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The underlying photo is of the St. Johns River from Fletcher Park near Crescent City, FL.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

SNL Update

YouTube has taken down the video link in the last post.

NBC has stated that the skit failed to meet standards. The question is, whose standards? SNL has never been afraid to lampoon anyone and specifically anyone on the right of the political divide.

They used their editorial commentary skits to skewer most recently Sarah Palin and her family, even going so far as to suggest incest. So I don't understand what the problem is here unless some very powerful people, i.e. the Sandlers or George Soros, has threatened NBC with lawsuits, or even with buying them and firing them all.

Michelle Malkin is following this closely, visit her site for the latest info.

Here's the link to the edited version just posted on the NBC Saturday Night Live site. On my first viewing the differences seem minor. The most prominent is the absence of an identifying tag under the Herb and Marion Sandler characters that states “People who should be shot."

Maybe they were afraid that some of the people they took advantage of in their quest for billions of dollars would see that not as a satirical statement but a suggestion that should be followed up on.

I just located a site with the original unedited version of the skit along with an outtake of the edited portion and a video embed of the edited version from Hulu.

SNL Bailout C-Span Video Clip

Thanks to the internet, NBC can run but they can't hide. Hmmm, I wonder if someone at NBC, some free thinker, is actually helping to keep this alive as a snub to whomever is trying to shut it down in original form? Ya think?

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Labels: Barney Frank, democracy, Democrats, Fannie Mae, financial crisis, Freddie Mac, George Soros, humor, legislation, mortgage crisis, Nancy Pelosi, NBC, politics, Sandler, SNL, video, websites, YouTube

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Is YouTube saying life begins before birth?

While I’m an a strong supporter of allowing a child the choice to reach full term and have every opportunity to engage in the life that God has breathed in him or her, I’ve often been uncomfortable with some of the tactics of Operation Rescue.

Too often it seems that they engage in practices that in the end may do more harm than good to the progress of creating an America where abortion is not only undesirable but also unavailable. Still, this is America and we have a constitutional right, and some will say duty, to express our views as individuals and groups.

Some will argue that such expression needs to be respectful, reasoned and responsible. I would agree with that sentiment. But there are times when a bold statement is the only way to shake someone enough to truly look at the core issues.

YouTube recently removed a video uploaded to its site that strongly and graphically stated Barack Obama’s historic positions on the issue of abortion. The video contained images that are painful to view, yet convey a message that cannot be ignored.

The producers did not distort Mr. Obama’s positions, just stated them in such a way that the results of those votes were graphically depicted. YouTube said it failed to meet “Community Guidelines.”

Apparently those standards are subjective to the sensibilities of YouTube and it’s corporate owners, Google. As Google’s motto is “do no evil” it seems that they believe it is evil to tell the truth about the beliefs an individual who aspires to the highest political office in the land, the most powerful office in the free world.

But if the censorship of this video by Google means they believe that in the case of Barack Obama freedom of speech should be suspended if it depicts him in a negative light, then they, Google, through their surrogate YouTube are themselves violating constitutionally protected speech and in doing so committing “evil.”

Some might argue that the graphic nature of the depiction is offensive or over the top and removal was justified. But a perusing of the YouTube site will reveal a plethora of video ranging from near pornography to graphically depicted violence. So one is left with the reasonable assumption that the only “Community Guidelines” offended were those of the “Obama Community.”

Of course if YouTube removed the video because the depiction of an aborted fetus violated their policy against viewing dead bodies they then have another problem. If by pulling it they are saying they will not show images of a dead body, they are tactically admitting that an aborted fetus, rather than a “mass of tissue,” is in fact a human being.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Labels: abortion, election, Google, Obama, politics, speech, YouTube