Sesame Street/Elmo

[ls317]

The following release was issued by Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, this morning, following a sharp budget cut by the House Appropriations Committee to public television funding.

In response to Republican efforts to reduce federal funding for children’s public television programs such as Sesame Street and Arthur, Sen. Lautenberg (D-.N.J), a grandfather of ten children, sent a message to his Republican colleagues; “Pick on somebody your own size.”


http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Senator_GOP_targets_Elmo_and_Sesame_Street_for_destr_0610.html

[rkc3]

1. Now that O'Reilly is writing children's books, we can do away with

Sesame Street.

[ls317]

3. Kids TV

If that clown is writing a book my child will not be reading it.Besides is he going to write "My Pet Goat part 2

[rkc3]

14. See the O'Reilly Factor for Kids at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060544244/qid=1118427152/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-8600507-0300603

Enjoy the recommendations. Keep a bucket handy, or better yet a 55-gallon drum.

[FreedomAngel82]

31. I remember not too long ago

Franken had this guy on his show who was a pre-teen and was talking about O'Reilly's book and the kid basically said that the book was very boring and he (O'Reilly) talked about himself a lot. He also read Franken's book and liked it a lot better.

[Rex]

46. LOL! Look at this review of O'Lperv's book!

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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Bloviate THIS: You've Entered The Pompous Yet Unsound Zone!!, June 4, 2005
Reviewer: Girolamo Savonarola's Religious Vengeance "Let Them Hate Us As Long As They FEAR Us" (Suck me through barbed screen; anger becomes our queen) - See all my reviews

Unlike most subhuman varmint of the nether regions of reactionary liberalism/socialism who robotically tarnish O'Reilly because of surrender to their stupidly hysterical misguidance that he's a "conservative," I actually did my homework by squandering my precious time with O'Reilly's infantile attempt at child psychology and am a reliable Factor watcher--meaning I'm more credible if I criticize O'Reilly than some commie, peacenik socialist-leftie who does so as a reflex action. As much as it disheartens me to admit this since I firmly believe O'Reilly--unlike the elitist, derisively pro-terrorist and anti-American, anti-profiling, anti-Patriot Act liberal/mainstream media--cares unmistakably deeply about his viewers/readers and the impact of open and fair government on them. Nonetheless, despite O'Reilly may well also care about teenagers, his "book" impersonates more a cash-out exploitation of his name-brand status to sucker gullible kids into buying his elementarily unoriginal advice-doling.

One glaringly culpable criterion for identifying that this book is more exploitation of his fame to sell books with a subtly different gimmick is the awkwardly disdainful tone; O'Reilly frequently abuses the pejorative disparagement of "kid" when referring to his readers--I bet a grave miscalculation of the self-righteous "child psychologist" Charles Flowers. Likewise derogatively backfiring is the insincerely patronizing tone of the book with O'Reilly relentlessly "magnanimously" second-guessing his basic advice to the teenagers by virtue of admitting his teenage audience MAY know better--but to seasoned cynicism, is merely reverse psychology to get a purportedly argumentative/arrogant teenager to reconsider!!!!

Subordinating the preceding argument of the book's derisive nature is O'Reilly's misguided advice resulting in the dreadful habit of presuming to talk to teenagers in language other than straightforward frankness. Censurably, he even has to invent a new, gimmicky tactic of "communicating" with the teens he supposes to help in the book via a hinderingly crippled method of "instant messaging." In this bothersome misguidance, O'Reilly actually gallingly interrupts pages of the book which already suffers from enormously monstrous font and quintuple spacing with pages-long entries he impudently dubs an "instant message," but these misfortunately consist of nothing more than tritely obvious observations about whom he considers pinheads and "smart operators." Ironically displeasing, O'Reilly also devises more hampering ACRONYMS consisting of several letters as code, which overrides the whole point of the "instant message," to convey what he misguidedly (again, likely wretched advice from Charles Flowers) misallocates as "hip" or "trendy" figures of speech to bait who he assumes are gullible teenagers who won't be able to communicate if there's no gimmick attached. O'Reilly goes uncontrollably overboard with phrases like "If you know what I mean" (IYKWIM), the wearily cheesy "Don't even go there" (DEGT), and the always winning and distortedly meandering "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, like I believe that one!" (YYSSLIBTO).

The thesis of the book's the faithless effort to impart some half-decent life advice to the teenagers--unluckily, O'Reilly and Flowers recycle trite "advice" which is commonplace in proverbs as their life "lessons" for poor teenagers. O'Reilly and Flowers basically usurped and patented age-old, common sense "advice" as their own so they could invent enough insubstantive fodder to fill an easy-reader, short book!!!! O'Reilly's "advice" about money, drugs, alcohol, schoolwork, respect, work ethic, dressing, TV, bullies, teachers, religion, etc. is so fundamental that a victimized teenager who's misfortunate enough to read the book WILL have heard proverbs among each subject repeated to him endlessly already by his parents, teachers, and pop culture in general. For instance, O'Reilly echoes the after-school-special mantra that bullies are cowards. WOW!!!! The unsympathetically crushing price of 25 bucks for a cheap, paper-thin book doesn't defend the humiliatingly sparse impersonation of "advice" volunteered by O'Reilly. Other times, O'Reilly encourages teenage readers to use empathy to try and see the situation from an opponent's point of view as a maneuver to solve a predicament. Chances are unless you're a psychopath, you've already begun to empathize/analyze conflicts from another's point of view as a natural development of logic and don't need O'Reilly self-righteousness to tell you. Or, dealing with money and respect of it, O'Reilly abuses common knowledge and sense to actually audaciously instruct teens to value it by way of hard work ethic and not let it own you by tumultuously blowing it on credit or at the mall. Again, whose parents haven't informed their kids of this lesson, and teenagers who still abuse credit and develop dilapidated consumer habits do so willfully out of misjudgment, not due to an absence of O'Reilly Advice!!!!

I also suspect the book empowers O'Reilly to show off with his "personal" stories. Arrogantly, at the onset of another imitative lesson, O'Reilly first shares his own personal experiences, many of which are disappointingly ordinary or widely applicable to other scenarios. As such, his scope isn't always applicable to whatever "lesson" about life he's imparting to the teens. Suspiciously, many "personal" stories of O'Reilly always emerge as complimentary portraits; for instance, his entrepreneurial knack for painting houses, his refusal to take drugs, and his service as a little altar boy. To be fair, his intent was noble, except the execution really impersonates some form of ego trip.

I've more credibility to derogate this book because I genuinely like O'Reilly and his show's mission, but I fear for the poor, gullible, deceived teenager who not only wastes money on this exploitative massaging of O'Reilly's ego but also believes this book can help. Only if they've been isolated from society would a teenager not have come across the basic common sense tools O'Reilly regurgitates here. If anything, since his book is so repetitive, this tome would be useful ONLY for a brainwashing of what kind of proper and principled life choices to make, as O'Reilly faithfully drills the repeat message of education, respect for others, hard work, charity and self-esteem. Other than that, the book's miserably useless; its most interesting parts for this sophisticatedly experienced adult reading it only out of sneering curiosity at the teen turmoil years are disclosure about O'Reilly's personality. Did you know O'Reilly used to drive cabs????

:rofl:

[ComerPerro]

8. That's always bothered me

Why is a perverted sex offender like Bill OReiley allowed to write Children's books?


Somebody PLEASE think of the children!

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. Lynne Cheney has written some

kids books too. First she wrote that horrid lesbian love story novel then she delved into kiddy lit.

And rest assured I AM thinking of the children. Cheney's books are NOT in my classroom, neither is O'Reilly's. :)

[ComerPerro]

40. You didn't buy "The Factor For Kids" for your students?

Why not? :shrug:

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. I already had the Judge Judy book

and figured that was enough crappy propaganda in my classroom.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0060294833.01._PIdp-schmooS,TopRight,7,-26_PE32_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[UdoKier]

2. On a different note - Elmo has DESTROYED Sesame Street.

I won't even let my kids watch it anymore. When we were kids, Sesame Street was a great program, but they have amped it up with quick-cut editing and hyperactive segments, the worst of which is "Elmo's World". He acts like he's on meth, and is so desperate to entertain, I really dislike him.

We pretty much only let them watch the Japanese kid's show "With Mother", which has slower, more kid-friendly pacing, nice songs, etc., and the reruns of Mr. Rogers.

If I could get some tapes of the old Sesame Street from the 70s and the Electric Company, I'd let them watch that. Most kids' TV, including "educational" TV today is the pits.

[GiovanniC]

6. I Like Elmo

Or as my daughter used to call him, "Melmo."

He's the crack that gets the kids hooked on Sesame Street. He's the tasty frosting on the good-for-you shredded wheat.

[UdoKier]

11. I have to disagree.

Hyperactive editing and amped-up shows totally sabotage the learning process. Kids' eyes glaze over and retain NOTHING from that kind of programming. TV is never as good as a learning tool as books or interaction with a teacher or a parent, but good educational programming needs to involve the child in one way or another. Blues Clues does this okay, and Sesame has copied that with their Ernie segments, but the show overall is worse than it was. I really miss the neighborhood feeling they created on the show. You still see Gordon, etc. but it's not as good as it was. And to tell the truth, my kids don't really like Sesame Street anyway. The smaller one used to like Barney, though. The robotic kids and simpering dino are not my cup of tea, but I do like what the show teaches, and the pacing is better. I despise teletubbies, though.

[GiovanniC]

20. You're Free To Your Opinion

But Sesame Street really helped teach her colors, alphabet, numbers, sounds, and quite a few other things too.

[rkc3]

12. My daughter called him Melmo too. Forgot about that until just now.

Thanks for the smile.

[Telly Savalas]

44. Mine called him "elbow"

[LibertyLover]

45. My kidlet

calls Elmo "Mo". Of course, she also calls Nemo "Mo", so sometimes it's a bit difficult determining which creature she's talking about. Sometimes the visuals help - like if she's wearing her Nemo hat or carrying her Elmo doll. Othertimes husband and I just nod wisely.

[smartvoter]

29. There is a VERY IMPORTANT thread on this over here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3426778&mesg_id=3426778

[Sequoia]

39. I like his pet fish and Mr. Noodle

When he'd spotlight something he'd have the say, Bicycle Channel, all bicycles all the time. I'd like a Western Channel. Wait I think there's one out there already but I don't get it. :cry:

[teenagebambam]

26. God, I'd pay good money....

....for DVDs of old-school Sesame Street.

I have heard that Electric Company DVDs are coming out in the not-too-distant future. Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno, yeah baby!

[rkc3]

34. "Put Down the Duckie" still gets played in my house - usually after the

kids go to bed and I can watch it in peace.

That's a great video, every adult should own it for stress relief.

[FreedomAngel82]

32. I remember being

in elementary school and every morning when we'd get to school the teacher (this is in kindegarten) had on Seasme Street and then Mr. Rogers. Back then it was okay but my Mom said my brother and I were never interested in it at home (I guess we were burnt out during school). I personally like "Aruthr's." It's really cute.

[Horse with no Name]

Elmo teaches bad habits

My granddaughter ran around with crayons coloring on everything when she saw Elmo do it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. Elmo on meth?

Now that is a funny visual picture. LOL

[Sequoia]

4. There's many of those fundies who hate Seasme Street because

of all the poor brown and black children from New York that are on the show.

[AspenRose]

7. *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding*

Annnnd we have a winnah!

[ComerPerro]

15. And the bigger reason as well

It teaches kids to accept all types of people and teaches kids about tolerance and diversity.

[FreedomAngel82]

33. Yep

I remember seeing a commercial or something about Seasame Street and they were singing songs with various singers about diversity and getting along with each other. My favorite on there has always been Big Bird. ;)

[insane_cratic_gal]

5. And Tinkie Winkie

Still carries a red purse, Falwell & Dobson called him a fag for it.

Maybe that is the real reason why Repukes have targeted PBS, have to get rid of all of those Fag loving characters.

:crazy:

[losdiablosgato]

9. We need to cut spending somewhere

This is a good place to start. Don't get me worng there is a lot of fat a waste in the budget, but this is no longer necessary. You now have a lot more channels to choose from.

[lectrobyte]

10. Cut Sesame Street, but luckily we have $300M to pay for propaganda

contractors

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050607-063904-7206r.htm

Washington, DC, Jun. 7 (UPI) -- The Pentagon granted $300 million in contracts Tuesday to companies to help develop materials for psychological operations in Iraq and elsewhere.

[losdiablosgato]

17. This needs cutting too.

We need a balanced budget. Period.

[UdoKier]

13. I'm pretty sure that Sesame Street is financially self-sufficient.

Children's Television Workshop is a MAJOR cash cow for PBS.

[losdiablosgato]

18. I would cut all federal funding for PBS

We need a balanced budget. That will mean more taxes and less spending. Period.

As for the CTW I am sure one of the networks would be glad to pick it up.

[ls317]

21. PBS

I am sorry I am going to have to disagree with you on that one.PBS has been a staple of American Children for the past 30 plus years.
There are some good shows on it,there are some shows that suck....Trust me I have seen them all being the father of a 7 year old.
I have an idea that will save money,how about bring the troops home now..??
There is 9 billion dollars that is unaccounted for because of the war.. But hell lets get rid of ELMO???

[losdiablosgato]

25. So?

There are a lot more channels now. It does not need gov. support.

We need to cut spend.

[UdoKier]

42. They are all commercial channels with a corporate viewpoint.

Again I ask, why are you opposed to non-corporate viewpoints on TV?

Do you think ANYTHING should be financed by the public for the common good, or do you favor all roads having tolls (run by private companies of course), all parks would be for profit? Do you agree with Sen. Santorum that the National Weather Service should no longer be able to put its forecasts on its website?

If not, you are not a democrat or a progressive. You may be a libertarian or a republican but not a democrat. You cannot be one without believing that there are certain services that should be provided by the government for the COMMON good.

I actually think PBS should not be allowed to take ANY corporate funding and should be free of corporate and political influence. It should be nonpartisan and serve the public good.

[UdoKier]

22. That would mean PBS would cease to exist.

As it is, PBS's news hour is already influenced heavily by its corporate "donors".

If it relied exclusively on corporate donations, it would be no different than commercial TV, IE completely whored-out. Why are you against people having access to a news source that is not controlled by huge corporations? Do you like having your news censored to suit their agenda?

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. Good point

Cutting PBS is hardly the solution here. How about cutting down on spending in Iraq by ending the useless war we began over there?

[insane_cratic_gal]

24. you want balance

Let get BushINC out of office.

Lets get our troops home. Lets find the 9billion lost in Iraq.

[rinsd]

35. Yup...

..I could see shifting funding from Seasame Street to other PBS ventures though.

[insane_cratic_gal]

16. Who is WE?

"We need to cut spending somewhere"

We don't get a say in much do we?nd WE aren't in a position to cut anything, given congress and senate because WE don't have that sort of power.

[losdiablosgato]

19. I meant the country as a whole.

[insane_cratic_gal]

23. Pork items then

Congress this past year approved more than 10,600 ‘pork’ items totaling nearly $23 billion – a 13 percent increase over the previous year – at a time when the federal deficit surpassed $422 billion and the national debt topped $7.5 trillion.

What about the 9 billion lost in Iraq?

Republicans need to answer those questions before they even get a pass on cutting Elmo off.

Frankly, Elmo is brighter then Bush, i'd much rather watch a furry red thing.

[losdiablosgato]

27. I want them all cut.

It is time to cut the pork and the waste.

[Lars39]

28. You do realize that the US military budget in one year will equal

all of the rest of the world's military budget?
Public television is a very small drop in the bucket.

[losdiablosgato]

30. Cut it too.

We need a lot of cuts. Ad sacred cows make the best burgers.

[UdoKier]

43. You might find the libertarian party more to your liking.

Democrats generally believe that the government should provide services for the common good.