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donatella, I’ve been meaning to mention to you that Keith Olbermann was fired!! Friday was his last show. Good riddance to him. That’ll teach him for being so mean to Hillary.
re: Citizens United — Thomas recusal would have changed outcome. 4-4 tie would have let lower decision stand. It is one of the decisions over the last decade that I disagree most strongly with.
benson — I find Thomas’s lack of question-asking at oral argument somewhat troubling but not dispositive. Proof of performance is/should be in the votes and written opinions. But questioning is a good place to test arguments and resolve concerns. I would like to think intellectual curiosity is an important component and asking questions at oral argument may be a marker for that. I think if he had come in with a stronger pre-appointment c.v., no one would flinch at this, but for Thomas it tends to reinforce the view that many held, rightly or wrongly, during his nomination that he was not quite ready for S.Ct. prime time. I have no insider knowledge and only watch some S.Ct. cases, but it seems to me he relies heavily, but not exclusively, on the rest of the court’s righty bloc, Scalia in particular, to do some of teh heavy lifting, though he does have his own compass and departs from it from time to time. I believe analyses have shown that he and Scalia are the two that vote the same way the most often. All of that said, I have no reason to question his competence at rendering decisions at this point. I just disagree with many of them, but that is a different question. I am somewhat troubled by the ethical lapse, however.
I really don’t like TV very much but some times I am in the mood to watch it. The only things that I watch are things on Bravo or USA, (odd cop shows) or MSNBC in the am. I used to watch MSNBC at night but don’t much anymore.
What happened to Keith Obermann? Both Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell gave these euology type speeches about him last night. I thought he was a little screwy but sometimes he was really good. I thought it was weird how he used to spend so much time attacking O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Beck.
As I said, basically I agree that alot of TV is a wasteland. I could do well without it.
Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend that you totally deprive your kids of TV, especially when they are older than about 8 or so. They will have friends, and their friends will have TV. If you totally ban TV, they will likely go to their friends’ house and see whatever they want.
I would recommend rather that you restrict their TV viewing to a specified amount of time, and declare certain shows off limit. It is more realistic to teach them discretion.
American TV programming is like the buffet at Ponderosa. You can tell me till you’re blue in the face about how the ambrosia is actually really good and I should try it but I’m just not walking in the door of that establishment because the entire thing makes me want to throw up.
there are a number of really well-written, enjoyable programs on TV. And loads of movies, history, science, diy’s- sure there’s a lot of crap too. But if you’re an adult, you know how to pick and choose.
donatella, I’ve been meaning to mention to you that Keith Olbermann was fired!! Friday was his last show. Good riddance to him. That’ll teach him for being so mean to Hillary.
Lechacal, is your wife home with the kids? If so maybe she she needs some TV to prevent total insanity.
lechacal, great TV-buffet comparison.
ET, my son is 9 now we have never watched TV in the home.
He has always watched DVDs on non-school nights, and now likes to watch science and history shows via NetFlix on demand.
From what I can tell, it has not caused him any noticeable social issues.
very funny, dona.
re: Citizens United — Thomas recusal would have changed outcome. 4-4 tie would have let lower decision stand. It is one of the decisions over the last decade that I disagree most strongly with.
benson — I find Thomas’s lack of question-asking at oral argument somewhat troubling but not dispositive. Proof of performance is/should be in the votes and written opinions. But questioning is a good place to test arguments and resolve concerns. I would like to think intellectual curiosity is an important component and asking questions at oral argument may be a marker for that. I think if he had come in with a stronger pre-appointment c.v., no one would flinch at this, but for Thomas it tends to reinforce the view that many held, rightly or wrongly, during his nomination that he was not quite ready for S.Ct. prime time. I have no insider knowledge and only watch some S.Ct. cases, but it seems to me he relies heavily, but not exclusively, on the rest of the court’s righty bloc, Scalia in particular, to do some of teh heavy lifting, though he does have his own compass and departs from it from time to time. I believe analyses have shown that he and Scalia are the two that vote the same way the most often. All of that said, I have no reason to question his competence at rendering decisions at this point. I just disagree with many of them, but that is a different question. I am somewhat troubled by the ethical lapse, however.
I really don’t like TV very much but some times I am in the mood to watch it. The only things that I watch are things on Bravo or USA, (odd cop shows) or MSNBC in the am. I used to watch MSNBC at night but don’t much anymore.
What happened to Keith Obermann? Both Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell gave these euology type speeches about him last night. I thought he was a little screwy but sometimes he was really good. I thought it was weird how he used to spend so much time attacking O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Beck.
ET and Lech;
As I said, basically I agree that alot of TV is a wasteland. I could do well without it.
Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend that you totally deprive your kids of TV, especially when they are older than about 8 or so. They will have friends, and their friends will have TV. If you totally ban TV, they will likely go to their friends’ house and see whatever they want.
I would recommend rather that you restrict their TV viewing to a specified amount of time, and declare certain shows off limit. It is more realistic to teach them discretion.
American TV programming is like the buffet at Ponderosa. You can tell me till you’re blue in the face about how the ambrosia is actually really good and I should try it but I’m just not walking in the door of that establishment because the entire thing makes me want to throw up.
The apartment I am renting has 2 TVs mounted on the walls – a 54 inch in the living room and a 46 inch in the bedroom.
I hooked a laptop up to the bedroom TV once to prove that I could watch netflix on demand that way. I have not turned it on since.
The TV in the living room is hooked up to the Playstation 3 for games, DVDs/Blu-Rays, and Netflix.
We bought an antenna so we could pick up the broadcast channels when we wanted to watch TV. We have used it twice in 7 months.
there are a number of really well-written, enjoyable programs on TV. And loads of movies, history, science, diy’s- sure there’s a lot of crap too. But if you’re an adult, you know how to pick and choose.