More America The Vulnerable, Goodbye Amazon, Really Premature Baby, And Women In Prison (Tuesday's Second Hour)
Hi everyone. We begin the hour with Kiran live and she then intros us back into the taped special. Anderson asks Stephen if maybe they're actually giving terrorists ideas. I guess this is the part where 360 tries to preempt some angry emails. Stephen tells us that they're not bringing up anything that hasn't already happened in the middle east. Anderson then points out that critics will say that Stephen wants to turn the US into a police state, but that's not what Stephen wants at all. He explains that fear comes from feeling helpless and if we plan and prepare we won't feel so scared. Stephen also states, "As a society, the biggest danger we face is not terrorist attacks. The biggest danger we face is how we react to the terrorist attacks. It's not the damage that terrorists do to us. It's what we do to ourselves when we are spooked." Amen to that! I like this guy. But then Anderson asks, "What do you mean by that?" What does he mean by that?! He means the last five frickin years is what he means! He means preemptive war based on lies. He means sanctioned torture. He means them listening to our phone calls, reading our emails, and checking out our bank accounts. He means taking off our shoes at airports and carrying our liquids in plastic bags. He means shutting down a major American city due to Lite-Brites. That's what he means. Clear? To be fair, Anderson may have just been asking for the audience benefit. Anyway, Stephen says that bad things will happen, but if we have a plan we can "roll with the punches."
Next up we have another David Mattingly piece on another disaster scenerio. This time we're in Sacramento and it's raining a lot, which is a problem since the city is actually more vulnerable to flooding than New Orleans. Hmm. Maybe all those people who think we should just give up on New Orleans should direct some of their venom at Sacramento. Back in our scenerio things go from bad to worse because, oh no, now there's an earthquake! Man, that is like the worst day ever. In real life, some officials are trying to stop building by the levees and the state is begging for federal money because the levees are crumbling. Yeah, good luck with that. Well, at least the locals are trying. 360 needs to get an interview with the feds to ask why the money isn't there.
On now to a Jeanne Meserve piece on our collapsing health care system. Most of us remember the horrible Rhode Island nightclub fire that happened about four years ago. Besides the deaths, there were many, many injured and the medical system was just not prepared for what happened. And Rhode Island is not alone in being unprepared. There are three main problems with the nation's overall system: not enough beds, not enough equipment/supplies, and not enough staff. I've been sayng for a long time now that in regards to something like Avian Flu, a vaccine is a great thing to have, but it shouldn't be all we focus on. If a pandemic occurs there aren't going to be enough things like IV tubing. It's not that thousands of people will die; it's that thousands of people will die in the streets for lack of hospital beds. We are not prepared. Because of the fire, Rhode Island has improved their system, but I'd wager that it's still not great. After 9-11 there should have been massive planning, as well as investment in the whole health care system and there just...wasn't. God help us when the next disaster hits. 360 if you're out there, please follow up on this. You've seen the aftermath of Katrina. Next time it could be worse.
Back to David Mattingly again and this time he's taking us to New Orleans. We learn that Max Mayfield has quit the National Hurricane Center because he was tired of his warnings falling on deaf ears. Really? Oh man, that guy was awesome. That sucks. Also, well before Katrina, Disaster Expert Walter Maestri was laying out disaster scenerios, but apparently nobody listened. He says people ask him how it feels to be right and he says "horrible." I can relate to that. Critics of this administration have seen many of their predictions pan out, but I know all I ever wanted to be was wrong. So anyway, it turns out that people are being allowed to rebuild right where it flooded before, they're just raising the houses up a few feet. When asked how that will help when there's 12 feet of water, one official replies, "The levees, we pray, won't break this time. " Oh holy hell. Prayer is not a plan! It's back-up. After I beat my head on my desk a bit we're back with Anderson who points out that if this was an al Qaeda attack on the levees he's sure things would have been different. Well, yeah. Stephen points out that we tend to think of local governments as being responsible for non terrorism stuff when it's clear we need the feds to take a leadership role in that stuff too. Anderson notes that a lot of Stephen's solutions will cost a lot of money. But you know what else cost a lot of money? Iraq.
Transitioning now back to John and Kiran live. I wonder what those two have been doing. My guess? Playing Twister. They then intro us into a taped piece of Anderson and Jeff in the Amazon and I guess they're about to leave since there's a helicopter right there. They talk a bit about their experiences. Anderson totally signs Jeff's memory book and Anderson promises he'll call. Okay, maybe I made that last sentence up. Jeff still has really dark bands on his arms. He claims they must have used ink from a "sharpie tree". Ha! Anderson obviously found an SOS pad tree in the jungle because his markings? Not so much. The guys also chat about the ecosystem and everything, but honestly I just wasn't feeling this trip. Don't get me wrong, adorableness abounded, but as far as really getting into the issue of why our planet is in peril? The coverage was a bit too shallow. Maybe it will all come together further into the series.
I'm short on time, so we're in super speed now. Next up there was a Sanjay piece on the earliest premature baby to survive on record. 21 weeks and 6 days. Wow! And also? I've missed Sanjay. Remember when he was on almost every day? The last piece of the night is another section of Shola Lynch's documentary film "Incarcerated." This piece focused on pregnant women who are locked up. I liked this better than the last piece from the series. The War on Drugs is mentioned, but I'd love 360 to go into this deeper sometime. And yeah 360, I know you didn't make this film. I'm just saying.
What do you think about "Incarcerated"? The Planet in Peril series so far?
Next up we have another David Mattingly piece on another disaster scenerio. This time we're in Sacramento and it's raining a lot, which is a problem since the city is actually more vulnerable to flooding than New Orleans. Hmm. Maybe all those people who think we should just give up on New Orleans should direct some of their venom at Sacramento. Back in our scenerio things go from bad to worse because, oh no, now there's an earthquake! Man, that is like the worst day ever. In real life, some officials are trying to stop building by the levees and the state is begging for federal money because the levees are crumbling. Yeah, good luck with that. Well, at least the locals are trying. 360 needs to get an interview with the feds to ask why the money isn't there.
On now to a Jeanne Meserve piece on our collapsing health care system. Most of us remember the horrible Rhode Island nightclub fire that happened about four years ago. Besides the deaths, there were many, many injured and the medical system was just not prepared for what happened. And Rhode Island is not alone in being unprepared. There are three main problems with the nation's overall system: not enough beds, not enough equipment/supplies, and not enough staff. I've been sayng for a long time now that in regards to something like Avian Flu, a vaccine is a great thing to have, but it shouldn't be all we focus on. If a pandemic occurs there aren't going to be enough things like IV tubing. It's not that thousands of people will die; it's that thousands of people will die in the streets for lack of hospital beds. We are not prepared. Because of the fire, Rhode Island has improved their system, but I'd wager that it's still not great. After 9-11 there should have been massive planning, as well as investment in the whole health care system and there just...wasn't. God help us when the next disaster hits. 360 if you're out there, please follow up on this. You've seen the aftermath of Katrina. Next time it could be worse.
Back to David Mattingly again and this time he's taking us to New Orleans. We learn that Max Mayfield has quit the National Hurricane Center because he was tired of his warnings falling on deaf ears. Really? Oh man, that guy was awesome. That sucks. Also, well before Katrina, Disaster Expert Walter Maestri was laying out disaster scenerios, but apparently nobody listened. He says people ask him how it feels to be right and he says "horrible." I can relate to that. Critics of this administration have seen many of their predictions pan out, but I know all I ever wanted to be was wrong. So anyway, it turns out that people are being allowed to rebuild right where it flooded before, they're just raising the houses up a few feet. When asked how that will help when there's 12 feet of water, one official replies, "The levees, we pray, won't break this time. " Oh holy hell. Prayer is not a plan! It's back-up. After I beat my head on my desk a bit we're back with Anderson who points out that if this was an al Qaeda attack on the levees he's sure things would have been different. Well, yeah. Stephen points out that we tend to think of local governments as being responsible for non terrorism stuff when it's clear we need the feds to take a leadership role in that stuff too. Anderson notes that a lot of Stephen's solutions will cost a lot of money. But you know what else cost a lot of money? Iraq.
Transitioning now back to John and Kiran live. I wonder what those two have been doing. My guess? Playing Twister. They then intro us into a taped piece of Anderson and Jeff in the Amazon and I guess they're about to leave since there's a helicopter right there. They talk a bit about their experiences. Anderson totally signs Jeff's memory book and Anderson promises he'll call. Okay, maybe I made that last sentence up. Jeff still has really dark bands on his arms. He claims they must have used ink from a "sharpie tree". Ha! Anderson obviously found an SOS pad tree in the jungle because his markings? Not so much. The guys also chat about the ecosystem and everything, but honestly I just wasn't feeling this trip. Don't get me wrong, adorableness abounded, but as far as really getting into the issue of why our planet is in peril? The coverage was a bit too shallow. Maybe it will all come together further into the series.
I'm short on time, so we're in super speed now. Next up there was a Sanjay piece on the earliest premature baby to survive on record. 21 weeks and 6 days. Wow! And also? I've missed Sanjay. Remember when he was on almost every day? The last piece of the night is another section of Shola Lynch's documentary film "Incarcerated." This piece focused on pregnant women who are locked up. I liked this better than the last piece from the series. The War on Drugs is mentioned, but I'd love 360 to go into this deeper sometime. And yeah 360, I know you didn't make this film. I'm just saying.
What do you think about "Incarcerated"? The Planet in Peril series so far?
posted by eliza at 7:46 PM
3 Comments:
The "Planet in Peril" series was a disappointment to me. I can only assume that there will be some type of documentary put together that sums up the whole Amazon experience and links it to the topic. What we saw the last week and a half was nothing but piece meal, rushed reports more for "entertainment" value than for relating to the global warming issue. I'm sure most of the fangirls enjoyed the reports because they got to see "live" Anderson but I would have preferred more of a 360 view of the angles.
If AC360 said they were doing a special report in the Amazon, I would have been totally content with the reports this week but they were claiming the planet was in peril and I never got the connection.
The women incarcerated segment was interesting and put me on the fence. The woman had a baby but also committed a crime and she needs to pay the price for that. Shiloh mentioned that they need a "2nd" chance (sounded kinda of Trump-like to me). I guess only time will tell if raising a baby in a "better" prison environment does in fact solve the problem of women in prison having babies in prison that eventually end up in prison once they grow up.
Did anyone count how many times Kiran used the word "miracle" when referring to that ultra-premature baby? Someone please give her a good thump on the head with a thesaurus!
I'd really like it if 360 would explore the issues brought up in the "Incarcerated" segment in more depth.
Regarding "Planet in Peril" I don't understand the rush to put this on the air so soon. Also, there was no need to have Anderson & Jeff live from the Amazon. Taped segments would have been fine. That way they could have taken more time and aired segments that had more substance than cuteness.
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