Inside PBS Blog

It seems a lot of folks in PBS's corner of cyberspace are fired up this week about . . .a piece of legislation. More specifically the new housing bill, which provides support for congressionally chartered corporations Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and at least some of the homeowners struggling to keep their houses.

Wooooozee doesn't like the way "Bill Moyers Journal" is covering the story.

"[I]t is sad to hear this spoken as 'new news,' Wooooozee writes at YouTube's PBS Channel, where the "Moyers" piece is posted.

"[W]e are all - in some way - in collusion with these folks. [O]ur deal searchin', credit usin', no saving chickens are coming home to roost. [M]akes [J]ersey mob loansharks look like guppies."

A "Washington Week" discussion on the housing bill is also raising dander.

Chuckkottke writes, "[H]ow did 2 million people get duped into mortgages they couldn't afford? How did we let this one slide by?"

Meanwhile, an interesting conversation is unfolding at the "Wide Angle" site, where users are commenting on the show's recent profile of Dorjee Sun, an Australian entrepreneur waging a one-man war on global warming.

Most users praise Dorjee, including Teresa Echols, who says his work left her "awe-inspired." Kelly Edwards, in the meantime, offers to throw him a party the next time he visits San Francisco.

It appears Dorjee himself has weighed in, answering users' questions and taking Kelly up on her offer: "I love parties! I think [I'll] be in San Fran to meet some investors around September."

Check out the discussion here.

Over at the new PBS Vote 2008 site, blogger Laura Hertzfeld offers a cool review of the veepstakes from presidential campaigns past, including President Bush's selection of Dick Cheney in 2000 and the beginning of the JFK-LBJ political marriage in 1960.

Bob Anderson writes, "[W]hat about how [Cheney has] changed the office. … We need to understand how the balance of power will be restored for both offices of the executive in the next administration."

Finally, our friends over at the NewsTrust online journalism guide continue examining PBS content, including a new feature on the "P.O.V." site that asks users to describe America in three words.

NewsTrust member Dennis L. Abbott calls the feature "amusing, but not informative. A very small sample to draw inferences from. 'Describe the USA in three words' imposes a difficulty in expression that probably skews the result. Besides, it takes four words … 'Rich, powerful, and dangerously ignorant.'"

What about you? What do you make of the "P.O.V." feature? What are your thoughts on PBS Vote 2008's veepstakes review and the coverage of the mortgage mess?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.