marceline

I don't miss Stabler. Amaro fills the void nicely enough without all of that suppressed rage Eliot had. And goodness knows, I'm glad to never see any of Eliot's batshit crazy kids again. My only problem with his absence is that they haven't explained it. There's no way Stabler wouldn't have come back to help when Liv went missing. For them to not even do a throwaway line about Stabler having moved away or something was lame. I've already said that I love Rollins and Fin. They are in the perfect position to become the lead pairing on this show. I'm really looking forward to his reaction when he finds out she's relapsed. I definitely think it's time to add a new detective. We've lost Munch and Cragen.

Same. The truth is I'm just tired of Olivia. I'm not looking forward to the new episode since we're just going to revisit her attack.

I actually want to watch it again before I even try to say anything about it. It's funny that I was looking forward to seeing the regeneration so much. I know it may sound weird but I had almost no knowledge of the Whoverse when I started watching. I didn't know anything about regeneration so when Nine turned into Ten I lost. my. [!@#$%^&*]. and since I binged watched I didn't know in advance when Ten would turn to Eleven. This is the first time I have known about and been prepared for a regeneration.

So no thoughts on "The Time of the Doctor?"

Christie was never different. He was just at the lower end of the crazy scale mainly. Any Republican who is really different i.e. John Huntsman get purged from the party. The only reason Christie isn't a complete pariah is because he's in charge of a state above the Mason-Dixon line. Remember we're talking about a party that began to turn on him because he placed a higher priority on taking care of his state and residents after Sandy than snubbing Barack Obama. Think about that. To these Republicans the fact that Christie didn't behave like a sociopath made him a RINO. The only hope for the GOP to regain any measure of sanity is to stand up to the crazies but they can't even really do that because the very gerrymandering they did to disenfranchise others now puts moderates and electable Republicans at a disadvantage. I would enjoy watching them suffer the consequences of their arrogance and corruption if the rest of us didn't have to suffer with them.

I consider the fact that the loathsome, hate-mongering shrew had to backtrack - even as poorly as she did it - to be the real victory.

Tika Sumpter was interviewed on this morning's Tom Joyner Morning Show as part of the promotion for "A Madea Christmas." http://blackamericaweb.com/194363/tika-sumpter-gets-funny-in-a-madea-christmas/

The NY Times did a nice piece on why some Catholics are ticked off at the Pope. It cracked me up. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/us/conservative-us-catholics-feel-left-out-of-the-popes-embrace.html I have to admit that I like the guy. I'm not in love with him the way a lot of liberals are but I have to admit that it's refreshing to see a Pope that seems to have better priorities.

Not particularly fond of her. In fact I find her immensely annoying. The only reason I don't completely hate her is because of my inexplicable fondness for Alex Kingston even though I think she's wildly miscast. River's such clusterfuck of a character. I think of characters like her as "paper clips." They get bent and twisted back and forth and finally they break. Archaeologist, friend, nemesis, daughter, diva, wife, hologram...I really didn't buy any of it. I didn't see any chemistry. Not with The Doctors or Amy or Rory. I did think she worked well enough as a con artist, thief, time traveler. I guess that the bottom line is that whenever River Song showed up, my first thought was "Argh. You again?" The show never gave me a decent answer to that. ETA: Plus I hate the fact that her existence is a result of Amy and Rory being cheated out of being young parents.

I finally watched DOTD today and really enjoyed it. As a new Whovian, I knew that I was missing a lot of the inside stuff yet it was still accessible and enjoyable. I haven't started watching any of the original series so I only "know" three doctors and I like them all equally. Frankly I was glad that Rose didn't show up as herself. She's my least favorite companion although Clahrrrrrrah is not far behind her. Jenna Coleman is cute enough but she grates on my nerves.

John Boehner managed to sign up for Obamacare http://www.salon.com/2013/11/22/whoops_obamacare_turns_out_to_be_great_deal_for_boehner/

The Senate would've gone nuclear the minute the GOP gained power again whenever that was. This way Obama gets to stack the bench and I mean stack it deep. The GOP's obstruction means he has a TON of seats to fill. Obama's fingerprints will be all over the judiciary for decades. Reproductive rights, voter suppression, LGBT rights, there's now a greatly increased chance that all those cases will be heard by an Obama appointee.

This show has done a very good job of turning itself around.

Obama's mistake was trying to dumb down the ACA for people. The more you try to simplify something as complicated as health insurance, the easier it is to skip over details and nuance. That's what happened here. Obama didn't willingly lie to people he just made the same mistake he always makes: he underestimated how low his opponents would sink. He thought the insurance companies would bring their junk policies up to code instead burning them and trying to up-sell desperate customers.

The whole thing was a mess and I'm with you that Liv needs to be kept far away from SVU. It's ludicrous to me that she hasn't been transferred to computer crimes or robbery. That said, Billy Porter was wonderful in his role and watching Fin and Rollins jam to "For Once in My Life" was all I needed. I never thought I'd like Fin with anybody but Munch but he and Rollins are a perfect fit.

Three past bouts of cancer. Good thing for him that he's always had good health insurance.

There were fat presidents before the electronic age. Taft obviously and Teddy Roosevelt wasn't exactly a svelte man. At this point I think Christie's weight will have little effect. Especially given that so many Americans on the right have confused indulgence with freedom.

I'm not assuming any such thing. I don't consider Hilary the default candidate. A lot can happen between now and 2016. My comment was simply geared at the fact that you seem to consider the fact that "Christie will be the GOP establishment favorite" to be a good thing when the last two elections show that it isn't and that was before the GOP started eating its own.

Yes. Let's look back at the McCain and Romney Administrations. Those were some halcyon days.

Antonio Sabato Jr. will be on Dr. Phil this Friday to discuss...marijuana policy. http://www.drphil.com/shows/

I know there are a lot of Billy Magnussen fans here. It looks like he's in the lead to take on the role of Cristian Grey in Fifty Shades. http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmovies/article/Tony-Nominee-Billy-Magnussen-Closes-in-on-FIFTY-SHADES-OF-GREY-Lead-20131021

You called this 100% right.

Saw him. He's so good at playing entitled creepy psychopaths.

Yes. He may end up doing the occasional guest spot but Belzer has officially left the show.

I'm not too worried about those numbers just yet. Mainly because we're in open enrollment and people have months to sign up. No matter how much people try to simplify it, health insurance is hard to figure out even when you get it through work and have an HR department rep there to answer all of your questions. We're in open enrollment at my job and I guarantee you most of us won't sign up until the last minute, myself included. It makes sense that people who have literally NEVER had health insurance would be overwhelmed by whatever information they receive. Have you ever really tried to read through an insurance plan? It's insane. Add in the website stuff and that's not a perfect recipe for enrollment. My prediction (based on absolutely nothing) is that enrollment will stay slow and flat until mid-December then it will jump right before the signup deadline which will only make the sites slow and crash again. What's disgusting for me is watching Republicans in the states work so hard to make this fail. I can't even begin to tell you the machinations Mary Taylor, our Lt. Gov. who is also the Director of the Ohio Dept. of Insurance, has gone through to sabotage the rollout in this state. The lies, the kneecapping, etc...it's a dereliction of responsibility that is only surpassed by the work our Sec. of State has gone through to make it harder to vote. I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor had been sitting in the server room with a pair of wire cutters.