>From The Vancouver Courier of Sunday, January 9, 2005, written by Geoff

Olson, excerpted from an editorial entitled "A random selection of

points to ponder":

"It's no mystery why 'serious' broadcast news is losing younger viewers

to The Daily Show, seen here on The Comedy Channel. Since most of the

young regard the world they're inheriting from us as an absurd place,

what better showcase for it than an absurd news show?

On Wednesday, host Jon Stewart noted that international monitors are

flying into the Mideast to ensure standards are maintained for the

upcoming election in Iraq. Monitors will be supervising polling in Iraqi

cities such as Basra, Najaf and Kirkuk, but they will be doing so from

Amman, Jordan. 'It's true; the international observers will be observing

the election from another country. I assume the plan is to figure out

who lost by observing which ethnic groups stream across the border the

next day.'

When Stewart remarked on 'the awful footage' on the tsunami, he gave as

an example the morning TV show The View, and its women's coffee klatch.

'I thank God every day, because one month prior I was there,' clucked

one woman at the table. Another added that a friend of hers was in the

Maldives only a month earlier. 'God blessed us.' Stewart waited a moment

for this to sink in with viewers, as the laughter grew. 'God killed

160,000 people! Just because you weren't there, that's not Him blessing.

My guess is that it was an oversight.'"