Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Worst Person In The World: Brooksville, Florida
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Viewpoint - Idiot Brigade Awards! - 7th-13th June 2009
Ian Beaumont has 3 gold medal worthy moments of idioticness to talk about, but only one can get the first Idiot Brigade Awards Gold Medal! Will it be the Malk Maid, Michelle Malkin who gets the gold medal? Or perhaps Boss Limburger of the Republican Party himself, Rush Limabugh!
Look out for another Idiot Brigade Awards episode next Saturday here on Viewpoint.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Worst Person In The World: Rev Jeremiah Wright
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Worst Person In The World: MIchelle Bachmann
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Worst Person In The World: Boss Limburger!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Viewpoint – New York Senate Coup
In the wake of a Republican power grab in the New York State Senate, Ian Beaumont is uncompromising about Republicans and their so called love of "Democracy".
Worst Person In The World: Rep Pete Hoekstra
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Monday, June 08, 2009
Viewpoint Election Special – They think it’s all over…
Despite the fact that the media have moved on to other stories, the European Elections are still not quite over. Ian Beaumont looks at where we are, and rounds up the facts and figures from this European Election.
Viewpoint Election Special – European Elections
The European Election results have been much slower to declare tonight than was originally planned. Recorded after 1am in the morning, Ian Beaumont reviews developments to this point.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Viewpoint Election Special – Ireland’s Councils take shape.
As the shape of Ireland's City and County Counicl's become clearer, it looks like the councils have lost their "Green" fingers! Ian Beaumont reviews developments.
Friday, June 05, 2009
CBS News: The growth of online porn
Is the viewing of online porn addictive? CBS News medical correspondent Dr John LaPook talks to addictions treatment specialist Mavis Humes Baird about the growth of online pornography.
Viewpoint Election Special – What a difference a day makes.
They say a week is a long time in politics. The past 24 hours for Gordon Brown and Labour have been a marathon at 100mph! Ian Beaumont reviews the day's events.
Viewpoint – from City Media Productions – Purnell’s Resignation.
This was recorded at 3pm on Friday 5th June 2009.
Viewpoint Election Special – The South West turns blue!
It's been a busy day. The South West is turning blue, the cabinet is being reshuffled, and the Independent and minor party surge hasn't happened. Ian Beaumont roundups developments.
Viewpoint Special – John Hutton Resigns
Ian Beaumont reports on the breaking news of another resignation, in the midst of a Cabinet Reshuffle.
Breaking News: John Hutton Resigns
Well, we have the sixth resignation in 4 days. John Hutton, the Defence Secretary has resigned. It seems he will not be a part of the ongoing reshuffle. Whilst he is making it clear that in his mind, this has nothing to do with not supporting the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the very fact that during a reshuffle, he decides that the time is right to leave government, is none the less, telling in itself. He was another Blairite supporter, and it seems to me that the links between the old Blair government and the current Brown government are slowly being torn away.
Stay tuned, we will update you on this blog as developments merit.
Viewpoint Election Special – Overnight Results & Reshuffle begins.
The first results from the UK Local Elections came in overnight, and new developments in the Government crisis after last night's resignation. Ian Beaumont roundups the overnight developments.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Viewpoint Election Special – Polls close and Purnell Resigns!
The news came out just as the polls closed at 10pm. In this first Viewpoint Election Special, Ian Beaumont takes a look at the breaking news, and just what could happen in the local elections.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Bill O’Reilly on George Tiller, in his own words.
This video is embedded in reference to the commentary given by Keith Olbermann about the lack of hubris from Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly. This is what O’Reilly said, in his own words, in his Talking Points Memo segment. It is as sickening as it is egotistical.
Worst Person In The World: Rush Limbaugh
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Keith Olbermann: Fox News Channel complicit in Dr Tiller murder.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1i
In this edition of Viewpoint, I look at the election chances of the Liberal Democrats and update you on the continuing developments in the UK MPs expenses scandal.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Worst Person In The World: May 20th 2009
Glenn Beck, aka “Harold Hill” won last night’s Worst Person in the World segment on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. I tried posting the video, but somehow the code MSNBC provided wasn’t working. I’ll figure it out later.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Shakhtar Donetsk: UEFA Cup winners
Congratulations to FC Shakhtar Donetsk of the Ukraine. They have just become the winners of the UEFA Cup 2009. This means that they are the last winners of the UEFA Cup in this form.
From next season, it becomes the UEFA Europa League, a kind of secondary division of European football, below the UEFA Champions League, but above the national leagues.
It means that the European competitions that I remember from my childhood, have either changed beyond recognition, or no longer exist. The European Cup is now the UEFA Champions League, and has been since 1992. The European Cup WInners Cup was merged with the UEFA Cup in 1999, and now, the UEFA Cup, gets merged with the UEFA Intertoto Cup and becomes the UEFA Europa League, when their new season begins officially in July 2009.
There will still be losers from the UEFA Champions League joining the competition at various stages, but once we hit the final 32, it’s back to a straight knockout competition.
I wonder if this will be as successful as the Champions League has been. I guess we will start finding out in July.
Viewpoint – from City Media Productions - 1d
A Viewpoint EXTRA follows shortly with more developments in this story, stay tuned.
Virgin 1 goes 24 hours on Freeview
Well, we’ve seen a number of changes to the Freeview platform over the past few weeks. I’ll provide an up to date EPG list on my Ident City blog shortly, but here on Viewpoint, I’ll catch you up on the recent changes that have taken place.
You know about Quest’s “non-arrival” on channel 47. I posted on that earlier this week. Suffice to say that at this time, the slide is still airing, and we still do not know when the channel will properly launch.
ITV4 is now on channel 24, broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Dave ja vu (I hate that name!) is now on channel 25.
Home (the new name for UKTV Style) is now on channel 26. Frankly, these channel names that UKTV have come up with are really bad, and they do nothing in that sense to identify the channel.
ITV2+1 is now on Channel 27.
E4 and it’s timeshift station, E4+1 are on 28 and 29 respectively.
Fiver is on 30 with sister station Five USA on 31.
Smile TV is on channel 32 broadcasting between 3am and 7am. (why? Seems pointless to me!)
Smile TV 2 has re-appeared on channel 33, broadcasting Babestation programmes between Midnight and 5am.
Setanta Sports 1 hasn’t moved,l they’re still on channel 34.
And new today is Virgin 1+1, which broadcasts between 6pm and 6am, using the old Virgin 1 multiplex space.
Go over to Ident City, and you will find a complete EPG list for Freeview.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Quest launches, kinda, sorta, not really…
Well, there was supposed to have been a big new channel launch on Freeview on Thursday May 14th, called Quest, and it was going to be on Channel 47. Well, the day has come and gone, and the MHEG has been replaced by a video stream, but no programming, just a slide. I never saw this happen, but there was a rolling promo. It started at about 7am on the morning of the supposed launch, and ran for 3 hours, before switching back to the afforementioned slide. Here’s the last moments…
So when will Quest properly launch? Well not before Virgin 1 goes 24 hours on Freeview, which is set for Wednesday. Discovery Networks Europe say it will launch in the near future, which probably means by the end of the year. Whatever happens, we’ll keep you apprised.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Anthea Turner, a ‘recessionista’?
Ok, the word doesn’t really exist. It’s just something that the News Of The World made up, out of recession and fashionista. But their article about her is very fair to her, though like some of us, they do have their doubts about her claims to being ‘…low maintenance…’.
It is interesting though to note two things about the wardrobe she wears in the photo shoot. The ‘wet look’ leather look dress is from Primark, I kid you not, and the wet look leggings she wears throughout the shoot are from New Look. I even managed to find those online. They’re £14. Quite cheap really .
What Anthea Turner is though, is good at reinventing herself. She has gone from children’s television presenter, through mega celebrity, property development, ‘perfect housewive’ to an advertisement for frugal living.
The thing is, I could teach you more about frugal living than she can. I’ve had to live frugally for years. I spent many years unemployed, living on very little money per week. It’s only in the past few years that things have really taken off for me, but I sill live in a fairly frugal way, in everything I do. Even the internet has to be unlimited, to keep costs down in the long run.
Maybe I should do an online show, about real frugal living. How to live as if in a recession the whole time. I’ve lived through two already and we’re in a third right now. A big thing in my life is getting the best value for money that I can. And that applies whether you’re buying food, clothes, entertainment or other household items. I won’t spend lots of money on anything, if you can get it cheaper, and get more value out of it.
Far too many people are drawn to those big name brands that they see advertised, and just believe that they are the best things money can buy, but often, value brands are much cheaper, and just as good a quality, if not sometimes even better. There are exceptions but with buying value brands, you are not wasting a lot of money.
It’s similar in clothing terms. At home, you wear what you want. You can parade around in a bikini in the middle of winter if you want to, that’s up to you. But I always like to try to make an effort to look reasonable when I go out. Remember that story I covered on here some time ago about mothers in Northern Ireland, who were still wearing pyjamas while they were taking their kids to school? To me, that is bad. Make a little effort to look reasonable, even if it is only a t-shirt and leggings and trainers.
When you go out, you’re presenting an image to other people of how you want them to think about you. If you go out all the time looking scruffy, and unkempt, people are going to think of you that way. If you at least look reasonably presentable, then people will have a better opinion of you. As I said before, at home, it’s your own private domain. You can wear anything you want to.
Hmm, I gotta lot to say on this subject. Maybe I should do that online show. Maybe we’ll do a video episode of Viewpoint this week on this story. Wait and see.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 7 of 7
Day 7 - the final day - of Video Blogging Week, and I look back and see what I've learned over the last 7 days about video production and myself.
These video blog entries will continue, and we will continue to evolve the visual style and presentation. It's an organic process and given time, we will improve the Viewpoint video posts and what you will see in the near future, will be quite different from what you've seen this week. But I hope you stay with us and continue to watch the show evolve over the weeks and months to come. Stay tuned!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 6 of 7
It's day 6 of Video Blogging Week here on Viewpoint, and we somehow manage to go from Doctor Who and Michelle Ryan in a catsuit, to the conservative press.
Tomorrow, we round up the week long experiment and look back over what the experiment has shown me so far.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Katie Couric on Dick Cheney: Give Obama a chance
In her latest edition of her notebook, Katie Couric puts forward the idea that Dick Cheney crossed the line when criticising President Obama for "...making the country less safe...".
The truth is, Dick Cheney's attack was out of line, and pure politicing. The US political system seems to have taken politics to new depths since 2001, and it would seem that some people would like to have it stay down there.
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 4 of 7
It's day 4 of Video Blogging Week here on Viewpoint, we made it to the halfway mark, but not entirely unscathed. Whislt I had planned to talk about the more fun stories that I cover, events in the news took a more serious turn, som I ended up covering different ground
Hopefully, day 5 will be back on track tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 3 of 7
Day 3 of Video Blogging Week 2009, and this time, my thoughts turn to the upcoming Star Trek film due for worldwide release in May 2009.
The halfway point comes tomorrow. Day 4 of 7. I wonder what we'll talk about tomorrow...
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 2 of 7
Here's the day 2 post for Video Blogging Week.
Day 3 will be posted tomorrow.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 1 of 7
This is my first video blog post for Video Blogging Week 2009, which begins today, and continues until the 11th April.
Another post tomorrow, for day 2.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Anchor attacked on More 4 News
I didn’t see this happen live, but only just found out about it. ITN’s Alex Thompson, who is currently the main anchor of More4 News, the sister programme to Channel 4 News, and his cameraman, are interrupted by a protestor. The result is a scuffle, and the studio anchor, who isn’t familiar to me, has to take the lead in to the next report.
Have to say, the protestor is a bloody idiot for thinking he could interrupt something like this and get away with it, and I have to say to those who think that this was an arranged act, to stop being so cynical about news broadcasting. You don’t arrange for these kinds of interruptions. Ever.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Myleene Klass in PVC
Myleene Klass dons PVC for a photo shoot in the current issue of Look magazine here in the UK. The trouble is, if you go to the website for Look, you’ll find nothing about it. No pictures, no interview, nothing.
Instead, the Daily Mail covers the story for the online audience, including the pictures. Of course they put their usual ultra-conservative spin on it, but it would have been better to have the story on Look’s website with the original context to link to.
Magazine websites annoy the hell out of me. They publish these stories and photoshoots in their magazines, but their websites have nothing from the magazines in them, absolutely nothing!
Putting stories that you publish in your magazine onto your website is a way of promoting the magazine and getting the online audience involved. But without these articles on your website, you have no way of generating online interest in your website.
Get your act together!
Time to say no to biased media
You mean like Fox News Channel?
This seems to be a bit of a problem for FOX as they advertise something called “The FOX Nation” that will be launching on 30th March 2009. The trouble is they leave themselves wide open to an accusation of hypocrisy.
Fox News Channel = Biased Media. Talk Radio = Biased Media. Both are HEAVILY Conservative, yet they seem to think otherwise. They seem to think they’re “Fair and Balanced”. Yet they have a predominacne of Conservative voices and no Liberal voices at all, at least not on the TV channel.
If FOX want to practice free speech, then maybe John Moody should stop sending out his daily talking points, and they should ACTUALLY report some real news. Then he could actually have a liberal host their own daily show on the network, so that both sides get free speech on the network.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for this to happen.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Fox News’ Megan Kelly vs Britney Spears??? Watch out for the claws!!!
On Fox News Channel’s American Newsroom today, there was a segment in which anchor Megyn Kelly called out Britney Spears for the video to her new song “If You Seek Amy”. This comes after Kelly put the song in her “Kelly’s Court” segment back in January, because she claimed the title was just “the F word” spelled out in disguise. Having gone through it several times, and read through the lyrics, if it is the case, and it is a reasonable probability, then I think it’s actually two words that she’s saying. The F word that Megan refered to, and the last syllable of “Amy”.
However, Britney has referenced the previous America’s Newsroom segment in her music video, by using a programme name, set and anchor that bare a passing resemblence to Megyn Kelly. She probably found out about the segment and decided that a piss take would be a bit of fun.
Of course, Megyn, like all the other Fox News actors and actresses, goes totally overboard, calls Britney out, invites her on the show, then goes all catty, meowing to the camera and baring her claws.
Stop being so bloody predictable! The song was obviously an attempt to draw some publicity, and the video as well, and it’s worked. A little free publicity and she’ll get that song to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in no time flat. Not sure that this will have the same effect over here for the UK Number 1 spot. But we’ll have to wait to find out. Maybe she’ll just create another controversy over here, though I couldn’t guess on which show she’ll create it on.
Anyway, here’s the segment from America’s Newsroom…
Newsbusters highlights “ultra secret website”!!! Nice story, shame about the facts.
Newsbusters, the Media Research Center blog that constantly busts news, that the rest of us would like to see unbusted and unbiased, spins another one out of control, by highlighting a story on politico.com about a website where journalists meet to discuss things off the record. Newsbusters however, manages to make it sound like some secret, left-wing plotting cabal, ultra secret, website that is so hush hush you’re not supposed to even know it exists.
So, if that were the case, why did anybody even agree to talk about it???
Jeffrey Toobin of the New York Times has the quote of the article here saying that the list is probably in “…general agreement about the stupidity of today’s GOP…” Yeah, I think that’s something everybody, except current GOP members it seems, can agree on, and with proof like this Newsbusters article, I wonder how the GOP can even possibly argue their way out of this one.
Monday, March 16, 2009
S4/C comes under pressure from Welsh language activists.
Most of the time, I have no problem with Welsh, Gaelic and Cornish language activists. They're promoting minority languages in a world that seems to be dominated mostly by English. But this is going into the "looney tunes" category, because it is silly.
A welsh-language pressure group, complaining about a proposal, not something that is definitely happening, but a proposal, that S4/C takes over the English language news on ITV Wales.
I admit it would be good if they managed to take over their own provision for news, from the BBC. But I will applaud them for having the guts to even propose a move to take on the production of ITV Wales News. Maybe it will show ITV that regional news is not regarded by every broadcast corporation as a liability, but as something to be proud of.
Dick Cheney shows up the failure of Conservative-Republicanism.
The Republican Party as of late seems to resemble a circular firing squad. Even when they're aiming at the opposition, they do a "Dick Cheney" and hit their own men. But now, the original has decided to add his bullets into the mix, and despite being aimed at US President Barack Obama, he manages to only shoot the Republicans collectively in the foot.
He appeared on CNN's State of the Union with John King, and proceeded to demonstrate yet again why the Republican Party not only lost both in 2006, and 2008, and why it will continue to lose until it disengages itself from rabid right wing conservatives like Rush "Limburger" Limbaugh.
"Limburger" and his fellow right wing talk show hosts, such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, are the public face of the GOP right now. And Ugh!!! What a revolting face it is. And the likes of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, John McCain and Lindsay Graham, do nothing to improve the public face of Republicanism. In fact, if anything, they've actually managed to make it look worse now, than at election time back in November 2008. Add into that mix, the new, and perhaps soon to be evicted, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt "Gingrinch" Gingrich, and a few others, and you have the political equivalent of a mass of bird poop!
The "circular firing squad" description that has become prevalent over the last couple of weeks, is very apt, but in some ways, doesn't do the situation real justice. On top of this, you have moderate republicans, and rabid conservatives fighting for what is left, of the soul of the party, after "Emperor" Cheney and "Darth" Bush basically tore it out. It's not just random shots being fired, it's an ideological battle, between unmoveable, unshakeable, unfathomable conservatism, which believes it is right, and everybody else is wrong, even the majority, and the more moderate republicans who have read the tea leaves correctly and realise that the centre ground NEEDS to be retaken in order to make the party electable again, and believe that conservatism will ultimately destroy the party.
Perhaps the conservative movement should get behind their own parties. They have two of them after all. The American Conservative Party, and the Conservative Party of the United States of America. Why tack themselves onto the Republican Party?
The answer of course is simple. The conservative movement, knows full well that it cannot run and win under its own banner. Therefore, they tack themselves onto the more moderate Republican banner to become winners. They think that by doing that, the public won't notice that Conservatism, and Republicanism, aren't necessarily the same thing. The only time they go against that meme is a time like now when by linking the two, they've brought the Republican Party down badly, so they try to highlight the fact that Republicanism and Conservatism are different agendas. Sorry guys, but you can't have it both ways!
At this point in time, it's difficult to see how the Republican Party can come back into electability, because right now, it looks like it's heading further and further out towards the extremities, and as the UK's Conservative Party proved from 1997 until recently, heading back to your base is a sure fire way to make yourself unelectable.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ivan Cameron 2002-2009
It's not that often that I talk about UK politics, usually because US politics is more fun, and often easier to take the mickey out of. But this post is not about mickey-taking, it's about a young life, the oldest son of the Leader of the Opposition, who died overnight aged just 6.
Ivan was not an ordinary boy in the normal sense. He had Cerebral Palsy, and Ohtahara Syndrome, a particularly severe and nasty form of Epilepsy. Most sufferers usually die before they are 2 years old. Some might say Ivan was lucky to live so long. I say, he was lucky to have such dedicated parents as David and Samantha Cameron.
I have Epilepsy myself. I used to be a sufferer of Grand Mal Epilepsy, which is fairly serious, but thankfully, not a patch on Ohtahara Syndrome. These days, I suffer only with Petite Mal, which even compared to Grand Mal, is nowhere near as bad. I have massive sympathies for David and Samantha, coping with an epileptic in the family is something my own parents managed ably, but add cerebral palsy to the mix, and I think David Cameron has shown just what a good parent he truly is.
Whilst I might not agree with his party's policies, I send my deepest sympathies and condolences to David and Samantha Cameron, and their close relatives and friends.
Rest in peace, young Ivan.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Fox News demostrates the worst of press release journalism
Both NewsHounds and Media Matters for America highlight a recent example of the worst example of "press release journalism" that I have ever seen.
If you don't know what I mean, Press Release Journalism is simply taking a press release that some company has put out, and basically publishing it without any form of counterspin or criticism or equalisation. Most newspapers do this to a greater or lesser degree. Most of the time, it is free advertising for whoever put out the press release. But at its worst, say when a political party, political organisation or pressure group is the beneficiary, then it is nothing less than allowing propoganda and bias to go unchecked.
Well, the beneficiary of this particular piece of lazyness was the Senate Republicans, who put out a press release and Fox News dressed it up and presented it as their own research. But the reason this one was so easily spotted, was the fact that there was a typo in the press release, giving an article date as 12/19/09 instead of 12/19/08. Now that would not have passed even the most cursory of checks. So it would seem that Fox News didn't even check the press release over at all, before using it, cos their graphics department re-used the same text from the release as part of their full screen graphics, typo and all.
NewsHounds says this proves that Fox News is in the GOP's pocket. Media Matters says it's lazy journalism. I say that it is in fact both lazy press release journalism, and inherent republican bias at Fox News. Shame on you, Fox News Channel!
Monday, February 09, 2009
Porn star to turn politician?
Hey, stranger things have happened in the past, but this would be a case of poacher turning gamekeeper. CNN's Sean Callebs reports on a campaign to oust Senator David Vitter, the Republican senator from Louisiana.
Hey, if I could vote for her, I would!
Scolari sacked as Chelsea Manager
Well I have to say that this is a bit of a surprise. At the beginning of the day, we were expecting Tony Adams to be sacked as Portsmouth Manager and that happened as predicted, but this came out of the blue, literally and figuratively. Ray Wilkins will take temporary charge as the search begins for a new manager.
BBC News and Sky Sports News are all over the story as is Setanta Sports News.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Idiot Brigade Awards - Wednesday 4th February 2009
Today's awards start with the Best Act of Political Suicide, which goes to the leader of the UK Conservative Party, David Cameron. In Prime Minister's Questions today, after PM Gordon Brown had said "Does anybody want British jobs not to go to British workers?" Cameron stood up and without saying the word, basically answered 'Yes'. His response was that the PM had basically was a protectionist and an oppourtunist, and was pandering to people's fears. Way to go, Cameron! That's really talking the economy up. Oh and nice to have known you, since that one statement just lost him the next election next year.
But now to the medalists, and the bronze medal goes to CNN's Lou Dobbs, for parroting a talking point without checking it. He claimed, as others have done before, that more than $4blln dollars would go to advocacy groups like ACORN under the cover of a neighbourhood stabilisation programme. In fact, The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is a programme from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a government department. Lou, you used to be a journalist, a business journalist, and a damn good one. Now, you're starting to sound like a poor man's Rush Limbaugh!!!
Our silver medal today goes to Dick Morris who has been caught lying! Back on 24 November 2008 on Hannity and Colmes, Morris denied claims that he was working with the National Republican Trust, claiming they had only bought ads on his website. But in an email to his mailing list, which also appeared on his website, Morris says and I quote, "...As I did during the election, I am working with the National Republican Trust to do what I can to stop this (stimulus) package from passing..." So not only did Dick Morris lie about his relationship with the National Republican Trust, but he wants the USA to remain in recession! Charming fellow!!!
But today's runaway winner has to be Bill O'Reilly, who last night on his Fox News show, accused some of his favourite bogey-men, The New York Times, the ACLU and George Soros, of using the illegal immigration issue as a cover for creating a one-party state. Funny, cos the Republican party just tried to use 9/11 over the past 7 years as a cover for creating an effective one party state! A Republican party state. But guess what... in 2006, the electorate threw the Republicans out of Congress, and then two years later, threw them out of the White House. I guess they're smarting a bit!!!
ITV drops the ball, again!
ITV1 was showing the Everton vs Liverpool FA Cup 4th round replay tonight, and it was 0-0 with just a few minutes left of extra time. Suddenly, ITV's playout system decides to start running commercials, early. And so we never saw the winning goal happen live. By the time the people at The London Studios realised something had happened and managed to override the system to get us back to the game, Everton were celebrating the goal, which we did not see happen. We got to see all the usual replays, but once again, ITV almost literally dropped the ball in their sports coverage yet again.
And as I say that it looks like their playout system has chosen now to throw a complete wobbly. Makes me think of the old Windows 95 dialog box of doom which used to read "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down!".
Sky News returns to Studio A with a new look
Sky News launched a new schedule earlier this week, and today, Wednesday 4th Febraury, one day before their 20th birthday, they launched their new look with instead of one big set with 8 presentation points, they're using 4 smaller sets.
The first set we saw at 6am was the new look to Sky News Sunrise.
The desk had been described as a chat show desk and it has to be said, the look is somewhat reminiscent of a chat show set, like the interview sets for Jay Leno's Tonight Show, or the Late Show with David Letterman.
But it does give Sunrise a very distinctive look, which is more relaxed than Sunrise had previously been. This set is also used for Jeff Randall Live.
The second set we saw at 10am was a desk based set for Sky News Today.
This seems to be the basic set, which may well get used on other programmes.
The third and final set we saw was at 2pm for Afternoon Live.
This set has also been used for the infamous News Sport & Weather, for 15 minutes, every 15 minutes.
Live at Five used the second set, but with the anchor desk rotated to a different position.
This is also done for Sky News at Ten. This gives Live at Five and Sky News at Ten an almost flagship style look compared to the other bulletins and programmes.
I like the new sets, they have managed to make the one studio look much better than it did even when the new studio was launched in 2005. Now, if they can just take out the slight conservativeness that has infected their agenda in the past few years, they'll be heading back to the top of the news channel wars. But until they lose that very slight bias they have, they will lose out to BBC News 24.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
More snow in Truro
I promised more footage and here is some more. I shot this early morning on Tuesday 3rd February 2009. These were the kind of scenes people in Truro, Cornwall were waking up to.
More snow is in the forecast for Wednesday night and early Thursday, so we could well be seeing more snowfall then. Up to 20cm is expected, and if any does fall near me, I'll bring it to you here on Viewpoint.
Monday, February 02, 2009
My perspective on the snow in the UK
Snow has been falling across the UK from Kent, up to Scotland and down to Cornwall. It's been reported that this was the most extensive snowfall for around 20 years. It's certainly the first major snowfall I have seen since November 25th 2005, which was the last time we saw about 1 inch or so of snow fall. And it continues to fall as I type this.
Earlier today, I shot some footage of the snow falling, and I've uploaded it for you to see. To those who live in areas like the northern parts of British Columbia in Canada, or around the Rockies, this will look likem a small flurry to you. To us here in Cornwall, this is some serious snowfall. We rarely see any snowfall like this currently, yet in the past, I remember at one point when this kind of snowfall was a good day, not a bad one.
Depending on the conditions as things develop through the night, I might be able to bring you more footage later on. We'll see what happens.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Blagojevich removed from office
So, the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, has not just been impeached, but he's been fired from office.
Next thing you know, "Blago" will be going round the news and talk shows again, to tell everybody how wrong the Illinois legislature was and he'll channel more historical figures like Churchill and JFK, and who knows who else, just to try and win the media war.
Guess what, Blago. You just lost your job, and you lost the media war, when you got arrested!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
PETA's SuperBowl ad rejected by NBC.
The Huffington Post reference a New York Post article about NBC rejecting an advert from PETA. The ad is available to view at the Huffington Post page, and why it was rejected.
To be honest, I reject PETA, because it does not act like responsible people do. Instead of actually working towards preventing animal cruelty, they criticise celebrities who do not agree with them, recruit celebrities to promote them and waste their time and money on ads that rival Republican party candidate ads and teleshopping infomercials on the stupidity meter.
PETA is a protest group, pure and simple, and such groups should be cosigned to where they belong, on the lunatic fringe.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
CNNI starts, slowly, with Breaking News
CNN International got off to a slow start this evening.
It took them 10 minutes to actually activate the video feed, and another 6 minutes to get sound going. But there was breaking news out of New York to greet us, about a plane that had crashed into the Hudson River. I say it crashed but to be honest it looked like it had landed, cos it was intact.
CNN International had joined their domestic network for coverage from Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Meanwhile BBC News had joined BBC World at about 9.30pm for continuing breaking news. Coverage was presented by BBC World's Mike Embley and BBC News Channel's Sophie Long. They stayed with BBC World's breaking news coverage from N8, whilst N6 produced the BBC News at Ten for BBC1 viewers only.
Sky News had dropped their 15 minutes every 15 minutes bulletins for breaking news coverage as well.
At the time I write this, CNNI is still carrying CNN domestic coverage, whilst BBC News Channel is continuing to carry BBC World News for the moment. Sky News is continuing their breaking news coverage as well. CNN.com is also carrying coverage online right now as well.
CNNI arrives on Freeview
CNN International has finally arrived on Freeview. Officially it launches at 9pm tonight with Back Story, followed by World Sport, World News Europe, The Situation Room and CNN Today, ending it's broadcast day at 1am.
Even though the EPG slot on 84 is properly there, there is as yet no MHEG for the channel. Also, there is an interesting note. It lists the channel as "CNN" not CNNI. Now, whether this means anything at all, especially since the channel is listed as CNN on Sky's EPG and has been for some time, is anyone's guess. But here's mine.
CNN has been making less use of the CNN International name for a while, and more and more reference to the channel only as CNN. Perhaps they intend to phase out the International part and have it seem like one CNN across the world. Either that or out of CNN International will come regional versions of CNN for each part of the world. Heck, they're almost there already. It wouldn't take much more to get to that point.
We will see in time, but first, we'll see how they launch at 9pm tonight. With Back Story being the first programme, I get a sense it will get mentioned by host Michael Holmes.
Campbell Brown: Mr President, you are wrong on Katrina.
I rarely highlight Campbell Brown's commentaries, called "Cutting Through The Bull", simply because far too often she misses far better stuff because she thinks she'll sound too much like Olbermann or O'Reilly. However, when something does punch her buttons, she does react to it, like she did on President Bush's final press conference Monday.
Unfortunately, the video cuts off too early and misses the best part, which sums up her comments nicely, so I quote it here.
"Mr. President, you cannot pat yourself on the back for that one. We will debate the war in Iraq, national security, the economy and the rest of your legacy. Those debates will continue for years to come. But on how you handled Katrina, there is no debate."
Well spoken, Campbell. More commentaries like this one that you obviously care about would help your program no end.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Trifecta of lost souls.
It's funny how things always seem to come in threes. Whether they be good, or bad, really does not matter. It always seems to be a trifecta of either triumph or trouble.
The same seems to apply to famous people dying. Just 2 days ago, we lost one of the greats of sports broadcasting in the UK. David Vine started his career at Westward Television in Plymouth back in the 1960s. He started as an off-screen producer before being asked in front of the cameras one time on Westward Diary because the regular sports presenter hadn't turned up. From that day on, he never looked back.
He moved to the BBC in the 1970s and was a regular presenter on shows like Ski Sunday, Match Of The Day, and even hosted Miss World. He commentated on the Winter Olympics many times, and hosted Snooker coverage for over 20 years.
He retired from on-screen presenting in 2000. But since then, he has worked behind the scenes at BBC Sport as an adviser. David's easy going, gently humourous style has long been missed on screen, and his prescence will be missed off screen. David Vine was 73.
Today, we have had two famous actors die. Number 6, Patrick McGoohan, as he was known in the late 1960s ITV show The Prisoner, passed away today. Whilst he was best known as Number 6, he was also John Drake in ITVs Danger Man, and he also appeared in films, such as Ice Station Zebra and Escape From Alcatraz. He also made guest appearances in other TV shows. He made 4 guest appearances in Columbo alongside Peter Falk, and also appeared alongside Angela Lansbury in an episode of Murder She Wrote. McGoohan also directed episodes of The Prisoner and Columbo amongst others. Patrick McGoohan was 80.
Ricardo Montalban had already had a 20+ year career before he took on the role of Khan Noonien Singh in the first season Star Trek episode, "Space Seed". About 15 years he reprised the role of Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. It's reported that he agreed to take on the role again in the movie for a mere $100,000 purely because he loved the role of Khan so much that he actually wanted to play it again. For may sci-fi fans, he permanently became Khan, despite having only appeared in the role twice. That was a testament to the quality of his acting.
However, he guested on many different shows over a 30 year span, too numerous to mention. Search out his IMDB profile for a comprehensive listing. He did however have two series regular cast roles to his name. Mr Roarke, the owner of "Fantasy Island", and Zach Powers in the Dynasty spin off "The Colbys". In later years, he provided his voice to many animations. Ricardo Montalban was 88.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Worst Person In The World: Joseph Wurzelbacher
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Monday, January 12, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
Anger over French minister returning to work 5 days after giving birth.
This story has been around for a couple of days now, since French Justice Minister Rachida Dati appeared at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, just 5 days after giving birth to her daughter Zohra by caesarean section on Friday.
Under French Law, women are guaranteed 16 weeks paid maternity leave, with 10 weeks usually taken after giving birth. But, the French Labour Code doesn't apply to government ministers.
Feminist groups in France haven't let that particular fact enter their heads and have criticised her and said that other employers could use Dati's quick return to work as a way of pressuring female colleagues back to work quickly. Err, no. They have to abide by the law of the land, just like everybody else has to.
SuperCasino launches... still no CNNI
A new gaming channel, SuperCasino has launched on Freeview channel 48. It basically features roulette with the opportunity to place your chips by phone or internet.
Now I have to say that although it's launched, my Top Up TV box can watch it fine, but my ordinary Freeview box hasn't twigged that it has launched and it still says "New Channel Please Wait" when I try to watch it.
Not that I will be watching it much longer. Like all gaming channels, this basically a load of crap. The boredom of having the same game every 3 minutes, does my head in. And the presenters, trying to be suave and sophisticated, and yet warm and friendly, basically comes across as Yeuch!
This is one channel that Freeview needs to lose, as quickly as it gained it.
On a related note, Nuts TV is still broadcasting, and there is no sign yet of CNNI. We know that Nuts TV is due to close this month, and information had leaked out that it was supposed to be yesterday, but apparently not. A lack of official information doesn't make this any better. There's also a degree of confusion over whether the channel will broadcast for 4 hours a day or 24 hours a day.
As soon as there is any information reported that seems credible, I will bring it to you.
Worst Person In The World: Bill O'Reilly
For the first time this year, Bill O'Reilly takes top spot in the MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann Worst Person In The World honours list. Something to do with scaring people into thinking that there will be another 9/11 under Barack Obama, I believe...
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Special mention goes to the Malk Maid, Michelle Malkin. After being out of it for so long, she finally says something really stupid. She claimed that those doing the Minnesota recount were providing moral help and support to Al Franken, and that Republicans were left out in the cold when it came to the canvassing board, a board which by the way is made up of 2 Republicans, 2 Independents and 1 Democrat!!!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Worst Person In The World: Congressman Cliff Stearns
Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida takes the honours in Wednesday's Worst Person In The World for inisting that Congress shuts up shop on Thursday so he can go an watch Florida in NCAA National Football Championship!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Special mentions have to go to both the BillO boy, and to Fox and Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade. Billy get his mention for his parroting of extreme right wing talking points against Leon Panetta, who by the way, has yet to be officially announced as the intended director of the CIA.
Brian Kilmeade get his mention for his "sensitive" handling of the naked skier story. You'll see why when you play the video.
Global Economic Downturn: Even the porn industry wants a stimulus package!
How do you know when things are really bad in the economy? Well, when the porn industry goes to the government for money!
It was the number one story in the Countdown last night and Keith Olbermann's guest was Village Voice's Michael Musto.
Oh boy! Comedy fest, here we come!!!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I think they're milking this situation a bit and are home to cream some of the $700 billion already approved for the banks. They may well have to bone up on their politics if they want to flex any muscle in Washington.
Okay, okay, I'll quit the bad puns now!
New channel arrives... but it's not CNNI...
...at least not yet. Channel 48 has seen the addition of SuperCasino.
SuperCasino has been airing every night at 11pm on Nuts TV. Now it seems to be moving to a channel of its own.
This question how long the CNNI slot will be and what times it will air. 9pm-1am seemed to be a bad set of times for CNNI. However, maybe a 7pm-11pm slot, which is regarded as EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) primetime, is looking more likely.
This would tie in with information being reported on various forums about changes to CNNI's EMEA evening schedule. Perhaps the Freeview channel will be used to highlight the schedule. We shall soon see. It will not be long now. We should have a clearer picture by the end of Friday.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Late Show Top Ten: Questions
This one's quite good. The Top Ten Questions.
Personally, I think Numbers 1, 2 and 6 are excellent questions!
Late Show monologue: 6th Jan 2009
David Letterman delivers another excellent monologue on the CBS Late Show.
Ann Coulter continues her Guilt-fest
Ann Coulter appeared on NBC's Today show today, twice. Once again, I present the appearances to you so you can hear how nutty she really is, or you can save yourself the mental scarring and not bother to watch. The choice is yours.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Once again, don't buy her book, don't buy into her conservative propoganda. She's all spin and no facts.
Worst Person In The World: Sarah Palin
Governor Sarah Palin won Tuesday's Worst Person In The World honours.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Special mention goes to Comedian Rush "Limburger" Limbaugh, for accusing comedian come senator, him, Al Franken, of stealing the election. Perhaps he should reminded of a charge that he dismissed back in 2000, that a certain George W Bush stole the election in Florida, thereby giving him the WhiteHouse. They say that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. The trouble is Limbaugh and his ilk throw concrete blocks in houses that are all glass, on quicksand foundations. Yet they still, just, manage to keep their heads above the waterline.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Katie Couric: The Senate, Roland Burris, Al Franken and the economy.
In her latest notebook entry, Katie Couric talks about the distractions that Roland Burris from Illinois, and Al Franken from Minnesota are to the important work of stimulating the economy.
Yes, these two situations are distractions. The Democrats blocking Burris, the Republicans blocking Franken. I'm afraid it's business as usual in Washington DC, and both sides have lost their focus.
Late Show top 10s: Too Much Football
Another favourite feature of mine from the Late Show with David Letterman is the Top Ten. From Monday's show here is the Top Ten Signs You Are Watching Too Much Football.
Number 2 is particularly good!
Late Show monologue: 5th January 2009
I don't often highlight the monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman, often because their own sites usually do a great job of doing that for them. But I'm going to highlight Letterman's because I can embed those, and I cannot find a steady source of Jay Leno monologues that I can embed. So here is David Letterman's first monologue of the year, from the CBS Late Show.
David and Jay are consistently sharp and funny, unlike a lot of other comedians today who rely on shock value to make them funny. That usually means, they're not funny. Jay and David always are. I don't tend to watch the shows for their interviews, I watch for the monologues and the Late Show Top 10, and the monday Headlines, the things that are what make them stand out from the competition.
Ann Coulter is Guilty...
... of being an idiotic Conservative firebrand. And the book buying public are guilty of feeding her psychosis by buying her books. And the media is guilty of feeding her psychosis by giving her airtime. And now I'm guilty of feeding her psychosis by embedding said video of her appearance of CBS's The Early Show.
You can watch if you like, and hear how nutty she really is, or you can save yourself the mental scarring by not bothering. The choice is yours.
The worst part is, she always dresses on her book covers in a way that is pleasing to the eye and to our more basic instincts. The latest evidence in this is the cover to her new book Guilty.
Talk about false advertising! A pleasing image on the front, and total propoganda inside. Don't be fooled by the pleasing cover. Don't buy it.
Katie Couric: Bush and Obama should work together on Gaza.
I was pre-occupied yesterday with happening in the UK and Irish broadcast media, so this entry in the notebook by Katie Couric got missed by me when it was initially posted but I'm glad I caught up with it now, cos it is worthy of note, even if it is a mere pipe dream that she proposes.
I just cannot see Bush and Obama getting together on this issue. I have a feeling that Obama is going to be very different when it comes to the Israel/Palestine situation, and I think the Israelis knew that too. That's why the military operations had to be now, because they know when Obama comes into office, they will not have such strong support as they have had from "Dubya". I have to say that I think this may be the last throw of the dice for Israel to get what they want, because they're scared that an Obama administration may just force a settlement on both sides, that neither want, but may have to live with. Israel is trying to get the upper hand now, rather than possibly come of worst in a diplomatic situation.
Bob Schieffer: A political year of the unexpected.
On Sunday's Face The Nation on CBS, Bob Schieffer looked back at where they were 1 year ago, and what had happened since then.
Watch CBS Videos Online
I don't think anybody predicted what happened this year just gone. It was an historic year, and January 20th will be a day to remember, not just for Barack Obama, and America, but for the world at large.
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