MR. STEWART describes his job as “throwing spitballs†from the back of the room and points out that “The Daily Show†mandate is to entertain, not inform. Still, he and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day — “the stuff we find most interesting,†as he said in an interview at the show’s Midtown Manhattan offices, the stuff that gives them the most “agita,†the sometimes somber stories he refers to as his “morning cup of sadness.†And they’ve done so in ways that straight news programs cannot: speaking truth to power in blunt, sometimes profane language, while using satire and playful looniness to ensure that their political analysis never becomes solemn or pretentious.
Category: Blog
Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?
Posted by miri On 17 August, 2008
A Game for Life
Posted by miri On 16 August, 2008
Grassroot Soccer project coordinator, Nolusindiso “Titie” Plaatjie, uses soccer to educate South African youth about HIV/AIDS prevention. She describes her childhood in the poverty-stricken city of Port Elizabeth and how soccer gave her the drive to be who she is today.
Giant flying poo!
Posted by miri On 15 August, 2008
Complicated shit hits the fan. (Okay, maybe just powerlines and a greenhouse.)
That’s Sir Penguin!
Posted by miri On 15 August, 2008
You must click through to the photos. Must.
Nils Olav, an Edinburgh Zoo penguin and Colonel-in-Chief of … – Yahoo! News Photos
Nils Olav, an Edinburgh Zoo penguin and Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King’s Guard, an elite unit tasked with protecting the Norwegian royal family, inspects soldiers of his regiment as they visit him in Edinburgh, Scotland, Friday Aug. 15, 2008, where he was presented with a medal.
Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands
Posted by miri On 12 August, 2008
Inexcusable
But when Mr. Ng, who had overstayed a visa years earlier, went to immigration headquarters in Manhattan last summer for his final interview for a green card, he was swept into immigration detention and shuttled through jails and detention centers in three New England states.
In April, Mr. Ng began complaining of excruciating back pain. By mid-July, he could no longer walk or stand. And last Wednesday, two days after his 34th birthday, he died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Rhode Island hospital, his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.
Dreaded Blue Screen of Death strikes Olympics
Posted by miri On 12 August, 2008
Heee!
The world watched in awe as China put on what some say was the best-ever Olympics opening ceremony ever. The proceedings culminated with the lighting of the Olympic torch by one of China’s sporting greats, Li Ning, who was hanging from a wire high above the crowd. Who would have thought that at the same time, one of the stadium’s projectors was displaying the famous Microsoft Blue Screen of Death?
China’s media censored over stabbing
Posted by miri On 12 August, 2008
Chinese journalists have been censored from linking the stabbing murder of an American tourist to the Olympic Games, in direct contravention of promises about media freedom.
Several Chinese reporters had their notebooks and at least one tape recorder confiscated after a news conference held by the US men’s volleyball team.
Study says most corporations pay no U.S. income taxes
Posted by miri On 12 August, 2008
Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.
Nadal Endures the (Non-) Working Press
Posted by miri On 11 August, 2008
NY Times article about how the press at the Olympics is often full of fans. Who knew that accreditation was that haphazzard? Oh wait, that might explain Matt Lauer and Bob Costas….
There are some 5,600 accredited print journalists and more than 16,000 people holding broadcaster accreditations, though many of those seem to be spouses of television executives (you pay a fortune for the broadcast rights, maybe you get to bring the whole family). Apart from television technicians, almost everyone with a media pass round their necks is entitled to hang out in the stadium media areas during the Games, working or not.
Rob Riggle’s off the hook in China
Posted by miri On 10 August, 2008
The Daily Show goes to China – for real!
Riggle and his crew were followed almost everywhere by Chinese police, although only once was a hand placed over a camera lens cap and they were told to go away. It was a moment the comedy writers probably couldn’t have made up: They were filming the outside of a 7-11 convenience store.
Heee!
The reports start airing this week.