Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Wednesday Update - Can We Survive Without Jon Stewart?

(I subscribe to several magazines, mainly to offset the gloom of bills that arrive around the first of the month, and for fun and information.  I subscribe to Time magazine, which gets me a little more in-depth news occasionally; I subscribe to Air & Space magazine from the Smithsonian, because being in the Air Force for a few years of my life I grew to love new and old aircraft; I subscribe to Flying magazine for the same reason; I subscribe to National Geographic magazine so that my son can learn about the world around him, assuming I can get him to read it, and it looks cool sitting on the back of the toilet tank; and I subscribe to one of the most fascinating magazines in the world: Popular Mechanics.  This month's Popular Mechanics features "84 Survival Secrets That Will Save Your Life."  This is a fascinating article, touching on all aspects of the coming apocalypse, even including what to look for when looting a store.  Don't want to waste your time just grabbing beer and big-screen TVs, right?  In this same article they list "The Five Safest Cities," taking into account nuclear fallout, natural disasters, extreme weather, etc.  It's an interesting list for a national magazine.  Number 5 is Wheeling, West Virginia, Number 4 is Hurricane, Utah (in spite of its name,) Number 3 is Missoula, Montana, Number 2 is Sitka, Alaska, and the reason I brought all this up is, the Number 1 city in America to survive the apocalypse is Eugene, Oregon, and it adds "if you don't mind ceaseless rain - or plaid."  To all of those classmates of mine who graduated in 1964 and immediately moved away, it's not too late to move back.  You probably should do it before we get the fence built.  We only have so much room, after all.  But I digress . . .)

  • And speaking of news, this next bit of news is about as depressing as it gets. We heard yesterday that Jon Stewart was planning to step down from The Daily Show in the next few months. Jon Stewart, for those few of you who don't know, is the other side of the balance against FOX "News."  Stewart kept that balance even, if not more than even, night after night, week after week since January of 1999.  My son has never known a world without Jon Stewart - yes, I forced him to watch it as soon as he could hold his own head up, and if you think I named my son Jonathan for a reason ... well, let's don't go there.  There are millions of us who have said at least once in their recent lives, "I get my news from Jon Stewart."  The reason for that was no matter how bleak and depressing the news of the day was, Jon could pull a laugh out of it.  He, and his writers, have been sheer genious in guiding us through what was really happening, as opposed to what FOX wanted us to believe.  Wondering what spin Stewart would put on a particular story kept our spirits up even through the Bush administration, and usually changed our anger into laughter.  Mark Morford wants us to "arise," for we are the "Daily Show generation," and continue Jon Stewart's anti-bullshit crusade as much as we can.  Read that one HERE.  So who's to replace him?  Sorry, right now I can think of no one.  How does one replace genius?
  • Forty-seven years ago the Tet Offensive in Vietnam proved that Henry Kissinger was lying when he mentioned things like "light at the end of the tunnel," and "peace is at hand," only two of a huge series of lies told to the American public by the man who many scholars believe to be a war criminal.  Two months after Tet, then President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek re-election  for another term as president, and handed the whole mess over to Richard Nixon.  Nixon attempted to bomb Vietnam "back to the stone age," but eventually gave up and declared victory, thus ending one of the nastiest and blackest moments in American history.  Up to the "war" in Iraq.  And while the United States attempted to expand its empire, the Vietnam War cost us taxpayers $450 billion, as well of the lives of 60,000 of America's finest young people.    The war in Iraq will end up costing the U.S. some $6 trillion, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.   In 1995, Robert McNamara, in his published memoirs of his experience with Vietnam, titled “In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam,” said "we were wrong, terribly wrong."  Can't say I disagree.  Have we learned our lesson?  Doubt it.  From Salon magazine, Robert Freeman.
  • I guess we should mention Brian Williams.  Out of all the news anchors on all the networks, I liked Brian the best.  He appeared on Letterman, Jon Stewart, and other fun talk shows, and showed a hell of a good sense of humor.  He also apparently showed a knack for embellishment when it came to his own personal involvement in his daily news gathering tasks. I have a wonderful idea.  With his sense of humor and good nose for the news, why not replace Stewart with Williams?  Just a thought.  Here's the whole sordid story:  CLICK

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I see light at the end of the tunnel.
--Walt W. Rostow, National Security Adviser, Dec. 1967

4 years after Tet during the Paris Peace talks.

We believe that peace is at hand.
--Henry Kissinger, Oct. 1972