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Republicans Skew PBS Poll on Palin's Qualifications, VOTE NOW WITH ONE CLICK!
Apparently the right wing knew about this in advance and are flooding the voting with YES votes.
The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up by mainstream media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states.
Please do two things -- takes 10 seconds.
1) Click on link and vote yourself.
Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html < http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html>
2) Then send this to every single Obama-Biden voter you know, and urge them to vote and pass it on. Apparently the right wing knew about this in advance and are flooding the voting with YES votes. ... more -
FBI Prevents Agents from Telling 'Truth' About 9/11 on PBS
The FBI has blocked two of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld crucial intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The FBI has blocked two of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld c... more
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Just released......Rules Of The Vice Presidential Debate Palin vs biden
Rules Of The Vice Presidential Debate
The vice presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 2.
What are the rules of this debate?
Candidates will be cued to enter as the laser light show subsides, and should be on stage no later than the intro guitar riff to "Living After Midnight"
Questions can only be about Alaska
No reflecting light from watch into opponent's eyes
Each answer requires one piece of fluff or filler but cannot contain more than three
References to Jesus or "God's will" limited to answers to questions about the economy, health care, education, and urban crime
Candidates are forbidden from telling moving anecdotes about Marilyn Laybourn of Wichita, KS, who has three children and was laid off last May
Everybody goes home with a PBS National Debate Participation Certificate
The first candidate to seven sound bites wins Rules Of The Vice Presidential Debate The vice presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 2. What are the rules of this debate? ... more -
Palin prepared to rock Biden's world view.... Biden can't IRan from his ...
Barack Obama chose Joe Biden to be his Vice Presidential running mate presumably because Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign relations Committee, brings foreign policy heft to the ticket. Critics have noted that Joe Biden's intelligence may be overrated; after all, it was seniority, as much as anything else, that accounted for Biden's chairmanship (he has been a Senator for decades). We know how he responded after 9/11 when he pondered how to assuage Arab anger towards America:
“Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran"
Of course, this would have only inflamed Arab anger since Iran (being a Persian nation) is the enemy of Arab nations.He should have known this basic fact. Nor does it recognize how sending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to an enemy of America would inflame Americans.
But there are many other problems with Biden's sorrowful record on foreign affairs as revealed in Andrew McCarthy's insightful article "Biden's Baggage: That foreign policy heft will be hard to carry". McCarthy notes that Biden is probably the Senator that holds the United Nations in the highest regard:
He is probably the Senate’s most ardent admirer of the United Nations, regardless of how ineptly and corruptly it performs. He has never met a multilateral treaty he didn’t like, no matter how much sovereignty it surrendered. He vigorously supports the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which directs states to “modify social and cultural patterns of conduct” and installs the government as paymaster to enforce equal compensation for jobs of comparable value. He urges ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which vests children with a right to receive and impart “information and ideas of all kinds” over any “media of the child’s choice” — without regard to age or parental consent. Barack Obama chose Joe Biden to be his Vice Presidential running mate presumably because Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign relatio... more -
Liberal Gwen Ifill Pro Obama to moderate debate Is this Right?
Gwen Ifill has compromised herself and her employer, the publicly-funded PBS by failing to disclose an obvious conflict of interest. The degree of media bias for the Obama campaign becomes all the more obvious. She has a clear financial interest in the outcome of the presidential election, through her authorship of a book on Obama to be published Inauguration Day.
Urgent Agenda's William Katz reminds us:
Clearly, that book is vastly more valuable if Obama wins. In addition, Ifill's behavior on the air in covering Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the GOP convention was the subject of complaints to the PBS ombudsman.
I've looked at Ifill's work for years. An objective reporter she is not. I recall that, after radical leftist Cynthia McKinney lost the Democratic nomination for her congressional seat one year, Ifill went on the air, two nights in a row, to talk about "groups," read that Jews, who financed her opponent. She never once mentioned that McKinney had been heavily financed by Muslim groups. She's that kind of "reporter." Gwen Ifill has compromised herself and her employer, the publicly-funded PBS by failing to disclose an obvious conflict of interest. T... more -
Gwen Ifill has book pro Obama to be released on inauguration day...say What!
Today we learned that Gwen Ifill, the moderator of Vice Presidential debate set for Thursday night is in the process of writing a pro-Obama book. The book, "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," is a gushing profile of Obama and other African American leaders. It is set to be released on Inauguration Day. This book is nothing new for Ifill, who has been quoted numerous times in the past praising Obama.
Now that this book has been uncovered, how can Ifill possibly serve as an unbiased moderator? It seems that she has a preference and should not be moderating any national debate. Ifill's conduct during the debate will be rightly questioned. This is just another reason to suspect that the Presidential Debate Commission is just a tool of the Democratic Party.
Not only is Ifill pro-Obama, she seems to be anti-Palin. There have also been complaints about her coverage of Palin on PBS. Some viewers thought that she gave a "dismissive" look when reporting on Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention. Another complaint dealt with her look of "disgust" during a Palin report. Contrast her disgusted view of Palin with her overflowing praise of Obama in her upcoming book.
The only responsible action now is for Ifill to be removed as moderator of this debate. Of course this will not happen because all of these debates are stacked against the Republican candidates.
Another option would be for a more conservative moderator to co-host the debate with her. Although the problem with that idea is that, other than Fox News, there are very few conservative journalists on the national stage.
This new information just reinforces the well known and accurate impression that voters have of the national news media. In general, the media supports liberalism and Democratic candidates and obviously Gwen Ifill is no exception to that rule. Today we learned that Gwen Ifill, the moderator of Vice Presidential debate set for Thursday night is in the process of writing a pro-... more -
Does ideology trump facts? Studies say it often does
We like to think that people will be well informed before making important decisions, such as who to vote for, but the truth is that's not always the case. Being uninformed is one thing, but having a population that's actively misinformed presents problems when it comes to participating in the national debate, or the democratic process. If the findings of some political scientists are right, attempting to correct misinformation might do nothing more than reinforce the false belief.
This sort of misinformation isn't hypothetical; in 2003 a study found that viewers of Fox News were significantly more misinformed about the Iraq war, with far greater percentages of viewers erroneously believing that Iraq possessed WMDs or that there was a credible link between the 9/11 attack and Saddam Hussein than those who got their news from other outlets like NPR and PBS. This has lead to the rise of websites like FactCheck and SourceWatch.
Saying that correcting misinformation does little more than reinforce a false believe is a pretty controversial proposal, but the claim is based on a number of studies that examine the effect of political or ideological bias on fact correction. In the studies, volunteers were shown news items or political adverts that contained misinformation, followed by a correction. For example, a study by John Bullock of Yale showed volunteers a political ad created by NARAL that linked Justice John Roberts to a violent anti-abortion group, followed by news that the ad had been withdrawn. Interestingly, Democratic participants had a worse opinion of Roberts after being shown the ad, even after they were told it was false.
Over half (56 percent) of Democratic subjects disapproved of Roberts before the misinformation. That rose to 80 percent afterward, but even after correcting the misinformation, 72 percent of Democratic subjects still had a negative opinion. Republican volunteers, on the other hand, only showed a small increase in disapproval after watching the misinformation (11 percent vs 14 peercent).
Along those lines, a pair of political scientists, Brendan Nyhan of Duke and Jason Reifler of Georgia State, have shown a similar effect, this time concerning misinformation surrounding the presence of WMDs in Iraq, tax cuts, or stem cell research. Participants were shown news reports that contained inaccuracies, followed by a correction. The news reports were not real, but were presented to the volunteers as coming from either the New York Times or Fox News. Again, the findings suggest that facts that contradicted political ideology were simply not taken in; if anything, challenging misbelief with fact checking has the counterintuitive effect of reinforcing that misbelief.
Unlike the Bullock study, Nyhan and Reifler only demonstrate this effect of congitive dissonance on Republican volunteers, and acknowledge that follow-up studies are needed with liberal or Democratic volunteers.
These findings, if true, have worrying implications. Cognitive dissonance won't help people make rational decisions, but it also suggests that there's little point in arguing with someone who holds an opposing belief. Could this response be why, despite being repeatedly refuted in the media, the percentage of Americans who believe Sen. Obama to be a Muslim continues to grow? The research might also apply beyond the political to other attitudes—I'm thinking of the constant flame wars between fans of the PS3 and Xbox 360, or Mac and PC users. Is all that time spent in the Battlefront or the Soap Box wasted?
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Follow the link for more. We like to think that people will be well informed before making important decisions, such as who to vote for, but the truth is that&#... more -
Is Palin fit to be President? VOTE NOW and PASS IT ON!
If I could scream through the computer, I would.
PBS is doing a poll (for Bill Moyers' NOW program) which asks if Palin is
qualified to be VP.
The right wing has organized a yes campaign--and the 'yes' is at the
moment winning. Takes literally 3 seconds or less, go to:
So far, 50% of PBS viewers think Palin could run the whole shabang.
(((bending over and kissing my own ass goodbye))) If I could scream through the computer, I would. PBS is doing a poll (for Bill Moyers' NOW program) which asks if Palin is ... more -
The gospel according to Jim Lehrer and Dan Rather
The Real News offers a behind-the-scenes look into scripted politics and Media journalism as cooperative players with two of it's most well known news anchors.
Conventions and their coverage have changed. The Real News offers a behind-the-scenes look into scripted politics and Media journalism as cooperative players with two of it's... more -
Many PBS channels will soon wave goodbye to 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhoo...
Fans are upset, but the show's declining ratings and stations' desire for new programming win out
Seven years have passed since new episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" were taped and five since the show's iconic, sweater-clad host died.
But news that, starting Monday, "Mister Rogers" will disappear from the schedules of many PBS stations—including WTTW-Ch. 11 in Chicago, as well as stations in Los Angeles and apparently New York—has legions of parents and other fans lamenting what they see as a timeless show's end.
"The show is fundamentally about clumsy, awkward, uncomfortable real life, and it's one of the last places on television where children can see it honestly reflected (regardless of the 1980s clothing and 1970s cars, which young kids don't notice, anyway)," he wrote. "With very little camera editing on the program, it also 'feels' more real."
PBS said its decision is a reaction to the show's declining ratings and the desire of many local stations, which set their own schedules, for new programming. Episodes eventually may be available online, PBS said.
About 60 percent of PBS' 355 member stations carry "Mister Rogers." After Monday, that will shrink to a handful showing it daily, estimated an executive at Family Communications, a non-profit launched by Fred Rogers that produced and still owns the show.
The change means it's no longer feasible for PBS to keep "Mister Rogers" on the air, said Dan Soles, senior vice president of television content at WTTW. It showed "Mister Rogers" at 6 a.m. as part of 12 hours of children's programming a day.
"We respect the fact that many viewers are passionate and loyal to the show," Soles said. "I grew up watching 'Mister Rogers,' so I can understand their feelings. It's admirable. The spirit of Mister Rogers is going to continue. There are plans to really ramp up and build up the Mister Rogers Web site." Fans are upset, but the show's declining ratings and stations' desire for new programming win out ... more -
Christianists call for end to PBS
Donald Wildmon, the founder and head of the American Family Association, is asking its members to petition Congress to end all funding for PBS. The AFA is pissed because of an upcoming PBS show, The Bible's Buried Secrets, which according to the AFA , contradicts long-held beliefs. From the AFA's "Action Alert":
Take Action
Sign the petition urging Congress to stop using tax dollars to fund PBS. Let PBS operate like every other non-commercial network, raising its own money from its viewers instead of using tax money.
Petition Text
TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
In light of PBS's decision to air "The Bible's Buried Secrets," I ask that you vote to stop funding PBS with tax dollars.
PBS is knowingly choosing to insult and attack Christianity by airing a program that declares the Bible "isn't true and a bunch of stories that never happened."
PBS should raise its own money. I should not be forced to help pay for its programs.
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), probably the most liberal network in America, will present a program this fall that says the Old Testament is a bunch of made-up stories that never happened. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" says the Bible is not true. It is scheduled to air on November 18.
Archaeologist William Dever said: "...It's (The Bible's Buried Secrets) designed for intelligent people who are willing to change their mind. …it will give intelligent people who want to read the Bible in a modern way a chance. If we insist on reading the Bible literally, in 25 years, nobody will read it any longer."
Among highlights of "The Bible's Buried Secrets":
• The Old Testament was written in the sixth century BC and hundreds of authors contributed.
• Abraham, Sarah and their offspring didn't exist.
• There is no archaeological evidence of the Exodus.
• Monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
• The Israelites were actually Canaanites.
• The Israelites believed that God had a wife.
I have often said that PBS should not receive tax dollars. "The Bible's Buried Secrets" is simply one more reason Congress should stop supporting PBS with our tax dollars. Congress gives PBS hundreds of millions of tax dollars to help support the network.
There's a trailer for the show here on YouTube.
Labels: AFA, Christianists, Donald WIldmon, PBS, religion, television Donald Wildmon, the founder and head of the American Family Association, is asking its members to petition Congress to end all funding... more -
Mr. Rogers was best neighbor ever
1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him. Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English.
2. He watched his figure to the pound. In covering Rogers' daily routine (waking up at 5 a.m.; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life.
He didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I'm not sure if any of that was because he'd mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number
According to the piece, Rogers came "to see that number as a gift... because, as he says, "the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' One hundred and forty-three."
3. He saved both public television and the VCR. Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut public television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington.
Almost straight out of a Frank Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million.
Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR's to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family. 1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him. Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in ... more -
The luxury of taxing the poor
Are taxes being levied fairly when it comes to the rich and the poor?
PBS NOW correspondent David Brancaccio investigates and finds that, for the rich and those doing their bidding in government, their obstinance is their bliss. Many states are providing corporate welfare on massive scales to big business interests in the context of "providing jobs" that do very little to alleviate crippling poverty in the communities they exploit with staggeringly inadequate wages and benefits--and this even after decades within those very communities their presence was expected to improve.
While most of the rich carefully concern themselves about which set of new clubs may best improve their golf game, working class families are irresponsibly left to teeter on the edge of complete destruction for the privilege of footing the bills for so many of those very luxuries the rich enjoin for themselves.
It is a fact that growing numbers ***within the United States*** are barely subsisting, often in poor conditions, and often going hungry without food, and without so many of just the basic "necessities" most of us take for granted every day. (Perhaps you should read that again.)
Watch and learn about reality in the land in of the "free", because if it's true you may not be rich, you certainly are paying for it. Are taxes being levied fairly when it comes to the rich and the poor? ... more -
National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth
Dust clouds are building high over the Atlantic. An entire population of caribou is declining, while other species are pushed to the limits of their physical survival in the oceans. A respiratory illness, once uncommon among children in Trinidad, is now widespread. Amazingly, many scientists now believe these disparate phenomena may be linked to global climate change
http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/index.html
I'd like to see this one. Dust clouds are building high over the Atlantic. An entire population of caribou is declining, while other species are pushed to the l... more -
PBS keeps 'King Lear' nude decision under wraps
Ian McKellen's acclaimed performance in "King Lear" is coming to PBS, but a public TV executive was coy Saturday about whether his on-stage nude scene will be exposed on air.
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger, who saw the play during its brief run in New York, said she was impressed by the production and recalled thinking, "This is the kind of thing people should have a chance to see."
When Kerger told a Television Critics Association meeting that the play had been filmed for PBS and would air next season, she was asked about McKellen's full-frontal nudity and whether it would be acceptable for public television.
"Let's talk about this in January," Kerger said, attempting to boot the issue to the next scheduled meeting of the critics' group.
Pressed to address the question, she replied: "It's what I think about it and what the FCC will allow," a reference to the Federal Communications Commission that regulates broadcast channels.
Broadcasters have run afoul of FCC decency standards before, facing fines for profanity and, in the case of Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl show "wardrobe malfunction," nudity.
So what did Kerger personally think of the nude scene with McKellen?
"It's powerful. His entire performance is quite powerful," she said.
The Royal Shakespeare Company's production, directed by Trevor Nunn, ran at Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater last fall.
The 69-year-old McKellen's performance as Lear was lauded by The Associated Press for "expertly capturing the man's physical and mental decline." The review noted that McKellen shed not only his sanity but also, at one point, his trousers. Ian McKellen's acclaimed performance in "King Lear" is coming to PBS, but a public TV executive was coy Saturday about ... more -
Exploring the 'glass half-full' theory
Gone are the days when a science show on PBS was the television equivalent of castor oil. The new season of "Nova scienceNOW" is more like a tall glass of really good lemonade
The opening segment documents the search by scientists for "dark matter," an unseen form of matter that apparently affects the motion of the whole universe. "Nova" treats the hunt for dark matter like a classic mystery with a fascinating, offbeat cast. Scientists work in a lab a half-mile underground so their search for this elusive matter is less likely to be compromised by unseen things zipping in from space.
Host Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist himself, downshifts to populist terms as he acknowledges with some amusement that devoting your life to the search for the unseen is an unusual career choice. Gone are the days when a science show on PBS was the television equivalent of castor oil. The new season of "Nova scienceNOW... more -
NOVA scienceNOW | The Dark Matter Mystery | PBS
"We can't see dark matter, and some skeptics doubt its existence, but many scientists think it makes up 20-some percent of our universe. " "We can't see dark matter, and some skeptics doubt its existence, but many scientists think it makes up 20-some percent of o... more
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FRONTLINE: young and restless in china: where's china headed? | PBS
"A roundtable discussion with three China watchers on what the new generation of Chinese are facing"
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FRONTLINE | Sneak Peek 3 | "Young & Restless in China" | PBS
" http://www.pbs.org/frontline/youngchina Rapper Wang Xiaolei, aka MC Sir, uses his music to express a dark view of China's new boom times in FRONTLINE "Young & Restless in China" coming June 17, 2008 to PBS (check local listings). Also watch free online." "http://www.pbs.org/frontline/youngchina Rapper Wang Xiaolei, aka MC Sir, uses his music to express a dark view of China's n... more
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FRONTLINE: young & restless in china | PBS
"This generation will be running China in a few years. They are the next international politicians and business leaders, and their choices will affect us all," says FRONTLINE producer Sue Williams about the new generation shaping China's future. "This generation will be running China in a few years. They are the next international politicians and business leaders, and thei... more
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