Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

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Current entries

Wednesday, July 26, 2006, 12:28 pm

Personal TV History. I usually resist the "memes" that bloggers pass around, but this one looks like fun.

A close reading of my choices would reveal me as a baby boomer with an elementary school age daughter. Probably the bulk of my lifetime television experience was in 1963-73.

Instructions: Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

24
3rd Rock from the Sun
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
American Idol /Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (series 1-26)
Dragnet
Due South
Dungeons and Dragons (old cartoon)
Earth 2
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Fantasy Island
Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Head of the Class
Highlander
Hill Street Blues
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
Iron Chef (Japan)
Iron Chef (USA)
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
Kath and Kim
LA Law
Laverne and Shirley
Law and Order
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum P.I.
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Family
My Favorite Martian
My Life as a Dog
My Mother the Car
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mysterious Cities of Gold
NCIS
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pirates of Darkwater
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psyche
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis -- New season
Stargate SG-1 -- New season
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
Teletubbies
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Prisoner
The Real World
ROAR
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Upstairs, Downstairs
Veronica Mars
Wings
What Not To Wear (US)
What Not To Wear (UK)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Witchblade
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls
Young Hercules

I added My Favorite Martian, My Mother the Car, and Teletubbies.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Monday, July 17, 2006, 12:47 pm

From the Clerk-Register. Today's message to my staff.

This past week brought news that the Michigan Supreme Court is considering some radical changes to the jury process.

Proposed court rules, now up for public comment, would make it possible for jurors to ask questions, take notes in court, visit crime scenes, and discuss the evidence with the rest of the jury before the close of trial. Judges would be allowed to .fairly and impartially sum up. evidence and comment to the jury about the weight of the evidence. Attorneys would be encouraged to distribute reference notebooks to jurors with exhibits and witness lists.

These are practical kinds of things that we often hear jurors ask for. After all, if you had to hear presentations and then make an important decision, wouldn.t you want to take notes, ask questions, receive written material, and so on? I think these changes would have the potential to improve the process and lead to more considered verdicts, and I.m happy to see them considered.

But in our system, practicality often takes a back seat to exacting standards for ensuring procedural fairness. Judges and lawyers are accustomed to treating juries as passive receptacles for evidence and argument, not as active participants in the process. So I expect these ideas will get a hostile reception.

You can read the complete proposal at http://www.courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/Resources/Administrative/2005-19.pdf — and I invite you to send the Court your own comments, whether pro or con.

Let's have a great week — enjoy the hot weather and the Art Fairs!

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum —

Sunday, July 16, 2006, 1:58 pm

Pittsfield Recall. Here's my overall take on the controversy,

Michigan voters have a costitutional right to recall public officials. As an activist and as a public official, I support and uphold this fundamental political right. I have even signed a recall petition or two myself.

I have long advocated that the clarity review process not be abused to frustrate the constitutional right of recall. And for at least 30 years, I have advocated that validation of recall and other petitions and signatures should be reasonable and not unduly stringent.

So, in Pittsfield Township, the proposed recall of the supervisor, clerk, and treasurer has gone to the ballot in the August 8 election. The choice is up to the voters now.

I don't live in Pittsfield any more, but I do have an opinion about the outcome. I strongly recommend a "no" vote on all three Pittsfield recalls.

I don't think that any of the claimed reasons for the recall justifies removing them from office.

First, I have a lot of experience watching local government in action. I can say that Pittsfield Township is much better governed than most, and the current officials do a better job than past Pittsfield administrations.

Second, Pittsfield is a large and growing jurisdiction with many challenges, and I don't think the compensation of these officials is out of line. Nor are they personally corrupt.

Third, the township had little choice but to approve the Wal-Mart project. The land was already zoned commercial, and refusal to allow a store to be constructed there would be fiercely and successfully contested by the developer.

I disagreed with and criticized the township's purchase of the Newmarket land ($11 million to stop a huge development), but I think the majority of township residents supported it.

The real reason for the recall is that many people see these officials as arrogant, bullheaded, and dismissive of others' opinions.

I can't argue with that. They certainly don't observe my ideal of the humility of a public servant.

But the recall, if successful, will only make this worse. In the short run, Pittsfield will get weak officials who will be run over by developers and interest groups. Some atrocious things will happen. When the outrage builds, the township will turn to even tougher, even more pugnacious, even more obnoxious leaders, who give even less credence to opposing viewpoints. A history of recalls over less than earthshaking issues will drive away other sorts of candidates.

The current officials aren't perfect. But they're doing a good job, and Pittsfield's interests would be best served by retaining them.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum — Comments

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