Anderson And Jeff Corwin At Kraho Indian Village, More ANS Crap, Afghanistan Troop Increase, And Iraq Refugee Refusal (Thursday's First Hour)

Hi everyone. Well, tonight was interesting. I'm still scratching my head about the second hour. Either the whole show had massive problems or they don't have much respect for their viewers. Anyway, I'll deal with that more indepth next post. We begin tonight live in Brazil in the city of Imperatriz. Anderson then intros a clip from earlier in the day when he and Jeff Corwin went to the village of the Kraho Indian tribe, which is a protected reserve given to the tribe by the Brazilian government. The Kraho are hunters, gathers, and farmers-and pretty primitive at that, still hunting with bows and arrows. The 360 team is here because the Kraho are concerned about what's happening to their rainforest. Their drinking water is being contaminated with pesticides used by local farmers and they have to go on patrols to try to keep illegal loggers off their territory. One Kraho tradition is to use dye from a local fruit to mark up their bodies in celebration or for other significant events. Anderson himself was marked up yesterday, as was Jeff. That must have been a little strange. Nice to meet you. I will now draw on your arms. I'd be into it though. When in Rome, right?

Anderson then takes us on a little tour of a Kraho house and afterwards we have Anderson back live again. John Roberts, who is back in New York, asks how difficult it is for the Kraho to keep such simple lives with the modern world pressure. Anderson explains that there is a strong desire to keep their tribe together and what they're really worried about is the threat to their habitat. The protection from the Brazilian government is really on paper only. Anderson tells us that it was actually hard for he and Jeff to find large animals because a lot of them had been hunted, which I imagine is a problem. Apparently he and Jeff went out last night and Jeff had an awesome time, but Anderson was a little more reserved. "I don't really like bugs, so it was a little bit terrifying," he tells us. Well, I can't fault you there. What's weird though is I would probably be much more okay with the bugs in the rainforest than say a roach in my house. Because the roach is in MY HOUSE. Uninvited. You expect bugs in the rainforest. John then asks how the trip to meet the Kraho got arranged because apparently the copter that flew in Jeff and Anderson was the first one to ever land at their village. Anderson replies that they worked with a group that's part of the Brazilian government.

Transitioning back to New York for some Anna Nicole crap. Once again, I refuse to blog it. They start with a Joe Johns piece. Oh, not you Joe! But you're my "Keeping Them Honest" guy. Sigh. After Joe there's a long interview with...somebody and then they discuss the legal stuff with Jeffrey Toobin. I'm kicking myself for not noting the time when the coverage started, but I'm estimating this all lasted 15 to 20 minutes. Ridiculous.

Back now to Anderson and he again intros a clip that was taped earlier. In the clip Anderson asks Jeff to explain the markings on their arms. Jeff says, "I don't know. I just sort of woke up and they were there." Uh huh. And just what were you doing last night? I'm not an Animal Planet kind of person, but I'm really liking Jeff. He says that the markings are basically to celebrate the spirit of life. They then talk a bit about how simple the houses are and how they're built. Yeah, they're not getting CNN in this village. Jeff explains that the Kraho feel under attack and he says, "the challenge is to find a balance, to keep the cultural significance as an important part of the past and the present while taking on the onslaught of the 20th Century."

We're back live with Anderson now and he's got some "Raw Data" for us. Of note is that at least 80% of the world's diet originated in the Amazon. Also, because Brazil exports 50% of it's timber to the US, Anderson notes, "The sofa or the desk you're sitting at may have teak or mahogany or other woods from the Amazon." Hmm. If I remember correctly I bought this desk at Kmart, so I'm thinking that's a no. I'd actually be pleasantly surprised to learn there was wood in this desk. John then asks about all the species that Anderson saw while in the rainforest at night and Anderson gives a summary, noting that some of them he would just assume stay away from. He notes that he stayed very close to Jeff during the adventure. And now I completely get why CNN got Jeff Corwin for these trips. They need him for protection! Well, and his knowledge obviously. I mean, what the hell does Anderson (or Charlie, or Neil, or...) know about what's a harmless critter and what's not in terms of being poisonous. And it's always nice to be able to report specific information.

The Shot tonight is a classic. It's a float from the first mardi gras parade of the season in New Orleans. What's the subject of the float? It's Anderson dressed as a super hero! Ahem. Excuse me, I mean Cooperman! OMG Anderson in tights. Bwah! They just had Anderson live, why oh why did they not keep him to get his reaction to this? Maybe they felt sorry for the guy after the frog and other critters and decided to cut him a break. Because if you look closely, he's kind of being mocked as much as he is being honored. They've got him gazing into a mirror and the sides of the float say, "saving us one photo-op at a time," and "Are you getting my good side?" There's some other stuff too about him being handsome and photogenic, but I can't make out the whole thing. Something tells me Anderson probably isn't completely thrilled with the pretty boy portrayal. Still funny though.

Transitioning back to New York and John tells us that though Bush says there's been great success in Afghanistan...we need to add more troops. Okay then. To discuss this we're joined by Peter Bergen and Nic Robertson. Peter I've missed you! You too Nic, but I think Peter has been missing longer. John wants to know why the new troops if things are going so swimmingly (according to Bush). Nic notes that Hamid Karzai is still being criticized for not having a hold on his country and there's been no big drug busts to try to get the country's enormous opium problem under control. John points out that critics say Afghanistan has been neglected and wonders if this should have been done earlier. Peter replies that it should have been and "this was the most poorly-funded post-World War II nation building effort led by the United States." But you see we had to divert funds to go to Iraq to make us safer...from the terrorists that staged everything in Afghanistan. John notes that the Taliban is now taking control of border towns and Peter acknowledges that there is very little security between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan I used to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but that bulb is about to burn out.

Our final piece of the hour is from Randi Kaye about why the hell we're hardly letting any Iraqi refugees in the US. I've been wondering the same thing. I've read that the government is afraid of refugees forming sleeper cells, but I don't know if that's true. In any regards, Randi's piece does not address the issue, though I'm still very happy to see this being tackled by 360. Last year only 202 Iraqis were let in the country and over the past four years it's been less than 500 total with most of them being supporters of the war effort. That's astounding. To give you some perspective, we learn that the UN estimates that today there are four million Iraqi refugees. Many now live in camps in Syria and Jordan. This is all very infuriating. Other wars we took in lots of refugees. My own city is home to a large number of Bosnians. We invaded the country and have a moral responsibility to these people. How many of them have been murdered simply because they associated with Americans? The US is planning to accept 7,000 refugees this year, but that's still a small number. Critics believe that if the US acknowledged there was a crisis by taking in lots of refugees it would be like admitting failure. And Lord knows we don't ever admit failure. Ever. Even if it kills us or others.

The show tonight was...bizarre. The first hour was solid except for the ANS crap, but taped special from Afghanistan from about six months ago? Wha? Anyway, I'll go into it more later. B-

How long until Anderson and Jeff get those markings off? Your take on Cooperman? Is there hope in Afghanistan? Should we be taking in more Iraqis?

Screencaps by rokukitty and jld1119.