1. Livestation.com. Want a totally different take on the Gaza situation than you get from the big American networks? Al Jazeera English is now streaming live 24/7 through a free media player downloadable from Livestation. So are BBC radio, France 24 and other allegedly untrustworthy sources.
2. "Blair House: The President's Guest House," airing 6 p.m. CT Saturday on C-SPAN, offers never-before-seen views of the enormous mansion that was in the news recently because it wasn't big enough for the Obamas and former Aussie PM John Howard.
3. Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa. That's the fabulous name of the baby delivered by 41-year-old Lilakoi Moon, though before she appeared on "Life on Mars" you knew her as TV's Lisa Bonet.
… AND WHAT'S NOT
1. "The Beast." Debuting tonight on A&E, it is neither artful nor entertaining.
2. DTV transition runs out of money. Looks like Feb. 17 won't be D-day for analog TVs with rabbit ears, after all.
3. Hating on Sanjay Gupta. The CNN doctor and would-be Surgeon General nominee is being ripped by the Democratic left for daring to take issue with Michael Moore's "Sicko." I'm sorry, but I thought the next S.G. will be asked to defend Barack Obama's health plan, not Moore's.
Appointing Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General is like appointing "Judge Judy" to the Supreme Court. Dr. Gupta has few qualifications to be Surgeon General. He has openly rejected the view that American healthcare is in serious trouble; he has no experience in public health, public health policy or administration.
Dr Gupta is connected closely with the big Pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies that have put us in the healthcare crisis we are in. He has too many conflicts of interest.
1. As a media figure, Gupta has been disturbingly cozy with Big Pharma. He co-hosts Turner Private Networks' monthly show "Accent Health," which airs in doctors' offices around the country and which serves as a major conduit for targeted ads from the drug companies.
2. He has openly opposed progressive health reform, and cited false information in an effort to discredit Michael Moore's film "Sicko". Ultimately, it was found that Gupta distorted the facts.
3. In 2003, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he publicly downplayed concerns about the dangers of Vioxx. It was removed from the market a year later by its manufacturer, Merck.
4. Media watchdog groups have also expressed concern about lack of objectivity in his reporting: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3135 and
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001
Posted by: Richard Jones | January 13, 2009 at 09:14 PM