Over2You: Wednesday 30th April 2008

Well, you know what's been on my mind recently, now tell me what's on yours. It's over to you...

Open Thread: Thursday 22nd November 2007

RTE News is reporting that the European Commission is denying reports that it wants to include questions about sexual history in its proposed "harmonisation" of censuses of EU member states.

My question is, is greater harmonisation between EU member states a good thing, or not?

Open Thread: Wednesday 21st November 2007

NBC has made the first hour of the Today show (7am ET) available to download as a podcast,in both audio only and video forms. Is there a show that is currently not available as a podcast that you would like to see made available as a podcast?

Open Thread: Tuesday 20th November 2007

My question for today's open thread goes to the new Star Trek movie, which will features actors recast in roles originally cast over 40 years ago.

Do you think this idea of recasting is a recipe for success or disaster?

Open Thread: Monday 19th November 2007

Kos at Daily Kos highlights his own opinion piece that is going to appear in the printed edition of Newsweek, the first article from him to do so. There are two sections of that opinion article that are particularly salient.

"...In his first Inaugural Address, Ronald Reagan remarked that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." While the quip has provided Republicans with a cheap slogan for two decades, the philosophy behind it is beginning to box them in. If they govern effectively, they invalidate their own antigovernment ideology. And when you elect people who believe that government won't work, you shouldn't be surprised when government stops working."

This is not only very true, but has been a Republican mantra for much longer than Kos suggests, even going back to the second world war.

The second section is right at the end of the article...

"...Democrats should and will use Bush and his destructive policies on the campaign trail as the primary example of what happens when people who hate government are elected to run it. The message will be that Bush isn't a historical anomaly: he's the embodiment of modern conservatism.

If Americans want willfully ineffective government, they'll have a Republican Party desperate for their votes. But with 70 percent of the American people thinking the nation is on the wrong track, it's clear they expect the opposite. As long as Democrats make that contrast clear—and Bush's record will be integral to that argument—they should be headed for victory in 2008."

The trouble is the current Democratic Congress is finding it tough coping with a Bush administration that is failing to see sense, and a Republican minority who is backing him all the way. Certainly effective government is not the current order of business, as Bob Schieffer pointed out on Face The Nation. This current state of affairswill undoubtedly make the election of a Democratic president, any Democratic president, a much tougher task.

Over to you, what do you think?

Open Thread: Sunday 18th November 2007

The Bill Moyers Journal on PBS reported this week on the FCC's proposed deregulation of media consolidation. You can read the transcript to the entire piece as well as watching the video of the programme.

My question to you is this; Is it right that the market decides who gives you your news, or should there be some form of pluralism, to ensure that different political voices, be they conservative, liberal or centrist, get heard in each and every local market?

Open Thread: Friday 16th November 2007

The man behind Outfoxed, Glenn Greenwald has launched a new site, detailing Fox News and it's use of sexy imagery to accompany news stories.

Is this responsible behaviour for a news channel, or just blatant 'sex sells' tactics?

Open Thread: Thursday 15th November 2007

Half way through the month and I have to say a big thank you to everyone of my readers. So far this month, we have well and truly surpassed the previous best in terms of visits and page hits by almost 25%, and we have over 2 weeks to go, so a big thank you to everyone of you for reading. Whether you come in by search engine, by bookmark or some other method, thank you, thank you all.

So far though, not a lot of you have commented on my postings here, but to those of you who have, thank you also.

If you've voted in the poll I've had up on site, thank you too. There's still time to vote and I would love it if as many of you as possible voted on our question about the Asutralian Federal Election.

For today's Open Thread, I want to know what you think I should include here on Viewpoint. I include a lot of different stories sometimes from lots of sources, but what I want to know are the kids of stories that interest you, my readers. What content should I include and what should I not include?

The floor is yours, dear reader...

Open Thread: Monday 12th November 2007

Om this past Sunday's Face The Nation on CBS stations, Bob Schieffer gave a very 'interesting' commetary on televangelist Pat Robertson's somewhat unusual decision to support pro-gay rights, pro abortion rights candidate Rudy Guiliani, who is also ably supported by Fox News Channel.

'...So when Robertson announced he was supporting Rudy Giuliani, who is for so many of the things that Robertson has spent his life railing against - gay rights and abortion rights to name just two - I decided to go back to my high-level source with the obvious question: Why? There was a long pause. Finally, my source said "God only knows." '

Will Robertson's endorsement of "America's Mayor" help his candidacy, or hurt it?

Open Thread: Sunday 11th November 2007

Today is Armistice Day.

At the Eleventh hour, I like many others will be partaking in 2 minutes of silence in honour of those who have fallen on the battlefields of the world, from the First World War to Iraq.

Open Thread: Saturday 10th November 2007

Crooks and Liars references a Fox Attacks article about Fox News Channels prediliction for using images of sexy females, especially teachers who have been accused of having affairs with students, in their news footage, especially B-rolls.

Fox Attacks has a petition with over 18,000 signatures at this time to tell the FCC that they don't want to pay for Fox News. You can sign it if you feel like it.

Is this a case of promoting indecency via the back door, or is this simply a case of sex sells and sells very well for Fox News? I've reported, now you decide.

Open Thread: Tuesday 06th November 2007

National Review Online: Waterboarding Has Its Benefits

Do you agree or disagree?

Open Thread - Week Commencing 21st October 2007

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

Well, I've been looking around blogs for quite some time now, and I've noticed that there is a common theme between a lot of them, they use Open Threads to encourage readers to contribute to the blog.

So, I open the floor to you on this thread. It is here for your comments and thoughts on anything in the news and media this week.

Feel free as well to comment on any of the other posts I have made on the blog, I welcome your comments.

So, over to you...