The video worked for me.

I have never watched the programme "The Wire" but I can borrow it from the library and watch it. I do agree, Real News does a very good job of reporting on domestic AND International issues.

"Boarded up houses, broken glass windows, public school playgrounds full of junk and broken glass" is the scene on the south side of my city for at least 30 years ( to my personal knowledge ).
What is amazing AND distressing is that our elected officials talk only about the middle class. I have not heard anyone talk about the poor and permanent underclass.

Rupa Shah

I just recently finished watching all five seasons of The Wire via Netflix. It's a fantastic show, wise in its cynicism and seemingly realistic, and I almost couldn't stop watching, but be aware that it would be one constant bleep on network television and contains violence that is graphic and intense, both visually and emotionally. Personally, I found it very compelling, and often gripping, and all the characters seem human--junkies, dealers, cops, lawyers, port workers and union officials, and in later seasons educators and journalists. It's full of tremendous writing and acting alike. It's just a remarkable show depicting the ugly side of urban life and what's left of its institutions, but it doesn't flinch on the ugly.

Thomas Ferguson is a smart guy, but the problems that led to the destruction of so much of urban America long precede Wall Street's current ascendance and all the excesses of that. Then again, he obviously knows that.

Just have to give a shout (Booyah!) for Thomas Ferguson's really good book Golden Rule. It's a well argued, well researched book about the role big money has played in creating and sustaining the 'adversarial' two party system in the US.

Yeah, ford/macArthur foundation dnc wurlitzers really need my five fuckin' bucks. I guess rejects from la nation need bmws, too.