While watching the NBC Nightly News last night, I learned that the airport "puffer" machines, the ones that attempt to detect explosives' residue on airline passengers, are being removed from U.S. airports because they cost too much money to maintain, after the federal government spent $36 million for them in 2004. Oh, and it's costing $1 million to take them out, NBC reported. Anchorman Brian Williams said that the machines are so pricey to keep in top operational condition, that some of the machines were never even taken out of their boxes! (Your taxpayer money at work!)
And Williams is ticked off. He commenced his segment on this issue by noting that when President John F. Kennedy set a goal of having an American land on the moon within 10 years, "We made it without breaking a sweat." Now, eight years after 9/11, he noted, airport security hasn't improved much at all.
"It's been eight years and the public's safety is at stake," Williams said, sounding more like an irritated columnist than a news guy. "And to borrow from an old expression, 'If they can put a man on the moon, why can't they come up with a better and safer solution [for airport security]'?"
Watch the segment below (link to segment here):
Showing posts with label NBC Nightly News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBC Nightly News. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Lovin' Nightly News 'Making a Difference' Segments
Maybe I'm just one giant, sentimental sap. I've been accused of possessing a disproportionate amount of sentimentality before, particularly by a friend of mine who doesn't understand how I can annually watch It's a Wonderful Life and still cry at the ending. Every. Single. Time. Even though I know the "richest man in town" toast is coming.
That being said, I must admit to getting a lump in my throat while watching many recent "Making a Difference" segments on NBC's Nightly News.
Several weeks ago in early March, amid the crush of dire economic news, reports about thousands of jobless Americans, people losing their homes to foreclosure and widespread financial desperation, Brian Williams sent out a plea to his viewers: Send me stories, uplifting stories about regular people doing things to help others without even being asked. And NBC's web site was flooded with heartening tales. During many broadcasts since he made that request, Williams has read e-mail after e-mail aloud on air bearing stories of good will. At least once a week, a reporter has been dispatched to report on one specific tale submitted by a viewer.
Earlier this week, a viewer from Michigan wrote in about how an anonymous businessman paid for meals for strangers at a local restaurant. All he asked for in return was that the patrons pay the kindness forward by using the money they would've spent for their meals to bolster the local economy and local charities.
Last night, a viewer from Virginia named Krystal, sent an e-mail saying that a colleague, upon hearing that Krystal's husband's unemployment payments had run out and the family was in economic trouble, left a check for $500 on her desk saying that someone had once did something like that for her when she was just out of college and broke. The generous colleague asked only that Krystal do the same for someone else in need in the future when she had the money to do so. (Link to the video here.)
Some people, like grizzled, by-the-numbers journalists and curmudgeons like Mr. Potter might make a face at this kind of reporting and scoff, "Sentimental hogwash!" To me, it's a public service, a professional bucking up public service that warms my heart. And I think it does make a difference.
That being said, I must admit to getting a lump in my throat while watching many recent "Making a Difference" segments on NBC's Nightly News.
Several weeks ago in early March, amid the crush of dire economic news, reports about thousands of jobless Americans, people losing their homes to foreclosure and widespread financial desperation, Brian Williams sent out a plea to his viewers: Send me stories, uplifting stories about regular people doing things to help others without even being asked. And NBC's web site was flooded with heartening tales. During many broadcasts since he made that request, Williams has read e-mail after e-mail aloud on air bearing stories of good will. At least once a week, a reporter has been dispatched to report on one specific tale submitted by a viewer.
Earlier this week, a viewer from Michigan wrote in about how an anonymous businessman paid for meals for strangers at a local restaurant. All he asked for in return was that the patrons pay the kindness forward by using the money they would've spent for their meals to bolster the local economy and local charities.
Last night, a viewer from Virginia named Krystal, sent an e-mail saying that a colleague, upon hearing that Krystal's husband's unemployment payments had run out and the family was in economic trouble, left a check for $500 on her desk saying that someone had once did something like that for her when she was just out of college and broke. The generous colleague asked only that Krystal do the same for someone else in need in the future when she had the money to do so. (Link to the video here.)
Some people, like grizzled, by-the-numbers journalists and curmudgeons like Mr. Potter might make a face at this kind of reporting and scoff, "Sentimental hogwash!" To me, it's a public service, a professional bucking up public service that warms my heart. And I think it does make a difference.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Jon Stewart Deftly Destroys CNBC, Including Santelli
I, like, the rest of the informed citizenry, have been greatly distressed about the economic news as of late. It's so dire and bleak. It seems as though a huge black hole has opened up and all these solid American companies (or companies we thought were solid and would be around forever, like Ford), are hurtling into it . . . that's when those companies aren't being thrown lifelines worth trillions of dollars in taxpayer money with no guarantee that the money will stave off further disaster. (The New York Times breaks down the sordid amounts here.)
Even the normally optimistic Brian Williams is so down in the dumps these days that at the end of his NBC Nightly News broadcast last night, he put out a call for viewers to send in feel good stories about folks who are doing good things for others so that he could report on something positive for a change.
Yes, it's gotten that bad.
Columns like Maureen Dowd's yesterday, detailing the obscene pork (8,000+ items including funds for "pig odor research," "catfish genetics research" and a tattoo removal program for gang members) in the proposed federal budget -- pork which Senator Obama said he'd eliminate when he was campaigning for president, but now that he's the Commander in Chief, he and his people are saying that the pork in this proposed budget is President Bush's fault, not his -- just make things feel hopeless.
Then I saw Jon Stewart. Thank God for Jon Stewart. I don't normally tune into The Daily Show, despite the constant pleadings of my friend Gayle who's a major Stewart fan. I usually watch local news at 11 p.m. and then go to bed. But I digress . . . Jon Stewart was supposed to have as a guest the now infamous CNBC analyst Rick Santelli, he of the much-ballyhooed rant against the Obama administration's housing bailout proposal and how it would reward bad behavior and help people who bought more house than they could afford, people who Santelli called "losers" who made bad decisions.
But Santelli canceled his Daily Show appearance. And I'm so glad he did.
What Stewart & Co. aired instead was a damningly hysterical and tragic indictment of how business journalists, specifically from CNBC, blew the coverage of this economic crisis, how they cheered on large businesses -- which are now receiving mucho bailout bucks -- and that the CNBC staff are no better than the "losers" who made bad home loan decisions. (Video link here.)
Even the normally optimistic Brian Williams is so down in the dumps these days that at the end of his NBC Nightly News broadcast last night, he put out a call for viewers to send in feel good stories about folks who are doing good things for others so that he could report on something positive for a change.
Yes, it's gotten that bad.
Columns like Maureen Dowd's yesterday, detailing the obscene pork (8,000+ items including funds for "pig odor research," "catfish genetics research" and a tattoo removal program for gang members) in the proposed federal budget -- pork which Senator Obama said he'd eliminate when he was campaigning for president, but now that he's the Commander in Chief, he and his people are saying that the pork in this proposed budget is President Bush's fault, not his -- just make things feel hopeless.
Then I saw Jon Stewart. Thank God for Jon Stewart. I don't normally tune into The Daily Show, despite the constant pleadings of my friend Gayle who's a major Stewart fan. I usually watch local news at 11 p.m. and then go to bed. But I digress . . . Jon Stewart was supposed to have as a guest the now infamous CNBC analyst Rick Santelli, he of the much-ballyhooed rant against the Obama administration's housing bailout proposal and how it would reward bad behavior and help people who bought more house than they could afford, people who Santelli called "losers" who made bad decisions.
But Santelli canceled his Daily Show appearance. And I'm so glad he did.
What Stewart & Co. aired instead was a damningly hysterical and tragic indictment of how business journalists, specifically from CNBC, blew the coverage of this economic crisis, how they cheered on large businesses -- which are now receiving mucho bailout bucks -- and that the CNBC staff are no better than the "losers" who made bad home loan decisions. (Video link here.)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Suburban Mom's Political Fix: NBC 'Nightly News' to Protect Obama Girls' Privacy
This is one of the reasons why I'm an NBC Nightly News fan. Aside from the fact that I really admire the way anchor Brian Williams delivers the news and selects which segments to highlight each weeknight, there are classy moments -- like this one last night -- that remind me why, when it comes to big news, I prefer to turn to the down-to-earth Williams.
In a segment near the end of Monday night's broadcast (link is here), Williams ran some still photos of Malia and Sasha Obama that were released by their father's transition team of the girls and their parents preparing for the girls' first day of school in Washington. Then he said that, like his predecessor, NBC Nightly News would refrain from hounding Malia and Sasha with cameras and would only cover their exploits if a news event specifically warrants such coverage.
In the day and age where there are the thousands of web sites and the 24/7 cable news networks willing to exploit the children of celebrities and politicians -- some which go so far as to declare diaper-wearing toddlers of celebs as being very hip and fashionable (as if the kids were picking out their attire), it's refreshing to see that a major news organization (or at least the Nightly News) plans to give Malia and Sasha a break and won't chronicle their every move and document their wardrobe selections.
In a segment near the end of Monday night's broadcast (link is here), Williams ran some still photos of Malia and Sasha Obama that were released by their father's transition team of the girls and their parents preparing for the girls' first day of school in Washington. Then he said that, like his predecessor, NBC Nightly News would refrain from hounding Malia and Sasha with cameras and would only cover their exploits if a news event specifically warrants such coverage.
In the day and age where there are the thousands of web sites and the 24/7 cable news networks willing to exploit the children of celebrities and politicians -- some which go so far as to declare diaper-wearing toddlers of celebs as being very hip and fashionable (as if the kids were picking out their attire), it's refreshing to see that a major news organization (or at least the Nightly News) plans to give Malia and Sasha a break and won't chronicle their every move and document their wardrobe selections.
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