Inside PBS Blog

Dear David:

Good leaders must have keen intellects, courage, integrity, and good judgment. Sarah Palin has courageously defended the rights of the unborn, confronted corruption in her own political party, and successfully managed our largerst state (sorry, Texas). Palin is eminently qualified to be VP.

When is your poll coming out on Joe Biden?

Respectfully submitted,
Tom Billings
Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922

Why do you feel leftist programming on PBS and NPR should receive funding from the government?

While a red state and the least populated, people here are not so easily classified. This comes from a former native resident of California. Why don't you come and visit and let America see the country from a small town rural Western perspective

David;
I have found 2006 values for medical costs in the U.S. (AaronCatlin and his coauthors arewith theNationalHealth Statistics Group in theCMSOffice of theActuary) but I can not find the $ costs of total insurance premiums paid per annum.

Seems presidential candidates offering a health care program for consideration would first want to know both these numbers to establish a basis and use the numbers to persuade adoption of anything they perceive to be better.

Medical costs. Not, health care costs. Health care is what I do for myself to prevent the need for medical costs barring accident.

Thanks,
Don Rollins
Ozark, Mo.

Mr. Brancaccio,

The days of a critical and investigative journalistic class seem to be in the far-off past, especially after the excesses of the Bush Administration (in the rush to war in Iraq and constitutional power-grabs especially, both of which were uncritically reported on by mainstream media outlets).

With so few programs covering the long-range implications of public policy decisions by those in power, what direction will/should journalism take with the new Democratic majorities in Washington, DC? Will left-leaning blogs and right-wing radio continue their move toward being the only remaining critical, outsider voices? It seems that nothing is more important than "insider access" for the TV personalities that ostensibly play the part of "journalist" these days. (Significantly, "access" requires a quid pro quo between the "journalist" and those in power.)

So, where will journalism go following what seems to be a new era in American politics?

Obama's big job now is keeping an eye on the current administration 24/7 who went in with the undisclosed mission of USA military world domination by taking over the mideast oil and natural gas fields. Project for a New American Century has been the BUSHCO think tank for some time and many found their way into the current administration including former Iran-Contra criminals.

The House and Senate should not break but stay on duty 24/7 until a new administration is sworn in.
The facist neoconservatives who took over the republican party are a world wide concern.

Richard Heckler

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." The words or MLK were never so true, if Obama was elected on the basis of his character and not on the basis of his color. But what does it say for the average person in the Untied States today where character is rendered meaningless, where Princess Di and Paris Hilton are idolized by millions, where "Sex in the City" and the "Desperate Housewives" define the moral standards. Where greed is not only good but it is God. Where black children and white children are raised up to be thugs and and lazy.

It has to be done, and if we put our minds to it, we, as Americans can do it, so what sort of timeline do you see for getting us off our dependence on oil?

Interview Johnathan Kozel. The invasion of for profit organizations such as Kaplan et al is fleecing the education buget. Nation wide , Flordia,DC,NYC is spending millions to "evaluate" and "administer" public Schools. Consultants from Europe( in NYC) have been paid millions as their countries educate 1% of their citizens who are coming here in droves to educate children for free! Under the cover of "reform" and de-segregation we are being sold new words to replace privitization and vouchers. Even civil rights groups like The Southern Poverty Law Center, seem to believe that NCLB will give us access to educational equity. The real effect is that children are being "included" in mainstream classes, which make parents happy, but in fact the children who need services are not getting the Special education services they need. The teachers unions are powerless and have been for years. There is no mention by public officials of this nationwide takeover. This privitizing will do for Education what it did for Health Care. Once we handed Insurance companies the power to make medical decisions the costs sored. Will we do the same for Education?

David:

At present, it is stunning how much U.S. foreign policy depends on military force or the threat of military force. We maintain military bases in hundreds of locations around the globe and spend more on our military than all other nations combined. This is a crushing burden and has certainly contributed to our current financial problems. And having such a large military machine no doubt tends to bias our political establishment towards military solutions to problems that are best solved by more peaceful means.

Could you explore the reasons for this over-emphasis on military might and discuss how we might turn our society in a more productive direction?

David - I was recently reading about your trip to the Himalayas and was fascinated. What would you say was the most memorable experience about that trip?

What has been the most challenging story you have had to work on at NOW?

You were at Marketplace during some market booms and bubble bursts. Then you did some in-depth reporting recently regarding the crisis on Wall St. and the bailout. How do you keep from alarming viewers when you're delivering such awful news about our financial stability??

HEALTH CARE FREE?? , IF YOU ASK ME ,

HUMANITY , NEEDS SAFTEY ,

NOT SLAVERY , FINANCIALLY ,

WHAT YOU SEE , IS THE END OF ,

SLAVERY , SO ARE YOU READY?? ,

FOR A NEW FLAG FREE??