ACTION: Thank You Jon Stewart!

Thanks Acorn... sent.

Per Rachel M tonight over 4,000,000 HITS to that segment of the show!

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 00:56:42 AM CDT

Confidence in the markets will go up

When these crooks start going to jail.  It is sad that it takes someone like Jon Stewart to do what no others will.  

It is way past time to have all these rich bastards who took part in the scams to sink the economy of this great nation.  Unfortunately, the honest working people get shafted because of the crap that has been pulled.  And get nothing in return.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 02:25:22 AM CDT

It wasn't a take down of the financial industry

It was a take down of the news media/journalism or as I like to call it - infotainment that masquerades as journalism in America.

I am sensing a Rorshach moment here. People listened and heard what they want to hear. But if you have listened to Stewart over time- his view and thesis is pretty consistent- our media is contributing to the decline of discourse in this country.

Many talk of his moment with Tucker Carlson in 2004. And this movement. But I figured out what he was about in 2004 when he was on Nightline. The show was then hosted still by Ted Koepple. He asked Koepple what is the job of the journalist? Koepple said to report the news. To basically do the he said, she said that we know so well in American journalism today.

Jon responded- this was a license to promote liars then to the equivalence of truth. If we ignore context, meaning and history- we are always going to be subjected to the whims of manipulators and Machivellian types.These types only thrive so long as we are ignorant. Once we pull back the curtain, we see the wizard.

This is the core these. It's funny how so many miss it no matter how many times he repeats it. Part of this, I believe- is becuase it indicts all of us as conplicit in our system.

Last night was once more returning to the themes of history, context and meaning. This was purpose of the video. When you think about it- how many times do journalist these days go back to arhival footage to show what's happened yesterday, 2 weeks, 2 months or 20 years ago? All we know is the line been thrown to us at the moment so we are left just a little bit unsure about what the truth is.

The thing he did last night is to provide truth versus the lies his guest wanted to convey. Immainge the show without the archival footage? Would it have worked so well? Maybe. But I doubt it. I think what he is doing and saying is that we need to connect to more than just the moment.

By the way, if you want to understand how Americans can vote for Prop 8, and not realize how it relates to equal protection, it's because of this lack of understanding of history, context and meaning. The first thing a very conservative Haitian friend said to me (because she's a lawyer) is "do they not realize this same analysis can be used against all of us. Not just gays." That's America. Our media contributes to this lack of continuity. How can you have a real policy debate if you don't have it? The answer is you can't. That's why our media is what it is. It takes Herculean efforts to figure out whats really happening on any given issue.

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 02:30:52 AM CDT

You're absolutely right

What Jon did the other night applies to everything  else in the "Mainstream." Just substitute Judy Miller for Jim Cramer. See what I mean?  

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by: David Ehrenstein @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 08:57:14 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You don't even need to go to the egregious examples

The nightly news is as much an example of this. THe three buzz words I have now are that they do nothing to create sense of history, meaning or context. It's as if they news is being reported moment to moment so one has no way of knowing if its true or not.  

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by: bruhrabbit3 @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 11:07:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You got that exactly right, bruhrabbit3

As Jon said to Cramer, "This song ain't about you".  It's about how CNBC touts itself as 'all you need to know' about business on Wall Street when they are really in the infotainment business.  It's about how, in times of dereg, they (business media) all knew what the hell was going on, and they enabled it.  They were dealers pushing the drug (overpaying for one)while purportedly claiming to be giving us the facts and sound business advice.  In other words, they wanted it both ways.  They wanted to be taken seriously as a business channel, but now they want to claim they are just entertainment.

Besides, this whole thing started when Rick Santelli gave his 'losers' speech on the floor of the Chicago trade market.  Jon was chastising Santelli for calling homeowners losers for getting in over their heads when his station was one that helped put them there.  

Unfortunately, the media coverage of this 'feud' is more of the same.  Sizzle and flash, baby.

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by: asiangrrl @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 12:10:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What I would love to see,

Is Jon Stewart taking on the CEOs of the oil companies.  A graph of gas prices track how the price went up and then went down so quick. I was working in the rental car business last year and watched how the cost of gas went up and up.  At the same time people were asking what the hell was going on.  

We heard all about supply and demand. and oil was up to $138.00 a barrel.  Hurricane Ike devistated the flow to the south east.  Well that caused a supply and demand situation, and we didn't see the price double.  And what about now?  Gas is less than $2.00 a gallon, when just nine months ago it was well over $4.00 a gallon, and at the same time the oil companies made the largest profits on record.

Anyone tell me that the Oil markets were not manipulated and some scams were not going on.  

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 02:43:41 AM CDT

For as far back as I can recall,

going back at least to the "energy crisis" during the Carter years, gas prices always go down before a presidential election.  Happened four years ago, eight years ago...  That can't be a coincidence.  The oil magnates know that higher gas prices reflect adversely on Republicans, so they manipulate the market accordingly.  Yet I've never seen this commented on anywhere in the MSM.  Probably never will.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 12:07:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

As Bea Arthur's

Vera Charles ("Auntie Mame") observed, upon hearing about the 1929 crash:

"Oh thank God I never put anything away for the FUTURE!"

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

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by: Louise @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 06:44:17 AM CDT

NBC, CNBC, MSNBC are mum

Nothing.  Nada.  The big goose egg.  Mum.

Sorry NBC...ya got nailed.  Now live up to it.

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by: bkmn @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 10:05:24 AM CDT

Newsweek

covered the story quite well today.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

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by: Louise @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 10:40:31 AM CDT

Real Estate Roller Coaster video

In the vein of early warnings, check out this "Real Estate Roller Coaster" video.

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by: kcollett @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 11:55:42 AM CDT

Jon Stewart…

...did not simply illustrate how we accept shoddy journalism as a matter of fact. He also removed doubts for any ratings-driven mainstream media organization that, a way to keep the harmful influence of advertising dollars on the obsequious nature of our MSM in check, is by data-driven, fact-based journalism.

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic, corrupt press will produce in time a people as base as itself." - Joseph Pulitzer

Thank you Jon Stewart.

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by: peacemonger @ Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 22:20:07 PM CDT