In: Business
25 Aug 2009For numerous reasons, Christoph Blocher is well known in Switzerland. Not only has he made a fortune estimated at USD 1.4 b, but also does he make waves with his politics. He had been a member of the Swiss parliament for 24 years before he was elected member of the Federal Council in 2003.
Blocher was not re-elected by the Swiss parliament in 2007, and has been in opposition to the Swiss government since. He is the party leader of SVP (Schweizerische Volks-Partei), but has never presided it.
Of particular interest are Blocher’s principles of leadership which is often criticized as out-dated, conservative, and military. We have to admit, however, that Blocher’s biography is proof of the opposite.
His maxims of life may be summarized in 10 points:
In: Living
25 Aug 2009“For too long atheism has been the belief system that dare not speak its name,” so says my guest today; a world renowned scientist who has set out to debunk the world’s monotheistic religions. His book, The God Delusion, has sold more than a million copies and prompted a deluge of criticism.
Is this brand of muscular atheism any less fundamentalist than the religions it seeks to replace?
In: Entertainment
25 Aug 2009
“Young people starting out in television sometimes say to me: ‘I want to be you.’ My stock reply is always: ‘Then you have to take the whole package.’”
And now, at last, the most important woman in the history of television journalism gives us that “whole package,” in her inspiring and riveting memoir. After more than forty years of interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds, Barbara Walters has turned her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that shaped her extraordinary life.
Barbara Walters’s perception of the world was formed at a very early age. Her father, Lou Walters, was the owner and creative mind behind the legendary Latin Quarter nightclub, and it was his risk-taking lifestyle that gave Barbara her first taste of glamour. It also made her aware of the ups and downs, the insecurities, and even the tragedies that can occur when someone is willing to take great risks, for Lou Walters didn’t just make several fortunes—he also lost them. Barbara learned early about the damage that such an existence can do to relationships—between husband and wife as well as between parent and child. Through her roller-coaster ride of a childhood, Barbara had a close companion, her mentally challenged sister, Jackie. True, Jackie taught her younger sister much about patience and compassion, but Barbara also writes honestly about the resentment she often felt having a sister who was so “different” and the guilt that still haunts her.
All of this—the financial responsibility for her family, the fear, the love—played a large part in the choices she made as she grew up: the friendships she developed, the relationships she had, the marriages she tried to make work. Ultimately, thanks to her drive, combined with a decent amount of luck, she began a career in television. And what a career it has been! Against great odds, Barbara has made it to the top of a male-dominated industry. She was the first woman cohost of the Today show, the first female network news coanchor, the host and producer of countless top-rated Specials, the star of 20/20, and the creator and cohost of The View. She has not just interviewed the world’s most fascinating figures, she has become a part of their world. These are just a few of the names that play a key role in Barbara’s life, career, and book: Yasir Arafat, Warren Beatty, Menachem Begin, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Roy Cohn, the Dalai Lama, Princess Diana, Katharine Hepburn, King Hussein, Angelina Jolie, Henry Kissinger, Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, Rosie O’Donnell, Christopher Reeve, Anwar Sadat, John Wayne . . . the list goes on and on.
Barbara Walters has spent a lifetime auditioning: for her bosses at the TV networks, for millions of viewers, for the most famous people in the world, and even for her own daughter, with whom she has had a difficult but ultimately quite wonderful and moving relationship. This book, in some ways, is her final audition, as she fully opens up both her private and public lives. In doing so, she has given us a story that is heartbreaking and honest, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always fascinating.
Melody Barnes, the President’s Director of the Domestic Policy Council, debunks the malicious myth that reform would encourage or even require euthanasia for seniors.
In: Business
25 Aug 2009This is what claims a recently released documentary, called OutFOXed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.
The name, OutFOXed, alludes to the Fox News Channel (FNC) which in the United States is rated as the cable news network with the largest number of regular viewers.
The documentary demonstrates the conservative bias that’s handed down by Fox’s owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch. It gathers interviews from media watchdogs and former Fox employees, but their overwhelming condemnation of Fox’s skewed news practices isn’t half as effective as footage taken from Fox itself:
- an appalling montage of Bill O’Reilly telling guests to “shut up”
- repeated efforts to paint Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as weak and waffling, while President Bush is captured in respectful, reverent images
- management memos dictating language, subject matter, and point of view.
OutFOXed examines how media empires owned by Murdoch have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news: As ever-enlarging corporations take control of the public’s right to know, democracy is set at danger.
In the case of FNC it’s one single person that opines for the public. Murdoch’s entire audience is estimated at 4’700’000’000 people which represent three quarters of the entire world’s population. What information he decides to broadcast greatly influences U.S. Americans’ votes. We all know what a presidential election can cause; a war in Iraq, no action on global warming. Just to mention a couple.
The result of this documentary is an intense examination of Fox News and the lie inherent in its favorite motto: “Fair and Balanced.”
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