Power to the People, part two. Today’s topics include immigration and education.
Blowback
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The decision to run the salacious clips while she was talking will backlash on NBC. Typical liberal arrogance. Anyone with kids watching this had to be affected.
The decision to run the salacious clips while she was talking will backlash on NBC. Typical liberal arrogance. Anyone with kids watching this had to be affected.
Mitt is the only top tier candidate that has the standing to address family values and he is the only one that wants to clean up the sea of filth our children are swimming in.
Laura’s great…and right. I listen to her most everyday and am right now as I type.
That whole split screen phenom bothers the heck out of me. Fox News is especially guilty not only with the split screen but full screen video over top of hosts or guests. For instance, during the Vick dog fight stories, they constantly showed footage of actual dog fights. I just want to hear the news I don’t need to see the gruesomeness of an illegal act.
Not to bash MKH and Papa Bear O’Reilly, but that segment they do on policing the internet employs the same tactic. They actually show the despicable sites that they are telling us we or our children should not see!
So instead of listening to what she’s saying and heeding it, David Gregory wants to denfend what NBC does by using that tired old line, “Why are you attacking us when everyone does it.” There are two answers: first, Because I’m on you’re show, idiot, so I’m calling you on it. When I go on Fox I’ll call them on it (I haven’t seen her on O’Reilly since she made the call on him).
Second, My dad always told me “Bad behavior on the part of someone else doesn’t excuse bad behavior from you.” I miss that old man.
While you can’t keep your children from seeing all of this, you can let them know exactly how you feel about it. I only had to explain once to my kids why we wouldn’t be buying anything from Abercrombie. They weren’t particularly pleased, but they understood exactly where I stood on the issue. It has never bothered them that we don’t have cable, as they almost never watch TV anyway. They have seen many classic movies though, and even better read many classic books. The big problem I see here is that many parents like the porn, and if it is coming into the house they can’t stop their kids from watching it. In fact they can’t even convincingly explain to their kids why they shouldn’t be watching it. Kids learn by example.
I am one of the parents she speaks of when it comes to TV. No cable. We subscribe to skyangel and we watch DVD’s that I approved of – end of discussion. One night I let the kiddies pick a video and they were repulsed but a violent murder. I patted myself on the back because they were not numbed down by being exposed to constant violence on TV. They are grown up now and they are offended by the amount of pornography in society. Patted myself on back again as they were not numbed down by exposure of sex on TV.
Laura made a great point about our pornified society and the today show is crap.
Hmmm… this brings to mind the following. Would anyone care to comment on these five signs which supposedly characterized Rome as she was deteriorating from within, prior to her fall? My understanding is that they come from the research of Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
They were:
- A mounting love of show and luxury/affluence
- A widening of the gap between the very rich and the very poor
- An obsession with sex
- A freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality
- An increased desire to live off the state
(I found these at http://www.douglasjacoby.com and I don’t know anything about the site yet, so I hesitate to recommend it.)
Anybody who compares just the “comedy” that is on today with what was broadcast in the 50’s and early 60’s, you know–with that awful censorship in place–can tell just how derivative it is today. There is very little creativity. When the producers had to work within reasonable standards, they had to be ingenious with dialogue and the actors themselves had to be much more talented. Facial expressions often told the whole story, and had you laughing to tears. Now the sex jokes are ubiquitous, and even the facial expressions are sexual in nature.
Thank you, Laura, for what you say and do. We all feel so overwhelmed by the inevitability of things that we forget we have the power to change them. Hopefully your book will serve as a reminder and awaken this power in many more of us.
I’d comment by saying that it proves that government can’t control anything in terms of societal behavior. Furthermore it proves that silence about such behavior is deadly.
Rome, the most powerful government the world had seen, couldn’t even squash a new religious movement born on her fringes, namely, Christianity. I’m just speculating here, but it’s pretty obvious that Rome’s attempts to squash the new religion sent those who practiced it into hiding. As a result, the marketplace changed, and many who were interested in not having society go that direction were silent in order to stay alive. Their forced silence unwittingly aided and abetted the gluttonous hedonism that ultimately did wither the Roman Empire from within. It withered Rome by sapping her strength and resolve for hard work, allowing invading armies to chip away at her and even promoting division that split the empire in two for its last century.
Methinks there’s a lesson here for us. Rome teaches us that, if we’re silent now, we may not have much to speak up for later. I’m sure it’s that concern that drives Laura to write and say what she does. We’ve been quiet out of a less serious but still very real threat of persecution. The more we don’t speak, the more the price of speaking out will rise, and the more our chances of speaking effectively will dwindle. Accordingly, in this light, empowering the people now is important because we still can be.
I can vividly recall sitting with my mother beside me on a couch with my pre-school aged daughter on my other side. We were watching something on HBO when a “sex” scene came on. I was caught completely off-guard and I didn’t know what to do. The embarrassing moment passed and we went on, but I have never forgotten it. My daughter now teaches school and her sons are 14 and 12. This morality slide has been going on for awhile now and I suspect it will only get worse before it gets better as witnessed by Britney’s little strip tease illustrates.
Just take a gander at the networks’ new fall lineups. Submitted for your [dis]approval: ABC’s DIRTY SEXY MONEY. I’m disgusted by the mere promo spots.
But I suppose it’s just the Dynasty/Dallas/KnotsLanding/FalconCrest for the 21st century. Hopefully the marketplace will decide its early cancellation.
Thank you to all of you at Hot Air & Laura for all you do. Gregory is an absolute a$$hat. Running that giant screen of broccoli spears next to Laura was the pits. Perhaps I’m a dork (well not perhaps but I guess I am) but I don’t watch much tv anymore besides the Food Network and the plumbers on Ghost Hunters on SciFi. The only MSM shows I watch are NCIS and The Office.
I believe the same thing happened a while back either on Gibson’s or Cavuto’s shows when discussing the same subject, and they showed Paris Hilton’s Burger King ad? Laura was quite perturbed, to say the least.
You can’t even criticize the pornified culture without getting a dose of it on the Today Show.
You gotta know they did that on purpose to try and make Laura look like a crank. But Laura is too smart for that, she handled the whole thing with total class.
There is a difference between teaching values and trying to always insulate kids from bad values. I mostly agree with her, but it seems like Laura goes over the line towards advocating families live life in a bubble.
Do you teach your kids to not play with fire or do you never ever have matches in your house and let them be shocked by the revalation that fire exists when they go off to college?
Today playing that clip over Laura speaking is cheesy and classless and just makes it appear she is right lol.
Laura and Michelle rock on the illegal migration issue.
I completely agree with the assessment that the Senate was knocked flat (even though they’ll never admit it) by the “will of the people” on the near perpetration of the migrant sedition act of 07.
If “we the people” would just come to realize how powerful we really are this nation would make a sharp right turn and find the track again.
There were a few shows in recent years (one in particular that I love) with the qualities you mention and it features a tight nit family who will do almost anything to help each other with thier problems and parents who try to impose order no matter what crazy out of control things are happening. The mother is a take charge disciplinarian who sometimes even complains against the trouble burecracy causes in thier lives. Who even knew this show was there? It got drowned out in the fad of reality television and because it was about a “family” many mistakenly believe it is just a kids show.
MM and Laura, wish you could blow the horn and bring in the cavalry…Dr. Micheal Salvage. He’s too hot for the MSM, that in itself deserves a welcome mat here..
Hmmm… this brings to mind the following. Would anyone care to comment on these five signs which supposedly characterized Rome as she was deteriorating from within, prior to her fall? My understanding is that they come from the research of Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
They were:
- A mounting love of show and luxury/affluence
- A widening of the gap between the very rich and the very poor
- An obsession with sex
- A freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality
- An increased desire to live off the state
Gibbon was such a fun writer, but his theories may have been a little complex for some groups of people. In case you didn’t have time to read the entire book, Gibbon primarily blames Christianity for the fall of the Roman Empire.
“As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse of Christianity, had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity; the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers’ pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes who could only plead the merits of abstinence and chastity. Faith, zeal, curiosity, and more earthly passions of malice and ambition, kindled the flame of theological discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of their country. Yet party-spirit, however pernicious or absurd, is a principle of union as well as of dissension. The bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits, inculcated the duty of passive obedience to a lawful and orthodox sovereign; their frequent assemblies and perpetual correspondence maintained the communion of distant churches; and the benevolent temper of the Gospel was strengthened, though confirmed, by the spiritual alliance of the Catholics. The sacred indolence of the monks was devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of the republic. Religious precepts are easily obeyed which indulge and sanctify the natural inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.”
from the 39th Chapter of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Laura’s absolutely right about what parents can do to combat the pornified culture. You have to control what your kids watch; too many parents these days are not the boss in their homes.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
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No. Way.
Christoph on September 12, 2007 at 9:35 AM
The decision to run the salacious clips while she was talking will backlash on NBC. Typical liberal arrogance. Anyone with kids watching this had to be affected.
Nice catch. Bryan.
Valiant on September 12, 2007 at 9:39 AM
Way. Way. Way. Overoptimistic.
Christoph on September 12, 2007 at 9:41 AM
The first video isn’t loading for me.
Christoph on September 12, 2007 at 9:41 AM
Mitt is the only top tier candidate that has the standing to address family values and he is the only one that wants to clean up the sea of filth our children are swimming in.
Score another one for Mitt.
csdeven on September 12, 2007 at 9:51 AM
Gregory is a complete liberal tool.
csdeven on September 12, 2007 at 9:54 AM
Laura’s great…and right. I listen to her most everyday and am right now as I type.
That whole split screen phenom bothers the heck out of me. Fox News is especially guilty not only with the split screen but full screen video over top of hosts or guests. For instance, during the Vick dog fight stories, they constantly showed footage of actual dog fights. I just want to hear the news I don’t need to see the gruesomeness of an illegal act.
Not to bash MKH and Papa Bear O’Reilly, but that segment they do on policing the internet employs the same tactic. They actually show the despicable sites that they are telling us we or our children should not see!
Brat on September 12, 2007 at 9:57 AM
Exactly. Now his “Ocean” ad doesn’t seem all that corny does it folks?
Brat on September 12, 2007 at 10:00 AM
So instead of listening to what she’s saying and heeding it, David Gregory wants to denfend what NBC does by using that tired old line, “Why are you attacking us when everyone does it.” There are two answers: first, Because I’m on you’re show, idiot, so I’m calling you on it. When I go on Fox I’ll call them on it (I haven’t seen her on O’Reilly since she made the call on him).
Second, My dad always told me “Bad behavior on the part of someone else doesn’t excuse bad behavior from you.” I miss that old man.
srhoades on September 12, 2007 at 10:05 AM
Again?
thirteen28 on September 12, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Gregory is the poster child for the MSM’s brand of confrontational journalism. He doesn’t respect the POTUS, why would he respect Laura?
Too bad it wasn’t Matty Lauer instead of Gregory. I would have loved for her to put the smackdown on him.
Brat on September 12, 2007 at 10:09 AM
All right, pass the “ETL” t-shirt!
And the “Lan Astaslem” t-shirt, etc.
Bigfoot on September 12, 2007 at 10:11 AM
While you can’t keep your children from seeing all of this, you can let them know exactly how you feel about it. I only had to explain once to my kids why we wouldn’t be buying anything from Abercrombie. They weren’t particularly pleased, but they understood exactly where I stood on the issue. It has never bothered them that we don’t have cable, as they almost never watch TV anyway. They have seen many classic movies though, and even better read many classic books. The big problem I see here is that many parents like the porn, and if it is coming into the house they can’t stop their kids from watching it. In fact they can’t even convincingly explain to their kids why they shouldn’t be watching it. Kids learn by example.
Buford on September 12, 2007 at 10:14 AM
I want an ETL t-shirt too!
Yakko77 on September 12, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Buford, I wish you luck,.
Christoph on September 12, 2007 at 10:17 AM
I am one of the parents she speaks of when it comes to TV. No cable. We subscribe to skyangel and we watch DVD’s that I approved of – end of discussion. One night I let the kiddies pick a video and they were repulsed but a violent murder. I patted myself on the back because they were not numbed down by being exposed to constant violence on TV. They are grown up now and they are offended by the amount of pornography in society. Patted myself on back again as they were not numbed down by exposure of sex on TV.
Laura made a great point about our pornified society and the today show is crap.
On-my-soap-box on September 12, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Who is David Gregory?
Wade on September 12, 2007 at 10:46 AM
Hmmm… this brings to mind the following. Would anyone care to comment on these five signs which supposedly characterized Rome as she was deteriorating from within, prior to her fall? My understanding is that they come from the research of Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
They were:
- A mounting love of show and luxury/affluence
- A widening of the gap between the very rich and the very poor
- An obsession with sex
- A freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality
- An increased desire to live off the state
(I found these at http://www.douglasjacoby.com and I don’t know anything about the site yet, so I hesitate to recommend it.)
BNCurtis on September 12, 2007 at 10:49 AM
Anybody who compares just the “comedy” that is on today with what was broadcast in the 50’s and early 60’s, you know–with that awful censorship in place–can tell just how derivative it is today. There is very little creativity. When the producers had to work within reasonable standards, they had to be ingenious with dialogue and the actors themselves had to be much more talented. Facial expressions often told the whole story, and had you laughing to tears. Now the sex jokes are ubiquitous, and even the facial expressions are sexual in nature.
/Censorship was soooo terrible.
/sarc
Vanquisher on September 12, 2007 at 10:52 AM
Thank you, Laura, for what you say and do. We all feel so overwhelmed by the inevitability of things that we forget we have the power to change them. Hopefully your book will serve as a reminder and awaken this power in many more of us.
flutejpl on September 12, 2007 at 10:59 AM
still my favorite smacking of david gregory was by mary matalin on meet the press last year. awesome.
find it here
wryteacher on September 12, 2007 at 10:59 AM
BNCurtis on September 12, 2007 at 10:49 AM
I’d comment by saying that it proves that government can’t control anything in terms of societal behavior. Furthermore it proves that silence about such behavior is deadly.
Rome, the most powerful government the world had seen, couldn’t even squash a new religious movement born on her fringes, namely, Christianity. I’m just speculating here, but it’s pretty obvious that Rome’s attempts to squash the new religion sent those who practiced it into hiding. As a result, the marketplace changed, and many who were interested in not having society go that direction were silent in order to stay alive. Their forced silence unwittingly aided and abetted the gluttonous hedonism that ultimately did wither the Roman Empire from within. It withered Rome by sapping her strength and resolve for hard work, allowing invading armies to chip away at her and even promoting division that split the empire in two for its last century.
Methinks there’s a lesson here for us. Rome teaches us that, if we’re silent now, we may not have much to speak up for later. I’m sure it’s that concern that drives Laura to write and say what she does. We’ve been quiet out of a less serious but still very real threat of persecution. The more we don’t speak, the more the price of speaking out will rise, and the more our chances of speaking effectively will dwindle. Accordingly, in this light, empowering the people now is important because we still can be.
flutejpl on September 12, 2007 at 11:24 AM
I can vividly recall sitting with my mother beside me on a couch with my pre-school aged daughter on my other side. We were watching something on HBO when a “sex” scene came on. I was caught completely off-guard and I didn’t know what to do. The embarrassing moment passed and we went on, but I have never forgotten it. My daughter now teaches school and her sons are 14 and 12. This morality slide has been going on for awhile now and I suspect it will only get worse before it gets better as witnessed by Britney’s little strip tease illustrates.
EvilRoy on September 12, 2007 at 11:33 AM
ETL.
So simple! Hello!
Great interview.
Malpaso on September 12, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Just take a gander at the networks’ new fall lineups. Submitted for your [dis]approval: ABC’s DIRTY SEXY MONEY. I’m disgusted by the mere promo spots.
But I suppose it’s just the Dynasty/Dallas/KnotsLanding/FalconCrest for the 21st century. Hopefully the marketplace will decide its early cancellation.
Brat on September 12, 2007 at 11:50 AM
Mojack420 on September 12, 2007 at 12:03 PM
Great Job Guys!!!
Laura said four words that stood out to explain everything, “money, money, money, money.”
abinitioadinfinitum on September 12, 2007 at 12:54 PM
Damn I hate that guy almost as much as the MSNBC guy.
Agrippa2k on September 12, 2007 at 12:55 PM
Bryan, this is huge.
Please read this post on Patterico.com and especially notice the first comment.
Christoph on September 12, 2007 at 1:40 PM
Thank you to all of you at Hot Air & Laura for all you do. Gregory is an absolute a$$hat. Running that giant screen of broccoli spears next to Laura was the pits. Perhaps I’m a dork (well not perhaps but I guess I am) but I don’t watch much tv anymore besides the Food Network and the plumbers on Ghost Hunters on SciFi. The only MSM shows I watch are NCIS and The Office.
Catie96706 on September 12, 2007 at 3:49 PM
Re: The MSDNC/Gregory footage:
I believe the same thing happened a while back either on Gibson’s or Cavuto’s shows when discussing the same subject, and they showed Paris Hilton’s Burger King ad? Laura was quite perturbed, to say the least.
kevcad on September 12, 2007 at 4:13 PM
You gotta know they did that on purpose to try and make Laura look like a crank. But Laura is too smart for that, she handled the whole thing with total class.
Lawrence on September 12, 2007 at 4:51 PM
There is a difference between teaching values and trying to always insulate kids from bad values. I mostly agree with her, but it seems like Laura goes over the line towards advocating families live life in a bubble.
Do you teach your kids to not play with fire or do you never ever have matches in your house and let them be shocked by the revalation that fire exists when they go off to college?
Today playing that clip over Laura speaking is cheesy and classless and just makes it appear she is right lol.
Resolute on September 12, 2007 at 6:50 PM
Laura and Michelle rock on the illegal migration issue.
I completely agree with the assessment that the Senate was knocked flat (even though they’ll never admit it) by the “will of the people” on the near perpetration of the migrant sedition act of 07.
If “we the people” would just come to realize how powerful we really are this nation would make a sharp right turn and find the track again.
Speakup on September 12, 2007 at 7:03 PM
There were a few shows in recent years (one in particular that I love) with the qualities you mention and it features a tight nit family who will do almost anything to help each other with thier problems and parents who try to impose order no matter what crazy out of control things are happening. The mother is a take charge disciplinarian who sometimes even complains against the trouble burecracy causes in thier lives. Who even knew this show was there? It got drowned out in the fad of reality television and because it was about a “family” many mistakenly believe it is just a kids show.
Resolute on September 12, 2007 at 7:12 PM
MM and Laura, wish you could blow the horn and bring in the cavalry…Dr. Micheal Salvage. He’s too hot for the MSM, that in itself deserves a welcome mat here..
Legions on September 12, 2007 at 8:26 PM
I’m really pissing myself off…Dr. Micheal Savage
Legions on September 12, 2007 at 8:27 PM
Gibbon was such a fun writer, but his theories may have been a little complex for some groups of people. In case you didn’t have time to read the entire book, Gibbon primarily blames Christianity for the fall of the Roman Empire.
from the 39th Chapter of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
thuja on September 12, 2007 at 8:31 PM
O.K.
That’s it.
I must get me a ticket to the book tour…. must.
Mcguyver on September 12, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Yay Laura Ingraham! I want her book now…
emmaline1138 on September 13, 2007 at 4:37 AM
Laura’s absolutely right about what parents can do to combat the pornified culture. You have to control what your kids watch; too many parents these days are not the boss in their homes.
Jezla on September 14, 2007 at 8:34 AM
I just returned from meeting Laura at a book-signing in suburban Boston. She’s amazing and even more beautiful in person… such a quality person.
D2Boston on September 15, 2007 at 2:12 PM
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