Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The News Media and Politics

It's tough getting non-biased news today. Everyone knows that Fox News is leaning to the right and CNN is leaning to the left. The time has never been more critical to be an independent thinker, because if you watch network or cable news thinking your getting "the news," think again.

The truth is you'll be getting the networks slant or the hosts slant on the issues. In some time slots you have a liberal bias and in the next slot you have a conservative bias. Except on Fox. Alan Colmes is the loan liberal talking head. Your best bet... do your homework, weigh every issue and make up your own mind.

As a conservative, I can think of a few biased republican program hosts - Bill O'Reilly and Shawn Hannity are the most extreme. When these two guys start going overboard everyone sees it, including conservative republicans. Of course it's even more obvious when liberal hosts tee up their ball of crap. Here are two that rub me wrong the most:

Keith Olbermann - This guy is the worst person hosting anything. Although ESPN is a better network since he left, I can't say the same for MSNBC, their ratings are in the toilet and Olbermann appears to be a self righteousness liberal blow hard. His daily "special comment" in which he gets to say whatever he wants about anyone without backing up his assertions is lame. Listen to him and you'd think George Bush is Satan and Dick Chaney is... well Satan. They are both evil to the core according to Blolbermann.

What can you say about Keith that's nice? "He reads like a champion." I've never seen anyone say everything so precisley since CJ Craig and the West Wing left NBC. What does he do best... he throws a mean paper wad to end his show - and it is a show. It's not news people.

Chris Matthews - Mr. Paper wad (I mean Hardball), Matthews comes across as very sharp and also very biased. He leads guests with direct questions that fit his agenda. Chris seems like he is... well... stuck up. That's it - he's stuck up and he knows more than you and I about everything political. We're lucky he's there to tell us how to vote.

Get informed... then take the best and leave the rest.

TK

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Help! I'm addicted to my TiVo

I hesitate to write even the first seven words of this post... because I am not a huge fan of network television shows. I have one that I really like (Lost), and one that I used to like a lot (The West Wing), but I haven't planned my entire evening around a TV set since I could not miss The Hulk, followed by the Duke's of Hazard and topped off with Dallas.

When my oldest son was just four or five years old I found him watching TV in the middle of the night and I turned off cable the next day. Since then, I've had an on again, off again affair with television. Cable, Satellite - you name it, we've had it, and gotton rid of it, multiple times.

Then came TiVo.

Now I am previewing all the new fall shows and picking the ones that I like the best. CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI Salt Lake City... It's all possible thanks to TiVo or similar DVR devices. It's sick.

Some of my favorite shows to record...

The Colbert Report - Comedy Central - Liberal slam on the O'Reilly Factor - hilarious
Charlie Rose - PBS - Throw back to the old days of television interviews - some of the guests are fantastic
Lost - ABC - CANNOT WAIT for Season 3 - this is the best show on television
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - NBC - Took the place of The West Wing - I like it so far but they take A LOT of shots at Christians... what's up with that?
Arthur - PBS - I don't have to put on a DVD for Amanda - queuing a show up is faster than a DVD
60 Minutes - CBS - I can fast forward through all the crappy stories (usually 2 of the 3)
Decorating Sense - HGTV - Keeps me up on all the trends in decorating so I stay sharp... NOT - This is Katie's show

That's a pretty accurate list.

I watch these shows at various times, preferebly not during the hours they are actually ON which is what makes TiVo the cool technology that it is. You see when these shows are actually on, I should be playing catch, helping with homework or something else more important.

But back to TV... I'm not going to add any new programs until 24 comes back for it's new season. I hope Jack goes to Iraq and cleans up that mess up. That would be an awesome 24 episodes!

TK