More Gonzales, 2008 talk, John Walsh Discusses Rising Crime, Mullah Dadullah, Alcohol Addiction, And Fit Or Fat (Wednesday's Second Hour)

Hi guys. My schedule seems to never allow me the time to blog Wednesday's show, so this hour is coming at you on speed. We begin with a Tom Foreman piece on the hole Alberto Gonzales just keeps digging himself into. He says one thing and then something completely different. He blames his chief of staff and then says he's responsible. He says he works for the American people, but serves at the pleasure of the president. Man, was there not a memo or something? This guy is flailing. From this we go to a Bill Schneider piece about how the democrats are feeling good about 2008. Yay! But I'm not holding my breath. Don't get too confident, guys. The democrats are very good at grabbing a loss from the jaws of victory. After the piece we've got democratic stratgists Paul Begala and James Carville. I pretty much dislike all political strategists, so I take a pass on this. I did, however, appreciate the disclosure that James is now working unpaid for Clinton.

Next up we have John Walsh again and he and Anderson talk about the rising crime rate, especially regarding crime committed by youths. I'm basically skipping most of this too, but I did want to touch on this quote from Anderson: "There's sort of a complete disregard for human life that to them seems new." (The "them" is police.) I'm not an expert, but I do know that while kids may not be the best at explaining their thinking or look as though they're paying attention to the world around them, they get it on some level. Kids aren't stupid and they learn by example. For over five years now they have been hearing continuously about war. They hear the body count and dead Iraqis referred to as "collateral damage." Some of them heard their president estimate the loss of Iraqi life with all the thought and emotion as someone guessing the amount of beans in a jar. And now they hear about wounded soldiers getting treated like crap by their own country. It's not just the war either. Over a year ago they watched some of their fellow Americans lie dead in the street for days, as if they were pieces of trash. And now they see a whole city of their fellow Americans abandoned by the rest of the country. So again, I'm no expert, but maybe there's a disregard for human life because we are not teaching them to value it.

Transitioning now to a Nic Robertson piece on Pakistan and the deal with the tribal leaders is covered. But I'm all distracted by Nic's head. He's appears to have sustained some kind of wound or something. Better a mysterious head wound than a kidnapping I suppose. Nic, you know we worry so. Next up we have a Tom Foreman piece on the stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. The one to watch is Taliban military leader Mullah Dadullah. Okay, well then who is Mullah Omar? Because I thought he was the head guy. Or is he the head guy just in Pakistan. I'm so confused. There's a lot of stuff floating around on this Mullah Dadullah guy. We learn "he's been reported killed, captured, and he's believed by some to have lost a leg." That's exactly what they said about Zarqawi. What is it with these guys and maybe losing one leg? Right now Mullah Dadullah is believed to be holding an Italian journalist. Man, I hope he survives. After the piece we're joined by Peter Bergen who says there really are no good options in Pakistan. Don't be too cheery, Peter. However, he does bring on the optimism when he says that more attacks might be a good thing because it might make Pakistan give a better effort. Okay then.

Moving on now to a clip from the new HBO documentary series "Addiction". In the clip we meet Adam an alcoholic who is initially in bad shape, but after going on Topiramate he was able to get sober. And who do we have to discuss this? You know. It's Sanjay Gupta! Have you guys seen those drug commercials where "doctors" ask each other questions about a specific drug in a (stiffly) conversational way? Yeah, well that is exactly how the rest of this segment goes. And because no show can have too much Sanjay, next up we have one of those random "Fit or Fat?" segments. We learn protein powder is fat, just cardio exercise is fat, hoodia is fat, and organic food is fit, though expensive. In regards to the protein powder, Sanjay tells us that, "Unless you're a bodybuilder like Anderson Cooper, you probably don't need that much protein in your diet." Heh. Right. Anderson lets that pass. However, he tells us that he had two protein shakes today (why?) and now he's feeling fat. "No, you look huge," says Sanjay. Yes, huge. You and Nicole Ritchie. Oh, and pardon the fangirl, but Sanjay has the best smile evah. That is all. The hour ends with some cute banter from Erica and Anderson about a really expensive pizza. That'll do it.