One of the things I was most looking forward to in coming to PJTV was bringing my experience producing and editing editing television for places like THE HISTORY CHANNEL and DISCOVERY NETWORK to bear on some issues I have always wanted to cover.
Right now the internet is in a strange place: it’s passed the point of dial-up modems where streaming video was simply out of the question, and it’s still considerably short of what is clearly coming: the merging of what we know as “the internet” and “cable television” into the same creature. So what I have tried to do with A SOLDIER’S STORY and my recent special on XCOR AEROSPACE is to put cable television on the internet. I’m not sure how well it works. They’re longer than “internet videos” and because they look like cable television they are much more labor intensive. Right now they don’t seem to be getting the hits needed to justify their production time, but thankfully PJTV is a forward-looking company and we still have time to play.
So here’s the link to my adventure in Private Space Exploration:
LunarPalooza Part 1: The Future of Space Exploration Is In Your Hands
LunarPalooza Part 2: Private Enterprise Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before
And I’m proud to say that part two of the first A SOLDIER’S STORY is now online. Leon Cooper finished his nightmare at Tarawa, came home for some R&R, and then shipped out to a little vacation beach called Iwo Jima. We also get his views on the dropping of the atomic bombs, and find that discussing the people that have second-guessed the whole things provides Leon Cooper and Bill Whittle with a common adjective.
Leon Cooper, Part 2: Escaping Death, Iwo Jima & The Atomic Bomb
Also, I am trying to get on a much more predictable schedule regarding output, since A SOLDIER STORY and the LUNARPALOOZA took so much of my time. I hope to have a new Afterburner segment up every Monday morning, and since I plan to record it on the previous Wednesday, I mean to post it here by Friday night so you regular stalwarts get the scoop. Look for Sarah Palin very shortly in print here at E3, and then the video version on the PJTV AFTERBURNER page early Monday.
There’s no shame in the use of a common adjective; it’s often the most appropriate.
I was enthralled by A Soldier’s Story. Living history exceptionally well done. I sent the link to friends around the world.
Must catch XCOR Areospace.
Please continue with your productions. I think you may just be a little ahead of the curve.
Thank you for this post! Keep up the excellent work!!
COMMON CENTS
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
ps. Link Exchange/?
I would think the reason you’re struggling to get the info out is on the basis of exposure. Although people like me are trying to get the word out (via word of mouth and Facebook) PJTV needs a stronger advertising campaign to get more exposure. I’ve worked in marketing for over twenty years and though I am quite sick of the platitudes they use, the numbers don’t lie when advertising is used properly. I got my family now watching PJTV and I’m now working on the folks at the office. lol
Oh! And I forgot to mention…
Those segments you did were fantastic. I loved the Soldier’s Story and linked it on my Facebook.
The AP recently reported that “Palin called President Barack Obama’s health plan ‘downright evil’ Friday.”
The AP reporters attempted to guess why Palin is so exercised about what she calls “Obama’s death panel” where “his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’” who is worthy of health care.
The AP guesses that she must be concerned about the “end-of-life counseling sessions” provided in the plan. Or, as they later figure out, she may be ”claiming ”that the reform plans will lead to rationing, or the government determining which medical procedures a patient can have.”
The AP reporters dismiss this concern by reverting immediately to the appropriate Dems’ talking point. “However, millions of Americans already face rationing, as insurance companies rule on procedures they will cover.”
Several things need to be said about this exchange.
First, Palin needs to clarify her standing. It is true that Democrats and their media have savaged her since they first learned her name, in one of the ugliest campaigns of sexist stereotyping and personal calumny ever. But that does not remove her responsibility to clarify her intended status. Candidate, commentator, combatant?
Second, Palin needs to clarify and explain her objections to the plan, if she intends to wade this deeply into the debate. She should not have given the AP such an opportunity to guess at her concerns. A public figure and/or commentator needs to be very clear, especially when calling a political measure “downright evil”. If she believes that and says so in public, she shoulders an extremely heavy burden of proof. She needs to explain herself much more fully if she wants to be taken seriously. (And Facebook is not the place to do so. Get a proper blog, Sarah.)
Third, Palin is clearly referring to the rationing issue, and it is a legitimate concern. Government rationing is at least foreshadowed in many of Obama’s comments (in trying to explain how anything in the plan would actually save money.) MedPAC, the (unfortunately-named) Medicare review panel, has never had the power to decide which medical procedures should be available to which patients. If MedPAC is given that power for cost-cutting purposes (as appears to be part of the plan), then rationing becomes a very distinct possibility. (So far, MedPAC’s cost-cutting efforts have been focused on family-practice doctors, cutting their Medicare reimbursement to about 60% of the doctors’ real costs.)
And talking points notwithstanding, when “insurance companies rule on procedures they will cover”, they can only rule out experimental treatments, or insist upon second opinions. They generally cannot restrict procedures simply to save money (which is what rationing means). The reason they don’t is that state and federal government won’t let them. But who will stop the government from doing so?
Moving, and with a dignity the lefties on the networks could never emulate.
Thank you.
Mr. Whittle- Please keep up the excellent work. WHat you and others like you are doing may be the salvation of our country. You are gifted and effective. Thank you
Bill,
Loved the xcore segments. I too was 10 years old on 7/20/69. I too remember those Disney specials (I have them on DVD). I think the love of the future that we had is missing from young people these days. All the science/science fiction content that they are exposed to is of the fearful kind.
One of the reasons that government sponsored space travel isn’t working out so well is that such things are hostage to politics. The fact that space projects take 10-15 years and administrations don’t last more than 4-8 years, means that those projects have to depend on the next administration to finish them. Most administrations on the other hand, aren’t really into spending capital (both political and financial) to build what they see as technological monuments to the previous administration. If we are to be a space faring race, it will have to be privately funded.
Chris Lopes
Colorado Springs, CO.
I’ve been looking everywhere, but I can’t find LunarPalooza part 3.
I wasn’t even born in time for Apollo. I want another one, dammit! And keep the regulator wrecker wretches out!