Jesse Ventura's Dork of the Week

[neebob]

I just watched Jesse Ventura's America on MSNBC. The topic: Benefits for Illegal Immigrants. By way of introducing a guest, Luz Sarmina-Gutierrez, Jesse stumbled over the pronunciation of her name, saying, "Sorry, Luz, I did the best I could." Shouldn't he take the time to find out how to pronounce his guests' names correctly? Like it's real hard to figure out how to pronounce Luz, Sarmina, or Gutierrez. Instead, he resorts to this demeaning, disrespectful, and all-too-commonly used tactic to diminish the guest with the viewpoint opposing his own. I'd say that qualifies Jesse for his own "Dork of the Week" award. Email the show at [e-mail].

[yella_dawg]

1. First it was Clinton's penis,

now it's Ventura's dork.

Would you call this genital politics?

[MissMarple]

2. Oh my sweet heaven!

A dork is a penis!?

[kanrok]

4. LOL

That's probably the funniest thing I've seen posted in a long, long time.

[Lizz612]

3. Where did you pick up that conotation?

For most people I've met its got a geeky or stupid conotation.

[kanrok]

5. Seriously?

It reminds me of when I was young and I called my mom a "pecker" after I heard it in the schoolyard. Dork=penis. It has transmorgrified into the mainstream, much like "that sucks" has. But, trust me, dork has always equalled penis.

[Lizz612]

6. YIPES!!!!

totaly embarased!!

[MissMarple]

11. Thanks for the information. I was clueless.

And I'm 54,... and blond. My children will be rolling on the floor when I tell them. I should have known. ?

[yella_dawg]

7. That's the official definition.

It is often used as a synonym for geek, but it's actually a synonym for wiener.

See "The Prehistory of the Far Side" for further details.

[the_real_38]

8. Jesse's seriously not ready for prime-time...

... he launched into a non-sequitur on the draft, re-directing the question to the voting and drinking age, his rhetoric is all over the place. And his presentation is unpolished, and not in an interesting way.

[eleny]

9. That's it -

He needs to run for governor, somewhere.

Oh...never mind.

[neebob]

10. Would you believe

only 7 minutes after the auto-response thanking me for dropping the show a line, I got a note from a producer? He said Jesse had trouble with the name, he told the guest ahead of time and after that he wished he could get it right and invited her to correct him, and it wasn't meant to diminish her argument or point of view.

Even if it's a lame excuse, I'm floored that someone actually replied. Then again, I'm not in the habit of emailing TV shows.

The dork thing probably gets more email than disrespecting someone's name. I remember one of my parents telling me not to say "dork" or "dorky" because it was another name for a penis (although neither of my parents would have said "penis"). Pecker, maybe? Either way, it was news to me. I still use the word without having phallic thoughts.

[ShaneGR]

12. I watched that show, it was pretty pathetic

Rangel came on advocating a draft. He made a couple really good points about sacrifice, the audience was nodding along with Rangel, and Ventura started yelling about how 19 year olds can't drink.

I was hoping for better from Ventura.

[maggrwaggr]

17. better from Ventura? The guy's got a single digit IQ

he's an idiot. If you watch him more you'll figure this out. The guy can't keep a simple fact in his head.

[rman]

13. you pick the least important issue

and you're even suggesting people email ventura about this?

that's much like focussing on Rush in the face of Wilsongate.

a distraction.

[neebob]

15. No, I didn't "pick" this issue

and aren't you being a little presumptuous in suggesting I did? Your knowledge of what concerns me and what I do about it is dependent on what I choose to post here. I could jump on every thread I agree or disagree with, imagining everyone is waiting for me to weigh in and taking note of what I say, and endlessly repeat what's already been said. I could post away on the assumption that logging my opinions on the internet is going to change the world. Or I could use this forum as one way to get news and broaden my perspective. I could comment where I feel I have something to add. I could resist the urge to post value judgments on other people's comments. I could even skip reading posts I suspect are redundant or uninteresting to me.

Okay, maybe it was over the top to suggest people email the show. Thanks for noticing.

[stewert]

14. My Letter to Jesse !

Dear Jesse,

You sort of let the corporations who hire illegal
immigrants off the hook last night.

The woman said the corporations who hire illegal
immigrants should be prosecuted, I agree 100
percent.

Think about this, if the corporations would not
hire them, a lot of them would stop coming here.
Don't you think that if the word got out in Mexico
that no company or employer in the US was going to
hire any illegal immigrants, they would stop
coming here. I am sure it would not stop all of
the illegal immigration, but I think it would stop
a lot of it. If they know the US corporations
would not hire ANY illegal immigrants, a lot of
them would stay in Mexico.

I also think the US should have a policy of no
benifits to any illegal immigrants. If we did
that, and the corporations would not hire them,
the number of illegal immigrants crossing the
border would probably drop by huge numbers. And
the cost of dealing with the problem would
probably drop drastically.

I was a little disappointed in you when you took
the position you did. I was also suprised nobody
made the point that if corporations stopped hiring
illegal immigrants it would stop a lot of them
from coming here illegally. Until we have these
two policies put in place, it will never get
better.

And Bush will NEVER do anything about it, he is
pandering to mexicans to get their vote. It is mostly
political, the politicians are pandering
to mexicans and latinos for votes because
they are increasing their numbers and a
lot of them vote. Bush is ok with corporations
hiring illegal immigrants, his buddies want it
that way, they want to hire illegals so they can
work them at slave labor wage rates. I am sure you
know all this, yet you did not point it out, have
you sold out to the corporate news network owners
already ?

Steve Senti
Peoria, IL.
61616

[neebob]

16. I'm with ya

on prosecuting corporations and individuals who hire illegal immigrants, if only because I think they're horribly exploitive and reasonable laws need to be consistently applied. When it comes to basic human rights like feeding one's family and escaping oppression or an understandable desire to upgrade one's level of poverty, I'm torn. Perhaps I'd be more certain, one way or the other, if this was a model society or even just a little closer to what it's supposed to be. If the American dream was more attainable for everyone.

I think people who manage to attain it, like Jesse Ventura, have a responsibility to do more than just spout off opinions and make more money and acquire more power.