Truest statement of the week

Verizon's demands reveal the reactionary character of Obama's health care law. The plan was never about "extending health coverage to all Americans," as Obama repeatedly asserted. Its intention was to drive down the health care costs for American corporations and the government, while ensuring the profits of the insurance, pharmaceutical, and HMO industries. The punitive taxation of "Cadillac" or :luxury" plans -- euphemistic terms for decent health care plans that cover workers and their dependents -- is an invitation for corporations to slash health care coverage.

It also illustrates the treacherous role of the trade union executives and their cheerleaders in "left" groupings like the International Socialist Organization (ISO). Obama's 2010 health care law was enthusiastically backed by the AFL-CIO, including the two unions involved in the Verizon strike, the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In little more than one year, that reform has been used as the hammer to dismantle the benefits and incomes of 45,000 CWA and IBEW workers.

-- Tom Eley, "Obama’s health care 'reform' and the Verizon strike" (WSWS).

Truest statement of the week II

The story is not over -- not by a long shot -- but the saga of the Libyan resistance to the superpower might of the United States and its degenerate European neocolonial allies will surely occupy a very special place in history. For five months, beginning March 19, the armed forces of a small country of six million people dared to defy the most advanced weapons systems on the planet, on terrain with virtually no cover, against an enemy capable of killing whatever could be seen from the sky or electronically sensed. Night and day, the eyes of the Euro-American war machine looked down from space on the Libyan soldiers' positions, with the aim of incinerating them. And yet, the Libyan armed forces maintained their unit integrity and personal honor, with a heroism reminiscent of the loyalist soldiers of the Spanish Republic under siege by German, Italian and homegrown fascists, in the late 1930s.

The Germans and Italians and Generalissimo Franco won that war, just as the Americans, British, French and Italians may ultimately overcome the Libyan army. But they cannot convey honor or national legitimacy to their flunkies from Benghazi, who have won nothing but a badge of servitude to foreign overseers. The so-called rebels won not a single battle, except as walk-ons to a Euro-American military production. They are little more than extras for imperial theater, a mob that traveled to battle under the protective umbrella of American full spectrum dominance of the air. They advanced along roads already littered with the charcoal-blackened bodies of far better men, who died challenging Empire.

-- Glen Ford, "The Libyan Soldier: The True Heroes of NATO's War" (Black Agenda Report -- link is text and audio).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday. And we're way late again.


First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And what did we come up with?

• Truest statement of the week

We went with ObamaCare. So many sick f**ks are afraid to call it out from the left. It needs to be called out and you better find your comfort zone before health care plans are destroyed.

• Truest statement of the week II

This one is Glen Ford weighing in on the Libyan War that the 'rebels' 'won.'

• Editorial: Yes, Barack is continuing the Iraq War

Matthew Rothschild and Katrina vanden Heuvel are obviously war supporters because this story should have been the big story of August but after each revelation, two little whores ensured their publication ignored it. We thank Isaiah for the use of his comic.

• TV: Where's the money?

Ava and C.I. review Take The Money And Run and weigh in on the economy.

• Children's TV programming roundtable

Longterm reader Gillian asked for this and we gladly agreed. Betty's daughter did the Kermit painting. Her kids did the roundtable drawing. We thank them for both.

• From a CNN journalist's Libyan War diary

We did the painting years ago. THis is a parody piece inspired by the whiners.

• Look in the mirror

We thank Isaiah for the use of his drawing and we hope that all the Christian haters at The Nation, The Progressive, etc. can realize how ugly they look to the very people they might hope to recruit.

• Radio highlight

Flashpoints was this week's choice for a talk given by Michael Parenti.

• Another 'proud' moment for The Guardian

The Guardian basically accuses Dennis Kucinich of treason.

• Afghan Peace Youths Feel Hopeless (Joan Wile)

Joan Wile listens to the youth of Afghanistan.

• Mars Attacks Iraq

A repost of C.I.'s that updates an issue we dealt with here last week.

• Libyan War (Workers World)

A repost from Workers World.

• Highlights

Mike and the gang wrote and selected these unless otherwise noted.


Peace.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: Yes, Barack is continuing the Iraq War

Last week's "Editorial: US will be in Iraq beyond 2011, Panetta and Iraqi government explain" pointed out how Nouri al-Maliki's own spokesperson confirmed remarks made by Leon Panetta, US Secretary of Defense, that the US government and the Iraqi government had agreed to extend the US military presence in Iraq beyond December 31, 2011 and the only debate currently was over the particulars of the extension (such as how many troops).

If you pay attention, you see the US government preparing for the extension all around you. For example, you see it in the continued deployments. Such as when WBKO reports this month on a send-off ceremony for the almost 600 Kentucky National Guard members scehduled to deploy to Iraq for a year. Or when Angela Deines (Capital-Journal) reports on a send-off ceremony for 267 members of the Kansas National Guard who are headed to Fort Hood and then onto Iraq for a year long Operation New Dawn deployment.

If you pay attention, you hear the confirmation of it in Barack Obama's silence. The American president who rode the promise of 'ending the Iraq War' to fame refuses to address the issues. He'll give a speech where he proclaims he kept his promise on ending the war -- and we're not only supposed to ignore all the recent news but also the fact that 47,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq currently. But he never addresses the ongoing talks even when various spokespersons in the administration and officials in the administration do note the talks publicly.

He just pretends that they don't exist.

That's a confirmation.

And for those who still doubt, last week Josh Rogin (Foreign Policy) interviewed Samir Sumaida'ie, Iraq's Ambassador to the US, and, asked about the extension, Sumaida'ie responsed, "

"The principle that there will be some military presence [in Iraq beyond 2011] to help train Iraqi military and police has been largely agreed upon." Just as Panetta had said, just as Ali al-Dabbagh (Nouri al-Maliki's spokesperson) had said.

Operation New Dawn, now Barack's soaking in it.

------------

Illustration is Isaiah's "Now he's soaking in it" from September 6, 2010.

TV: Where's the money?

"I'm willing to lie to do what I have to I'm more than willing to do that and throw someone under the bus." Yes, it does sound like Barack Obama with his game face right before he and the Congress sold America the poison pill that is ObamaCare. But it's not. It's game show contestant Ron on last week's Take The Money and Run (ABC, Tuesday nights, second hour of prime time).



So far, the show's used couples or siblings as contestants and the two contestants are given a briefcase containing $100,000. From the moment they get the briefcase, they have one hour to hide it. GPS systems will track their cars, their phone records will be known and any receipts they have will be turned over when they're arrested.

Arrested?

At the end of the hour, their own local police (the show's filmed all over the US) will arrest them and take them to a police station where they will be booked and put into two holding cells. Starting with the arrest, the police and interrorgators have 48 hours to figure out where the case is. If they do, the police officers keep the money. If they don't, the contestants keep the money.

The interrogators don't get any money regardless. They are police officer Paul Bishop (who needs to cut that awful hair) and LA Count District Attorney Office's deputy district attorney Mary Hanlon Stone.

Watching five episodes yesterday largely left us neutral. We were glad when a Miami couple beat the system and actually kept the $100,000. We were furious that two brothers weren't able to keep it together. When the Chicago couple Ron and Beau came on, we knew they'd lose.

How? Ron's a Dave Foley type. As anyone who's ever watched News Radio or Kids In The Hall knows, Dave Foley always cracks.

Ron was playing it cool during the hiding, pretending that he couldn't handle anything. Meanwhile Beau's all over the map emotionally. And cracking jokes such as, "I'm sweating like a chubby chaser with a box of doughnuts outside a weight loss clinic." He also cracked jokes about his own weight and wondered, "Next time, can we do Take The Money and Stroll?"

Beau was saying everything he felt. Good for him. He was with his lover and that's when you let it loose. Ron made the mistake of keeping it all in. Like a volcano, you knew he was going to blow.

The Chicago cops were Michele Wood and John Korolis. Wood probably feels really good about herself and she filmed well and came off, overall, interesting. But we're not really into women calling people "p*ssies" and (a) wonder if she used that term because the contestants were a gay couple and (b) how much self-hatred she has to use that term on camera? [ABC did bleep it.]

Or maybe she just doesn't know she has a vagina?

Korolis has a stick up his ass. Not much to look at (we're sure he was considered cute in middle school but someone let him know those days have passed), Korolis' demeanor can best be described as "clenched." Whereas Wood was able to demonstrate she knew she was on a game show, mechanical Wood demonstrated all the range of Robocop and half the warmth.

Despite that and despite being another piece of TV product that Jerry Bruckheimer's squeezed out, the show is involving.

Watching it, we were struck by how few people know what to do in order to win the game. The trick really isn't in the hiding. The police know they're really counting on you breaking and telling them where it is because they really aren't able to find it easily with the information they have. (The exception being two sisters in Miami who hid the box on a trail.) You hide it in a friend's house. That's not the issue.

The issue is the arrest and holding.

Are people really as naive as Ron was?

They broke Ron almost instantly. And he was supposed to be the strong one. He was freaked out about being in the holding cell with nothing to do. (By contrast, Beau suffers from claustraphobia but managed to maintain.) Then he was freaked out that the interrogators, unable to crack him, took a book he'd been reading. And, on top of that, he was unprepared for their attempts to play him.

If you're going to be interrogated and the police are going to play it real and the interrogators are going to play it real, we'd recommend you do the same. In other words, "I want an attorney."

And, hey, go for the court appointed one unless you already have an attorney.

An attorney would have advised you that you don't have to answer questions.

The mistake the losers always make is in answering questions.

You're asked simple questions (with known answers) early on in the interrogation for two reasons. First, they're using small talk to try to bond with you. Second, they're trying to establish a baseline for lying. What do you look and sound like when you lie?

Why are you answering these questions?

And without an attorney present?

You don't have to answer anything.

In fact, the smartest thing you could do is dummy up for 48 hours.

Early on, interrogator Hanlon Stone almost broke Beau. She got him to sing (he's a professional singer), praised him for it, spoke of her own brother who has musical talent, lamented her own lack of it, and established this mini bond with him. She then lied to him and told him she didn't like the female police officer but she liked him (Beau) so he could tell her where the case with $100,000 was and she wasn't going to tell the police officer.

It looked like Beau was going to tell her. He was certainly torn. She had to call a break. She did so, she explained outside the interrogation room, because she was getting too into it and was actually feeling guilty about what she was doing. Bishop thought Beau was faking (he wasn't) and sent her back in to the room. But that break allowed Beau to put it in perspective and realize he couldn't trust her. Good for Beau, but an attorney present would have also made that call and made it much sooner with far less risk.

Beau got all of his fears and frustrations out before the arrest. That's what you do. Ron put on a poker face before the arrest and then crumbled once he was being held. You get what's inside out and do it before you're arrested. Once arrested, you are a stone face.

If Ron had done that, he and Beau would have gotten the money.

Does Ron not watch movies?

Maybe he doesn't. But having been made twice -- once with John Garfield and Lana Turner in the leads, once with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange in the leads, we'd assume many have seen The Postman Always Rings Twice. In that film noir, Frank and Cora kill her husband Nick. The murder is difficult to prove so the authorities attempt to turn Frank and Cora on each other. An attorney prevents that (another good reason to have an attorney).

Again, does Ron not watch movies?

What gets him to crumble is their taking his book and telling him that Beau's already been moved to a better place because he's cooperating.

Ron goes into instant self-pity.

He's played and he's too stupid to realize he's being played. He cries and weeps and wants the interrogators to know he'll talk. And he does. He tells everything. Sings like a canary, as the phrase goes.

It was all so stupid. He had less than 20 hours of the 48 left. Stone face and don't speak. That's all he had to do. Stone face and don't speak.

Beau and Ron made huge mistakes in attempting to be friends with both the police and their interrogators. We'll assume that's because they're nice people (they came off very nice). That's great except it's not going to win them the game. You do not speak. You do not answer.

Or, better yet, give them nonsense. Drive them crazy so they don't want to talk to you. "Where did you put that briefcase?" The reply is, "Remember that episode of The Flintstones where Ann-Magrock sings to Pebbles to get her to fall asleep?"

If you talk when you're nervous and can't remain silent, give them gibberish. Talk about whatever you want other than the briefcase. All you have to do is make it through 48 hours.

This is only difficult if you make the mistake of trying to joke with the interrogators and police, trying to befriend them. They are not your friends. They are your opponents. They are there to win, you need to be there to win too.

We're concerned about the game show refusing to address the issue of defense attorneys because that's really not exploring the reality the program pretends it does.

And some may bicker, "It's only a game show."

Yes and in this economy it may be the only way to make money. The most recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics put national unemployment at 9.1% (next set of numbers are due out this Friday) -- some areas see higher rates (traditionally, rural areas have higher unemployment rates than do urban areas). NPR reported Thursday on foreclosures making "up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring" which is "six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market." Earlier this month, Judy Woodruff (The NewsHour, PBS) spoke with the Annie E. Casey Foundation's president Patrick McCarthy on their latest study which found "that the official child poverty rate rose by nearly 20 percent from 2000 to 2009. And, in 2010, 11 percent of children lived with at least one unemployed parent." The inability to improve the economy may be part of why Pew Research's recent study found 79% of respondents staing they're dissastisified with the direction the country is headed in and 86% state they are "either angry or frustrated" and 49% of respondents disapprove of Barack's job performance (a record in disapproval for Barack -- only 43% approve). Scott Horsley (NPR's Morning Edition) recently offered this description of where things are, "Expectations are high precisely because the economy has been laid so low. Hiring has slowed sharply since the beginning of the year. Manufacturing appears to be losing steam. "

If you don't get how bad the economy is, any episode of Take The Money And Run makes that clear very quickly. What's going to happen with the $100,000 if Beau and Ron win? They're "doing it for Mom." Ron's mother can be moved closer and she's over eighty so this is important. And if the police officers win? Michele Wood explains her mother has a lousy job and "her retirement isn't good" while John Korolis adds, "My wife was laid off a year and a half ago and this could help pay the bills."

Game shows that give away money are no longer mere escapism, they also end up becoming social commentary as well. In a lousy economy, that's always going to be their fate.

Children's TV programming roundtable

Jim: This is roundtable was inspired by longterm reader Gillian who e-mailed wondering if we could discuss children's programming in some form? She wrote, "You know I appreciate the Iraq coverage, the coverage of serious issues and you know I love Ava and C.I.'s writing but the roundtables used to be looser from time to time and less focused on 'the serious.' I was hoping you might talk about children's programming in some form." And so we certainly will. First off, our e-mail address is thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com. And participating in this roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. Betty's kids did the illustration.







Jim (Con't): Gillian and her husband David go back to the third week of January 2005. That's a long ways back to have been reading. When they started, their daughter was barely a month old and now she'll be six at the end of the year. In that same time, Dona and I have become parents, Rebecca's had her first child and Trina's become a grandmother. Ruth has a whole football stadium full of grandchildren. So a lot of us are watching children's programming today and contrasting it with childhood offerings -- for better or worse. Ty's going to start.

Ty: I read Gillian's e-mail on Wednesday, I think she sent it Tuesday. And I made a point to Tivo Sesame Street. Of children's shows still in production, Sesame Street was my favorite. I loved the real kids, the Muppets and the adults. And it holds up for young kids, I'm sure. But I really think it's a pre-K show. I'll be honest, I was in third grade and still watching it. And I know that's old for the show. But I really loved it and it was something worth watching on TV. It really seems, sorry, dumbed down to me today. Kat's "Kat's Korner: It's not easy being assembly lined" is going up later this morning and her point in that about Elmo is so true. All he is is cute. That's the only reason he's on the show. I can't think of a greater insult to Sesame Street. Can you imagine them casting any adult or child just because they were 'cute.' Elmo's dumbed down the show.

Jim: Kat's review is illustrated by a painting Betty's daughter did of Kermit the Frog. I want to be sure to include that in this roundtable.


Jim: (Con't): Ruth, for the 2 or 3 people in the world who don;t know who Kermit is, why don't you explain.

Ruth: Surely. My children were Sesame Street kids. They were the generation the show was made for. It was still experimental then and hadn't become as standardized as it would become. Educational TV did exist -- despite the efforts of some Sesame Street supporters to pretend otherwise. And there were a few quality productions, children's productions, on TV. But Sesame Street did raise the bar. It was also the MTV of its day due to the pace which was not normal for TV or children's TV at that time. In fact, in terms of pacing, it was most like the TV show Laugh In. Both shows had sight gags and brief skits. Sesame Street also had cartoons. Kids loved it. And Kermit was one of the regular muppets. There was also Bert and Ernie which Sesame Street, today, wants us to know is not a same-sex couple. If you insist, PBS. There was Big Bird who really was the star muppet, he got the most time. And there was Oscar the Grouch. But I have left out one. Anyone want to guess.

Jess: COOKIE MONSTER!!!!

Ruth: And done in the Cookie Monster voice, very good Jess. Cookie Monster was huge. In fact, my oldest son did not go to kindergarten because of Cookie Monster. All the children were in a large auditorium -- with the parents -- and they were handed one of five cards and then told to break up into different groups based on the cards. My son got Big Bird. He started to cry. He wanted to be Cookie Monster. The mother next to us, her daughter had Cookie Monster. She traded cards with my son and all was well again and I was thanking the woman and the daughter -- who honestly loved Big Bird, it turned out -- when a teacher or teacher's aid walked up, pulled the Cookie Monster card from my son's hand and thrust it at the little girl who did not want to give up her Big Bird card. The other mother and I tried to reason with the woman, explaining that the kids had made a trade and both were now happy. Not good enough. And as the woman began bellowing, I said, "Screw this." Seriously, I said that. I was a young mother of the Age of Aquarius. So I said, "Screw this," took my son's hand and we left. We were already looking at homes in Connecticut, my husband and I, and knew we would be moving in a few months. So with that starting off so poorly, a strange woman screaming at the children and their parents, I decided my son did not need to go to kindergarten. But my point was that Cookie Monster was hugely popular. That imitation that Jess just did, a lot of kids have done it over the years.

Jess: I'd agree with Ruth. We were a PBS family in my house. That's all we could watch on TV except for Saturday morning cartoons. And there were strict rules on those that eased up as we got older. But it was PBS on the TV all the time except Saturday mornings if the TV was on. Cookie Monster was my favorite. Oscar the Grouch was my sister's favorite. This was probably the early 90s, maybe end of the 80s. And I also agree with Ty's point and Kat's that Elmo's worthless. He's got nothing to offer. Big Bird was a leader, Oscar the Grouch was a grump, Cookie Monster was uncontrolled hunger, Ernie was laid back and Bert was rigid. Everyone was about what they did.

Elaine: I'll jump in here, if we haven't been on Sesame Street too much?

Dona: No, it's one of the most watched and one of the longest running TV shows. Feel free to jump in.

Elaine: Okay. Yeah, I think Elmo is honestly dangerous. I think he's destructive. As Kat, Jess and Ty have pointed out, the characters were about what they did. All Elmo does is say, basically, 'I'm so cute. Love me.' Now some might argue that it would be even more offensive if Elmo were a girl muppet. I don't think so. I don't think at that age and with Elmo's high pitched voice, that a real difference is being made between boy and girl by the young viewers. I also think it is dangerous to send a message to children that they must be lovable. I honestly see him as the end of Sesame Street if they don't find a new character, a new breakout character, quickly. He is exactly what Sesame Street was created to combat.

Jim: Alright. Thank you for that perspective, Elaine. Ruth pointed out that there were other shows on TV when Sesame Street began airing. I will take her word for it, I wasn't born back then, but does anyone want to toss out any show?

Trina: I will. CBS had Captain Kangaroo. That show, starring Bob Keeshan as the Captain, was on forever and a day. It aired every morning, Monday through Friday. I watched it in the early 60s and it was on before that. But it was a really good show, a quality show, like Ruth was talking about. It seems like six of the kids were able to watch it, six of my husband and my kids. Mike and his younger sister didn't see it because CBS had axed it by the time they were born. The older kids all saw it and loved it.

Jim: When did it air?

Trina: CBS Morning News grabs some of its airtime today.

Jim: Okay. And it was Monday through Friday and Dallas texted it started in 1955. It's a shame CBS doesn't care enough to air children's programming today. Basically, they air three hours of programming on Saturday.

Ava: Three hours of children's programming a week. Some CBS stations air it all on Saturdays, some air part of it on Sundays. It's lousy programming, boring and CBS should pay children for watching it. A new lineup starts September 11th. CBS doesn't produce the current programming and won't be producing the new line up.

Jim: Is there any reason to be excited about children's TV?

C.I.: Friends at ABC swear their block of programming, which they also won't be producing, is really going to be something. I'm not impressed, Ava's not impressed. The only show that right now has promise is Ocean Mysteries. And it's a magazine show, they all are. They won't do quality programming, they'll do cheap magazine shows with stories geared towards 'youth' that will pretend to fulfill the educational mandate the FCC requires. It's really sad. What we saw of Ocean Mysteries made it appear to be a strong program and that might be in part due to the fact that Jeff Corwin is the host. He, of course, has hosted Animal Planet's The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest. Ocean Mysteries will please fans of those programs.

Jim: And NBC?

Ava: The less said the better.

Jim: Alright. There are no fun cartoons on the broadcast networks these days. Whatever happened to those? Betty, you favorite fun cartoon?

Betty: I'd go with Scooby Doo.

Cedric: As would I. The Scooby gang -- original, leave out that crappy Scrappy Doo. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and the Mystery Machine. That was my favorite cartoon growing up. And I'll be really honest here, I'd see reruns of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and want to like it, Bill Cosby was on NBC at the time with his huge sitcom, but I couldn't stand that show. The Scooby gang was always worth watching. And, to be honest, after awhile you really didn't care who did whatever. You were just watching to see Scooby and Shaggy get scared and for Velma to lose her glasses.

Wally: Which she was always doing. And usually, as she stumbled around blind without them, a ghost or ghoul would be close to grabbing her but she'd never know.

Ann: I think the reason that show was so popular was because you had different lead characters. A lot of children's shows were so vanilla and the characters were basically all the same. Like that stupid show with the four or five women who are fairies. You can't tell 'em apart because they're the same character. With Scooby Doo, each of the characters had a distinctive personality. And I'd also argue that the show was helped by the memorable theme song.

Marcia: I was going to say that. I really think the best children's shows have memorable themes. I'm a syndication baby. I watched the old shows after they were cancelled. So when I was a little girl, I was watching The Bugaloos and things like that. When The Pink Panther cartoons were pulled off network and sent to syndication, I discovered the show. But the best shows have a memorable theme: "The Bugaloos, the Bugaloos, they're in the air and everywhere . . ." Or how about, "Josie and the Pussycats, Long tails and ears for hats, guitars and sharps and flats . . ." The best shows tend to have these songs you love singing. And that includes "Sunny days . . ." The Sesame Street theme.

Jim: Betty, you kicked that off but did you want to add anything?

Betty: I think, in terms of Scooby Doo, they covered it. The show most like Scooby Doo that my children have enjoyed is The Magic School Bus. All the characters have their own personalities. Phoebe's different from Keesha who's different from Ralphie, etc. And the only adult is Ms. Frizzle -- that's Lily Tomlin's voice, by the way. They go on adventures and it's exciting and it's got a cute theme song sung by Little Richard. My kids have all loved it and my only complaint it's always on -- NBC or Fox -- and this show stopped making new episodes right before my first child was born. It seems like with the show having proven to be such a long and lasting hit, they would have gone back and made some more episodes.


Jim: Rebecca, Kat, Isaiah and Mike haven't spoken at all.

Dona: And Stan.

Jim: Thank you, and Stan. So let me start with Rebecca.

Rebecca: I'm thinking of Ty right now and Sesame Street and, if I'm remembering right, your grandparents didn't have cable, Ty?

Ty: No, they did not. All we had was what aired over the airwaves.

Rebecca: I couldn't make it. I mean maybe with syndicated shows. But that would be it. The network offerings are disgusting. We've got satellite and get Cartoon Network and all that. So our daughter can watch whatever and, of course, we've got a ton of DVDs as well. Gillian is in Ty's situation, right. They don't have cable.

Jim: No, they don't. They had just gotten married and started their family, right out of college, they've got student loan debt and everything else. So they depend on broadcast TV.

Rebecca: I don't know how you do that. There is PBS which is great when the kids are pre-K but after that it's a bit too juvenile. Myself, as an adult I used to like to watch the Saturday cartoons. Especially in the 70s. I especially loved NBC because they did a cartoon movie one year. On Saturdays.

Kat: For me, the 70s were The Muppet Show. More than any other show, that was the one I tried to catch. It was syndicated, a half-hour variety show. You never knew who the guest host would be. Maybe Lily Tomlin, maybe Madeline Khan. Maybe Diana Ross. You never knew. After that? I don't know that there was "a" cartoon. I remember blocks of them. I also loved Lance Link, alive action show starring monkeys.

C.I.: Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.

Kat: Thank you. It was a funny show. And it had monkeys. Not to be Nicholas Cage in Ghost Rider or Jeri in Strangers With Candy, the movie, but it had monkeys.

Jim: Okay, Isaiah?

Isaiah: Part of the reason that the networks can get away with not airing Saturday morning cartoons is that so many cartoons air on Sundays on Fox's prime time schedule. If you're talking cartoons, at some point, you have to talk The Simpsons. That's probably my favorite cartoon and it's been on so long that it does include my childhood. And it also fulfills Marcia's syndicated requirement.

Marcia: Absolutely. And that's another show I never watched until it started airing in syndication.

Jim: Stan? Mike?

Mike: I'll go. Pee Wee's Playhouse. It was off the air but my brothers had taped it -- back in the VCR days. So I watched all the episodes that way. I loved the show. And that was a bit of a problem actually because of Pee Wee's 'scandal' that led to the show being pulled by CBS. But it was a great show and I loved everyone on it, Pee Wee, Cowboy Curtis, Reba the Mail Lady and Jambi.

Stan: That was a great show. I loved it. I loved the cartoons that Pee Wee would show, I loved the talking objects like Chairee and the real life people like Cowboy Curtis and Miss Yvonne. That was really a great show and it let you play along with things like the secret word.

Mike: I forgot about the secret word. Yeah, there were a lot of great things about that show.

Ava: And let me jump in to note that Pee Wee's Playhouse, or a show like it, could be done today and fulfill both entertainment and educational requirements instead of the cheaply made 'news' 'magazine' shows for 'youths' that ABC's forcing off on people.


Jim: Okay and that's going to end our look at children's TV programming.

From a CNN journalist's Libyan War diary

August 21, 2011
Where is room service?

That's what we're wondering.

Just where the hell is room service?

Is this because we didn't tip?

Good service or any area where I'm well known and I will tip. But any place I can get away without tipping? Well, score!!! Gonna go for it.

Meanwhile, I am entranced by a painting on my wall.



What does it mean? Are they mercenaries? Are they Libyans? I have no idea.

August 22, 2011
Our Gaddafi provided security detail tells us we're not leaving the hotel. We can hear bombs going off and shooting.

This morning, I was in the sauna trying to sweat off all the booze I've been drinking when it hit me: There's a war going on. Somewhere.

And maybe people are suffering?

I thought maybe I should report on that but then I went into the main dining room and discovered they were out of Equal. Now what was I supposed to eat on top of my grapefruit?

When you encounter real problems like that, suddenly the suffering of others seems so unimportant.

August 23, 2011
Oh. My. God.

There was no electricity for most of the day. When it finally came on, I was so busy charging my cell phone and laptop, I barely had time to watch TV.

And, of course, I'm hesitant to search for online porn because I'm not sure the electricity will stay on.

A group of us went looking for 'rations' because we prefer not to eat in either of the two main dining rooms. So we waited until it was late and began exploring the hotel including the store room and the kitchen.

The hotel must be on top of some secret Del Monte canning factory. Cans, cans, cans, everywhere you look.

I ask, "Where is the fresh sushi?"

No where to be found.

It's true what they say, war really is hell.


August 24, 2011
We stayed up last night with a slumber party.

I spent most of the night afraid to fall asleep, afraid that they'd put my bra in the freezer. It must have been four in the morning before I remembered I'm a boy.

By that time I'd watched Point Break twice. That movie is like 20 years old. The hotel couldn't offer anything newer? Geez, even in Newark they're watching The Beaver.

I feel fat. We ate a lot of candy and potato chips today. I insisted upon calling them "crisps" because if I couldn't be different, I wouldn't be me.

But I feel fat. My ass feels fat. I feel my ass and think, "It feels fat." I feel my ass and think, "I need a shave."

Life is funny that way. Like, lots and lots of times, I've gotten a really bad haircut and wished it would grow out and it took forever. But it seems like I shave my ass one day and the next, it's already time to do it again.

I wonder if I organized an ass shaving party if anyone would show?

I think my real friends would.

But I fear none of my real friends are in Tripoli.

This is just like kindergarten when I pissed my pants and kept saying it was just where I spilled my juice box and all the kids pointed and laughed at me and called me pissy pants.

What was I saying?

August 26th.

Yesterday was so horrible, I couldn't write.

The whole thing has been so horrible, period.

No air conditioning at times. No air conditioning! What kind of a hell hole is this?

I bet you one damn thing, back during WWII, I bet you Patton always had air conditioning. I betcha they didn't f**k with Patton.

So yesterday, we were evacuated by the Red Cross and I saw the true face of war.

It was so scary. It was so ugly.

It took me almost a minute to realize it was Jomana.

The first thing I said to her, I said, "Jomana, where are your pore strips!"

Her pores were so large, you could have hid Muammar Gaddafi in them.

Jomana was crying and, with that skin, who could blame her?

I'm still haunted by those enlarged pores. Even now, of all the things I have seen in the Libyan War, Jomana's pores remain the most frightening. War is hell. Let's hope the next one is catered.

-----------------
This parody piece is inspired by Matthew Chance's pity party in The Telegraph of London.

Look in the mirror

As leftists, we've grown accustomed to many frauds and, these days, that's especially on our side. There's a new faux movement led by such losers as The Nation magazine and Bill Keller of The New York Times to challenge/explore/ridicule the Christianity of Republican candidates for president.

For those who've forgotten, it was less than three years ago that the same 'judges' were insisting Barack Obama's religion and religious background were off limits.

You can't have it both ways.

More importantly, all those pieces you do on Islamic tolerance look like pure crap as you go to great extremes to attack Christians. You may think you're playing fair, but you're not.

And a number of prominent lefties have done more than their share to falsely promote the notion that you can't be left and a Christian. That has hurt the left more than many will ever know.

It's past time that the Katrina vanden Heuvels of this world grew the hell up and stop sticking their huge noses into the religious worship of others. If you want people to respect the right of Muslims to worship freely, then you better start respecting the rights of others to practice religion as well.

And if you ever want to arrive at the point where you stop saying, "Gee, I wish there were more Black people participating in this rally/protest/march," and instead actually have a significant Black presence at your rally/protest/march, you better start grasping the power of the Black church and how you piss on it with every 'let's all laugh at the nutty Christian' piece you type up or deliver over the airwaves.

None of that means you can't call out homophobia, sexism or racism in any religion. But you better do so fairly and across the board.

We don't have time for your cheap stunts, Katrina vanden Heuvel. We can't put up with your continued efforts to destroy the left in order to elect Democrats for whatever current election cycle we're in.

The left needs to be rebuilt. And not because Democrats need votes. The left needs to be rebuilt because the corporations have more control -- and, in fact, now they have personhood -- than they've ever had in this country. We need an active left that can fight for the people.

That means bodies and minds. And that means respecting that some of those bodies and minds have beliefs in souls and choose to worship.

That doesn't mean we attack all the non-believers The Nation and The Progressive chooses to publish. It means we recognize the right to worship as surely as we do the right not to worship and we welcome all who want to stand for equality and the people.

Illustration is Isaiah's "Barry & Bully" from June 28, 2009.