A Pension Update, A Father's Advice, More Rehnquist, Congress Earmarks, Church Theft, More Aliens, And Freedom Writers (Friday's Show)
Hi guys. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. We kick off the night with an actual Drew Griffin update on his criminal pension piece from the other day (as opposed to the lame update we got yesterday). Anderson told us they'd look into it further, but let's just say I have very low expectations in regards to life in 
general lately, so this is a pleasant surprise. And guess what? There's actual legislation happening now. Republican Mark Kirk is introducing a bill in the House to ban the pensions and John Kerry is doing the same in the Senate. Drew then joins us live to inform us that when the bill was previously introduced by Kirk it died in committee and now both sides are blaming each other. I'm not sure how the democrats can be blamed for this (though I could be wrong) because when the republicans had the majority they also had majority votes on committee and those guys almost always voted together. Unless of course he introduced the bill way back when the democrats were in power last time and if that's the case, why did he wait so long again? Anyway, Kirk had over 20 sponsers of his bill and they were all republican, but it most likely went nowhere because less than a dozen committee members voted it down. Those guys have way too much power. After the piece Anderson tells us that next week they well be looking into it further and they will "name some names." Oh Anderson, you must stop making me love you. And Drew. Can't forget him. For those of you wanting to keep up with what your congresscritters are doing in the House every day, this nifty blog has just been created.
Moving on now to an Ed Henry piece on the probable surge. Ed tells us that Bush has been consulting, but asks, "Is the president listening?" To who? The voices in his head? God? Isn't that how we got into this mess to begin with? It's also noted that some generals are being replaced and there's a question as to whether or not they got pushed out since they didn't support the surge. Tony Snow spins and denies it, but that's just what he does on days that end in "y". Next up we move to an Anderson piece in which he interviews Dana Canedy, widow of soldier Charles Monroe King. Charles was killed by a roadside bomb with only a month left on his tour. It's hard to blog this piece, but it sounds like Charles was a really good guy. He left his son journals of advice, a priceless gift that I'm guessing he will hang onto for the rest of his life. Dana tells us she and Charles were suppose to go on a carriage ride in Central Park at Christmas, so she took her son instead. When the driver found out her story, he didn't charge her, which was a pretty nice thing to do. At the end of the piece we learn Dana is an editor for the New York Times. I guess that's how CNN knew her story.
Transitioning now to Jeffrey Toobin and Dr. Sanjay Gupta live to discuss the Rehnquist story. Sanjay informs us that the drug Rehnquist was addicted to was Placidyl, which is a sedative-hypnotic popular in the '50s. The drug affects a person's entire nervous system, so while they're on it it's basically like they're drunk. Well, great! Toobin tells us that people knew
about Rehnquist's issue, but didn't know how serious it was. That doesn't let them off the hook. Friends don't let friends drink and drive, nor do colleagues let colleagues make freaking important supreme court decisions while totally wasted on sedatives. Sanjay says that a person would typically take Placidyl for a week, not, uh, 10 years! Anderson can't even hide his shock. Toobin then points out that we're dependent on these justices to report these kind of health issues to us. That seems like a really big crack in the system. I think I'm on the term limit wagon. And completely random, but check out Anderson's shirt collar (you'll have to click to make it bigger.) He's got a rainbow going on while Sanjay's is fine. I'll withhold the obvious comment here. Anyway, I've seen him sporting the rainbow before. I guess CNN needs to hold a "what not to wear on camera" seminar.
Next up we have a "Keeping Them Honest" piece from Joe Johns on earmarks. Congress loves their earmarks because it's a way for them to bring home the bacon to their district, thus helping them get reelected. One infamous recent earmark was the bridge to nowhere, which crazy Senator Ted Stevens had a conniption fit about when they tried to take it away. The democrats want to put earmarks on their agenda, but don't get too excited. They only want to make them more transparent, not actually stop the process. I guess we're taking baby steps here. After this piece we have another Oprah special preview. Man, they are really pimping this thing.
On now to a Tom Foreman piece on theft in the Catholic Church. You'd think religious people would be honest with the whole "thou shall not steal" thing and everything, but apparently it's a problem. A new study finds that 85% of parishes have had issues with embezzlement in the past five years. However, this kind of thing is commonly ignored at the parish level. Well, they're good at ignoring problems, aren't they? At least this doesn't involve children. Now there's a push for more accountability. This piece should have Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution" as its soundtrack: "I'm a thief/I'm a liar/There's my church/I sing in the choir." I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the theft. I used to work in retail and if you don't know this already, a lot of people steal. A lot. Like way more than you're probably imagining right now. It wasn't always blatant, but switching tickets on items is still stealing. One of the reasons I quit was because it was so depressing to watch this go down everyday.
Moving on to a Dan Rivers piece on an Indonesian airliner that has simply disappeared. There were 102 people on board and they literally have no idea what happened to them. Right now they're searching an island the size of California. I know this story is really sad, but with the plane and island aspect I'm totally thinking about the tv show Lost right now.
Transitioning to a Gary Tuchman piece on those aliens that apparently had a layover at O'Hare. Gary has an interview with a mechanic from United Airlines who saw the UFO and we shall call him Joe because he wants to remain anonymous. Joe tells us what he saw and then Gary asks, "It didn't say 'Goodyear' on it, did it?" Joe doesn't seem that amused. CNN then brings in a sketch artist to draw the UFO from Joe's description. Ha! Anyway, the official story from the FAA was that it was a weather phenomenon. Yeah right. I'm not saying it's aliens, but sorry if I don't find the FAA all too trustworthy. Right now no investigations are going on because all agencies that could be involved say they don't have the power to investigate. Typical
Following the piece Anderson has an interview with Joe Nichol, columnist, from "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine. Hold up. There's a "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine? Too funny. So Joe here is, well, skeptical. He doesn't seem to believe we're about to be invaded. He even thinks the Roswell crash was a spy balloon. Oh Joe, you're no fun. Once we're rid of Joe, some creepy space music starts in the studio. We pan out and, gasp, the aliens have come for Anderson! "Hmm. Are you seeing that?" he wants to know. Yes I am. Sort of. Cute gag, but it didn't read that well for me.
The Shot tonight is elephants eating trees and for some reason it's before our last piece, which is again from Gary Tuchman. You might have heard of the new movie "Freedom Writers" about a teacher who inspires her very at risk students. This really reminds me of "Dangerous Minds", but that's okay because I liked that movie. In the piece we meet the real teacher, Erin Gruwell, who explains that in order to teach her student's tolerance of each other's race, she first had to teach them intolerance in the form of lessons about the Holocaust. Eventually they took a trip to Europe to set foot in the places they learned about. The "Freedom Writers" refers to the fact that they all wrote down their feelings and what they had learned. That's it for the hour.
Screencaps by stormi0611.
Do you think legislation will actually get passed to ban the pensions? What's do you think the UFO really was?
general lately, so this is a pleasant surprise. And guess what? There's actual legislation happening now. Republican Mark Kirk is introducing a bill in the House to ban the pensions and John Kerry is doing the same in the Senate. Drew then joins us live to inform us that when the bill was previously introduced by Kirk it died in committee and now both sides are blaming each other. I'm not sure how the democrats can be blamed for this (though I could be wrong) because when the republicans had the majority they also had majority votes on committee and those guys almost always voted together. Unless of course he introduced the bill way back when the democrats were in power last time and if that's the case, why did he wait so long again? Anyway, Kirk had over 20 sponsers of his bill and they were all republican, but it most likely went nowhere because less than a dozen committee members voted it down. Those guys have way too much power. After the piece Anderson tells us that next week they well be looking into it further and they will "name some names." Oh Anderson, you must stop making me love you. And Drew. Can't forget him. For those of you wanting to keep up with what your congresscritters are doing in the House every day, this nifty blog has just been created.Moving on now to an Ed Henry piece on the probable surge. Ed tells us that Bush has been consulting, but asks, "Is the president listening?" To who? The voices in his head? God? Isn't that how we got into this mess to begin with? It's also noted that some generals are being replaced and there's a question as to whether or not they got pushed out since they didn't support the surge. Tony Snow spins and denies it, but that's just what he does on days that end in "y". Next up we move to an Anderson piece in which he interviews Dana Canedy, widow of soldier Charles Monroe King. Charles was killed by a roadside bomb with only a month left on his tour. It's hard to blog this piece, but it sounds like Charles was a really good guy. He left his son journals of advice, a priceless gift that I'm guessing he will hang onto for the rest of his life. Dana tells us she and Charles were suppose to go on a carriage ride in Central Park at Christmas, so she took her son instead. When the driver found out her story, he didn't charge her, which was a pretty nice thing to do. At the end of the piece we learn Dana is an editor for the New York Times. I guess that's how CNN knew her story.
Transitioning now to Jeffrey Toobin and Dr. Sanjay Gupta live to discuss the Rehnquist story. Sanjay informs us that the drug Rehnquist was addicted to was Placidyl, which is a sedative-hypnotic popular in the '50s. The drug affects a person's entire nervous system, so while they're on it it's basically like they're drunk. Well, great! Toobin tells us that people knew
about Rehnquist's issue, but didn't know how serious it was. That doesn't let them off the hook. Friends don't let friends drink and drive, nor do colleagues let colleagues make freaking important supreme court decisions while totally wasted on sedatives. Sanjay says that a person would typically take Placidyl for a week, not, uh, 10 years! Anderson can't even hide his shock. Toobin then points out that we're dependent on these justices to report these kind of health issues to us. That seems like a really big crack in the system. I think I'm on the term limit wagon. And completely random, but check out Anderson's shirt collar (you'll have to click to make it bigger.) He's got a rainbow going on while Sanjay's is fine. I'll withhold the obvious comment here. Anyway, I've seen him sporting the rainbow before. I guess CNN needs to hold a "what not to wear on camera" seminar.Next up we have a "Keeping Them Honest" piece from Joe Johns on earmarks. Congress loves their earmarks because it's a way for them to bring home the bacon to their district, thus helping them get reelected. One infamous recent earmark was the bridge to nowhere, which crazy Senator Ted Stevens had a conniption fit about when they tried to take it away. The democrats want to put earmarks on their agenda, but don't get too excited. They only want to make them more transparent, not actually stop the process. I guess we're taking baby steps here. After this piece we have another Oprah special preview. Man, they are really pimping this thing.
On now to a Tom Foreman piece on theft in the Catholic Church. You'd think religious people would be honest with the whole "thou shall not steal" thing and everything, but apparently it's a problem. A new study finds that 85% of parishes have had issues with embezzlement in the past five years. However, this kind of thing is commonly ignored at the parish level. Well, they're good at ignoring problems, aren't they? At least this doesn't involve children. Now there's a push for more accountability. This piece should have Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution" as its soundtrack: "I'm a thief/I'm a liar/There's my church/I sing in the choir." I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the theft. I used to work in retail and if you don't know this already, a lot of people steal. A lot. Like way more than you're probably imagining right now. It wasn't always blatant, but switching tickets on items is still stealing. One of the reasons I quit was because it was so depressing to watch this go down everyday.
Moving on to a Dan Rivers piece on an Indonesian airliner that has simply disappeared. There were 102 people on board and they literally have no idea what happened to them. Right now they're searching an island the size of California. I know this story is really sad, but with the plane and island aspect I'm totally thinking about the tv show Lost right now.
Transitioning to a Gary Tuchman piece on those aliens that apparently had a layover at O'Hare. Gary has an interview with a mechanic from United Airlines who saw the UFO and we shall call him Joe because he wants to remain anonymous. Joe tells us what he saw and then Gary asks, "It didn't say 'Goodyear' on it, did it?" Joe doesn't seem that amused. CNN then brings in a sketch artist to draw the UFO from Joe's description. Ha! Anyway, the official story from the FAA was that it was a weather phenomenon. Yeah right. I'm not saying it's aliens, but sorry if I don't find the FAA all too trustworthy. Right now no investigations are going on because all agencies that could be involved say they don't have the power to investigate. Typical
Following the piece Anderson has an interview with Joe Nichol, columnist, from "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine. Hold up. There's a "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine? Too funny. So Joe here is, well, skeptical. He doesn't seem to believe we're about to be invaded. He even thinks the Roswell crash was a spy balloon. Oh Joe, you're no fun. Once we're rid of Joe, some creepy space music starts in the studio. We pan out and, gasp, the aliens have come for Anderson! "Hmm. Are you seeing that?" he wants to know. Yes I am. Sort of. Cute gag, but it didn't read that well for me.The Shot tonight is elephants eating trees and for some reason it's before our last piece, which is again from Gary Tuchman. You might have heard of the new movie "Freedom Writers" about a teacher who inspires her very at risk students. This really reminds me of "Dangerous Minds", but that's okay because I liked that movie. In the piece we meet the real teacher, Erin Gruwell, who explains that in order to teach her student's tolerance of each other's race, she first had to teach them intolerance in the form of lessons about the Holocaust. Eventually they took a trip to Europe to set foot in the places they learned about. The "Freedom Writers" refers to the fact that they all wrote down their feelings and what they had learned. That's it for the hour.
Screencaps by stormi0611.
Do you think legislation will actually get passed to ban the pensions? What's do you think the UFO really was?
posted by eliza at 7:09 PM
7 Comments:
AC's interview with Dana Canedy was very good but sad to watch. The baby son Jordan is bound to turn out fine considering the wisdom his Dad wanted to impart through the notebooks he left. I sort of got the feeling AC could relate to this story since he has said that his father's book "Families" is like a guidebook on life that he returns to frequently.
It was gratifying to hear that Kirk and Kerry are working on getting the pension banning bills through, it remains to be seen if it'll pass ; you never know what sort of obstacles or red tape will arise, but I'm glad they are at least addressing this issue now.
I used to be really interested in UFOs and I sort of think something might be out there, but now I feel I have to see it for myself (I don't want to wake up see an alien hovering over me while I'm in bed, however!) to really believe. Anderson probably has a subscription to "Skeptical Inquirer", I've noticed over the years that he's generally doubtful of stuff like this. I thought the Star Trek, UFO beaming AC up moment was fun, I always thought that studio looked a little like a spaceship or something. I thought it was a pretty good 360. I hope AC makes good on his promise to "name names" regarding the pension bill.
@midnight-Yes, that interview was really good and I didn't even think of how Anderson could relate. Both Jordan and Anderson are very lucky to each have their respective books. I was 19 when my dad died, but my brother was only 12. He probably could have used a guidebook for the teen years.
I'm agnostic when it comes to aliens/UFOs. Maybe they're out there, maybe they aren't, but we'll probably never know. It does seem kind of strange though for there to be this huge universe and we're the only life in it.
I don't want to wake up see an alien hovering over me while I'm in bed, however!
Well here's something to think about: what if there are aliens out there that are so much more advanced than us that they've mastered time travel and teleportation? Think about it. You could be sitting in your house minding your own business and then turn about and bam! Alien. Freaked out yet? ;) It's amazing what pops into your head when you're bored. LOL
Yes, I think Anderson has a subscription to "Skeptical Inquirer." I should have one too since I'm quite the cynic. Remember when Dan Akroyd was on talking about aliens? Anderson was incredulous. For good reason.
UFO my left buttcheek. It was probably a piece of a satelite. Whatever. As for the "rainbow" it's because our fair Anderson wears blue on a blue set. The TV system is set up to blank out greens (as in, the weather map and stuff) and so if he's wearing a blue that's greenish, ... well, there ya go.
PS- if you go to http://www.csicop.org/si/ you can read some of the Skeptical Inquirer online. Enjoy :)
You could be sitting in your house minding your own business and then turn about and bam! Alien. Freaked out yet? ;)
Yes, quite freaked out, even though I have some doubt about their existence. I guess I watched that Mel Gibson movie "Signs" too many times!
@sharla-Yeah, I know the rainbow is because of the color he's wearing. I was just being random. Thanks for the link.
@midnight-Oh, I love that movie. Although I think of it more as a movie about regaining faith than an alien invasion. Now when I watch it I have to pretend it's not Mel Gibson because he and I are SO over! LOL
Mel Gibson because he and I are SO over!
Same here, I don't think I can ever view him the same after what he did and I didn't get the feeling he was truly apologetic, but that movie was one of my favorites.
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