* I’m not sure if TV (or media in general) was ever really “better” or “worse” than it is now. I do agree that reality TV is a pox on the medium, but that’s mostly due to the genre being (as G said) bled dry of interesting ideas.

* You can’t easily watch the internet on your TV because the moment you can, advertisers will insist on paying internet prices for ads, which are much lower than TV prices for ads. The artificial separation of the media must continue until the web can find a way to charge TV ad prices (or vice versa).

* Obama’s detractors will give him hell for anything they disagree with, but the PC police are the ones behind the “Special Olympics” ire. The list of jokes you can make at another’s expense — even self-deprecatingly — is rapidly eroding. (One of my ex-gfs observed that Finding Nemo centered most of its caricature on the fishtank fish, all of whom had mental disorders, since that’s evidently still “free reign,” comedy-wise.)

* I prefer a more open and conversational president to one who’s intellectually distant, but I doubt that going on Leno means Obama is doing any less business behind closed doors than Bush did. He just knows how to make us feel good about the government machine, whereas Bush’s people didn’t care how we felt (as long as we remained re-electably paranoid).

* I think most people who see a baby left in a car would be outraged because they presume the parents have forgotten about (or ignored) the baby — an unforgivable offense. But I think people give dogs credit for being more resilient than babies, and also presume that the owners must logically be returning to the car ASAP, before the dog is in danger — whereas a baby is automatically in danger. It may not be indifference toward animals, just a difference in perception.

Come back @DeeJayG.