The world revolves around Paris Hilton, apparently.

[Keavy]

Right now its 12:10 PM and the top story on the noon news involved Paris Hilton and they're still talking about that waste of life!

12: 13 - Oh. My. God. Paris has to go back to jail and she's throwing a fit. Oh, and they're now showing AP press photos of her in the back of the cop car bawling. I guess those were taken when she was removed from her home.

12: 15 - They now have a fifteen-year-old girl on the phone talking about how she feels about this. There has to be something more important going on somewhere in the world. How f***ing slow of a newsday is this?!?

Ok, after 16 full minutes of Paris-palooza they're finally talking about something else.

I'm normally against the death penalty but in the case of Paris Hilton, I fully support it. Oh, and f*** the eighth amendment. Her execution should be like something out of the Saw movies.

[ScarlettPheonix]

heh, I was at the gym watching CNN Headlines scroll over the TV screen around that time (had my MP3 turned way way up so didn't hear the newscast)- up here it was mostly about the BoSox's latest game and just general news stories, stock market report, etc.

I'm interested in celebrity gossip as much as the next person, but yea, this entire situation is just insane. Since sunday all the gossip columns have had day to day details of her "life behind bars" and how everyone supporting her is saying that she "got a raw deal."

Personally, I think the judge made the right call back in may and can't imagine why the Sherriff Department overruled the judge's original descision.

[Tivia]

Well at least they bloody stopped talking about Anna Nicole...not that this is much better.

This would be why I get most of my news off the net, because I can ignore stupid non news crap like this easier.

Honestly I still think this whole situation and the pathetic sentence she got is proof why our justice system is really failing miserably.

[Shirai]

huh? who?

Same as the next person, I tend to ignore attention whores.
Anyway, back to jail!

[Keavy]

huh? who?

Same as the next person, I tend to ignore attention whores.
Anyway, back to jail!

Are you serious about not knowing who she is or are you joking?

Oh, and Scarlett, I was watching the local newscast. They call themselves the station where news comes first so apparently this was newsworthy enough to go on for 16 minutes. Oh, and I heard they devoted the entire 6:30 PM newscast to this story, too.

I just wonder why its such a big deal to everyone. Paris Hilton isn't that attractive, her only real talent seems to be getting into trouble, and from what I hear all she's done in her 26 years that is really noteworthy is start the whole "Celebutante" craze and make a wildly popular sex tape.

[Shirai]

huh? who?

Same as the next person, I tend to ignore attention whores.
Anyway, back to jail!

Are you serious about not knowing who she is or are you joking?

I know who she is,
it's just that when I see so much useless crap about someone in the newspapers, (And yes even in Holland the newspapers are full of that (...) ), I tend to ignore any headline that shows that name.

[Sugami]

There has to be something more important going on somewhere in the world. How f***ing slow of a newsday is this?!?

Of course there is but it's outside of America and/or doesn't effect America so your news people don't care about it.

Zing!

[ScarlettPheonix]

Hell, they don't care too much about stuff that does affect our country at times.

[Vatrina]

It may be insanely annoying to follow all that celeb gossip, but which is better really: hearing about some spoiled brat who should really spend a few years in jail instead of 40 days, or hearing about some psycho who kidnapped and killed a dozen people?

Personally I'll take the celeb gossip, the regular "newsworthy" stuff is just depressing and disgusting.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

You must understand that in spending 16 minuets on Paris, the news broadcast avoided giving us stories about the debacle in Iraq, our coming war with Iran, or the President's failures at the G 8 summit.

Cleb gossip is vitally important in keeping the US population isolated and ignorant.

[JediKitsune]

TV, even news, is all about the ratings.

[Sugami]

Over here we have 2 news casts back to back on the BBC; the first is national so it'll cover anything in the world and the second is regional so it'll usually only be about stuff in the region.
BBC news is completely unbiased, uncut, etc. it's everything you guys really should get for news.

[ScarlettPheonix]

CNN used to be like that, but now its getting pretty biased and the other news networks don't even bother to pretend

[Igihstehr]

CNN used to be like that, but now its getting pretty biased and the other news networks don't even bother to pretend

The only news I watch now is Univision - mostly because I can't understand most of it, which is oddly comforting and because the anchors, in general are just prettier.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

BBC news is completely unbiased, uncut, etc. it's everything you guys really should get for news.

Sorry, I listen to BBC radio news regularly on PBS. Were BBC as unbiased as you believe, you would have never joined us in the Iraq debacle. And Tony would have stepped down years ago. In the pre war reportage they were as unbiased as Fox, in post war reporting they covered Tony's butt (and therefore Bush's) like a set of knitted boxers.

Your sports news isn't unbiased either. Even a non sports fan can detect a leaning toward Manchester United in BBC reporting. (Query: how many non Brits can name a British soccer team that is NOT Manchester?)

[Keavy]

I found my Christmas card photo.

[Sugami]

Sorry, I listen to BBC radio news regularly on PBS. Were BBC as unbiased as you believe, you would have never joined us in the Iraq debacle. And Tony would have stepped down years ago. In the pre war reportage they were as unbiased as Fox, in post war reporting they covered Tony's butt (and therefore Bush's) like a set of knitted boxers.

Your sports news isn't unbiased either. Even a non sports fan can detect a leaning toward Manchester United in BBC reporting. (Query: how many non Brits can name a British soccer team that is NOT Manchester?)

What?! You think Blair ever paid attention to the news and there was very little that would make him step down, he enjoyed being PM too much.

I believe we held opinion polls before and after the war on Iraq and both times were heavily in favour of not going in. Only reason why he sent our military in is because he is/was Bush's lap dog.

Leaning towards Man U? You got to be kidding. Everybody hates Man U unless you're a glory hunter Sports "news" is no more than a read off of scores and a very brief summary of the game.
Try Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool (the other top clubs in the premier league).

P.S. It's "football" not "soccer", bloody yanks. The rest of the world calls it football, why can't you?!

[ScarlettPheonix]

For the same reasons why we don't use the metric system, the celsius scale, and insist on spelling some words different then you Brits I guess.


To irritate you.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Under your parliamentary system, you can have a vote of "no confidence" which will force the PM to call new elections. I know that under a vote of no confidence in some countries the PM can step down instead of calling for new elections, but don't know if England has that system.

So IMHO, had your news pushed the popular view rather than the official one, your MPs would have felt the heat. The heat would have been passed along to Tony. Labor MPs would cheerfully cut Tony's throat to keep their seats, and everyone else would see no problem in voting no confidence.

You STILL have Princess Di in the headlines while scandals are swept under a rug or ignored.

You think Blair ever paid attention to the news and there was very little that would make him step down

Were your news not as muzzled as ours, there would have been. There SHOULD have been. But the people who own the news in both our countries wanted this war, and it seems still want it.

[Eviticus]

Of course they do. Not for some shadow organization's benefit, or for big oil, but because tragedy sells. Turn on the news. If one man saves 2 people's lives, and another man shoots 2 people in broad daylight, which gets more air time? Which is a national story?

And who cares if the US calls it soccer. We still suck at it. Every child differs from it's parent nation, and most times alters the language. That's how we got Spanish, French, and Italian out of Latin and English out of Latin and German. Everyone speaks a butchered language these days, the only original people are the San Bushmen in Africa who speak Ju/’hoan. The oldest people and language in the world still surviving.

[Sugami]

For the same reasons why we don't use the metric system, the celsius scale, and insist on spelling some words different then you Brits I guess.


To irritate you.

Hehe no I think the reason is a lot simpler. You guys are stupid! (and I mean that in a nice way, kinda) Our football we actually use our feet, like, all the time. Your version only use every now and then And why do you call it the "World Series" when only North America is in it?
And as for spelling, further proof to my theory. Oh no that spelling looks weird so lets simplify it!

Under your parliamentary system, you can have a vote of "no confidence" which will force the PM to call new elections. I know that under a vote of no confidence in some countries the PM can step down instead of calling for new elections, but don't know if England has that system.

So the parliament would call for a vote of "no confidence"? And who controls the parliament? Wouldn't that be the PM? Hmm... Bytheway I'm pretty sure the PM has "control" over the whole of Great Britain, not just England

So IMHO, had your news pushed the popular view rather than the official one, your MPs would have felt the heat. The heat would have been passed along to Tony. Labor MPs would cheerfully cut Tony's throat to keep their seats, and everyone else would see no problem in voting no confidence.

I'm pretty sure they did. There was a lot on the news about fake reports on Iraq and the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction etc. but Blair kinda shrugged them all off said he was acting on what information he had or some crap, I dunno. As for the rest of Labour they were probably all whipped by Blair or realised that they still needed him or something.

When there was something "scandalous" about the BBC, did they not put it on their own news? No, it was there. The director general or whatever got fired over something about Iraq I think. The government doesn't own the BBC, they are pretty impartial.

The public could hate Blair (like right now) but it'd take something pretty drastic for him to step down. The public also seems to have a very short memory, before the last election Blair and Labour f*cked up big a few times but alas they all seemed to forget about it in time for the election.

And who cares if the US calls it soccer.

I care you bloody yank! Stop butchering our language!

[Vatrina]

Hehe no I think the reason is a lot simpler. You guys are stupid! (and I mean that in a nice way, kinda) Our football we actually use our feet, like, all the time. Your version only use every now and then And why do you call it the "World Series" when only North America is in it?

I like Football. The European kind not the American kind where all sorts of 300 lb sweaty guys beat on each other for an hour.

The way I see it, americans don't care about sports unless one of our teams is labeled the "Word Champions." Hence the World Series, Super Bowl (winning team is labeled the world champion), etc. Nobody cares about Hockey cuz the winning team is the Stanley Cup Champion. Therefore since the US football team sucks, nobody really cares since we are never World Champions.

[Keavy]

Under your parliamentary system, you can have a vote of "no confidence" which will force the PM to call new elections. I know that under a vote of no confidence in some countries the PM can step down instead of calling for new elections, but don't know if England has that system.

So the parliament would call for a vote of "no confidence"? And who controls the parliament? Wouldn't that be the PM? Hmm... Bytheway I'm pretty sure the PM has "control" over the whole of Great Britain, not just England

So IMHO, had your news pushed the popular view rather than the official one, your MPs would have felt the heat. The heat would have been passed along to Tony. Labor MPs would cheerfully cut Tony's throat to keep their seats, and everyone else would see no problem in voting no confidence.

I'm pretty sure they did. There was a lot on the news about fake reports on Iraq and the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction etc. but Blair kinda shrugged them all off said he was acting on what information he had or some crap, I dunno. As for the rest of Labour they were probably all whipped by Blair or realised that they still needed him or something.

When there was something "scandalous" about the BBC, did they not put it on their own news? No, it was there. The director general or whatever got fired over something about Iraq I think. The government doesn't own the BBC, they are pretty impartial.

The public could hate Blair (like right now) but it'd take something pretty drastic for him to step down. The public also seems to have a very short memory, before the last election Blair and Labour f*cked up big a few times but alas they all seemed to forget about it in time for the election.

And that's different from the U.S. and any of our presidents how?

No matter how badly the Iraq war goes Bush will be remembered as the guy who got us through 9/11 and killed Saddam Hussein. For the record, Clinton had to deal with an attack on the World Trade Center in his first month in office (Thanks to Reagan and Bush Sr's lack of counter-terrorism) then again in 1996 under Clinton we were attacked by homegrown terrorists (That one is thanks to the idiots in Washington who seem to think that only people with a skin tone darker than Khaki are capable of committing terrorist attacks) oh, and then there's the foiled terrorist attack on the Lincoln tunnel. Then, in 2000, after the attack on the U.S.S. Cole Clinton's watch over Osama Bin Laden intensified and his staff gave everything they knew about him to Bush's staff who most likely never looked at it because if they had the towers probably still would be standing and September 11, 2001 would be remembered as just another Tuesday.

Also, I have to ask Sugami since he's the only Brit who posts here actively: Do you guys have any political windbag talkshow hosts over there that are immensely popular? People like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter?

[ScarlettPheonix]

Don't forget Bill O'Rielly- gods he irritates me the most out of all of them.

Also, you missed two terrorist attacks during the Clinton Administration- the two embassies in Africa were both blown up in 1998 (I was in basic at the time and I remember the Snr. Drill calling us in to tell us about them) and I believe Al Qaeda eventually came out to claim responsibility for those attacks.

Clinton's response- Stealth bombers doing a bombing run into Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda camps. We all know how successful those were

What led up to 9-11 was a variety of missteps on several administrations parts as well as the typical bureaucratic morass that has invaded both the FBI and CIA over the years, where superiors refuse to pass along vital reports/information that their field agents gathered in an effort to keep their own jobs safe.

Unfortunately, the US gov't/agencies have a history of not wanting to rock the boat or cry wolf about potential threats which all too often comes back to bite us some way or another.

[Okuza]

The USA has been very carefully cultivating enemies in the 3rd world since the 1950s. It's really not all that surprising that there would be some negative repercussions from what we've been doing for such a long period of time. I'm just thankful that there's no oil in North Korea.

The news industry as a whole really disgusts me, but the American news media even more so than foreign. American news media is the only one world-wide that seems to prefer pretending that the rest of the world does not exist.

--

BTW, who is Paris Hilton and why should I care that she's getting arrested?

[Sugami]

Nobody cares about Hockey cuz the winning team is the Stanley Cup Champion.

I care about the Hockey, I stayed up till 4am watching the last game of the Stanley Cup, go Ducks!

And that's different from the U.S. and any of our presidents how?

Umm... I never said it was.

No matter how badly the Iraq war goes Bush will be remembered as the guy who got us through 9/11 and killed Saddam Hussein.

And the Blair administration will be remembered (and critised) as the government that sent our men into Iraq more than anything else, although he doesn't really have anything good to add to his name anyways. Spent millions on the NHS... but it still sucks.

Also, I have to ask Sugami since he's the only Brit who posts here actively: Do you guys have any political windbag talkshow hosts over there that are immensely popular? People like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter?

I have no idea who those people are. We have a comedy quiz/panel show that's about the current news called "Have I Got News For You", that's very popular and they do talk about a lot of political crap too.

I'm just thankful that there's no oil in North Korea.

You kidding? Bush wouldn't attack Korea when there isn't a certainty of "winning".

BTW, who is Paris Hilton and why should I care that she's getting arrested?

You kidding? That stupid slut who's the daughter of the guy who owns all the Hilton hotels and stuff. She was on that stupid show with another stupid blonde where they "worked" on a farm, "The Simple Life"(?) and she had some sex tapes released on the internet or something.
And in answer to the last question; no you shouldn't care.

[Fiye]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jhWDYtDqU

More fuel to the flame.

Go to 1:26

[Keavy]

Sug, I'll see if I can track down some Bill O'Reilly/Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter and post it here so you'll know what I'm talking about.

Bill O'Reilly's rants about things he doesn't understand are freaking hilarious and the only reason I watch his show.

Oh, and Mr. O'Reilly's the ass who got pissed at the kid whose dad died in 9/11 who was anti-war and told him to: "Get the f*** off my stage or i'll kill you!"

[Sugami]

Must have been a slow week for Ellen

[Pheonixhawk]

News? What the hell is news? *Go back to playing on his Nintendo DS*