This week's This American Life (http://www.thislife.org), a show that isn't normally this direct with its political banter, ended with Ira Glass directly taking on the Bush Administration.

Quote :

"Ok, one final David and Goliath thing before we go today. The President and the Vice President keep saying certain things over and over recently, and although other people have refuted these things... I want to add our voices to those saying that it is, infact, nonsense. ... I'm saying this here; other people have said it elsewhere, but still, somehow, the administration's claim that they did not mislead anyone keeps umbering the earth. Their version of history is like this giant that just won't fall to the ground. It just keeps shouting; it just won't shut up. Some slingshots do not miss."

He then goes on to point out some serious flaws in the administrations Iraq rhetoric. It's pretty great stuff. The episode should be up by Monday or so, so go listen to it.

You can also listen to it on my server, if it's up when you click the link: http://dirtygreek.bounceme.net/stuff/rec1203-115800.mp3

This bit starts at 56:55 into the show.

Right before that, there's a really great piece by david sedaris about people shitting in dressing rooms

[Edited on December 3, 2005 at 11:05 PM. Reason : .]

12/3/2005 11:03:16 PM

This American Life is good stuff. I really enjoy Ira Glass' show.

12/3/2005 11:16:24 PM

Haven't listened to this segment, but I like Ira Glass's segments as a whole. This American Life is usually well done.

I'm trying to put together a segment from some recordings I took when we paddled the Mississippi River this summer. We'll see how it goes though.

12/4/2005 8:42:09 AM

yeah well, given This American Life's normal listener base, he's most certainly preaching to the choir.

12/4/2005 9:07:01 AM

I don't know man. I probably more conservative than most here and like his stuff. The cat's funnier than hell most of the time. The guy has some talent stringing audio together.


But granted, my sample n=1

12/4/2005 10:33:00 AM

^^ oh, that's not even disputable. However, he doesn't normally get that direct about it.

12/4/2005 12:25:35 PM

Quote :

"That doesn't sound like something we'd want to listen to on the radio, and it's our show."

I've never heard of the show, but I appreciate their honesty.

12/4/2005 12:52:43 PM

It's basically just a show where people tell (most of the time) true stories and stuff like that. It's my favorite NPR show by far. The stuff that's on there is really interesting. You stream old shows on the website (http://www.thislife.org) for free, you should definitely check them out.

12/4/2005 12:59:06 PM

I'm probably going to submit a story from paddling the Mississippi River last summer. Did all my jounals on a tape recorder and am wading through that now. We did an interview with MPR and Greta whats-her-face told me to look into it. Going to take awhile to get it togethter though.

12/4/2005 1:12:49 PM

johnny, you are NOT more conservative than the average t-dubber. you are a fucking hippie.

btw, I liked the pun... wading through all that stuff

oh, and considering that this is on NPR, remind me again how much of a bias NPR doesn't have...

12/4/2005 9:54:28 PM

Quote :

"a show that isn't normally this direct with its political banter"

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHA

boy oh boy i guess you didn't listen to TAL at all during 2004 election season. well, more power to ya

12/4/2005 10:02:12 PM

I couldn't

you see they were running their goddamn pledge drive and I shot myself in the eardrum so I didn't have to put up with it anymore

12/4/2005 10:59:44 PM

Im a big fan of This American Life. I was surprised by the blatant anti-bush rant, but I found it difficult to argue with.

12/5/2005 1:13:17 AM

^^ i did the same thing back when i listened to commercial radio. Then after I made it through 1 or 2 NPR pledge drives, i realized I would rather listen to pledge drives 24 hours a day than 20 minutes of "Sunday Sunday SUNDAY MONSTER TRUCK RALLEY AT THE RBC CENTER!!!!" on 96.1 or 106.1 or any of that crap.

12/5/2005 4:11:29 AM

Or if you wanted AM talk radio, you could listen to pundits trying to sell you matresses and diet pills.


Did anyone where the Car Talk Christmas Special where Ira Glass was Tiny Tim?

12/5/2005 8:05:02 AM

Quote :

"boy oh boy i guess you didn't listen to TAL at all during 2004 election season. well, more power to ya"

you're right - i wasn't into the show until this year. All I'm saying is that I don't normally hear ira say "george bush is a liar" during the show. they make jokes and whatnot, but they aren't usually this direct and serious.

and i didn't catch the car talk special, but i was just looking for it to download it

12/5/2005 9:08:55 AM

They did a lot of social commentary during the election. Homosexuality, religion, etc... It usually made the right look bad.

But then again, have you ever heard someone defend a ban on gay marriage and look good?

12/5/2005 9:12:58 AM

no, they also covered so-called republican "corruption" god knows how many times - specifically addressing things like ballot stuffing, and other alleged republican election scandals from the 2000 race.

now, i don't want to argue about these issues.

the point is, TAL has always been, "this direct with its political banter"

i guess they are like fox news for libs

12/5/2005 9:37:54 AM

hahahah yeah, matt

except they're intelligent, funny, diversified, have david sedaris talking about people shitting in dressing rooms and sarah vowell, and there are tons of conservatives who like the show

other than that, yeah, just like fox news

12/5/2005 9:55:06 AM

o< o<

12/5/2005 9:55:42 AM

Quote :

"Did anyone where the Car Talk Christmas Special where Ira Glass was Tiny Tim?"

actually, that was a really good impersonator i think, not really Ira Glass - they gave his name at the end of the show, but i forgot who it was.
but it was funny as hell. I think he was doing a drano commercial or something "Standing.... Staring.... Just like my life, the water isn't going anywhere. (could we cue some melancholy music here? ah, good)" - something like that.

12/5/2005 10:08:15 AM

was it? because they advertised it as ira glass. I haven't heard it, so i dunno

12/5/2005 10:17:17 AM

ok, i dunno. Maybe that was Ira and Tom and Ray were kidding.... it's hard to tell when they're joking sometimes, especially on parody shows like the christmas special

and other NPR stations bill it as Ira also, so maybe i misunderstood - http://www.kplu.org/jazz/christmas-specials04.html

[Edited on December 5, 2005 at 10:31 AM. Reason : .]

12/5/2005 10:25:31 AM

Quote :

"sarah vowell"

12/5/2005 10:36:51 AM

How can you not like Sarah Vowell?

and btw I've been listening to TAL since 97 or 98, and the vast majority of the shows are apolitical. It's not a politically themed show. It's a show about PEOPLE. Now, during election times, a lot of people are involved in elections, but it's not generally a political show.

12/5/2005 10:59:25 AM

See, Ex is just trolling now.

Because Sarah Vowell's hott

well, at least her personality

12/5/2005 12:03:38 PM

off topic i know- but did anyone hear the segment about the cops that tried to catch the squirrel? that was one of the funniest things i have ever heard.

episode 115 act two.

[Edited on December 5, 2005 at 3:15 PM. Reason : good stuff]

12/5/2005 3:04:50 PM

I buddy of mine from Gboro (cop) sent me the info on that but I haven't gotten around to digging it up. He said he 'bout shit his pants.

12/5/2005 4:25:52 PM