Joan of Arcadia got cancelled. In it’s place, there will be a program called, Ghost Whisperer, with Jennifer Love Hewitt. David Bianculli of the New York Daily News, the king of the great questions, asked Moonves: “Why is it that you think a show with a 25-year-old who talks to ghosts is going to do well in the same time period where you had an 18-year-old talking to God?” Moonves paused, then shot back, “I think talking to ghosts may skew younger than talking to God.”
Dude. Everyone knows that JLH was the weak link on Party of Five. Her talking to ghosts in not going to be any better than her talking to alive people.
This man makes me want to be a therapist of some kind and figure out how to help people that can’t talk but have mad piano skills.
If you know me, you know I love Gwen. Here is she, in all her hotness, on the Ellen show I couldn’t go to because I’m all adult and everything and do things in the day like work. I still can’t believe I had to turn that invitation down…..
Did you know I lived in Germany? Well, I did. And I loved it. And this story cracked me up. Germans having 1.5 to 2.3 kids was a topic of some discussion among the military wives. Mostly since we all were young, married and had at least 2.6 to 3.9 and some (me) up to 4.0+ kids of our own. What was wrong with these German young people that didn’t want to have kids? Couldn’t they see that we, the bedraggled, overtired, creased-clothing, chain smoking, lonely, drunk women had it made?
Some days, I can understand what they are saying: “There is an increasing belief that not having children is the ideal way of life,” the authors of the study concluded. Now keep in mind that the government will pay the women to have kids and stay home and take care of them. It’s not like in the USA where so many women get knocked up, have 6 kids and stay on welfare and can’t make ends meet. Their government PAYS them if they will just please, have a kid or two.
And, why aren’t they having kids? Because they go to school. “Germans also tend to be students longer than in other countries, with many still enrolled at university and college until they are at least 30. This lengthy study period is “a reliable method of contraception,” said the minister responsible for families, Renate Schmidt. Remind me to keep my kids shackled to college until age 30.
But my favorite reason cited: “In Germany, having children isn’t sexy,” said Marie-Luise Lewicki,” whose name reeks of sexiness in itself.
Does anyone else think it’s kinda ironic that the race which was at one point held in such high regard by an insane dictator to the extent of millions of people dying for his sick idea of ‘preserving the race’ is now voluntarily not procreating?
By most accounts German society is in a period of economic and social decline. This is usually linked to the socialist lifestyle which was once considered the envy of Western Europe. I work with several Germans, and they say that the problems are occurring because the population is aging and there are not enough people in their prime earning years to take up the slack. Essentially, Germany (and France, Norway, Sweden to an extent) is a massive welfare state that is running out of money. Germany is currently at 12-13% unemployment, many of the young people are staying in college untill the age of 30, and the best and brightest are leaving for the USA.
Also, the Germans are very nationalist and have resisted moving their manufacturing base to Eastern Europe as the UK and France did years ago. This means that German-made products are more expensive than their EU counterparts.
It’s true that the country has been in a slump. Ever since unification, which neither government was really ready for, things have steadily declined. Well, I guess we could go back even further than that, but the wall coming down is a good reference point.
When I lived there and compared American programs to German programmes, it looked pretty rosy on their side with every citizen eligible for Sozialhilfe (welfare) and a promised income whether you work or not. They have guaranteed college. Those not working get their rent paid, guaranteeing a home, their Mother Protection Law requires the employer to grant a total of 36 months maternity leave if requested, 14 weeks of that are paid at their current salary and you can’t fire or lay off anyone unexpectedly since you must give around a half year notice before termination. Add in the fact that every person gets medical care and it all sounded pretty great to us military wives getting shoved around by our own government with spouses being sent away longer and longer, doing jobs that other Americans despised and looked down on, getting crappy medical care and living with just enough income to keep us at the top of the welfare bunch. I’m pretty sure that not much has changed for our military families.
So, I guess it’s possible that I might have been a bit slanted in my view…. : )
It will be interesting to see how Schroder’s Agenda 2010 does over the next few years in pulling the German economy out of its slump. Things could turn around and inspire Germans to stay where they are and make viele deutsche Kinder.
I’m sad. I love JoA. Thanks a lot!