78 Comments on thursday june 08, 2006 : special feature
Leave a comment
Recent Comments
Sweater Curse, 92 comments
- strawberryluv22: thats pretty funny
- kmfdmkid2000: That girl is hot, what a SEXY Brittish accent, me likey.
- freesk8: All we want is steak and a blow job. It’s so simple!!!...
- MichelleTells: ahh the horn music is the same as on the podcast Stuff...
Sesame Street & The Origin of Om nom nom nom, 1299 comments
- spatdrastik: When I was a kid (sesame street was still new) cookie...
- DarkieBC: @homeworkhaters Family Guy is stupid.
- KatieSodapop: I was Cookie Monster for Halloween lol
- ElectricAxisBlues: you know who made that up? stupid fuckin kids with...
Know Your Meme: Auto-Tune featuring Professor “Weird Al” Yankovic, 2059 comments
- Heemoproductions: That beginning was ripped from I’m on a Boat ;)
- Ic1cle: Al, don’t anyone tell you you are Weird. The rest of the...
What am I doing up so damn early?
Nice show Amanda!
You were nervous at first, then got better..Georges Soros - hey, I’d be nervous.
I think I saw him on 20 / 20, and it was dull there too. I watch RB for another reason, “entertainment”. Fun, fluff and fantasy not hard core “real news”. I think you guys really did sell your soul to the devil for $40,000. Reviews of Boing Boing, new hair and makeup, Ruud’s roving reports from Africa, a philosophical, financial, philanthropic speculator, what next, employees and a new anchor person so Amanda can devote more time to business?
fff
Wow, great interview! Sorry guys, but real issues aren’t chock full of shitty music and interesting editing. This isn’t MTV, it’s life! People like Mr. Soros should be listened to becuase they know a hell of a lot more about current events, politics, etc, than most of us. Even if you don’t agree with him, pay attention- he’s a lot more coherent that Ann “crazy anorexic chic” Coulter!
I was surprised to see Mr. Soros did not have horns and a tail. Very good interview.
George Soros is a prime example of a WISE ELDER.
There’s another george out there living in a white house who could take lessons from this man, but of course, he’ll be milking the ZArkawweeeee thing for the rest of the summer…
To those who want boing, boing…it’s just a click away!
Stretch your mind a little. Hey, I like fun too, but brain cell nourshment is good too! CHILL!
Great interview. Soros is quite softspoken and you managed to get some good, concrete comments out of him. Cheers to rocketboom for your mix of fun and intellect.
So let me get this straight. Global warming is going to destroy the world but terrorism isn’t? Ohhhkay, yeah, a nuclear device in the hands of a bunch of crazies is not a problem but the earth’s natural warming and cooling cycles are. This guys sharing crack with Al Gore. I love Rocketboom but stay away from the political stuff please (left and right wingers, they’re all annoying).
good show .. .
The opening list of Soros “titles” forgot to include coward and moron.
You guys need an interview couch set-up and a sound guy.
But it was a good interview… excepting of course the lack of ninjas.
Hells yes! Great interview. You guys are making the move from geek blah into the real world very nicely. Keep up the good work.
Excellent interview! One of the best that I’ve ever seen with him. You’ve exposed your audience to an important person that many of them would never have heard of.
Holy bandwidth! I haven’t downloaded a RB episode that fast since way back in the day. I hope it’s not a fluke since it was great to finally be able to watch an episode without it stopping to buffer all the time.
Simple, but Soros’s reminder that we have “nothing to fear but fear itself” is profound–not only has the current admin allowed (and encouraged) Americans to be fearful of terrorists, but it has also shown us what the horrific consequences of blindly acting upon that fear look like. Needless to say, the current admin, like automatons, reverts to the archaic politics of military action, instead of creating alternative, higher-level thinking, civilized strategies that would enact the “soft power,” perhaps, that Soros speaks of. My country feels more like a child having a tantrum.
And Paris Hilton is a living reminder of how much the rich don’t do because they don’t give a damn. Maybe you should have her on and then interview Tinkerbell her chihuahua. You would probably have an intelligent conversation with the pet rather than the owner.
I haven’t always agreed with Mr. Sorro’s positions, I do like the fact that he has always put his wealth where his mouth is. OSI has contributed $400 million a year to worthwhile causes, and he’s always been regarded as a major factor in the fall of the Soviet Union. I also like his quote that “terrorism should be fought with police action, not military action”.
T any rate, it’s always a good idea to listen to what someone of his stature has to say. Then you can decide where you stand.
GOOD GET.
I think Mike and Rik would have liked the interview better if Mr. Sorros ended it with Menthos and Diet-Coke streaming out of his nose.
Mr. Soros and the Loony 911 Widows say don’t live in fear of the threat from terrorist, but be smart about reducing their threat to us.
And a previous poster says: So let me get this straight. Global warming is going to destroy the world but terrorism isn’t?
Soros says why are we spending all our resources attacking a country that was not involved in 911 and was not a significant military threat to us? The Jersey Gals say stop cutting the funding for securing the former Soviet Union nukes. Do screen every container on a ship and every package on an airplane.
Previous poster says: Don’t attack a countryOhhhkay, yeah, a nuclear device in the hands of a bunch of crazies is not a problem but the earth’s natural warming and cooling cycles are. This guys sharing crack with Al Gore.
Who is making sense here and who is irrational?
Great interview Amanda!
Awesome! I really enjoyed the interview. thanks for doing this.
Brian
If I can quote Bob Marley;
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy, cause none of them can stop the time.”
Redemption Song
amanda! great show! thank you so much for exposing me to this man. without the RB, i’d never know. humor is good, but balance is better!
bob!
ps thanks for the addtional footage, very informative as well.
While I disagree with his stand on US foreign policies following 911 (and I suspect that his position might be a little different if Soros were walking uptown alongside me that Tuesday morning), I do appreciate his viewpoint and his appearance on RB.
Such unorthodox, but much more informative news sources (eg, RB, The Daily Show, etc.) have picked up the ball dropped by the stale, formal news depts of CNN, Fox News, CBS, etc.
This does not mean that I’m advocating less ‘Manda dancing and snakes-on-a-plane items on RB. There’s plenty of room for the serious side on RB as well, as long as it continues to be presented with personal integrity.
I would have preferred Georgie S jumping the imaginary jump rope.
Long time viewer, first time comment-er. This was great, guys - I appreciate the meaty interview. While welcome, it’s a shame the comments opposing George’s views aren’t as sound or well thought-out. Otherwise we might have a stimulating debate on our hands. ;)
Amanda and Drew:
House of Representatives will vote on Net Neutrality in the next few days. Time is running out to do a story on what it means to have a free Internet vs go back to the days of closed systems like Compuserv and Delphi.
The Bush administration has clearly rolled back more of our rights and freedoms than any prior administration in the last 50 years. Now, they’re taking that battle to the Internet. Why leave the Internet free?
Amazing.
Amanda asked the man: “Can you see your impact on an everyday basis … ?”
I’d ask, especially after seeing this intelligent, well-conducted, and professionally edited interview you’ve provided, if y’all can see the same thing?
Albeit on a substantially smaller scale, yes; but, still, Rocketboom is doing a service to and having an impact on the world ~ and, in this instance, one that goes beyond mere entertainment.
Rocketboom’s evolving mix of funny and serious is, in itself, refreshing. It’s like the mix of interests and moods in an actual human, as opposed to the extremely bipolar dichotomies of tone prevalent in the Usual Media Suspects (or the wacky Multiple Personality Disorder juxtapositions of most Nightly News shows).
Basically? Go, RB, go! Rah, rah, rah!
Days like today add so much to the show as a whole. The way things are currently done in this world, decisions of great significance are made by a handful of people. To get a chance to sit down with one of the people who makes those kinds of decisions and influences them is a treat that you can’t find anywhere else in quite the same way. Kudos to Rocketboom.
That was an excellent interview. Well done, Amanda!
Nice when it was light and fun. You lost me when you not only sold out but used “poor interview technique”. . . .and I quote, “what happened in this last year to help Americans, get the picture?”. . . . leading questiton Amanda? What picture? Do YOU have a picture you think they are now getting? Maybe it’s George’s picture from “pre interview” discussions. You should have stoped with “what happened this last year”. It’s not your politics that are the issue but the message you “appear” to be trying to send. . . . perhaps a message of a sponsor???? . . . . . Keep it lite, keep it fresh, and maybe I might watch again.
Sorry,
LA
Amanda and Andrew,
Asking Soros about Iraq becoming an “Open Society” was brilliant - almost as brilliant as wearing denim for a high profile interview. It all felt so casual.
For the interview critics, I recommend checking out the extended clips.
Perhaps you can do similar interviews with key members of Congress on the issue of net neutrality. I’m sure they’d do it. Some have already done interviews with C-SPAN on the issue. Hear the podcasts http://www.c-span.org/podcast/com_feed.xml or watch the interviews http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=COM&ShowVidNum=10&Rot_Cat_CD=COM&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=365&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=365
ty for just being you
I just want to add that “doing your thing” on RB is very important. Regardless of how anyone feels about Soros and his politics, he is still a very influential person. Well worth the time to hear his opinions and answers.
Thanks for doing the interview Amanda, many of us appreciate the mix!
Excellent interview. I liked the way you let him fully answer the questions, and I liked the questions you asked.
As to the detractors and the ‘crack-smoking’ etc., sure, terrorists are dangerous people, but the likelihood of a terrorist getting enough bombs to destroy the world is at a much, much lower probability than global warming causing huge problems on a global scale in the ways of hunger, disease, and disaster–and as a result, death. I think Mr. Soros brought the terrorist situation back to a more realistic arena with his words.
Man is a fearsome creature, but I sometimes wonder if perhaps the thoughtlessness of our species in regards to the world around us is a bit more frightening and dangerous than the deliberate harm we try to do to ourselves.
great interview.
bush tried to design reality.
truth is immortal and lies will fall. it’s like that and that’s the way it is.
this was the most impressive impression of you amanda, as a serious person….
keep on inviting people like george :-)
timto
Gee, yet another softball interview between like minds. Congratulations, you’ve made a great leap towards the mediocrity of the MSM Amanda. Nothing about that was entertaining or enlightening and it’s all the worse because I can turn on the TV and see the same thing 7 days a week. I have enjoyed your vlog up 2 now but if this is your idea of adding serious journalism, I think I’ll have to say ‘goodbye’. There’s nothing unique about what you’ve posted today. Another Bush hating lefty taking swipes at us dumb conservatives. Big-whoopidy-dooo.
Goodbye.
Increasingly, I find that I value Rocketboom because of the mix of the serious and the fun–the whole mix. Today was a special opportunity to have an interview with top-level person we can all learn from. Thank you for it.
george soros: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” ?!? They blew up three of our buildings on American soil. I reckon that is something to be a bit concerned about. What a j@ck@ss!
I subscribe to RB because of the diversity of programming. I like these serious interviews as well as the more whimsical shows. If I do not care for a show, I just wait until tomorrow, because it will be different tomorrow. Count me as one that will support almost any experiment except sameness.
george soros spent several million dollars on john kerry’s presidential bid. He was the largest individual contributor in the campaign. I voted for George Bush. I reckon soros is the BIGGEST LOSER!
Always good when RB is serious. I like the *fun* stuf too, but the whole point is the MIX. No-one else does that.
Also, alot of commenters are USA based, and hey, Rocketboom is international, so the politics has wider implications than just the way Americans think about their politics. It isnt just about Bush et al. Its about the whole scene, every country, what the bigger picture is.
It may well be an idea, in the name of balance, to get some prominent Republicans, or right wing thinkers from other countries, to do some interviews. And, let them answer in their own way. We need to know what everyone thinks before we jump in and judge. Listening is as important is talking.
And of course your techy stuf is always the best too, so…
go RB, as the yanks say
george s doesn’t can’t use the internet on his own. “He uses it indirectly through people he’s hired”
How much did he pay A-man-duh to put his website links on rocketfizzle?!?
p.s. the folks who work for George W. killed the #3 guy from Al Queda last night! I’ll sleep better tonight.
HARTLESS, the immediate losers are these people, day in, day out:
http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx
In a long term perspective, America is a massive, tragic loser due to the Bush presidency’s legacy and that for generations to come. Bush, the man who should never have been president.
Just to respond to LostInAmerica’s question about “what picture” has changed over the last year. The change is a 27% approval rating, lower than Nixon’s. It’s not RB’s fault that people are fed up. Amanda’s question was not a leading question. It’s a valid question based on the FACT that Bush’s approval rating has crashed.
Absolutely great interview. I like this kind of stuff much better than the funny episodes. Continue to address important issues of our society.
A reader from Switzerland
Doot, I don’t like to get personal but since you called me out:
1. I’ve been to Iraq, I’ve been shot at, I’ve got a medal with a “V” on it. Don’t suppose you can educate me on the situation there.
2. I went to the link you provided. 95% of the casualities listed were killed or wounded by those who work for, or in tandem with the former Al-Zaqwari.
3. Al-Zaqwari was a terrorist from Jordan, responsible for atrocious attacks on civilians in at least 4 countries.
4. Sectarian violence in Iraq is occuring due to tension that has been building for decades. Our country went through a similar proces from 1861-1865.
5. President Bush was elected twice under the process described by the Constitution of the oldest Democracy in the world. If you dislike it, write to 67% of the congress and ask them to change it.
6. During President Bushes term, there have been two additional Democracies formed. Ironically, two tyrannical governments have been disbanded.
As Carlos Mencia said “That’s how we play the game”
Another brilliant RB moment. Soros definitely gets it and am glad to see him embracing alternative media opportunities. Makes sense for a man who promotes an open society.
I love the formula! Mixing in serious with the funny is life. Please don’t change a thing. Learning is fun too.
Excellent interview.
Fine show.
Diet Coke and Mentos one day; George Soros the next — that’s what makes RB so Great.
Keep it up!
DaveP you are mistaken.
Soros made his billions as a financial speculator. He is a staunch capitalist, not a communist. He’s given away hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat communist regimes like the former USSR.
What he does support are “Open Societiesâ€Â, which promote “democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform.†That’s why it was so interesting to hear what he had to say about Iraq becoming an “Open Society.†It was like asking, “Why don’t you like George Bush, he’s using the USA’s power to create an “Open Society†in Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t you both have the same goal?â€Â
Soros supports democracy and fought against communism.
Hey Amanda, Great Job!!
How in the world did you convice George Lucas to allow you to interview Emperor Palpatine?
GEORGE SOROS IS A LUNATIC…or maybe a liar… when he says he is “not advocating global government… [but]… global governance and the rule of law internationally is what needs to be developed.” Think people!! If Bush is as evil and corrupt as Soros (and many of his fellow travelers) seem to think, can’t you fathom how much WORSE it would be with a powerful global dictator telling us how to run the world?!
Amanda and Drew,
Cool move!
I’m surprised at the right wing nut responses, but I guess that’s the v-blogosphere.
Soros adds depth to your offering, and I think the hornets nest in the comments is actually a good thing. Could it be that people are paying attention?
Keep up work good.
Soros was convicted of insider trading in 2002 in the EU, after which he refocused his efforts to the US where people didn’t know him. He’s also wanted for trial in other countries for various financial crimes but uses his connections to avoid extradition.
Even when he’s not breaking the law, many of his actions are hardly honest. The ‘grass roots’ organization moveon.org was not volunteers at all but actually organized and funded by Soros. He has a long history of secret interference in politics all around the world.
After all of this, his return has averaged only 30% which while above market index is below many other famous investors and well below many private ones. The bulk of his fortune was actually created by the man James Rogers who actually did the investments at the Quantum Fund and produced 3,365% return before splitting with Soros over politics. Rogers went on to produce staggering returns while Soros did not. Rogers also personally traveled the world and wrote about the bribes and corruption that’s so rampant in the very organizations Soros supports like the UN.
What a bunch of left wing crap.
We blew up that terrorst in Iraq. I bet you poor amanda was bumbed out by that news. Good bless george bush.
hey sweet old guy!
I thought you did a good job lobbing softballs to a seemingly harmless grandfatherly type who would gladly seize the world and mold it into his own vision if given half a chance. He’s typical of many people who make a bundle (with questionable methods), then try to “give back” by trying to impose limitations on the rest of us. I don’t trust anyone, left or right, who tries to manipulate the system…like inside trading, funding moveon.org and trying to make it look like a grassroots thing, etc.
You have the potential to do a great interview, but my preference would be for you not to buy into the conventional wisdom agenda (in this case, the one from the left) and ask the tougher questions.
Just one guy’s opiinion. Thanks for RB.
Happy Birthday 2 Tier Internet!
The House of Representatives just now, Thursday night, passed the Telecom Bill that allows big telcos to shutoff sites that don’t pay them.
Will Rocketboom be available to me tomorrow? It’s up to my telco and whether or not Rocketboom is paying them for the right to send me content.
I hope you guys will pay them. Sure, you are a small budget vlog, and they are a multibillion dollar company, but you’re one of the coolest sites around.
George Soros is the last straw. You’ve lost a viewer.
Put him in a blue vest and he could pass for a greeter at Wal-Mart.
I think a Wal-Mart greeter might be a more interesting interview.
Would anyone spend two minutes listening to George Soros if he wasn’t fantastically rich?
What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us?
Go Amanda!
Great use of the access you’ve gained with rocketboom!
Stream as many different viewpoints as possible through that digital rectangle.
Vlogging doesn’t have to be about squeezing life into one smiling happy face. What’s so scary about listening to someone who is different. Rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, cool, uncool: do people really think that one is closer to TRUTH than another?
Wow, I’m well impressed. I tuned in for some light fun before bedtime and was surprised to see Mr. Soros. Mixing it up, Amanda. I like it.
Your video doesn’t play in windows xp. In the quicktime mode, the audio gets fucked up after about 2 seconds and the wmv link is broken. Great. You are losing 90% of your audience. Fantastic job.
A and A, nice get. … As always, ignore the crazies. Any person who doesn’t come back because of the Soros interview (or the Edwards interview, etc.) is really hurting themselves the most. They run the country, they’ve screwed it up, they have no intention of even trying to fix it before they leave, and they can’t stand it when someone points that out. They ain’t hurting you guys by not coming back and they sure as heck ain’t hurting me. Rocket on.
Note the comment above: “Ignore the crazies”, read ignore anyone who doesn’t lean far left with us. If they leave, we’re better off without them.
I know of another group that wants the world to all agree with and believe like them…but they’re islamic fundamentalists. What will happen if you’re territory intersects with theirs? Oh, wait, that did happen one Tuesday morning in lower Manhattan about five years ago.
As for me and my house, we’ll side with those who are taking the fight to the enemy of all Americans, right and left/wrong. We’ll leave the DUers back here to “do” nothing except rant about how they’d like to be in charge.
One last item: Who is on watch while you’re asleep right now?
The guy wants to IGNORE terrorists and put his attention toward global warming? What an idiot thinker this guy is. When another country pulverizes your tallest buildings, you have to act like an animal and bomb the shit out of them. That’s the way it should work.
Amanda-
two words: chapstick
Well,
It’s nice to see people haven’t lost their opinions nor lots of free time to share them in a comments section.
Here’s mine:
People like Hartless and others of their ilk seem to be running on fear. They might prefer to call it anger, but we all know that anger is really just fear coated in testosterone.
I’m not saying that fear isn’t a part of everyone’s life these days. What I’m talking about are the reactionary, knee-jerk policies which seem to be pushing this country, and therefore the world, towards an ever-increasing cycle of fear-based fighting. This can’t be good for anyone involved. Especially for a country which has the most to lose. It’s like America is a big house of cards which Bush keeps playfully blowing on to see what will happen while he tells us naively that God will keep it standing.
Some of you missed Mr. Soros’ point about FDR’s “fear itself” quote. Imagine what the environment was like after December 7th when Americans saw foreign war planes over their heads for the first time in history. In the subsequent war, we were able to actually see our enemy and fight them on a battlefield. This doesn’t work this time around. It doesn’t work for same reasons Vietnam was such a mess.
Ignoring the fact that Iraq wasn’t responsible for the attacks on September 11th in the first place, we really have some problems.
- The world community marched in protest against invading
- The world continues to march in protest against being there
- Iraq is now a destination for any insurgents around the globe who want to strike a blow against “the infidels”
- No exit strategy
- The campaign is not supported by the home team
- A conveniently shifting Government directive aimed at misinformation and continuing the ignorance of the public
- Federal corruption, corporate payouts, political favors and domestic ineptness on a scale never before witnessed
(I could go on and on, but I’ll stop there)
These same people talk of some terrorist being killed and they call that progress. The terrorist culture teaches that their death was martyrdom, which only inspires many others to step up to the job. How is this progress? A cultural change is needed, or else we’re doomed to follow the path of Israel and Palestine where a constant piss fight forces both side to continually live in a war zone where nobody wins.
I have a different story for those guys about Iraq. An intelligence team recently discovered a village of dozens of women and children who were all found shot to death. The team determined that a squad of American G.I.s assassinated the villagers as “payback” after some insurgents allegedly fired mortars from there. The insurgents were gone by the time the G.I.s got there, but that didn’t seem to matter. This kind of thing happened a lot in Vietnam, which is one of the reasons that war was so unpopular.
In reading over this story, I realized that it seemed to parallel America’s foreign policy in the whole region. This is also what happens when fear governs your actions.
America has become the little kid in school who always got beat up but has now shown up in class with a gun looking for payback.
God help us all.
Yes, time is running out for a big story on Net Neutrality. The House of Representatives today passed the COPE ACT which offers no meaningful protections for Net Neutrality.
Great show Amanda
I am sure one day, you will have a show on CNN
yes, the world would be a nicer place without wars, without terror, without people flying planes into office buildings. unfortunatly, amanda, this isn’t the case. the fact that we have an enviromental problem doesn’t mean we don’t have other problems we have to adress in parallel. going into afghanistan was the only reasonable thing to do, otherwise even more americans would have been dead by now. and if the experiment in iraq succeeds, and we’ll have an arab, muslim democracy, this can be the end of islamic terrorism, and bush could be remembered as a historic figure. if it suceeds.
Jensen,
Perhaps you are correct. I meant to say “fascist” not “commie”. George Soros is the worst kind of operator, using his billions to subjugate our democratic process…all the while believing that normal people are too damned stupid to govern themselves.
“Open societies”, “Global governance”….bah! Apparently he thinks we are too stupid to understand english as well.
Ray D,
I have to assume you are being ironic. Otherwise we might as well just give up right now.
Please Mr. Soros, tell us who to vote for next! And this time feel free to spend MY money to do so.
See? I’m starting to hate freewill already.
It is odd to me that a man that caused such widespread financial suffering and harm to South East Asia can reinvent himself as a philanthropist. Much like the robber barons of the 19th century today’s philanthropist’s have pillaged and hoarded wealth and now feel bad about a life of greed and open a foundation to “give back”.
It pretty gross to see Soros talking about the warm fuzzy feeling he gets from his good deeds, when so many people have suffered from his greed.
Amanda - nice to see you getting some top level interviews, but it not interesting if it serves as a commercial for their cause without having to answer any tough questions.
A different Perspective:
“The third level of the game concerns the modalities of finance. In this we discern primarily the nature of contemporary (modern in the philosophical sense) paper and base-metal coin currency, whose nature is void of intrinsic value. This is the key to modern ‘numbers’ finance which is measured against ‘real wealth’-commodities, land, products-but which in itself, as pure number, far from being real, is actually non-existent. This opens the next aspect of modern finance which we may define as the anxiety syndrome, which both incapacitates man’s faculty of reason, and also drives him to strategies of self-deception, represented by the everyday enactment that the mythic financial web, or ‘system’, forces on the human race with a staged realism that gives the Bankers both power and ownership. The emergence in Russia of billionaire oligarchs from absolute poverty in less than a decade, and the similar ex nihilo appearance of the adventurer Soros as a billionaire who can wreck national currencies, are regarded as part of the ‘rational movement’ of world markets.”
Quoted from:
Think Again
by Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi
George says terrorism is important, but there are so many other things more important….oh my God, what a jerk. Has he seen the nuclear bomb go off? Where was he when Nagasaki and Hiroshima vanished from the earth? Is he retarded?
What the hell could be even remotely as important as terrorists getting close to, possession of, or anything close to a nuclear weapon?
George, you are no George Bush, and i thank God in heaven you are not as important as you think you are.
Soros is no Kinison
Try it again Sam