MSNBC is completely useless today...

[Subdivisions]

* iPhones have problem when you hold it the wrong way. Apple's fix: "Don't hold it that way."

* The judge for Anna Nicole is yet another opportunist raking in the bucks for his new book on the case.

* One year anniversary of Michael Jackson and promotion of a TV special documentary.

* Still spending lots of time talking about the Landon Donovan goal that happened several days ago now.

Every day, the signal gets more and more obstructed by the noise.

Edited to add: Now we have the royal brothers of Britain and their adventures, none of which you and I are fortunate enough to experience.

[Arkana]

1. Meanwhile, Republicans are stopping unemployment benefit extensions

in the Senate, thus shanking millions of unemployed Americans--but that's OK, because Landon Donovan won the game for the Americans against Algeria!

[Bozita]

2. I started a similar thread an hour or so ago

It's not just MSNBC.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8633105

[Warpy]

3. Face it, people, they're ALL worthless

which is why I turned them off 6 years ago and haven't missed them.

The last thing you get from broadcast media is the news. It's all tabloid filler. Nothing of importance to anyone but celebrity obsessed halfwits and the network's corporate masters ever gets mentioned, certainly nothing as important as one tantrum throwing political party being allowed to block the other to get help to Americans in serious trouble.

Maddow is the closest thing to a real broadcast journalist out there, and I'm sure even she is facing corporate constraints on what she can report and what she can't report.

People who have been unemployed for a long time have got to realize what is going on, that the Republicans are making sure they're hungry enough to lose everything, hit the road, and become the modern Joads, taking whatever minimum wage job without benefits they can find, just for enough food to keep them alive while they live on the street. They're hoping those people will be dislocated and unable to vote. That is their gamble.

The broadcast news media are helping them accomplish that by enabling them to do this in silence and shadow, making sure Americans never know what that party is really up to.

Get the word out. We're the only resource we have left and we have to start talking to strangers on the street as well as acquaintances to get the word out. Our survival depends on it.

[Jennicut]

4. CNN droning on about the 1 year anniversary of Michael Jackson. Nothing to see here, folks.

[Forkboy]

5. Today?

[Subdivisions]

6. Today more than usual. You're right, though. n/t

[emulatorloo]

7. ALWAYS useless. There was a little nugget of gold here and there when Schuster was around

But it is dreck all the time these days

[county worker]

8. I'm getting so damned depressed by current events and I am not unemployed or foreclosed on.

I am employed and about to buy a new house. Yet I don't feel happy about either event.

This weekend we were going to the movies and at an intersection where we were waiting for the light there was a typical middle class couple with their two dogs. They had a cardboard sign saying they were homeless and hungry. I can't get that sight out of my mind. I always give what ever money I have in my pocket to the people on the corners with the signs and after a while I expect to see them looking a little un-kept because they have no means to take care of basic necessities. But this couple didn't look like that. The shock is how this economic mess is affecting more and more people who use to be able to ride out the bad times.

Yet the media is giving us a Roman circus to take our minds off the terrible tragedies happing in our very midsts.

[Subdivisions]

9. Employed and about to buy a new house? You must be very

secure in your job to making such a committment. I am also employed and as long as we keep moving our products (renewable energy), my job is safe. But I have no idea what's coming with the economy and my fortunes could change very quickly. There's no way in hell, if I could, that I'd be buying a house right now.

[county worker]

16. I got a shock when I did my taxes this year.

I sold a house in July of 2009 and have been renting since then. We owe $7,000 in taxes this year over an above our withholding.

My wife and I have no kids, since we sold our house we have no itemized deductions. In order to not owe taxes on April 15th I would have to pay to the IRS the same amount of money as the difference between what I am paying in rent and what my new house payment will be. It is either make house payments and have something I can use or pay it to the IRS. I'll still have to pay a lot of taxes but the interest and tax deductions will reduce it a lot.

I can't have the money to save or spend so I'm buying a house with it rather than give all of it to the IRS.

[Subdivisions]

17. Ah! Now that does make sense. =) My situation is so non-complex

right now that I tend to forget how complicated things can get. My standing advice to everyone, and my default position, is to eliminate debt and financial liabilities as much as possible. I have no credit cards. I do not have a mortgage or three. I do not have a car payment. The only debt I have at the moment is related to healthcare. I've found that I love renting because if something breaks it doesn't cost me anything to fix it. Also by renting, if I tire of living here, I can move over there without having to sell a house to do it. There are times I could have used a credit card. But then I realized that those "emergencies" were resolved without one and there was no exhorbinant interest payments on the resolution.

[county worker]

18. I am paying off cars and credit cards and not going to replace the car or use the credit cards.

Buying the house will hopefully give some equity to us. I doubt it will for a long time. I lost all my equity when I sold the last house. Luckily I can get a VA loan. Serving does have some benefits for me.

[bigwillq]

10. So don't watch it

Simple enough, right?

[Subdivisions]

12. Duh... my teevee is showing Yes Dear on TBS and is on mute

while I'm working and listening to some music.


Edited: As I wrote that, I realized it didn't make sense having the TV muted while listening to music. So, the teevee is now in off mode.

[alstephenson]

11. I hear ya. I had to change the channel this morning.

We're treated like morons in the morning.

[louis-t]

13. "Doctor, it hurts when I do this"

"Vell, don't do dat!"

[Subdivisions]

14. I changed it to a non-'news' channel when I posted the OP. TV is off now. I

was just making the observation.

[1776Forever]

15. Thank goodness for the "real" MSNBC line up at night! n/t

[felinetta]

21. Yes, I never watch daytime MSBC. Joe and Mika, Chuckie etc. - yuck.

[GeorgeGist]

19. So many distractions.

So little time ... to be useful.

BTW all those workers - in the background of the MSNBC set - are props not assets.

[lpbk2713]

20. They must be gearing up for the weekend.

After 10 pm tonight there won't be anything worth watching until late Monday. It's always like that with MSNBC. (yawn)

[Subdivisions]

22. I just tuned in to see what's up and I have another item to add to my OP list:

* All things Vuvuzela. (Hurry now, it's on right after the commercial break!)

[Blue_Tires]

23. yeah, hard news, breaking news is a lost art for all these cable channels