Hot Buttons: Talk show topics

WHAT ARABS THINK

Analyzing the views of 3,800 Arab adults from eight countries -- Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel -- the book "What Arabs Think" looks at Arab beliefs, according to author Dr. James J. Zogby.

By far, the most important political issues in all the countries polled were civil and personal rights and health care, Zogby says.

According to the book, Arabs in all the other countries, except Lebanon, are satisfied with their financial situation and optimistic about their economic future.

Arabs view the Palestinian issue as an important personal concern, not a foreign policy matter or political issue, the book says.

This may help explain why most Arabs believe that for the United States to improve its standing in the Arab World it must "be more balanced" toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, Zogby says.

"France, Canada and Germany receive among the highest approval ratings, demonstrating that low approval ratings for the United States and the United Kingdom stem from those countries' foreign policies," says Zogby.

-- Why are most Arabs optimistic about their economic future and when Americans are not?

-- Zogby says for too long Arab public opinion has either been ignored or framed in discussions informed only by bias or anecdotes. Do you agree?

'Live from New York'

"Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live" by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller describes the boom and bust and boom again of the late night show.

"The success of 'Saturday Night Live' sparked a renaissance in topical, satirical and political humor; hugely expanded the parameters of what was 'acceptable' material on the air; and helped bestow upon the comedy elite the hip-mythic status that rock stars had long enjoyed," Shales and Miller write.

However, Salon.com says readers may quibble with the authors' notion "SNL" today is in top form, and continues to be a defining force in American comedy.

"'SNL' long ago stopped trying to shape American culture and instead traded its original rebellious streak for the chance to become a profitable, and relatively predictable, assembly line of cute catchphrases such as "Yeah, that's the ticket," the authors say.

-- Has "SNL" grown stale?

-- Instead of being cutting edge, has "SNL" depended on being more and more off-color?

MISS AMERICA

Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, says pageant officials have ordered her not to talk publicly about sexual abstinence, The Washington Times reports.

"Quite frankly, and I'm not going to be specific, there are pressures from some sides to not promote (abstinence)," the 22-year-old woman from Urbana, Ill., tells The Times.

According to an unnamed acquaintance, the Miss America organization has directed Harold to talk only about the issue of youth-violence prevention.

Harold won the Miss Illinois contest with her platform of "Teenage Sexual Abstinence: Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself."

But Illinois pageant officials selected "teen violence prevention" as her Miss America contest platform because they deemed it more "pertinent," her father tells an Illinois newspaper.

"I think that if a young person is engaged in a promiscuous lifestyle, it makes them vulnerable to other risk factors, so I definitely see a tie-in," Harold says.

-- Harold says abstinence education is an important component of youth-violence prevention because violence is directly related to sexual permissiveness and promiscuity. Do you agree?

-- Should pageant officials be able to comment or structure what Miss America says?