Ahrcanum

Reuters is reporting that the Senate passed a bill on Monday 1/26/09 to delay the nationwide switch to digital TV signals, giving consumers nearly four more months to prepare.  The transition date would move to June 12 from February 17 under the bill that was fueled by worries that viewers are not technically ready for the congressionally-mandated switch-over.

Not technically ready?  You have got to be kidding me, how much money has the FCC spent on those stupid commercials warning of the impending doom of the rabbit ears for TV reception?  How many $40 coupons have been sent and spent? 

For years, the feds have been pushing and prodding broadcasters to complete their conversion to digital broadcasting, opening up spectrum space that has been long earmarked for other uses.  What those uses are remains up for debate. 

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless most certainly have plans for the new space and more than likely, it will become easier to the government to track communications -all in the interest of national security. 

“The transition from analog to digital television is a historic change and brings with it considerable benefits for the American consumer,” said [sic then] Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez. “Not only will the transition help expand consumer choices, but more importantly, the digital transition will enable more efficient use of the nation’s airwaves providing new advanced wireless services and increased public safety services for all Americans.” http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/03/digital_tv.html

Having had more than FOUR FRIGGING YEARS TO PREPARE, “In a letter to key lawmakers Thursday, Obama transition team co-chair John Podesta said the digital transition needs to be delayed largely because the Commerce Department has run out of money for coupons to subsidize digital TV converter boxes for consumers. People who don’t have cable or satellite service or a TV with a digital tuner will need the converter boxes to keep their older analog sets working.  Obama officials are also concerned the government is not doing enough to help Americans — particularly those in rural, poor or minority communities — prepare for and navigate the transition.”  http://www.kjrh.com/content/programming/hdtv/story/Will-Congress-delay-the-digital-transition/OPlhRwH6JUahec59CPTQ5Q.cspx

“The Obama administration deserves time to bring order to what has been an appallingly mismanaged process by the Bush administration,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W. Va., said in a statement.  Oh, give me a break. 

Oh, just change the channel or shut the TV off to prevent another Democrat from accepting responsibility for an inept constituent who can’t figure out that you need cable, a satellite dish or a converter box to watch TV. 

The lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households are not ready for the switch.  Rural? Poor?  My ass.   The whole reason Direct TV started out so successfully in the first place was because it was too damned expensive to run CAT 5 or standard cable to the boondocks of nowhere in the constituency.  Without cable people were forced to to buy Direct TV or another dish service or else see fuzz from the local network and PBS..  We’ve all seen the home trailers in the middle of butt frig Egypt middle America, with the couch on the porch and the damned satellite dish hanging off the side of the trailer.

Go ahead and get me started on GMH- General Motor Hughes stock and Loral Communications two of the great proponents of satellite technology not only for TV transmission but for weapons.  Oh Bill and Hillary- what did you do? What didn’t you do? More important- What are you doing now?

Despite an ongoing FBI investigation into the unauthorized transfer of advanced missile-guidance technology to China, Loral Space  http://www.loral.com/  requested and received Clinton administration approval to sell communications satellites to Beijing in 1996, a secret National Security Council memo obtained by WorldNetDaily shows.

Congressional investigators raised concerns that the satellite technology shared with the Chinese may have allowed them to improve their capability of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear tips aimed at the at the United States.  Hello- aimed at the USA – Loral’s then Chairman  Bernard Schwartz donated more than $1 million to the Democratic National Committee, according to FEC records, and  made contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in New York. That $1 million contribution was the single largest individual donation to the DNC that year. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=20606

Rural folks ain’t stupid and neither are consumers.  Judged by Wal Mart’s recent sales figures and with its  massive buying power and store presence in big cities and rural communities offering flat panel LCD and Plasma televisions that are digital ready, so is the American TV watcher.   

When in doubt, if your converter box not quite cutting it for good digital reception- if you’ve got some extra coat hangers laying around then John Park can show you how to make a DTV antenna out of spare coat hangers. Check out the video and the PDF for all the instructions! http://www.tvsnob.com/archives/cat_digital_tv_transition_2009.php

If John Park can do it with a coat hanger, certainly there was no reason to have delayed what has been shoved on us for the past four years. 

I want my MTV and I want it in mandated digital- NOW.

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