Al Jazeera English Blacked Out Across Most Of U.S.

polaris_x

HeidiJam wrote:

good god......... You guys go all up in arms when someone generalizes (race, poor, welfare, etc) that you don't agree with, yet this entire thread (most on here actually) is generalizing all americans as not caring about the world, only if it effects them, or only caring about oil, etc... you guys are pathetic. If you hate america so much, get off of this American band (PJ) board...

does 1 person count as most on here? ... there was a good conversation going until your post ...

Drowned Out

polaris_x wrote:

Jason P wrote:

What, you don't want to have another thread full of thoughtful and considerate thoughts on GW??? :shock:

I don't know about everyone else here, but I've found the Egypt crisis to be fascinating. I do think that the Tunisia uprising flew under the radar but Tunisia was a relatively unknown nation prior to 2011 and it was viewed as an isolated incident. I'm pretty good with world geography and I even had to study the map to find out exactly where it was. Sorta like Botswana. Out of sight, out of mind.

Egypt is at an awkward cross-roads. If Mubarak does step down, does a new group try to gain power? Does the military disband? If an anti-American group takes over, will US aid stop? Will mass starvation take place? Kinda scary.

The second part of this story: How far does this spread? I'm sure the leaders of Iran, Jordan, Yemen (I'm assuming they have leaders and government) and other impoverished nations are sweating this out.

My analysis: The best thing that Mubarak could have done is announced he was resigning in one month and that new elections would be held on March 1st. As it stands now, I think we are headed for a Mexican standoff.

it is fascinating ... part of me feels like those uprisings should be happening here ... although my ideology would like to see open and transparent democracy take its place - i fear that, similar to iran, the fundamentalists will take over and we are trading one regime for another ... i am hoping tunisia will be different from egypt and that of jordan ...

http://www.globalresearch.ca has some good, in depth articles about the situation in Egypt. The head of intelligence, the man recently made VP, is a US puppet. THey have their guy in place already...I've also read that they're playing both sides, so I'm sure they have an opposing leader in their pocket as well. The question is whether or not the Egyptian people are aware of this, and whether they will stand for it.

I agree that this sort of uprising should be happening here...but I posted a link in another thread that I think is the reason this is happening in Egypt: the IMF changing the food credit/distribution program in Egypt. This has left a lot of people without food. If this was strictly about 'regime change, democracy, and wealth redistribution', as we're being consistently told, then yes, the US should be seeing this kind of uprising...seeing as how the imbalance between rich and poor is greater in the US than either Egypt or Tunisia.
But we don't hear about this. Aside from their offer to 'help' (puke), I have not heard one mention of the IMF in the MSM coverage of this.

HeidiJam wrote:

good god......... You guys go all up in arms when someone generalizes (race, poor, welfare, etc) that you don't agree with, yet this entire thread (most on here actually) is generalizing all americans as not caring about the world, only if it effects them, or only caring about oil, etc... you guys are pathetic. If you hate america so much, get off of this American band (PJ) board...

:roll:
If you think we're all pathetic, wtf are you doing here? Nothing sadder than the ol' 'if you don't like it, leave' comment.

MotoDC

Drowned Out wrote:

I agree that this sort of uprising should be happening here...but I posted a link in another thread that I think is the reason this is happening in Egypt: the IMF changing the food credit/distribution program in Egypt. This has left a lot of people without food.

Hunger is one helluva motivator.

Drowned Out wrote:

If this was strictly about 'regime change, democracy, and wealth redistribution', as we're being consistently told, then yes, the US should be seeing this kind of uprising...seeing as how the imbalance between rich and poor is greater in the US than either Egypt or Tunisia.
But we don't hear about this. Aside from their offer to 'help' (puke), I have not heard one mention of the IMF in the MSM coverage of this.

The gap between poor and wealthy may or may not be bigger in the US than in Egypt, but I'd wager the gap between poor in the US and poor in Egypt is pretty big too. That's the key. Until you see white folks hawking their Bimmers for bread, ain't nothin' gonna change in this country.

Jason P

Al-Jazeera's Egyptian office has been burned to the ground. Two Fox News corespondents were severely beaten when a building they retreated into was hit by a fire bomb and forced them back into the mob. A Swedish reporter was stabbed in the back. Someone was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver yesterday. There have been numerous close calls between the media and pro-government supporters, and worst of all, Anderson Cooper is frightened.

(Side note: Cooper claims he has been punched in the head ten times so far ... either Egyptians are horrible at punching people or he is exaggerating)

Murbarak's decision-making in this crises is resembling Andy Reid's time management skills after a 2-minute warning ... in other words, not good.

Drowned Out

MotoDC wrote:

Drowned Out wrote:

I agree that this sort of uprising should be happening here...but I posted a link in another thread that I think is the reason this is happening in Egypt: the IMF changing the food credit/distribution program in Egypt. This has left a lot of people without food.

Hunger is one helluva motivator.

Drowned Out wrote:

If this was strictly about 'regime change, democracy, and wealth redistribution', as we're being consistently told, then yes, the US should be seeing this kind of uprising...seeing as how the imbalance between rich and poor is greater in the US than either Egypt or Tunisia.
But we don't hear about this. Aside from their offer to 'help' (puke), I have not heard one mention of the IMF in the MSM coverage of this.

The gap between poor and wealthy may or may not be bigger in the US than in Egypt, but I'd wager the gap between poor in the US and poor in Egypt is pretty big too. That's the key. Until you see white folks hawking their Bimmers for bread, ain't nothin' gonna change in this country.

I agree...When the middle class starts having trouble obtaining basic neccessities, things will unravel quickly...
But... the first people to be affected by food shortages and a failing economy will (obviously) be the poor.
The difference between the poor here, and the poor in Egypt is that the poor here can, generally, still afford to feed themselves. The food shortages we're seeing now are just the beginning....oil keeps rising, we keep destroying farm land, and mother nature keeps trying to 'shake us off'....
How much would food prices need to inflate for the 45 million Americans living below the poverty line to start having difficulty providing food for their families? I'm betting not much.

Jeanwah

Al-Jazeera, Roku and the Future of Online Video

By Josh Levy, February 9, 2011

When the political upheaval in Egypt erupted late last month, many Americans hoped their cable news networks would be quick to cover the unfolding events. Instead, outlets like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News failed to cover the crisis in Egypt at all, and then struggled to play catch-up with international news organizations.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera English was gaining admirers across the globe for its around-the-clock, in-depth coverage of the protests and politics as they unfolded. The outlet was beating the American news channels at their own game. As the New York Times’ Brian Stelter wrote, “While American television networks were scrambling to move reporters and producers into Cairo, the Al-Jazeera channels were already there.”

Unfortunately, unless you lived in Washington, D.C.; Toledo, OH; or Burlington, VT you couldn’t view Al-Jazeera’s coverage on your TV because the cable operators don’t offer it; you had to settle for a live feed on your computer (if you had access to the broadband to support the stream).

In a better world, the major cable TV operators would be carrying Al-Jazeera English and dozens more news channels. And some notable advocates, including media critic and journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, have called for greater adoption of Al-Jazeera in the U.S. But right now, cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner Cable refuse to carry them, leaving interested viewers — and the public interest — in the lurch.

Then, out of the blue, Roku — the little box that lets you stream HD versions of Netflix, Hulu Plus and dozens more Internet video channels right on your TV — announced it had added the Al-Jazeera English live feed to its news channel. Roku enables cord cutters like me who, in the pursuit of media freedom, gave up expensive cable TV subscriptions to stay tuned to many of the shows and movies they like.

Thanks to its addition of Al-Jazeera English, Roku users around the country can now watch coverage of Egypt in the same manner as those in D.C., Toledo, Burlington, and other parts of the world: on their TVs.

Roku’s move was a thrilling taste of what online TV might look like if big cable loses its grip on channels and viewers. Imagine if more channels, sick of waiting in virtual holding pens to be allowed to join cable lineups, instead just joined up with Roku or one of its competitors. And then imagine if viewers followed these channels off the cable reservation, cut their cords and relied solely on little Internet boxes for their TV content.

It would be a shiny future for online video. Except the cable giants won’t stand for it, and are using all their power to stop it: The cords that pipe in your cable TV also deliver the Internet, and big cable is all too eager to exploit that fact, threatening to throttle or block content they don’t like or that competes with them.

Independent online video efforts are running into problems left and right, and the cable giants are trying to stymie them for as long as possible while they test out their “TV Everywhere” offerings — which is their attempt at rolling out online video services without allowing subscribers to “cut the cord.” Thanks to loopholes in a recent FCC decision, there are a number of ways Comcast and friends could degrade or throttle Netflix, Hulu and other channels offered by Roku.

It’s true that with more innovations like Roku’s addition of Al-Jazeera English, the future of online video could be bright. But if big cable succeeds in squashing competition and stifling innovation, it could also get really, really dark.

haffajappa

HeidiJam wrote:

good god......... You guys go all up in arms when someone generalizes (race, poor, welfare, etc) that you don't agree with, yet this entire thread (most on here actually) is generalizing all americans as not caring about the world, only if it effects them, or only caring about oil, etc... you guys are pathetic. If you hate america so much, get off of this American band (PJ) board...

Pearl Jam is secretly Nigerian