I sometimes watch Fox News Watch. Unfortunately, I missed the segment this past weekend on the supposed “War on Christmas”; not to worry–Crooks and Liars has the video. I liked this response:
Neal: We’re at war, there’s Darfur, there’s an AIDS crisis and you’re worried about whether people should say Merry Christmas? What world do you live in?
Yep, that sums it up. Instead of talking about real issues, this is the rightists’ seasonal wedge issue trotted out to fire up the base.
The discovery of two large pieces of the Titanic’s hull on the ocean floor indicates that the fabled luxury liner sank faster than previously thought, researchers said Monday.
This part is funny:
Explorer Robert Ballard found the bulk of the wreck in 1985, at a depth of 13,000 feet and about 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Ballard was not impressed with the expedition’s find.
“They found a fragment, big deal,” he said. “Am I surprised? No. When you go down there, there’s stuff all over the place. It hit an iceberg and it sank. Get over it.”
Interesting how Mr. Ballard is so cavalier about the matter now. Where was this “the ship sunk–get over it” attitude a few years ago when he was involved in a multi-million dollar venture investigating the debris field?
In case you, like me, wondered about this but were too lazy to do the math:
The average price of printing a 4-by-6 at home is 27 cents, if you include the costs of photo paper and ink but not the printer, according to IDC. The retail segment, stores like Walgreen or Costco, has an average price of 21 cents a print. For online photo services like Kodakgallery.com, Shutterfly.com or Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Snapfish.com, the average price is 30 cents, including shipping.
I’ve had a digital camera for over a year and have not bought a photo printer. Frankly, I’ve only printed a few pictures–to give away; by and large, I just burn them onto CDs. But even if I did make a lot of hard copies, this suggests it just as cheap to let someone else print them.
CBS has yet to make its move, but it seems pretty clear to me that NBC is the only broadcast network not experiencing a notable drop off in replacing its big anchor.
I haven’t seen a lot of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff, but they both seem mediocre. Moreover, they don’t strike me as having the kind of on-screen presence to gracefully handle the havoc of an breaking news/extended-coverage type event.
It’s pretty bad when you have to lower the goalposts at photo ops.
Bill O’Reilly and company at Fox News Channel have been have been firing on all cylinders recently trying to push their current wedge issue: the secularists’ assault on Christmas. A commonly-cited example of this so-called attack is how many retail stores greet customers with “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” In fact, on Tuesday Mr. O’Reilly had this advice to retailers:
Every company in America should be on its knees thanking Jesus for being born. Without Christmas, most American businesses would be far less profitable. More than enough reason for business to be screaming Merry Christmas.
Apparently, business guru O’Reilly needs to shout his message a wee bit louder. As Keith Olbermann pointed out tonight, if you go to The Fox News Shop, among other items in the “Holiday Collection,” you can select the following:
Holiday Ideas
The O’Reilly Factor Holiday Ornament – Product #:FOX21001200
Put your holiday tree in “The No Spin Zone” with this silver glass “O’Reilly Factor” ornament.
“Holiday Ideas”? “A holiday tree”? Oh, the humanity–the secularists have secured a beachhead at the Fox News website!
Better add The Fox News Shop to that Christmas Enemies List, immediately.
UPDATE: Screen shots from website here.
