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Democrats Urge Tighter FCC Rules

Senate Democrats pressed the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission yesterday to slap tighter controls on media ownership, public-interest broadcasting and television violence.

Concentrate on the ownership problem. With the experience thus far in the 110th Congress, common sense dictates not displaying any optimism in the Dems chances of success in this matter.


C. Harris
MoreWhat.com

Another glance at a list of most popular news stories indicates the story of the two “abducted” boys has moved into first place since yesterday. In second place is a strange combo-looking thing featuring Hollywood divorces, Trump and Rosie and assorted other useless information. Third place has electronics standards and the BS electronics show hording space it doesn’t deserve. As a post of ours pointed out, the technology related industries in this country as well as others doles out tech advances in minuscule portions to maximize the profit ripoff of consumers. We have little sympathy for their perceived difficulties and absolutely no respect for their methods. Actually Beckham was in third place but who cares about soccer?

There are no other stories in the list worth mentioning with the possible exception of one on Secretary of State, Rice. The headline reads” Rice Encounters Skepticism in Mideast”. That is offered only for its comedic value. Maybe if the U.S. would put Israel in its place, show some compassion for the ordinary citizens of Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and warn every nation in the region to make an effort at peace, we might have something. Show them you’re serious by completing what you started in Afghanistan and Iraq, quickly. Straighten out some of the messes you’ve gotten us into and start acting like world leaders and maybe some one will take you seriously. If you get that far you can tell Iran and North Korea or any one else spoiling for a fight to straighten up or their situation will change abruptly. Do what you need to provide a little lasting peace and prosperity in the region and then take a break and bring the troops home. It can be done so quit wasting time and get at it. Tell the morons back in the states to stop debating foreign policy and military strategy in the news and get to work also. This country could use some leadership. Let’s start with what we have and stop playing politics. For once, finish the job and stop looking like the idiots you probably are.

C. Harris
MoreWhat.com

Who cares what Bill Gates thinks about anything? Ok, maybe anyone mindless enough to own stock in MS. Maybe some crazed investment banker or billionaire wannabe is interested. But certainly no one should be waiting for Gates to tell us what a wired home should be like. Hey Bill, run your foundation, try to make yourself look better than you have any right to look and most improtantly, shut up.

LCD tv’s and of all things, content, plus the misplaced babble from Bill Gates underscore the top news from the Consumer Electronics Show. Substantially no better than the auto show, the electronics industry has made some notable blunders over the years. Without going back to the days of vacuum tubes, one such notable blunder involves the battle over VHS or Beta as the industry standard. The story attributes the VHS win to market forces and consumer preference over the superior quality of Beta. CD’s were touted as a media that was nearly indestructable upon entry to the market. There are just a couple of blunders. A top news item for this year is content. With a long and sordid history from the likes of the cable television industry, content is purely marketing strategy and hype, aka, BS. Cable television’s notable atttribute of 57 channels and nothing on was inspired by their habit of spawning a new channel based on greed every time content had a success. For a long time all you get at best is 6 hours of content repeated four times a day. And most of that is reruns. Not to mention the original appeal of cable was to pay upfront to eliminate annoying advertisements. Ya, that lasted a long time didn’t it?

Dole out new technology after you have bled the consumer dry with dribbling out tiny increments in advancements so the greedy corporate fiends can gouge the consumer for every buck they are dumb enough to contribute. Send all the jobs overseas or import cheap labor, keep voting for party politics and allow multi-million dollar golden parachutes for any clown smart enough to get a sleazy board of directors to go along with it. Force unnecessary digital TV on an unsuspecting public and have an annual electronics show to promote the continuation of this nonsense.
Good going America, keep up the good work.

C. Harris
MoreWhat.com
this qualifies as a rant, not well written based on emotional distress over mindless consumption

As a follow up to the last couple of posts, detailing the most popular section from Google News would be mostly pointless. In summary, some stories are staying there too long even if they are worthwhile. Maybe that can be blamed on the hectic holiday week or two. People are returning to the routine tasks associated with the first day back to work or sleeping in if they work for the federal government.

Our anti-Microsoft bias allows us to mention the story about MS sending laptops to 90 bloggers. But our MS bias also allows us to not waste time reading it since anything related to MS is stupid. Don’t have time for stupid today. Stories about MS rank right up there with Hollywood gossip crap which wastes too much space in the media already.

A recent story that could use more attention is the US announcement to safeguard the polar bear population whose habitat is facing a bleak future based on recent events related to rising temperatures and areas experiencing an unusual meltdown in areas not previously affected. Rather than continuous argument by opposing forces, it would be helpful to enter into productive discussions to determine the actual threat or lack of same.

Reports related to current international conflicts, terrorism and the usual set of war updates focus too much on each new event. A continued or renewed attention to the big picture or the core problems responsible for these situations would be more productive if anyone is really interested in solving major issues.

Overall, starting this new year, it may be helpful to focus on the news media as a major contributor to the lack of progress on major issues of world importance. How often are reports in the news entirely too incomplete? Enough already with the paid consultants, undisclosed sources and anonymous statements from ghost sources claimed to be insiders, senior officials or other prominent unknowns. Maybe the media could come up with some meaningful information, reports, facts or interviews that actually connect with reality. Otherwise the media is no more helpful than the gossip machine or tabloid press for which they display disdain. To be continued.

Stanford Matthews

Bush, Mexico’s Calderon to work on immigration
Reuters -
… W. Bush and Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon
pledged on Thursday to work together for a comprehensive
solution to curb illegal immigration from Mexico …

If it was not a plot by both Houses of Congress to introduce
HR4437 knowing it would never get through the Senate, then
the fine new Senate of the 110th Congress should be able to
finish strong reform starting in January 2007. Similar to the
fact that Immigration Reform of 1986 was never enforced, in
their grand wisdom, politicians have improved on their deceit
by creating a better strategy. Work together just long enough
to satisfy mutual goals and fool the public in believing you really
give a damn. Like Democrats conceding Presidential 2004
elections by nominating John Kerry when John Edwards wsa a
much more viable candidate. Kerry was a sacrificial lamb and
the only one who did not know it was Kerry. He still doesn’t.

We hope all you smiling Democrats are enjoying your victories.
We hope all you Republicans are understanding your arrogance
that led to this. And we hope you both as well as all of America
is prepared for a continuation of porous borders, unrestricted
immigration and a complete breakdown of national security.

If you haven’t noticed, the resignation of Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and previously mentioned items absolutely elated the
Muslim world. Al-Jazeera and the rest have been celebrating
since November 7th, 2006. Thank you one and all. NOT!

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Newest First Oldest First
Salon - 9 hours ago
Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple talks about
her new Dixie Chicks movie, “Shut Up & Sing,” and why she
hopes their fans will forgive them. …

When you use celebrity status to promote your personal
opinion, have the courage to accept the consequences. Some
of the discussion has centered on freedom of speech. A good
rule of thumb when it comes to freedom of speech is to remember
just because you can does not mean you should. Good intentions
alone do not necessarily make it right. It is rather naive to expect
everyone to agree with you.

The Dixie Chicks Ad NBC Doesn’t Want You To See
Think Progress, DC - 12 hours ago
It’sa sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a
movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted
for exercising their …

Again, accept the consequences of your actions. Just because you
can air your opinion does not mean you can’t pay a price. Freedom of
speech is not free. There is a price. Make sure you want to pay it before
you open your mouth. Question: Is Think Progress, DC a left leaning
entity? Is being pro Dixie Chicks a matter of being left and liking insults
toward the opposition? To disagree is one thing, to casually lob an insult
to the Office of the President is quite another, regardless of who holds
the office.

why I will always love the Dixie Chicks
ProgressiveU.org, CA - Oct 26, 2006
… The Dixie Chicks have always been about taking chances when it
came to their music, but why should it be so dangerous to criticize a
government that has laws …

Criticizing is one thing. Merely insulting is another. It helps to
understand the difference. All of us pay a price for our actions. It may
be helpful for the Dixie Chicks to take note that freedom of speech is
not universally applied. A typical example would be most of their fans
and former fans are not allowed to exercise freedom of speech when they
are working. You are not free to say what you want at work while on the
clock or on the premises. That freedom stops at the door. When self-
employed or operating your own business, that business may suffer due
to your expressed opinions. Why are they so shocked by the reaction?
You have the right to your opinion and others have the right to disagree.
The above link displays content likely from another left leaning .org
who would likely be satisfied with any discontent toward their political
opponent.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Republican ragging for bleeding heart Clint

The Australian - 22 hours ago
MORE than 50 years after he first appeared in Hollywood as a bright young
Republican, Clint Eastwood has been attacked by his old allies as a bleeding
heart liberal for his latest film, Flags of Our Fathers.

Stanford Matthews

Just like the 8-track being overtaken by the casette tape. Or the much debated wars over Beta and VHS. Similar to the pc makers and the excruciatingly slow distribution of storage technology and the chip makers tiny improvements in processor advancements. Industry milks each tech increment step for all it’s worth.

The first reference below does a nice job on the ambiguous nature of the current state of development in video. If you have a large library of VHS tapes, the thought of migrating to DVD or Blu-ray or maintaining two distinct formats, or more, may be disheartening. Then the obvious follow up question of when will I have to do it again.

A possible flaw in free enterprise might be expressed in this latest tech annoyance. Rather than stretch the life of each technical advancement to maximize the profit of each, introducing new technologies when developed would push technology ahead faster. This is reminiscent of Intel and HP announcing a partership years ago to introduce a completely new oomputer architecture. Where is it?

Tech is typically doled out in such small increments it is surprising no public uproar of any significance has ever been witnessed. The FCC has the deadlines set for reallocating the analog spectrum once the public has a given saturation of HD TV sets. Now we have the large screen, large dollar, marketing mired, Blu-ray, HD, DVD screw the consumer again campaign. You really can’t blame American business for the public screwing. The public accepts it every time. In much the same way as we accept, as a group, the public screwing by politicians and lobbyists.

Repare for DVD format wars

We may all have to upgrade soon, but to what is not yet clear
By DAVID SILVERBERG

NEC unveils chip to bridge Blu-ray/HD DVD divide

By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: October 11, 2006, 10:53 AM PDT

A truce between the Blu-ray and HD DVD worlds is still probably a way off, but NEC has come up with a chip that could help companies bridge the gap. The chip, essentially a controller, works in both Blu-ray and HD DVD players. One chip that works with both standards could cut the cost of building a player that accomodates Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Video retailers watch, worry -

David Lazarus Wednesday, October 11, 2006

From her tiny outpost in the entertainment industry, Joyce Bae is watching Google’s steady expansion in the video field and doesn’t like what she sees. “They’re taking our business away little by little,” said Bae, owner of Diamond Video, a video-rental shop in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood. “I’m worried about the future.”

A little competition and right away they forget about the bogus late charges, the overpriced rentals, the reluctance to provide inventory catalogs and the rather care-free form of retailing known as video rental. And let us not forget the crap Holywood cranks out by the truckload with an occasional worthy offering. Lest you not notice, no sympathy here.

C. Harris