11/29 - Commander in Chief / Daily Show / Colbert Report

New episode of Commander in Chief, involving two main plotlines that actually are outside the scope of what presidents can and should be handling. Presidents do not have unlimited power and are bound by our system of federalism and by other laws. President Allen ultimately realizes that in one case involving base closures but not in the other involving the death penalty. Her ultimate resolution of the death penalty issue may be unconstitutional. For more, see my footnotes here.

Daily Show Guest: Peggy Noonan

Colbert Report Guest: Richard Preston

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/30/2005 09:03:00 AM   

11/28 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Welcome back from the holidays. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

I've changed the format of my Daily Show and Colbert Report footnotes, and am now using Blogger for those footnotes as well as for the main index. I'll set up feeds soon.

Daily Show Guest: Adrian Brody

Colbert Report Brian Greene

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/29/2005 08:09:00 AM   

11/24 - Law & Order

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! My wife and I are taking a quick trip to see her sister and her sister's husband, and we wish you all a great holiday weekend and smooth, safe travels. But before we go, here are footnotes for Wednesday's Law & Order episode.

One person in this episode refers to New York State "not doing executions any more." This warrants some explanation. New York State reinstated the death penalty in 1995 and had two people on death sentences as of the end of 2004, and the death penalty does remain part of state law. At the same time, no one has been executed since the death penalty's revival, some death sentences have been overturned, and no executions are likely to be conducted in the near future. Debate also continues as to whether the death penalty statute is appropriate or effective.

New York's highest court did rule in June 2004 that one part of the death penalty statute concerning jury instructions in the event of a deadlock was unconstitutional, but did not overturn the entire death penalty statute (People v. LaValle, opinion on-line here). The witness may have had this ruling in mind but may have misinterpreted its scope.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/24/2005 11:13:00 AM   

11/20 - Simpsons - See Homer Run

It's been a while since I footnoted The Simpsons, but last night's episode involved Homer running in a recall election, so there you go.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/21/2005 09:50:00 AM   

11/19 - Saturday Night Live - Eva Longoria

My most recent footnotes are for the November 19 episode of Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives."

The opening sketch and Weekend Update both refer to a November 17 speech (on-line here) by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania), who served in the Marines in Vietnam. Murtha criticized the U.S. presence in Iraq as destabilizing and as prolonging the insurgency, and he called for the United States to announce before Iraq's December 15 election for a permanent government that the United States would redeploy its forces. "I believe we need to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis," Murtha said. "I believe before the Iraqi elections, scheduled for mid December, the Iraqi people and the emerging government must be put on notice that the United States will immediately redeploy. All of Iraq must know that Iraq is free. Free from United States occupation."

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), who was recently elected to fill a vacancy, criticized Murtha on November 18, citing a letter from a Marine in Iraq and implying that Murtha was a coward. Schmidt's comments sparked a heated debate in the House of Representatives about the withdrawal of troops. The House voted late Friday 403-3 against a measure calling for immediate withdrawal. Notably, Murtha himself did not vote for immediate withdrawal; he said in his November 17 speech that he would redeploy troops "consistent with the safety of U.S. forces" and still maintain a smaller presence.

President George W. Bush has linked U.S. withdrawal to the status of Iraq military training and forces. Bush has said several times during the summer that U.S. troop withdrawals would occur only once Iraqi forces were prepared to defend themselves (see this August 24 speech on-line here) for an example).

See the rest of my footnotes for this episode here.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/20/2005 10:12:00 AM   

11/17 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Richard A. Clarke

Colbert Report Tim Robbins

New footnotes for Thursday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/18/2005 09:33:00 AM   

11/16 - Law & Order / Daily Show / Colbert Report

Footnotes for Wednesday's Law & Order.

Daily Show

Colbert Report

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/17/2005 09:33:00 AM   

11/15 - Commander in Chief / Boston Legal / Daily Show / Colbert Report

Commander in Chief HIV, tape	Boston Legal Alzheimer's
Daily Show Guest: Rosario Dawson	Colbert Report Guest: Rev. Al Sharpton

Four shows footnoted last night, including the first episode of Commander in Chief under Steven Bochco rather than creator Rod Lurie. It felt like a transitional episode, following up on storylines from the prior episode and pointing out that the show and the administration have been a little too reactive and perfect thus far. I'm interested in seeing what unfolds next.

President Allen's effective firing of Vince Taylor was particularly surprising, because it wasn't immediately the right thing to do. It probably did not violate federal law, though a similar action in the private sector probably would have been illegal in some regard. Analyzing this requires some determination of President Allen's reason for her action; she seems to have done this in part because of the personal betrayal she felt at Vince keeping secrets from her and potentially causing a security risk, though she also seems to have based this on the fact of his HIV status and sexual orientation.

Firing someone because of his or her HIV status might violate the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which generally protects people with HIV or AIDS from discriminatory employment actions, as described in more detail in a U.S. Department of Justice pamphlet on-line here. However, the ADA does not apply to the federal government except for Congress; Section 101(5)(B)(i) of the ADA (on-line here) excludes the United States from the definition of "employer," and the ADA specifically applies to state and local public entities and to Congress but not to the federal government overall.

Firing someone because of his or her sexual orientation does not violate federal law. President Bill Clinton did sign an Executive Order in 1998 (on-line here) which stated that federal policy was to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, but this had limited effect and did not apply to the White House (see section 6 of a prior executive order on-line here).

Still, firing someone because of his or her sexual orientation could violate state or local law. At least 13 states and the District of Columbia do have laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In such areas, firing someone because of his sexual orientation could be illegal and could give rise to a lawsuit. D.C. law does not exclude the federal government from its definition of "employer," so it is possible that President Allen's action could have violated D.C. law even if it did not violate federal law (I have not fully researched case law or regulations to see if there is anything further on this).

(Thanks to Denise Sudell for pointing out the limited scope of the ADA and Executive Order 13087)

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/16/2005 09:14:00 AM   

11/14 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Martha Stewart

Colbert Report Former Sen. Bob Kerrey

New footnotes for Monday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/15/2005 11:08:00 AM   

11/12 - Saturday Night Live - Jason Lee

My most recent footnotes are for the November 12 episode of Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Jason Lee of "My Name is Earl."

The opening "Hardball" sketch mentions proposed legislation prohibiting torture, which the Bush administration has criticized. On October 5, the Senate approved in a 90-9 vote (vote on-line here) a measure (S. Amendment 1977 to HR 2863) that explicitly would prevent the torture of anyone in U.S. custody "regardless of nationality or physical location." The measure was sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and would amend the FY2006 defense appropriations bill.

The White House reportedly has threatened to veto the amended appropriations bill unless an exception is allowed for certain cases at the president's determination. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on October 5 (on-line here) that the amendment was "unnecessary and duplicative" and given other laws and constitutional prohibitions and would "limit the President's ability as Commander-in-Chief to effectively carry out the war on terrorism."

When asked about the legislation at a November 7 press conference in Panama (transcript on-line here), President George W. Bush in Panama referred to efforts against terrorists and said that "anything we do to that effort, to that end, in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture."

See the rest of my footnotes for this episode here.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/13/2005 09:57:00 AM   

11/10 - Law & Order / Daily Show / Colbert Report

References on Law & Order to Andrea Yates, such as in Wednesday's episode (which I'm a day late on because of work), are always notable given the role that show actually played in Yates' now overturned conviction.

Yates was charged for causing her children's deaths by drowning them in a bathtub in June 2001. Yates, who pled not guilty by reason of insanity, previously had attempted to commit suicide, had been admitted to psychiatric units, and had reported seeing visions, and she had been under suicide watch less than two months before the drowning incident. Four psychiatrists and one psychologist testified that Yates did not know right from wrong.

However, the prosecution's psychiatrist, who had consulted for "Law & Order," testified that Yates did know that her actions were wrong and that she may have gotten the idea to kill her children from watching a recent episode that showed a woman with postpartum depression drowning her children. There was, in fact, no such "Law & Order" episode at the time.

Yates was convicted and given a life sentence.

That conviction was overturned by a Texas appellate court in January 2005 due to the psychologist's false testimony (opinion on-line here). The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal cases, declined on November 9 to hear prosecutors' appeal of the case.

And, as usual, new footnotes for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Daily Show Guest: Chris Elliott

Colbert Report Guest: Cokie Roberts

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/11/2005 09:31:00 AM   

11/9 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Keira Knightley

Colbert Report Mary Roach

New footnotes for Wednesday's Daily Show and Colbert Report. Footnotes for Law & Order will be a day late.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/10/2005 01:24:00 PM   

11/8 - Commander in Chief / Boston Legal / Daily Show / Colbert Report

Commander in Chief VP, drug testing	Boston Legal Defense, clown, bestiality
Daily Show Guest: Sen. John McCain Torture Legislation	Colbert Report Guest: Catherine Crier Torture Legislation

Four shows footnoted last night, though not too painful. A few things to note:

• Drug Testing. A White House aide on Commander in Chief underwent a random drug test. Federal agencies, including the White House, are required to have drug-testing programs for employees in sensitive positions, according to a September 15, 1986 executive order (#12564) by Ronald Reagan (on-line here. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on May 10, 2001 that 650 employees, including President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, were tested as a condition of employment and that 127 people had taken random follow-up tests by that time (transcript on-line here). Fleischer did not say whether anyone had passed or not, but said that "I would suggest to you that in its entirety, this White House is a very professional operation, and there are no problems that have been brought to anybody's attention."
  Fleischer said that if anyone was found to have used drugs, the policy would be to "treat this on an individual, case-by-case matter, to sit down and talk with the person whose test may have come back positive, to work with them to determine whether it was some type of casual usage or if there is a more serious problem, to determine what drugs were involved, and to work with that person and to help that person seek treatment and counseling. And if the situation is not resolved, the consequences could be anywhere from a letter of reprimand to firing."

• Bestiality. Denise was right on Boston Legal when she pointed out that not all states outlaw bestiality. Bestiality is a felony under Massachusetts law (on-line here) punishable by up to 20 years, but many states do not specifically have laws prohibiting it, at least according to a survey published in 1996. See more on this here.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/09/2005 10:19:00 AM   

11/7 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Sen. Barack Obama Terrell Owens Argentina Visit French Unrest Ethics Sessions

Colbert Report Guest: NYS AG Eliot Spitzer French Unrest Canada Threat Down

New footnotes for Monday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/08/2005 08:47:00 AM   

The West Wing: The Debate

So what did you think of the debate last night on The West Wing? I think that Arnold Vinick won the debate in terms of presidential viability, though I don't necessarily agree with his position on all the issues. The debate notably did not deal with foreign-policy issues except to the extent they related to domestic ones like immigration and energy and it did not mention terrorism at all, but that seems in keeping with the constraints of a show in a somewhat parallel reality where the September 11 attacks adn the latest Iraq war do not seem to have happened.

My initial footnotes on this episode are on-line here, covering immigration, energy, education, and crime issues. I probably will supplement these throughout the week and may even try doing a transcript for future reference.

A few notes of interest:

Vinick is correct when he says that the United States imported the most oil from Canada rather than from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the top sources of oil in the United States, but the United States has imported more from Canada since the mid-1990s. The top five sources of oil imports as of 2004 were: Canada (2.138 million barrels a day over the year), Mexico (1.665 million barrels a day), Saudi Arabia (1.558 million barrels a day), Venezuela (1.554 million barrels a day), and Nigeria (1.140 million barrels a day), with Iraq rising to a far sixth with 656,000 thousand barrels a day. The following graph was based on statistics from the Energy Information Administration here.

Matt Santos surprises some audience members when he says Medicare administrative expenses are small compared to those in the private sector. The Congressional Budget Office did say in February 2005 that it estimated that gross Medicare outlays for 2005 would be $329 billion and that outlays for administrative expenses would be $4 billion, representing about 1.2 percent of gross outlays (source: CBO).

For more, check out my footnotes here.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/07/2005 09:25:00 AM   

The West Wing : New Campaign Guide

The 2005 West Wing presidential campaign is nearing an end, and the two candidates are about to have their first and only debate on Sunday, November 6. Here's a campaign guide that looks at the positions they've taken on various issues thus far and on their personal backgrounds. Keep visiting that page for more information as we learn more about Democrat Rep. Matt Santos and Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick.

Matt Santos Democrat

Arnold Vinick Republican

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/05/2005 01:42:00 PM   

11/3 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Robert Ray Avian flu Same-sex marriage Independent counsel Libby indictment

Colbert Report Guest: Bradley Whitford Black sites House district

New footnotes for Thursday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/04/2005 09:11:00 AM   

11/2 - Law & Order / South Park / Daily Show / Colbert Report

Law & Order Forced sterilization	South Park Same-sex marriage
Daily Show Guest: Mike Wallace Senate closed session Oil prices	Colbert Report Guest: Bruce Feiler Religious controversies Senate closed session Animals Wal-Mart

Two-and-a-half hours of footnotable TV last night. Regarding Law & Order, forced sterilizations like the one that occurs in this episode actually were performed by many states in the early 20th century. The Supreme Court did uphold one such law as not violating a person's due process and equal protection rights in the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell, though courts almost certainly would not make such a ruling now. Several states have apologized in recent years for their respective involuntary sterilization laws. Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner was the first to do so, saying in a May 2, 2002 statement that "the eugenics movement was a shameful effort in which state government never should have been involved" (statement on-line here). California Governor Gray Davis said in a March 11, 2003 statement that "our hearts are heavy for the pain caused by eugenics. It was a sad and regrettable chapter in the state's hisotyr, and it is one that must never be repeated again." Virginia ultimately sterilized about 8,000 people pursuant to its law, and California sterilized about 19,000 people pursuant to its law.

As for South Park, Colorado has not enacted legislation allowing same-sex marriages. Such an action seems unlikely, given the current climate and the success of several referenda in 2004 amending various state constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/03/2005 09:46:00 AM   

11/1 - Commander in Chief / Boston Legal

Commander in Chief Hurricane, oil spill

Boston Legal Halloween, stop loss

New footnotes for Commander in Chief and Boston Legal. I like President Allen all right, but she really needs to face an issue where she is not so clearly right and her opponents not so clearly wrong. And I like Alan Shore and the lawyers at Crane, Poole & Schmidt, but they really need to bring lawsuits that are less frivolous; the underlying arguments in both lawsuits should have been made at the political level, not with court filings.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/02/2005 12:19:00 PM   

11/1 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: Sen. Barbara Boxer Senate closed session Alito nomination Poverty

Colbert Report Guest: Ken Burns Royal visit Earthquake aid

New footnotes for Tuesday's Daily Show and Colbert Report.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/02/2005 11:33:00 AM   

10/31 - Daily Show / Colbert Report

Daily Show Guest: D.L. Hughley Libby Indictment Alito Nomination

Colbert Report Guest: Monica Crowley Libby Indictment Alito Nomination Ramadan

Given the Friday indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and the Monday morning announcement of the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., the topics covered in last night's Daily Show and Colbert Report were fairly obvious. And I agree that the baseball metaphor Patrick Fitzgerald used in his Friday press conference didn't quite work.

posted by Stephen Lee @ 11/01/2005 12:45:00 PM