Some Mahablog commenters and other bloggers are saying the CSPAN town hall broadcast on on separation of powers issues dealing with the NSA domestic spying was first rate. It will be rebroadcast tonight on CSPAN1 at 9:00 EST. Panelists include Mary DeRosa, Lawrence Tribe, John Dean, Jim Harper, Anthony Romero, and Marvin Kalb. I plan to watch.
Also, the Olympic ice dancing final competition on NBC will be fun to watch (I know who got medals — wink, nudge).
It was a good program (C-SPAN!). I just can’t get into the Olympics this year. I’ve seen a little bit on NBC with Katie & Matt and that did it for me. The food segment was my favorite seg but it was a joke. I wish there was going to be a “cat fight” type thing going on as occurred several years with Nancy.
I think that it was the professor from Harvard that said on the C-SPAN1 program in reference that Bush is “totally out-of-control”. Of course, we all knew that but it’s good to know that someone will point that out on C-SPAN1 again tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern.
We Democrats must start making others pay for defining us. Tonight on Hardball , while interviewing Paul Hackett he wondered aloud why more vets aren’t running for office, completely negating
Veterans for a Secure America. This group of 55 ( or so ) vets are running for congress as Democrats with ideas as varied as the basic issues on the lips of Democrats across the country. Everyone should be aware of this group and begin supporting them as they supported Kerry and Dean ( financially) in 2004.
Tom Friedman East Hampton,NY
Yes,
As a good C-Span watcher I thought it was one of the most informative forums on the topic to date. Interesting that bush-co won’t participate in such high-minded discussions. As I watched and listened I could only imagine that the right-wingers would deem it: all so much arguing. Why do these liberals have to question the unlimited power of the president during an undeclared war? Did you notice that more than one question involved the declaring of a war? People want to know.
.
Actually, the Olympic cat fights have beenreplaced by a new generation ofmales, mostly, who are struck by their own public image, or potential image. Some of what we used to expect in terms of a team spirit, an Olympic spirit is just gone. I t started, sadly, with the second basketball “dream team” so many years ago. I don’t blame the youg athletes like Bodie Miller, Johnny Wehr, or S. Davis, I blame Nike et. al. Corporate sponsors kill two birds with one stone when they celebrate the bad boy antics{crimes?} of the likes of Kobe Bryant, and thereby excite their young buying target demogrphic, at the same time creating more fear and alienation on the part of older voting populatilns, assuring cultural angst wins out over common sense and the common good. I vote for an ethics class for anyone seeking a coaching job. For myself, I’ll buy Keds next time.
Olympic cat fights?
Somehow I can ignore the commercialization of the Olympics. The fact that athletes from the world over are competing for a small chunk of gold is compelling to me. Do you really think that the speed skater from Slovakia really has a sneaker contract? Nukes, Army’s, and GDP really have no bearing when it comes down to the Olympics. I look at the Olympics as one of the last bastions of good will among men?
and women
I agree with uncledad. I love the winter Olympics and look forward to them every four years. I just ignore all the commericalization–just as I do with Christmas. The ice dancing last night looked like a car wreck with all the falls. I think Bode Miller has done well; and, there are too many people who don’t remember when the U.S. had no skier that would place in the top 30, let alone the top 10. In fact, if I remember correctly, Peggy Fleming won the U.S.’s only gold in 1960, possibly the U.S’s only medal. My memory is not that good any more. Many of the controversies have been created by the press, just as they do in politics. All in all, I have enjoyed most of it (not the X games and those god awful outfits); and, look forward to the remaining games.
Oh, one word for Jimmy Roberts–MAUDLIN!
A link
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8172.shtml
Bonnie,
Thanks for your kind words. ” In fact if I remember correctly, Peggy Fleming won the U.S’s only gold in 1960″ We’ll I’m glad to see someone is older than me? Just barely. Yes I do wax poetic for the old days of the Olympic Games, especially the winter games, remember when they (summer and winter) happened the same year? But in these days of hateful musings of foreign lands I feel the Olympics still have something to offer. In fact I think they have everything to offer.
Yesterdays program is called; A C-SPAN Archive.
C-SPAN covers and video records 20 or more EVENTS per day.
These programs are Archived, and if We are lucky, they may be re-aired in the future.
During the middle of the night,
during the weekend,
during the holidays
There is NO outlet at this time to re-air a fraction of the C-SPAN Archives.
The Town Hall event re-aired about 3 times in 18 hours ( that’s COOL!!!)
In a perfect world, it would re-air every 6 hours for 1-2 weeks, and then on and off for a few months. Just like all the programming We see on
TLC
Discovery
History
HGTV
ETC
C-SPAN Companion Networks is not esoteric.
C-SPAN Companion Networks is Common Sense.
Civics.
Discourse.
Dialogue.
Debate.
Democracy.
C-SPAN is Our National Town Hall.
“500 Channels, and still there’s nothing worth watching”
A country that has more ESPN networks than
C-SPAN Networks is in trouble
( a perfect world)
10 new C-SPAN Companion Networks
In addition to the three current C-SPAN Networks the following would be the 10 new C-SPAN Companion Networks:
4) WASHINGTON JOURNAL NETWORK—Re-airing each mourning’s Washington Journal. Also Past WJ (a best of), and Requests.
5) BOOK T.V. NETWORK—Finally. Book T.V. 24/7.
6) CAPITOL HEARINGS NETWORK—LIVE and taped Coverage of Hearings, Cmte Mark-up, Conderence Cmte, etc.
7) BOOKNOTES NETWORK—’nuff said.
8) AMERICA AND THE COURTS NETWORK—Judiciary Branch.
9) TOWN HALL/OPEN PHONES/CIVICS NETWORK— Open forum. Civics. Participation.
10) AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES NETWORK— Political Events.
11) AMERICAN PRESIDENTS NETWORK— The Series, supplemented with LIVE call-in segments.
12) AMERICAN WRITERS NETWORK— The Series.
13)DE TOCQUEVILLE/LIVING HISTORY/C-SPAN SCHOOL BUS NETWORK— Re-enactments, impersonations, C-SPAN History Series, C-SPAN Bus Tour, De Tocqueville Series.
http://www.cspanjunkies.org/
Re Olympic games — I would like to send the Fashion Police after the figure skaters and ice dancers. The sequins and feathers are way out of control. I hardly see any costumes that are actually pretty. Maybe the ladies’ figure skaters will be a tad more subdued. We can hope.
I miss the days when the Olympics were broadcast live. I’m glad my kids were able to catch just a glimpse of how they used to be shown here. Now there was excitement for you. With all our advanced technology, our coverage is disgraceful. It comes down to money, I guess? No wonder viewers have fallen off over the years.
samiam — I know what you mean. Of course there’s the time difference thing, and NBC wants to put stuff in prime time, which is the middle of the night in Italy. (If you’ve got cable you can see some stuff live on USA network during the day, but every time I tune in to see what’s up they’re showing curling. Snore.) But I think NBC ought to broadcast the major competitions live and then show an Olympic highlights roundup in prime time.
That would ruin it for me, a working stiff. Highlights are not the same as seeing the program even if delayed.
I saw the C-Span thing and there was a guy from the Cato Institute who couldn’t possibly believe that Bush and his gang would do any thing in bad faith. Obviously, not in the reality-based world. John Dean was very good.
That would suit me! And follow through these competitions to the end! Last night’s medal award ceremony for ice dancing came after another event! This completely diffused the excitement that had finally been allowed to build up (despite their silly programming). Why was this necessary since it wasn’t live anyway? Who makes these decisions, and why, I wonder?!