Is there any reason for the average person to choose plasma over LCD for a 42" HDTV these days?

Yeah. You would probably get better picture quality/dollar if you opted for a panasonic plasma(though it's really debatable what picture quality means). As long as your room isn't too bright, I would still go with a plasma.

I really dislike that motion effect on moving objects with LCDs. Plasmas are generally better for sports too, unless you get a high end LCD with 120/240hz refresh rate. Generally I would not worry about the power consumption as all new TV sets are designed with "green" in mind.

Nowadays I find the requirements of the user to really dictate which TV should be purchased, as opposed to 10-15 years ago when Sony was the best, bar-none. Oh btw, I have a panasonic tcp 42" plasma (tcp42g15) and even on 720p content, it looks crystal clear, and bright too. It does up to 1080p.

Plasmas still have some advantages (albeit shrinking) over LCDs in that size category. Plasmas can display true darkness better than LCD, so darker scenes appear clearer in plasmas. The contrast, especially in movies, is better for plasmas.

If the LCD doesn't have a high dynamic ratio, fast refresh rate (120+hz), and/or some image smoothing feature, the plasma is better for watching sports and playing video games. This is because LCDs were originally very poor at displaying movement--it was blurry. Plasma still offers better viewing angles.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.