Iraq, Stupid Non Voters, and Foreign Adoption (Thursday's Show)
Hi everybody. You can probably guess by my lateness that I've been busy lately. Anyway, I am very sorry to report that announcer man and over-the-top music is back. Well that lasted long. Oh well. He wasn't really bad tonight, so I won't complain. We kick off things live tonight with Chris Lawrence near Palm Springs, Calfornia. There's a major wildfire raging and sadly four firefighers have died. To make matters worse, trace burn patterns confirm that this was an act of arson. I hope they catch them because they're murderers now.
Transitioning now to a Barbara Starr piece regarding Rumsfeld's recent press conference. The guy practically loses it, telling reporters inquiring about the benchmarks to "back off." He says the mission of the troops remains unchanged. Okay, but can you maybe tell us what the mission is now? I know we've given up on the democracy thing, but are we still hoping for a US friendly government or are we past that now too? This would probably be easier if you guys would stop moving the goal posts.
Next up we have a John Roberts piece on sectarian violence and he tells us that in one town alone half the people have fled. The troops are trying to tamper down the violence by working contacts that they have, but support for local militas complicates things. On one occasion US troops detained some men and practically the whole town came out to plead their case. I can see how that would complicate things. John joins us live after his piece and says that while things are bad, it has not yet come to family against family. Well, uh, thank God for small favors I guess.
Peter Bergen then joins us live to discuss his recent New York Times Op-Ed. Peter is very worried that foreign fighters are going to create a mini Afghanistan in Iraq and regroup and this is why he believes total withdrawl would be a bad idea. However, he does advocate a signifcant withdrawl in order to calm down the insurgency (the belief being that the US presence is actually fueling things). Peter thinks that the time for spreading democracy or even preventing a civil war has come and gone, but we can't just give the country to the jihadists. I like Peter's plan and I think we should probably give it a whirl, though I am a bit worried that a small force of troops would be especially vulnerable to a Tet Offensive type attack.
On now to a Dana Bash piece that completely ticked me off, so this might get ranty. Apparently 40 percent of single women don't vote, a demographic that is referred to as Sex and the City voters. Clever. Anyway, Dana's piece focuses on a single 27 year old non voter and, I'm sorry, but I just want to smack her. She whines that she's too busy and she's turned off by the ads. As a single female 27 year old voter all I can say is, "get over it." It really ticks me off that people don't vote, which is the absolute least thing you can do to participate in our democracy. I could get cheesy and point out that thousands of people before us were killed and had their asses beat down for this simple right. Or I could remind people that millions of Iraqis literally risked their lives last year to exercise this simple right. Or I could simply point out it only happens once every two years and rarely takes longer than an hour. All those are good points, but what gets me is that our government controls every aspect of our lives and people don't seem to care. It drives me insane. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now, but I seriously hope that someone who knows that woman saw this and gave her a good whack.
Next up we have an interview with Andrew Sullivan and he thinks that the single women are mostly turned off by the ads. Isn't everyone turned off by the ads? You ignore them and seek out the real issues. Anyway, Andrew then goes on to get my hopes us about the possiblity of the republicans losing even more spectacularly than already thought. He thinks that because they never play to the middle the margin of error is very small. I really, really hope he's right.
Transitioning now to Madonna! Oh boy. I have to say I'm a bit shocked that Madonna went on Oprah and it didn't rip a hole in the universe. Aren't there rules that two women of that star magnitude can't be in the same room? Anyway, Jeff Koiange gives us a piece in which he has an exclusive interview with the father of the boy Madonna is trying to adopt. At first the father said he didn't realize he was giving his child away, but he tells Jeff that he knew all along and only changed his story under pressure from NGOs. However, when asked if the government pressured him he gets all defensive. So...hmm. That's interesting. I hope this guy really did wanted to give up his kid.
On now to a Carol Costello piece on international adoption and we get to meet a couple that has adopted four adorable little Chinese girls. We learn that not many people adopt from Africa because the rules are so restrictive. However, in China babies are plentiful. That kind of sounds bad, but I guess it's good for those wanting to adopt. And actually I am one of those people. I'm glad they're covering this subject-even if they had to take the retarded Madonna road to get here. And no, I don't mean Madonna is retarded (wanting to adopt is commendable), I mean the fact that this is a news story simply because she's a celebrity is retarded. Back in the piece, we learn that getting a baby from China costs $20,000 dollars and takes 12 to 18 months. I'm cool with the time thing, but I better start saving my pennies if I want kids in the next 10 years.
To stay on the international adoption subject, we have a taped interview with Dr. Jane Aronson, founder of World Wide Orphans Foundation. She says a lot of people look to adopt internationally because of those high profile cases of the birth parents taking custody back. The cost for adopting vary per country and though you have to jump through hoops to do it, the pay is great. Dr. Aronson also makes the great point that all the money used to cover the Madonna story could have literally saved kids lives in Malawi.
To end the night we have the breaking news that a state of emergency has been declared regarding the wildfires and flags will be flown at half staff to honor the firefighers. The Shot tonight is a 105 year old Iranian woman who has just become a new American citizen. When asked what she will do as a citizen she replied, "I'm going to vote." Hell yeah! Although a part of me wishes she would have said, "I'm going to Disneyland!" Because that would have been hilarious. Pretty good show tonight. B
Has anyone adopted or are thinking of adopting?
Transitioning now to a Barbara Starr piece regarding Rumsfeld's recent press conference. The guy practically loses it, telling reporters inquiring about the benchmarks to "back off." He says the mission of the troops remains unchanged. Okay, but can you maybe tell us what the mission is now? I know we've given up on the democracy thing, but are we still hoping for a US friendly government or are we past that now too? This would probably be easier if you guys would stop moving the goal posts.
Next up we have a John Roberts piece on sectarian violence and he tells us that in one town alone half the people have fled. The troops are trying to tamper down the violence by working contacts that they have, but support for local militas complicates things. On one occasion US troops detained some men and practically the whole town came out to plead their case. I can see how that would complicate things. John joins us live after his piece and says that while things are bad, it has not yet come to family against family. Well, uh, thank God for small favors I guess.
Peter Bergen then joins us live to discuss his recent New York Times Op-Ed. Peter is very worried that foreign fighters are going to create a mini Afghanistan in Iraq and regroup and this is why he believes total withdrawl would be a bad idea. However, he does advocate a signifcant withdrawl in order to calm down the insurgency (the belief being that the US presence is actually fueling things). Peter thinks that the time for spreading democracy or even preventing a civil war has come and gone, but we can't just give the country to the jihadists. I like Peter's plan and I think we should probably give it a whirl, though I am a bit worried that a small force of troops would be especially vulnerable to a Tet Offensive type attack.
On now to a Dana Bash piece that completely ticked me off, so this might get ranty. Apparently 40 percent of single women don't vote, a demographic that is referred to as Sex and the City voters. Clever. Anyway, Dana's piece focuses on a single 27 year old non voter and, I'm sorry, but I just want to smack her. She whines that she's too busy and she's turned off by the ads. As a single female 27 year old voter all I can say is, "get over it." It really ticks me off that people don't vote, which is the absolute least thing you can do to participate in our democracy. I could get cheesy and point out that thousands of people before us were killed and had their asses beat down for this simple right. Or I could remind people that millions of Iraqis literally risked their lives last year to exercise this simple right. Or I could simply point out it only happens once every two years and rarely takes longer than an hour. All those are good points, but what gets me is that our government controls every aspect of our lives and people don't seem to care. It drives me insane. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now, but I seriously hope that someone who knows that woman saw this and gave her a good whack.
Next up we have an interview with Andrew Sullivan and he thinks that the single women are mostly turned off by the ads. Isn't everyone turned off by the ads? You ignore them and seek out the real issues. Anyway, Andrew then goes on to get my hopes us about the possiblity of the republicans losing even more spectacularly than already thought. He thinks that because they never play to the middle the margin of error is very small. I really, really hope he's right.
Transitioning now to Madonna! Oh boy. I have to say I'm a bit shocked that Madonna went on Oprah and it didn't rip a hole in the universe. Aren't there rules that two women of that star magnitude can't be in the same room? Anyway, Jeff Koiange gives us a piece in which he has an exclusive interview with the father of the boy Madonna is trying to adopt. At first the father said he didn't realize he was giving his child away, but he tells Jeff that he knew all along and only changed his story under pressure from NGOs. However, when asked if the government pressured him he gets all defensive. So...hmm. That's interesting. I hope this guy really did wanted to give up his kid.
On now to a Carol Costello piece on international adoption and we get to meet a couple that has adopted four adorable little Chinese girls. We learn that not many people adopt from Africa because the rules are so restrictive. However, in China babies are plentiful. That kind of sounds bad, but I guess it's good for those wanting to adopt. And actually I am one of those people. I'm glad they're covering this subject-even if they had to take the retarded Madonna road to get here. And no, I don't mean Madonna is retarded (wanting to adopt is commendable), I mean the fact that this is a news story simply because she's a celebrity is retarded. Back in the piece, we learn that getting a baby from China costs $20,000 dollars and takes 12 to 18 months. I'm cool with the time thing, but I better start saving my pennies if I want kids in the next 10 years.
To stay on the international adoption subject, we have a taped interview with Dr. Jane Aronson, founder of World Wide Orphans Foundation. She says a lot of people look to adopt internationally because of those high profile cases of the birth parents taking custody back. The cost for adopting vary per country and though you have to jump through hoops to do it, the pay is great. Dr. Aronson also makes the great point that all the money used to cover the Madonna story could have literally saved kids lives in Malawi.
To end the night we have the breaking news that a state of emergency has been declared regarding the wildfires and flags will be flown at half staff to honor the firefighers. The Shot tonight is a 105 year old Iranian woman who has just become a new American citizen. When asked what she will do as a citizen she replied, "I'm going to vote." Hell yeah! Although a part of me wishes she would have said, "I'm going to Disneyland!" Because that would have been hilarious. Pretty good show tonight. B
Has anyone adopted or are thinking of adopting?
posted by eliza at 2:09 AM
2 Comments:
I'm a 31 year old single female voter- and I vote in EVERY thing that comes up. I'm talking even those prelim things where you get to vote for what gets put on the ballot- every time! I've never missed voting once, not even when I lived in Japan for seven months. I agree with you- I hope someone whacked her. How can you complain about the gov't if you don't even exercise your right to help change it? Geez already.
As for adoption, yes, actually, I've thought about it. Actually though, I'd lean towards Africa because my three sons have a black father. Then they'd match :) I know that sounds sort of sick, but, a lot of people right now ask me if I'm my kid's babysitter (as in, they're brown and I'm as pale as Anderson is), and so to have a very dark child wouldn't bother me at all. Of course, neither would having a Chinese child.
Well Eliza, good luck- just don't do a Mia Farrow.
It's sounds like Africa might be more difficult. You've got three and you want more?! Although after three boys you're probably wishing for a little girl, aren't you.
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