*I post an innocuous item on the assassination of JFK and the ensuing comments produce a Macarthur-Maze size portion of debate about politics, Jackie O, partisan bickering, ultra-kvetching. I know the country is screwed up and here's proof positive.
*Black Friday, Thanksgiving: the vultures are already lined up and it's only Sunday. I would love just one, 1!, media outlet here, SF, to merely open their broadcast with a real news story and offer a quick glimpse of the schlubs at the local Walmart but that'll happen when Tom Raponi and Lee Rosenthal sing Hey Jude.
*Your basic handbook to local TV News Thursday: 1. 4-minute package at Glide Memorial. 2. Talk to 2-3 folks standing in line and waiting for meal. 3. Get the obligatory five-second actuality of volunteer who took time from family to serve the poor. 4. Close out live shot with obligatory reporter telling anchor that Glide serves thousands of meals everyday, not just Thanksgiving.
Here's a thought: why not be creative?!! No knock on Glide and St. Anthony or all the various charitable churches and outreaches which feed the poor, the homeless, on Thanksgiving. Why not do the newscast DIRECT from Glide. If you're going to exploit, and I'm sorry, this is exploitation when you really look at it, shut up, put your money where your mouth is and give $50 grand to the church, all of you, (KNTV, KGO, KTVU, KPIX,); then at least your usual cliché-driven, overbearing, disingenuous opener on Turkey Day adds some real meat to the presentation and isn't another standardized stuffer. And then Glide has the cash to get more stuffing too so see, it works.
*Speaking of JFK/Dallas, I heard and watched the various specials--most were very good, telling, emotional, even sad to this observer who was little more than a year old on that day. What stood out, still to this day: the remarkable Zapruder film, (what were the odds?), Ruby shooting Oswald, (with the honking horn audible a second before), and Jackie's piling on the back of the motorcade. Yes, of course it was overload coverage but in this case, it was deserving and a reminder of something truly historic not your usual mumbo-jumbo TV.
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This is also the time of year when the cliché of "slow news days" rears its ugly head from the mouths of talk show hosts. You'd think world peace suddenly arrived on Black Friday! Btw thanks for calling out Mike Nicco's pronunciation of words. It is more noticeable when he's on the radio. Finally, thank God for Cal football! No chef Ryan Scott nor his idiot sidekick secret asian "man" for a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteJackie Kennedy climbed on to the back of the convertible limo to pick up pieces of her husband's brain.
ReplyDeleteYou talked to her, eh?
DeleteI'm sure in a moment like that, a split second after her husband's head explodes in her lap, she's gonna think, "Hey, I should grab that neo-cortex! Maybe they can glue it back."
see CNN documentary on JFK....at www.cnn.com... It includes the interview with her secret service agent, the one who saw her crawl out on the back of the speeding car and grab a large chunk of tissue which was careening off the trunk, right in front of the agent's face. She actually grabbed some of the tissue and told others she was "holding a piece of his brain in her hand"....His head, by the way, did not "explode in her lap".
DeleteI think Christine is referring to the eyewitness account of Mrs. Kennedy's Secret Service agent and friend Clint Hill. In his new book, he details the events of that day, and says Jackie was "reaching for brain material" on the trunk of the car. He was running toward her at the time, and urged her back into the seat.
DeleteThank you for that Christine. I wonder how many of us would be willing to crawl out on the back of a moving convertible to retrieve pieces of Christine's braing.
Deletehopefully none.
DeleteCBS did it right with their "real-time" stream of Walter Cronkite in New York on Nov. 22, 1963, when Cronkite was barely able to control his emotions as he's handed the teletype reports of the President's shooting, hospitalization, and subsequent death. The newsroom coverage was extensive, exemplary, and ongoing. No breaks for commercials or popular soap operas. Even The Twilight Zone was preempted...It was the Day the Earth Stood Still, End of the Age of Innocence, Camelot co-opted and contained...
ReplyDeleteToday coverage would be cut short to get to The X-Factor. Priorities.
DeleteI would recommend donating to St. Anthony's Dining Room. They are the only true non-profit in SF feeding the poor on Thanksgiving. Glide, run by Cecil Williams, charges the City for every meal they serve.
ReplyDeleteRich I'm having some Foster Farms mini corndogs from the Costco freezer section for lunch. How about you?
ReplyDeleteThe comment above from Christine about Jackie and JFK's brain is beyond goulish. You cynically publish this filth from trrolls to boost page views. I'm taking a break from this blog. I am disgusted with you. Bookmark removed.
ReplyDeleteThe information about Jackie and the bits of JFK's brain was one of the facts revealed by her secret service agent and included in the CNN documentary which ran this past week. You'd better remove those CNN "trrolls(sic)" from your bookmarks, as well. BTW, just so you know when to be offended and when not to, it has been a question since the day it happened, what specifically she was trying to do when she crawled out onto the back of the car, which was speeding, toward that SS agent. He has now clarified that she wasn't trying to get away, wasn't trying to reach out for him, was trying to retreive the brain tissue, which you can see....in the film. BTW, "ghoulish" has two "h"s.
DeleteI somewhat agree. When I first read the comment earlier today I was thinking, "really Christine?"..."why here?". Then again Christine is the only one of us that has been a guest on the Letterman show so I don't know. I'm torn I say, torn.
DeleteChristine, please don't be the typo-police and spell-checker for the blog. Who cares if the guy hit two r's by mistake. Does that make him stupid? You do have a way about you. While you may think you're just "reporting the facts", your blunt and very graphic wording comes off callous, frankly. Perhaps that's not your intention but it's still a subject many of us feel very emotional about. You could soften things up considerably and still get your point across...not just on this issue, but in general. Compassion, please.
DeleteYou are entitled to think that poor grammar is fine. You are entitled to imagine what you think I am thinking. You are entitled to think you are just a "frank" truthteller who trembles and becomes very "emotional about" something I write in a blog. I suggest that take your sanctimonious attitude and teach yourself not to read something that is clearly marked with my name, since it causes you such distress. I know exactly who I am, I'm not suffering from an identity crisis. Can't you control yourself from reading something that makes you twitch?
DeleteThe thing about Christine is that she just cannot communicate normally with other human beings, quite possibly suffering from some autism spectrum disorder.
DeleteShe doesn't get it, she can't get it, she can't help herself. She does not understand for the life of her that there is no need to point out that someone spelled "ghoulish" wrong. She's off, she just doesn't get it.
oh gosh, 5:09 has really gotten to me. Maybe I'm just too callous, too lacking in compassion. When most of my peers shoved their elderly parents into the nursing home, I kept mine here at home, built him his own cottage, did all his healthcare solo, (wound care, catheters etc) for fourteen years. I do have this annoying habit of rescuing abused animals. Shame on me!And can you believe that just this year when a well-known SF news cameraman had a major, horrific health crisis and none of his more "compassionate and uncallous" media buddies would lift a finger(with exception of lovely food girft card from a lovely female anchor, and the good advice from a veteran reporter) and save him from homelessness, I foolishly invited him to stay here and recover, which he did. After several weeks, I scouted around Sacramento and found him an affordable apartment and helped him secure that space, in which he could continue his recovery. My neighbors, so appalled at my lack of compassion and my callous manner, donated hundreds of dollars to help get him, quite literally, back on his feet.
DeleteYou know what,5:09, if I personally was in trouble or in extremis, I'd want someone just like me to help me out.
Now don't get all emotional.
Christine, don't think @5:09 is the one who can't control his/her self. Also, please, NEVER accuse anyone else of sounding sanctimonious.
DeletePlease go ahead and get the last word in, you always do. Oh, and please remind us one more time about how you were once somebody so important that you went on the David Letterman.
Christine, your self-righteous tirade about the "well-known SF news cameraman" illustrates anon@10:05's point perfectly.
DeleteYou just don't know how to communicate in a normal way. Suggest you get tested for autism spectrum disorder.
I was accused of lacking compassion and making somebody cringe when discussing a newly released fact about the Kennedy murder. Let me repeat my point, when that particular SF news cameraman was facing amputation and homelessness, little old non compassionate me was the only one who offered him shelter, great food, assistance in finding a new home. That's not a lack of compassion, nor is it somehow an abnormal form of communication, to say so. I'm a lawyer who was so lacking in compassion, that I chose to work at a firm representing injured workers and the disabled. We make the most money of all, you know. Is that a defense to the accusation of being non-compassionate? I think so. I suggest you go out and do even more.
DeletePerhaps the lady doth protest too much. Or perhaps you make a great friend and just have contempt for anyone who's not in lock step with your opinions. Or tries to give you some honest feedback about you "on line" self....which comes off pretty harsh. Sorry, you sound like a saint but you "read mean."
DeleteI am not a lady.
DeleteHey Rich,
ReplyDeleteHere's what I had -- an author/JFK researcher from Bolinas gave me a sneak peek at his new book:
JFK researcher: "Oswald did not fire fatal shot"
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=9335654
Dan Noyes
To paraphrase Saturday Night Live, Dan you ignorant slut!
DeleteThompson has long been debunked by anyone with a brain, don't care if he did investigations for Life magazine or Jesus Christ the Messiah.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dealey.htm
Here he says the rifle can't get off a shot in less than 2.3 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5otJTqLK-Y
Then he gets off two shots with the same rifle in less than two seconds.
And since we don't know when the first shot was fired, since it missed and the Zapruder film is silent, so we can't hear it, but we CAN see the interval between the second and third shots, we can tell the timing there, and it's far longer than 2.3 seconds and plenty long for LHO to require the sight in the scope and shoot again.
What these conspiracy idiots won't tell you is they've run ballistics test with dummies in the car from the sixth floor window with various grades of riflemen, and many--not just one or two--were able to hit the target from that distance at that speed in the time it happened. The conclusion was that while it's not an easy shot, it is possible, and you only need be sharpshooter grade, which is what ex_marine Oswald was. But research like that is boring and doesn't sell books (or get ratings for desperate KGO-TV during sweeps.)
And for the record, not that it should matter, but I'm not a government apologist who quotes the official record because it's the official record. I would be happy to believe in a conspiracy theory. (To ME the biggest oddity is why Jack Ruby, a man who previously had no strong patriotic ties or inclinations, shoots Oswald in plain view when he knew it would mean spending the rest of his life in prison). But there just isn't any evidence whatsoever. Every conspiracy book I've read distorts evidence that can be gleaned easily on one's own, ie, everybody who testified mysteriously died, the shots were too close together, Oswald couldn't have hit the target from his perch. All BS.
You forgot the live shot from SFO.Then a package on those who have to work Thanksgiving day, ie, police and fire. And now that Black Friday is on Thursday, let's go live to Best Buy where the crowds went wild for a 32 inch TV. Instead, why not have reporters spend the day with the homeless and the mentally ill who walk our streets, or do a story on the foreign tech workers who are working and could give a sh*t about turkey day, show us how the 1% celebrate turkey day, or a story of how much money Americans are sending overseas to China as we buy Black Friday cr*p.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the story on that Kennedy movie that was made in 1983??? It starred Martin Sheen and Blair Brown. Vincent Gardenia played J Edgar Hoover. That was a scary movie; esp the assassination sequence.
ReplyDeleteTo get off the subject a little here, but did you see Benny Fong's self-serving column in today's Datebook? It's always a swarmy, self-serving column. Especially today with his use of the word "I". He's got the market cornered on self-promotion. Sad thing is he doesn't add anything. Why does he have this lofty perch in the radio business? Is it just because he wrote for Rolling Stone? He adds NOTHING. His column is like something you'd read in a PTA newsletter. Fawn over some more people Benny Boy. That'll buy you some more time in Datebook. Your material is better suited for the Examiner so they can pay you on a pay-per-view basis. We'll see how smart the readership is. After a few rides on the Benny Bus, they'll realize you're just one big puff of fluff that's made at the circus concession.
ReplyDeleteI thought everything to be said and heard and viewed about 11/22/63 had been covered. I came across C-SPAN's coverage of NBC's coverage of the day. Huntley, Brinkley, McGee etc were all there , but the least-known anchor, Bill Ryan, delivered what I think is one of the most magnificent television performances in the medium's uneven history. Everybody knows about Cronkite and all, but Ryan's work that day was golden. I was going to check it out for a few minutes but ended it up watching until 3 am. It's all pretty much on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteNikko's pronunciation annoys me as much as realtors who call themselves realators.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of the word! But I earned the degree so I have to say it. I'll work on it.
ReplyDeletebtw - I have a Smart Meter. :)
And Rich.your readers may remember my post about "Mo" president of SJ State? I said at EastbayU he did all he could to cut off that college from the Latino blue collar community. He ignored Latino's I said,he even banned any public parking. It became like a fortress up on the hill. You may also remember one of your right winger trolls challenged a EBU Professor to refute me....and he DID NOT.
ReplyDeleteAnd now at SJ State...
Yeah,tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.
Stan.
No Stan, no one remembers the COMMENT you refer to. The tirade of endless, nonsensical, COMMENTS you leave here are not POSTS. In fact they are rarely even coherent thoughts.
DeleteYou have your own blog - which no one reads - please feel free to continue to post your demented thoughts there. But stop polluting Lieberman's blog with random nonsense, unrelated the topic at hand.
Well,152, Your delusional hate has been refuted quite a few times by Rich's readers. And I always thanks them. Should I ad your commenting on something I wrote?. Too logical for ya?
DeleteSo,how long can you repeat your drivel?. Wasn't it direct enough when Rich said my comments are fine with him? Does Rich need to send you a personal autographed letter?
Now,on the serious side. I did write here that I doubt Mo would reach out to the certain ethnics of San Jose.. And I called that perfectly.
I have seen many, many comments here on 415 Media complaining about Stan's pointless comments. I have never seen any comments from anyone other than Stan suggesting that his comments are interesting, welcome, or even intelligible.
Delete448 Is that same right wing trolls group who follow me..to write they don't read me. I'm glad most Rich readers do enjoy my truths.
DeleteMy blog is up to 24,000 views. Not bad...
Hey,anybody notice those wingnuts never prove me wrong? As many posts as they make.its the same pattern, same message. "We dont want Stan telling the truth."
Here it is not long after the typhoon...and Randich gets a caller who identified himself as a Filipino American. Radnich gets a disgusted look on his face, then says "Oh,then you don't pay taxes". Just a blatant racist statement or joke or however you want to look at it.
ReplyDeleteMore of that Radnich, Asian grudge he has. I think the only difference between Radnich and Bruce is that Bruce rants like he's dead serious,the con artist in Radnich is serious,so he says it like its ALL a joke to keep his job. But,he does meant it.