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While we do our show live at 10 p.m. ET 99 percent of the time, from time to time during the day we tape interviews to "drop" into our show. On Thursday we taped three pieces: Senator John McCain and Beth Holloway Twitty for last night's show and Mrs. Cheney. In order to do the tapings, everyone on the staff must come in early, so it is pretty busy (and demanding on the staff.) Oddly, it does make the 10 p.m. show particularly easy for me since when we get to the taped segment, I can sit back as it plays for you and prepare for the next live segment.
Last night you did not see the interview we had with Mrs. Cheney earlier in the day since we are saving it for the Thanksgiving holiday week. The interview is about Mrs. Cheney's new book, "A Time for Freedom." She loves history so she once again writes about it. I think she told me that she has written or co-authored seven books. This new book has an interesting format — it is a timeline of American history. You can check to see what important events in history happened the year you were born. (And no, mine was not the year that Henry Ford rolled out the first car!) I was particularly interested to see how she handled election 2000 in her timeline. I wondered if she would lean... but no, it was straight facts including that Vice President Gore had more actual votes than President Bush (of course President Bush received more electoral college votes.)
I feared that this morning I would wake up to lots of viewer e-mails complaining about the music that was playing in the background during our show. Some organization in the building (I was told the American Gas Association, but can't verify) was having a big party with a band during our show one floor away and you could easily hear the loud music in our studio. The music also caused the floor in the studio to seem to vibrate. I guess we need to get ready for the holiday season and we can expect lots of bands and music in the building.
The music bleeding into our studio did not sound like holiday music but rather just like oldies — and real oldies... '60s? At one point it sounded like people over the age of 40 trying to sing Beatles music, but that could be my imagination that they were singing along. The noise was a bit distorted. As you might imagine, this whole thing was quite a treat. I can only imagine them dancing... which makes me wonder, at what age should people stop fast dancing in public? And if you think the Beatles sing-a-long coming through the floor was wild, you should have heard — through the floors — the attempt at Elvis Presley's "Blue Suede Shoes." I wish I had video of this. I have not yet seen an e-mail about the music, so I guess my lapel mike did not pick it up.
Before the show began, we laughed about the music... but as soon as the show started, it became a bit of a challenge and lost its humor, but only because we were not talking about anything funny. As we talked about a murdered six year old and a manhunt for a man who escaped prison, rock-'n-roll was competing with us. Of course the challenge we met was to ignore the music — we were talking about very serious topics and we were not in the partying mood like our co-residents in the building. Bottom line... it all worked out.
E-mail No. 1 — The next e-mails were in response to an article I posted on Thursday's blog:
I am tired of all these people criticizing parents for attempting to discipline their children. You just can't win as a parent. There are so many "professionals" with opinions about how to best raise your child (many of which probably don't even have kids) it's ridiculous. That child is lucky that all that got hurt were her feelings. Her mother wasn't doing anything wrong in my opinion and I really don't think that the child is going to have any long-term problems because of it, kids are very resilient. Not every method of discipline is going to work for your child. As a parent you have to develop a method of discipline that works for you and that is what this mother is attempting to do. She even stated that she wasn't sure if it would work or not but that she had to do "something" to get her daughter to understand why she needs to behave in school. That statement lets you know that she probably has already tried other methods of discipline and apparently they haven't worked. People shouldn't be so worried about humiliating kids nowadays because when you think about it what form of punishment or discipline isn't a bit humiliating. My child hates time out and cries when ever he gets put on it but you know what? Tough! He shouldn't have misbehaved. Punishments weren't meant to be pleasant that would defeat the purpose.
TSgt Tammalah Johnson
E-mail No. 2
This mother makes it clear that nothing else had worked with this child and I think she did the right thing. It made the daughter finally take notice and she admits that she no longer talks back to her mother. I hope it lasts. Parenting with ingenuity: I applaud Tasha Henderson. More parents need to take back their parenthood and stop trying to be friends with their kids. As for the person who called the police to complain about psychological abuse, get real. Soft-handed, marshmallow parenting has got to stop.
Cindy Scroggins
Fort Mitchell, KY
E-mail No. 3
Greta,
I did see that article yesterday! In fact, I printed it out last night and taped it to the inside of my front door where I would be sure the teenagers in my house would see it. Their reactions were hysterical, and now they are wondering if it could happen to them....
I'll let them mull it over for awhile.
Jill Paulos
E-mail No. 4
Hi Greta!
Is there any way that people can adopt any of those pets from Katrina? If so, how do you go about doing so? It breaks my heart to see all of those animals and I would love to adopt one.
Thanks!
Michelle
Scottsdale, AZ
ANSWER: Contact the organization:
www.petconnectinc.org
(301) 299-3798
E-mail No. 5
Dear Greta,
I was in Thailand last three weeks, where I saw your show a couple of times. I can't belief that people like to watch the propaganda in your show. Of course there is the freedom of speech, but you made the Aruban people look like citizens of a corrupt third world country. If you really care about solving cases like the missing of Natalee, please inform yourself about the justice system in Holland and the other countries of our kingdom. I think I won't have to remind you that the crime rates in the U.S. are much higher, and the percentage solved are much lower compared to the rates in our kingdom. I think, programs like yours, give the world's inhabitants a reason to think that the American people are very hypocritical.
Yours,
Martijn Zijlstra
Utrecht, Netherlands
E-mail No. 6
Hi Greta,
I see that you aren't aware that big league athletes are just as capable as any other person to get into trouble of any kind! (sometimes more) Your answer to Randy was rude and inconsiderate! So what if Steve Avery shares the same name with a jailbird? It very well could be the other way around... not necessarily Steve, but any athlete or public figure for that matter.
I've heard about many, many public figures and athletes that are in deep trouble and share their name with several that I know, so your comment was out of line in my opinion. A name is only a "dressing" on the person... who's to say that someplace in this world a "Greta Van Susteren" isn't in deep trouble? Would you then not want it verified that it wasn't you?
Disappointed in you,
Bill Snow
Oshkosh, WI
E-mail No. 7 — This next e-mail answers one posted from a viewer yesterday on the blog:
This is in regards to Kally Georgiade's e-mail saying that she thinks the boycotting of Aruba is compared to bullying threats/techniques. She also said that she has a teenager who travels with her and that she just might book her vacation to Aruba next year to support the non-boycott!
I hope and pray this woman never has to experience what Beth Holloway Twitty is going through. Also, if she's so supportive of Aruba and against the boycott, why doesn't she just move there!
B. Russo
FL
Finally, click here to read an Associated Press article that caught my attention. My senior producer, Meade Cooper, said that if she were Beethoven she would be annoyed that pieces of her skull were floating around!
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