BEST OF 2008: GLOBAL STARS -- KATHY GRIFFIN: BEST COMEDIENNE ON TV

One of my favorite comediennes is Kathy Griffin. She is the funniest comedienne working on TV today.

Kathy Griffin has an Emmy-winning My Life of the D-List -- one of the most hilarious side-splitting shows on tv.

Kathy Griffin has appeared on Larry King and was so good that Larry King had her host an episode of his show (the topic was on paparazzi and Kathy Griffin ripped through it in the funniest manner imaginable. Does CNN have the episode stored anywhere online? I am sure people who love comedy would love to get their hands on it!) Kathy Griffin also has appeared on Jay Leno and always has the audience in stitches -- although sometimes it looks like she is just too sharp for the audience to catch some of the nuance/speed of her jokes!

She is one of the best things working on TV today and brings much needed laughter into the world.

She has her own website: http://www.kathygriffin.net/

(Photo of Kathy Griffin from EW)

CANDIDATES' PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: MCCAIN IS AN UTTER DISGRACE

Republicans who caught the debate between Presidential hopefuls Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain must have been shocked by his appearance.

McCain never looked at Obama when McCain spoke. And when Obama rebutted McCain's points, McCain still never looked at Obama.

McCain came across as a nervous little white man, uncomfortable in the presence of a colored man.

It is bad enough that McCain always speaks in a way that seems like he is forcing himself to sound young, he is so insular in his view. His so-called experiences as a veteran mean nothing if he has not grown as a person.

(We expect an old man to sound his age -- like CNN's Larry King or even the late Republican President Ronald Reagan! Not sound like a 30-year old trapped in the body of 72-year old.)

Americans should wake up and know for sure that John McCain is not fit to enter the White House as the next President.

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA!



PHOTO: From the excellent New York Times.

KUDOS TO CNN

Credit must always be given where it is deserved and -- ALTHOUGH THIS IS VERY BELATED -- CNN deserves praise for its coverage of the onslaught of Hurricane Ike. The coverage showed the bravery of its staff and it showed a care and concern and intelligent analyses of events that reflect on the height that good journalism can reach.

CONGRATS CNN!

Coincidentally, these past few days, there is the aftermath coverage of people going back home after Hurricane Ike.

Photo of Hurricane Ike by Getty Images on BBC website.

HOT NEWS ANCHORS ON CNN

ANJALI RAO HAS BEEN THE MOST IMPRESSIVE NEWS ANCHOR ON CNN FOR A LONG TIME. SHE HAS GROWN FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH OVER THE YEARS. SHE IS STILL RIGHT THERE AT THE TOP. SHE HANDLES SERIOUS NEWS AND MAGAZINE PROGRAMS WITH EQUAL EASE ND HER CHEMISTRY WITH THE REST OF HER COLLEAGUES ON CNN IS SECOND TO NONE.

NOW, CNN HAS A NEW ADDITION, THE TREMENDOUSLY CLASSY KAUSHAL PATEL, POSSIBLY THE MOST GLAMOROUS NEWS ANCHOR ON THE PLANET TODAY. WOW! EVERY TIME KAUSHAL PATEL COMES ON AIR, SHE JUST ADDS SO MUCH OF THE GLAMOUR FACTOR TO THE TELEVISION THAT IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL! SIZZLING KAUSHAL PATEL IS BOLLYWOOD ROYALTY PERSONIFIED!
PHOTOS:
1. ANJALI RAO -- PICTURE FROM CNN WEBSITE
2. KAUSHAL PATEL PHOTO FROM: http://www.unclebarky.com/abovethefold_files/page0_blog_entry841_2.jpg

HURRICANE GUSTAV FIZZLES... AS DOES SARAH PALIN

Sometimes one never knows if the media are making things up for the sake of scoring big on the ratings games or they are just stupid. The way CNN was going on and on about Hurricane Gustav, with the visuals of menacing red swirls approaching New Orleans in its weather reports, I was on the edge of my seat, almost fainting from the coverage-fatigue. "Ooo, that red swirl of the storm that CNN keeps showing must mean Hollywood-special-effects-grade kind of destruction for New Orleans!" I'd thought.

No, I am not evil and do not wish such a thing on the inhabitants of New Orleans. And I was happiest when the leaders there instructed people to evacuate parts that were in the path of Hurricane Gustav. My grouse is the emotional fatigue everyone went through because the American media spinning the web and trying to outdo one another in the doom-and-gloom-weather-forecast stakes.

From Category 3 storm, Gustav was downgraded to Category 2. And the quality of news coverage fizzled as did the storm. Thankfully!!!!! Amen! Now we can also focus our undivided attention on Sarah Palin and how unsuitable she is as a candidate for VP. Boy, does McCain suck in his choice of VP as far as the world audience is concerned! And CNN's Jonathan Mann and that other old guy (as Paris Hilton would have put it!) who're covering the Republican convention are so very lame as Republican apologists as far as Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter is concerned.

Anyway, back to Hurricane Gustav, it was a serious enough storm -- as these pictures from New York Times show.

(The weather maps are from CNN -- the red-yellow-green swirly one -- as well as from the US National Hurricane Center at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml)

CNN GOES TASTELESS

Oh dear, CNN's "Tour of Prison reveals last days of Saddam Hussein" has to be the most tasteless thing that CNN has ever aired. The tone of the segment shown on TV is a mocking one -- mocking Saddam Hussein.

In Asia, we do not mock the dead. We do talk about the wrongs that people have done but that is about it. The gravity of the insurmountable evil that resided within Saddam Hussein, unfortunately, does not carry the same weight around the world as it does in the self-delusional Bush administration. Bush's invasion of Iraq (READ: HALLIBURTON's EXPANSION) is seen by the rest of the world as a violation of a sovereign nation. And now the Iraqi debacle has caused many innocen Iraqis to be killed and murdered as they get caught up in the swirl of viciousness from the lethal cocktail of patriotism and religion. Let's face it, the Iraqi's in the insurgency are neither intellectually sound or superior and their world view is a different one from that of most western-skewed intellectuals around the world.

CNN has badly misread how people are going to react to the CNN segment, which is in very bad taste.