (see yesterday’s post). While I have created a plan of my own to repay this debt, by doing so I am effectively taking myself out of the for-sale housing market for the next two years.
Now, a few years ago I would say that I was an extreme example of how student loan debt could possibly hurt and stifle the middle class economy. Today, however, I think there are a lot more people in my situation (albeit at lower dollar amounts) than people may think. Sure, one guy in New Jersey who is handcuffed by six figure student loans is an extreme example of how one person can’t contribute to the economy’s recover…but when you multiply that times let’s say one person in each state, you now have 50 people that aren’t contributing. Then when you consider that there might be 10 people in each state in this situation (a likely figure), now you’re at 500 people that have good paying jobs, but cannot contribute to the economic rebound. Up that to maybe 1,000 people per state (again, not unreasonable when you consider the total population) and now you have 50,000 people not participating.
Simple math: 50,000 people x $250,000 (cost of each person buying one home) = $12,500,000,000 in new home sales
That’s a lot of zeroes, huh? And those are just numbers that I’m pulling out of the air. I’m confident that there are more than 50,000 college graduates who are stifled by their student loan debt and I’m sure that people would be buying more/other things besides new homes – like new cars, clothing, electronics, etc.
Also from the Asbury Park Press:
Recent Republican victories have been attributed in part to economic issues, with unemployment in double digits.
“The challenge is to frame a policy to create jobs, while cutting the deficit,” said Joseph Patten, an associate professor of political science at Monmouth University.
“Traditionally, you stimulate the economy by spending more. It’s difficult to do that when you have a spending freeze,” Patten said.
I had to include Dr. Patten in this entry because he used to be one of my Professors at Monmouth and the guy knows what he’s talking about. I wouldn’t want the task set before President Obama – find a way to generate new jobs while cutting the deficit and still finding a way to appease your ultra-liberal base by spending more money on more programs. Good grief!
Let’s see what Obama has to say tonight.
Posted in Student Loans, United States Politics | No Comments »
Friday, January 1st, 2010
Happy New Year, folks! I hope that you all had a safe and happy New Year’s Eve last night, celebrating the arrival of 2010 in whatever way you saw fit. Personally, I kept my New Year’s Eve festivities very low key. After a quick dinner with one of my roommates and two of our buddies I watched the ball drop from the comfort and warmth of my bedroom. Last night was the first time in many years that I opted not to go to a party to watch the ball drop and it was very relaxing, calming, and enjoyable. 
 Happy New Year! Just a bit of commentary on the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, New York City last night… I watched the FOX News coverage of the parting in Times Square last night and after watching the people in the Square on the television all night, I have a few observations. First, they’re all nuts! Who would want to be out there in the cold and sleet and nasty weather with crazy people all around you? Blech! Not me. Sure, at some point in my adult life I’d like to ring in the New Year by making the pilgrimage tp New York City’s Times Square, but I’ll wait for a much warmer winter to come around before that happens.
Second, most of the people in Times Square seem to be tourists. This prompted one of my roommates and I to comment that all of the real New Yorkers are probably watching (and laughing) from the comfort of a local bar or their own homes! But thank God for those tourists bringing their economic power to the City. Tourists help keep local economies afloat and all local people thank tourists for their purchases!
Finally, I included “prosperous” in the title of this post because I really do hope that 2010 and the entire coming decade is a prosperous one for all of my family members, friends, and readers of this blog. The last decade saw too many people lose a lot of money in a variety of markets. First the technology and “.com” bubble burst and then the housing bubble exploded a few years later. In the past few years the stock market went on a slide, though it seems to be recovering. There are many people out there – myself included – who managed to make the best of these situations and actually wound up in a much better financial position than before these crises! But there are far too many people who are suffering economically, physically, and mentally so I hope that the wealth of prosperity and happiness (and so much more) come to more people in the next ten years.
As for the rest of today – sit back, relax, and enjoy the day off!
Posted in Winter & Christmas Time | No Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Unless you don’t watch television news, I’m sure you’ve been keeping somewhat of an eye on the battle started by the White House against FOX News. The folks in the White House have suggested that FOX News isn’t a real news outlet and they’ve even begun to cut them out of interview opportunities. The New York Times ran an article on this struggle this morning which does a great job of covering what, exactly, the White House’s beef is and the FOX News response.
There is a lot to write about this particular issue. I could write about how one of my liberal professors is touting the White House’s opposition to FOX News strictly on ideological grounds. One could also write about how Chris Wallace from FOX News Sunday hit the nail directly on the head when he suggested that this White House is filled with a bunch of crybabies. Or one could write about how other news stations are sticking up for FOX. In fact, directly from that New York Times article comes this:
In a sign of discomfort with the White House stance, Fox’s television news competitors refused to go along with a Treasury Department effort on Tuesday to exclude Fox from a round of interviews with the executive-pay czar Kenneth R. Feinberg that was to be conducted with a “pool” camera crew shared by all the networks. That followed a pointed question at a White House briefing this week by Jake Tapper, an ABC News correspondent, about the administration’s treatment of “one of our sister organizations.”
Pretty respectable for the competition to honor the unfair treatment that FOX News has been receiving, huh?
However, I want to focus on two things regarding this issue – the White House’s intentional blur between what is news and what is opinion on FOX News and the game that the White House is playing with FOX News.
First, anyone who studies media or watches a great deal of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News while reading a diversity of newspapers can tell you that there are only so many ways a company can report a story. When a tornado hits Kansas, you don’t often hear FOX News reporters saying, “A tornado hit Kansas today and the lousy liberals are to blame.” Just like you don’t hear any legitimate reporter on MSNBC blaming conservatives for acts of God. When it comes down to reporting events from around the world, you’re going to read or watch the same report no matter where you go.
However, when it comes to commentary, you’re going to get a divergent approach to “reporting.” Bill O’Reilly calls himself a “humble correspondent.” That’s part of his approach to opinion journalism and there is nothing wrong with that at all! O’Reilly takes a very traditional view on the issues, but that’s okay because he’s hosting a program that is rooted in commentary. Glenn Beck has a staunchly libertarian point of view. Now, those who are not well-versed in political ideology would suggest that Beck is a conservative, but he’s not. So the next time you hear a mass media report or read in a newspaper that Beck is a conservative, then you need to second guess that source of news. Sean Hannity, on the other hand, is a hardcore conservative and there’s nothing wrong with that, either.
FOX News clearly labels these programs as commentary and anyone who knows anything about social interaction beyond “Hello, my name is…” can tell that these programs are NOT news-based! The White House isn’t filled with dummies, they understand that these programs are opinion programs. However, their strategy is to lump the legitimate news departments in with these opinion programs to paint FOX News with a broad, anti-liberal, anti-Obama brush. They know that by doing this, there will be a certain percentage of the population that completely agrees with them and will eventually take over this fight now that it has been brought up at a higher level. It’s a shame that such easily influenced, non-critical thinking people exist to do the White House’s prolonged dirty work.
My second point is that the White House actually managed to do something that they hadn’t been able to do up until they began attacking FOX News, i.e. get the FOX News commentators to STOP digging into the backgrounds of Obama’s staff. Think about it. Glenn Beck single-handedly led to Van Jones’ downfall, which opened up the door for other media organizations to wonder what they had missed out on (read the New York Times article linked above). This, frankly, scared the hell out of the White House and led to them attacking FOX News. If the media is covering itself, then they’re NOT digging into the people who maybe shouldn’t be sitting around the table with the President, right?
Hopefully, people will begin to notice this on a large scale and begin to demand that their White House stop engaging in partisan attacks on the media and, instead, get back to the job of running this country.
Posted in United States Politics | No Comments »
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
While I was flipping around the channels on Friday evening, I noticed that among all of the new high definition channels that Comcast has made available to me, I didn’t see a FOX News HD station. I thought that was weird because I know that Cablevision and the satellite television companies offer the channel so for it not to be available on Comcast – something must have been up.
I logged online to access their e-mail support (because there’s no way that I was going to sit on hold to call someone to ask about the channel). After having to enter every single bit of information that they could possibly ask me outside of my social security number, I submitted the following question to Comcast:
When are we going to get the FOX News Channel in High Definition? All of the satellite companies, FiOS, and Cablevision offer it in this area – when are we getting it on Comcast?
Short, sweet, and to the point – you know? Comcast generally gets back to their customers within 24 hours – this is the response that I received (name changed to protect the helpless):
Dear Joe,
Thank you for contacting Comcast.
I understand you would like further information regarding the addition
of Fox News HD to your Comcast channel lineup.
Our goal is to provide a wide choice of quality cable networks and local
broadcast channels reflecting the diverse programming interests of our
customers. In addition to requests from customers, the following
factors play a part in our decision making process:
· FCC regulations, such as requirements to carry all local broadcast
channels
· Requirement by local broadcasters to carry their affiliated cable
networks
· The number of access channels required by local government
· Customer satisfaction with networks carried in other systems
· Customer satisfaction with similar networks
· Importance of the network to our diverse community
· Level of interest across a percentage of our customer base
· Per-subscriber programming fees charged by the network versus the
value added to the line-up
What this all means is that we take all requests for new networks very
seriously, and that we carefully consider the overall impact of adding
each network. While we cannot honor every request, we do take each
request into consideration in planning future changes to the line-up.
Sincerely,
Bob
Comcast Customer Care Specialist
If you managed to suffer through reading that ridiculously “customer-friendly” response, you’ll notice that it says absolutely nothing. But not to fear – before I received this response (which was sent a few hours after I sent my initial inquiry), I found FOX News HD on channel 277.
Ahem, Comcast already offers the channel, but I still received a form mail response anyway! In other words, the robotic people who prepare these automated responses don’t even know the services that they offer! So I responded to Comcast – again, short and sweet:
Actually, I found the station on channel 277.
That’s all I needed.
I figured that with such a direct response, a human would reply back with something like, “Oh, great. We have to send out those automated responses, but I’m glad that you found what you were looking for. Enjoy!”
No.
Instead, I received this:
We have received your e mail and thank you for using Comcast’s online
email support. One of our Comcast customer support representatives will
get back to you, likely within just a few hours. In the meantime, you
may find our FAQs helpful to resolve your inquiry so we invite you to
visit http://help.comcast.net. Or, for more immediate attention to your
situation, try “Ask Comcast”, a real time chat service, available by
visiting http://www.comcast.net and clicking on the AskComcast link at
the top of the page. We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely, Your Comcast Support Team
Followed by this:
Dear [My Full Name],
Thank you for contacting us regarding your Comcast cable service.
I’m glad that you were able to find the channel that your were looking
for. If you need further assistance, please feel free to respond
directly to this email. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.
Thank you for choosing Comcast.
Sincerely,
Jimmy R
Comcast Customer Care Specialist
First of all, I didn’t need the automated “we received your e-mail response,” but I appreciate the sentiment. Second, Jimmy R (name changed) shouldn’t be thanking me for choosing Comcast because I live in New Jersey – which means I can’t choose another cable company even if I wanted to! Sure, there’s Verizon FiOS and satellite, but home rule dominates this state.
And third, shouldn’t Jimmy R – a real human – have answered my first question to begin with? Wouldn’t that have saved Comcast from looking inept in terms of what they offer their customers?
Ah, cable companies. Gotta love ‘em…at least if you live in New Jersey.
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Idiots, Morons, & Fools | 6 Comments »
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
Okay, so I’m about ten days late on this entry to the blog – my apologies. The topic of this entry is the tea party events that took place on April 15th as a sign of disgust with the increasing number of taxes that Americans are being asked to pay. I didn’t attend any of these tea parties (even though one was taking place literally one block away from my office), but I did watch the coverage on the news and I engaged in a lot of post-party reading on the internet.
(more…)
Posted in Book, DVD, Movie, & Media Reviews, Idiots, Morons, & Fools, United States Politics | 6 Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
In his latest printed offering, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity , FOX News television host Bill O’Reilly takes his readers on a trip down his own, personal memory lane. The book covers O’Reilly’s experiences growing up in a working class family and as a member of a working class community. The reader is also given some insight into his experiences as a young Catholic school student and as a regular guy in society.
Now while there are certain people out there who immediately write off any product put out by O’Reilly as right-wing propaganda, I have to admit that reading the man’s history gives a clear indication of how he grew up to become the person that he is today – both politically and as a broadcast entertainer. Growing up in the typical working class family, O’Reilly had to fend for himself when playing outside and didn’t have overbearing adults watching over every move he made. Some would argue that the problem with today’s children (aside from being over-medicated and over-categorized) is that they aren’t allowed to just be kids any more!
I would have liked to know more about O’Reilly’s experiences in school because I believe that a person’s experience in the classroom is one of the best indicators of how he or she will progress as a person. To that end, though, he does give many stories about the classroom, his teachers, and his classmates so I guess that without the addition of hundreds of pages of more content, the information that he includes is adequate!
If anything, I would have liked for a more time-aligned presentation of O’Reilly’s experiences as he does tend to jump around from here to there. The book is a quick read and it is written in the style that O’Reilly speaks in on his television show – pithy comments littered throughout.
For those of you who are looking for a quick read, I would recommend O’Reilly’s book. If you’re looking for some insight into how he became the man and pundit that he has grown into, then you’ll enjoy this book, too.
Posted in Book, DVD, Movie, & Media Reviews | No Comments »
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Book Review: A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009In his latest printed offering, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity
, FOX News television host Bill O’Reilly takes his readers on a trip down his own, personal memory lane. The book covers O’Reilly’s experiences growing up in a working class family and as a member of a working class community. The reader is also given some insight into his experiences as a young Catholic school student and as a regular guy in society.
Now while there are certain people out there who immediately write off any product put out by O’Reilly as right-wing propaganda, I have to admit that reading the man’s history gives a clear indication of how he grew up to become the person that he is today – both politically and as a broadcast entertainer. Growing up in the typical working class family, O’Reilly had to fend for himself when playing outside and didn’t have overbearing adults watching over every move he made. Some would argue that the problem with today’s children (aside from being over-medicated and over-categorized) is that they aren’t allowed to just be kids any more!
I would have liked to know more about O’Reilly’s experiences in school because I believe that a person’s experience in the classroom is one of the best indicators of how he or she will progress as a person. To that end, though, he does give many stories about the classroom, his teachers, and his classmates so I guess that without the addition of hundreds of pages of more content, the information that he includes is adequate!
If anything, I would have liked for a more time-aligned presentation of O’Reilly’s experiences as he does tend to jump around from here to there. The book is a quick read and it is written in the style that O’Reilly speaks in on his television show – pithy comments littered throughout.
For those of you who are looking for a quick read, I would recommend O’Reilly’s book. If you’re looking for some insight into how he became the man and pundit that he has grown into, then you’ll enjoy this book, too.
Posted in Book, DVD, Movie, & Media Reviews | No Comments »