KRON Bleeds the Earthquake News to Death

As you local Bay Area folks know, there was a level five earthquake that hit just after 8PM. Interestingly, I didn't feel it here in San Francisco, although one of my co-workers mentioned about it briefly after the end of my workday.

So, I get home, and I turn on the TV because I'm a little stressed and tired. Since we lived in earthquake country, an earthquake here or there may just put a little ten minute "breaking news" report on the channels, in which they did, and the occasional scroll bar on the top of the tube; yet there was one station that really pissed me off.

If you read my blogs, you know the TV news station I hate the most, KRON. They were the only station that kept bleeding the news from at least 8PM, and now it's 11PM, and it's time for their regular 11PM news broadcast.

When I say "bleeding the news," I mean, they were trying to squeeze every single thing out of the damn news. Hey, IT'S JUST A FUCKING EARTHQUAKE! Things get broken here and there, but there's no fire, no panic, no deaths reported, so why did KRON just send the TV news straight to hell?

Oh I get it, you get people to send photographs on the air, and have stupid hicks call LIVE on TV so that they can get their 15 minutes of fame to mention their "story" (which I don't honestly give a fuck). Like many of us would say "just the facts ma'am;" but it seems that KRON DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT.

I might HATE KRON, but the only two interesting programs that I watch on a Tuesday night is "The Academy" (LA Sheriffs academy school for wusses to become cops), and "Jail" (recycled stuff from Court TV about the jail system). It's interesting reality stuff, especially when I'm not into repeats of Law and Order. So by running their LAME earthquake coverage for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS, I DID NOT get to see that new episode of "The Academy" that I've been waiting for.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP THE NEWS PRODUCERS OF THIS STATION?

AND YES, I WILL STILL SAY IT: KRON NEWS STILL SUCKS, AND ROB BLACK (THE STUPID FINANCIAL JACKASS WHO RUINED THE 4PM NEWS) SHOULD BE FIRED.

SF Muni's Woes... I'm Not Forking Over $$

In the news today, San Francisco Muni is desperate for more money, blaming that they need more money to improve their awful on-time performance and really bad reputation at this point.

Here's an article from the Chronicle. For the entire story, click here.

Here's a list on the article of Muni's "wishes" to raise more money, and my thoughts about it in italics below.

-- Imposing automatic 5 percent fare increases every two years
Are you just fucking stupid? We pay $1.50 for real crappy service. Fare evaders are the big problem, and when they commit the problem, average "I follow the law" Joe who rides the bus gets nailed with the penalty of an increase.

If it did happen: In 2 years: $1.57, another 2 years: $1.65, another 2 years: $1.73. NO CITIZEN PAYS IN PENNIES. Try putting 150 pennies down a fare machine and getting it constantly jammed in front of a pissed-off driver.

-- Charging for transfers
Hmm, stupid idea. Not a lot of great help for our low-income residents that already depend on Muni and gets a $10 discount on a pass from city social services. You really expect them to pay more?

Anyone remember when they took away transfers, had special prices for express buses and a pass that costs more to ride the express, and how much it pissed off the people? They were back on transfers in six months and dumped the special fares and passes!

-- Raising local taxes
We already pay 8.5% in sales taxes, how much more do we need to fork?

-- Adding a surcharge to tickets for professional sporting events
We already pay a heavy surcharge for buying tickets for Giants games online and at ticket retailers. Example: An additional $5 for the Giants Double Play window with free will call pick-up. Plus, Muni brought the metro to the Giants stadium to relieve traffic and parking issues, makes me want to drive now!

-- Raising the cost of parking citations
Let me scratch my butt on this one, nope!

-- Selling soft drinks and snacks at rail stations and boarding platforms
It's against Muni policy to eat and drink on rail vehicles. Same for BART, especially that any trash can ignite a fire in the BART tunnels because of the 3rd rail.

-- Extending parking meter operations
Many meters are not enforced past 6PM, and yeah, I really think that DPT officers will not be patrolling after six, they would be happy eating dinner with their family.

-- Plastering more advertising on everything from the printed bus schedules to the light-rail tunnels
Not a bad idea, just don't put any annoying ass "Got Milk" commercials about aliens abducting cows by calling them "Da-Iry," or that family getting that glass of milk under tight security (shit, haven't you heard of a frickin grocery store?).

Has anyone seen a new bus schedule? Not me! You can just find it online, ADVERTISEMENT FREE.

-- Selling naming rights on rail stations and other Muni properties
Yeah, I like that. Let me buy one and call it: "Akit's FUCK MUNI Embarcadero station."

My answer to the problem, start catching the bad folks that evade the fares, our government needs to put in more money, and stop wasting money too. That 3rd street light rail project had too much expenditures!

Let's summarize my rants:
Lots of stupid ideas to find solutions.
I'll buy naming rights to get my message across.
I drive, what the hell is Muni again?

CBS News - Controversial Racial Comment

CBS News is hiding the fact that they made a controversial racial comment on their news program in regards to their story titled: "A Critical Study on Chinese Food" dated on March 21, 2007.

The comment mentioned near the end of the news segment is when the reporter was sitting with other "health experts" and one mentioned that omitting certain ingredients from the Chinese food items that are high in sodium and fat would be beneficial.

The female reporter jokingly mentioned that restaurant cooks would "spit" in their food for omitting certain ingredients. The reporter and her guests laughed at the comment.

"Why is this controversial? I believe that her comment is malicious by using the stereotype that all Chinese restaurants are dirty and therefore employees will "spit" in your food. Also to note, the CW channel in New York was under controversy by the folks of AsianWeek for controversial comments by claiming that rodents are the meat product in the New Food King restaurant. Read the AsianWeek article here.

CBS is trying to cover-up this problem by hiding their videos online from public view.

On YouTube: The video is now locked down for invite only.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XelwHIfurk
Description of video: "A consumer watchdog group released a report on Chinese food, claiming that some dishes are packed with an enormous amount of calories and sodium. Sharyn Alfonsi has more details. (CBSNews.com)"

Also, it was deleted off the CBS website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2594824n?source=search_video

CBS then tries to cover-up their mess-up by making new stories about the Chinese food unhealthy problem. Their technique, get a female reporter into a "healthier" Chinese take-out establishment and use Teri Okita who has an Asian American background to fix their problem.

Oh yeah, the original reporter is white and the guests weren't Asian (not to be racist or anything like that, but I think you should be aware of that).

I've spoke with some of my fellow Ethnic Studies grad students, and they think it's not offensive, but I think others would disagree. Also, why would CBS cover-up this problem by trying to erase the videos? Why is it still on Youtube (CBS has an agreement with Youtube to publish their news reports and other TV show vids), but only for invites? And you would think, well the news story has been there for a week, they must delete them. Actually not true, the CBS video area on Youtube holds videos from over two months ago! The story was posted just a week ago. See their vid archive here: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=CBS

Why is the video link still on CBSnews.com? Take a look at the search results on their website here, do you see that the story marked "March 23, 2007" is outright blank (versus the others that have a text summary), with a clickable dash ("-") link that goes to a dead video?

A lot of questions, but no answers.

Let's summarize my rants:
You make me sick. Just another TV program on my personal banned list: KRON news, and now CBS News.

UPDATE:
Here's the actual words the reporter said:
Sharyn Alfonsi: "And if you special order and say sauce on the side, they are not going to spit in your food."
Male health expert: Exactly... absolutely, [female health expert chuckling] that would save some work for them.
Female health expert: [chuckling]
Sharyn Alfonsi: And could stop you from getting a Buddha belly, Sharyn Alfonsi, CBS News, New York."

If you want to HEAR the clip, contact me with your e-mail in the comments section of this blog.