Severe Storms, Bush Presser, Airport Pork, Superbug, Meeting Resistance, Iraq Talk, Polar Bears, And Raw Politics (Wednesday's Show)
Hi all. Because I get to work at home tomorrow, you get your Wednesday review earlier than usual. Everybody wins! We're kicking things off tonight with Anderson Cooper telling us there are strong storms wreaking havoc in the center of the country. Wait a minute, I am in the center of the country. Chad Myers then joins us with more, and oh look, my city is partially in a red box. That can't be good. And here I thought it was just raining. As I contemplate whether or not I should actually be watching my local news, Chad fills us in on some tornado sightings. It seems like all this stuff should be over by now, but I probably say that this time every year.
Next up, we have Ed Henry live to report on the press conference today where Bush dropped a rhetorical bomb, which everyone is really hoping doesn't metastasize into real bombs. In regards to Iran, Bush thinks we need to stop them from getting the bomb in order to prevent "World War III." And that little turn of phrase of course made everyone go "whoa!" Although I have to say, I'm just kind of glad that when it comes to World War III, he seems to be landing on the side of anti. Because you never know these days. Anyway, this attention-getting language is all just a way for a lame-duck to stay relevant. Bush is still pledging to handle Iran diplomatically, but as Ed reminds us, that's what he said about Iraq. If we get through 2008 without another war we'll be doing good, people. Anderson then points out that Russia's Putin (and I automatically love any story where Anderson says Puddin, ahem) is mixing things up by meeting with the Iranian prez and basically taking his side on the nuclear issue. "So much for the president looking into his eyes, I guess, and seeing his soul, as he once said about Vladimir Putin." says Anderson. Oh, snap.
On now to a Drew Griffin "Keeping Them Honest" piece on more pesky earmarks--this time related to flight delays. If you flew this summer, well, it probably sucked for you. Flight delays galore, with Newark being the worst. And that's exactly where I'm flying in two weeks. Fabulous. So Drew, being the investigative little journalist that he is, decided to check out what the senate's doing to fix these problems. As it turns out, Massachusetts senators Kerry and Kennedy have gotten $8 million earmarks to replace control towers at tiny little airports that are important to them. How helpful. We're shown the infamous clip of Kerry windsurfing and Eliza has to take a deep breath and remind herself that it is not 2004 and it is no longer necessary to defend the senator against every little thing.
So okay, it looks like a pretty clear case of pork, especially since the FAA says the airports weren't on the priority list. Drew tries to get an interview with Kennedy or Kerry, but shockingly, no dice. Then he just kind of happens to come upon Kennedy and totally sics him in the hallway. No cameras are allowed, so the filming is done far back in a shaky fashion. It looks a little creepy, quite frankly. Kennedy claims the airports are on list, Drew says no. Oh hell. So that went nowhere. This being 360, we're going to need to cross on the other side of the partisan aisle before we're done. Hm. Now, which republican do you . . .why, it's Ted Stevens of course! That's right, everybody's favorite slightly-insane Alaskan just got $3.5 million to build an airport in Akutan, Alaska. Of course there's hardly any people there, but oh, there is Trident Seafoods, a major Stevens contributor. What a coinky-dink. So okay, this guy's done bridges to nowhere, a ferry to nowhere, and now, runways to nowhere. What is with this guy and building transportation for small amounts of people?
Transitioning now to a Jason Carroll piece on a new superbug. Dun dun dun! The deal here is that there's this mutated strain of staph infection that used to mostly be found in hospitals and clinics, but now it seems to be branching out a bit and may have caused as many as 19,000 deaths in 2005, which is more than AIDS. It's serious, but don't freak out, people. It's going to be okay. I don't get why they have to report this stuff like the world is ending (though to be fair to 360, Anderson puts it into some much need perspective with "Raw Data"). The media did the same thing initially with the Avian flu, and now even though it's still very much a threat, we don't hear a peep from them.
For discussion about the superbug, we're joined by, who else, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay tells us this bug is alarming because it doesn't respond well to antibiotics. It's characterized by a wound that doesn't get better and fever, and spread by skin contact or sharing sports equipment. Prevention seems pretty easy, just use common sense and, you know, be clean. Wash your hands kind of seems like a given, but I guess it's not for some people.
In tonight's edition of "What Were They Thinking?" Erica Hill brings us the saga of Ellen Degeneres' dog. You've probably heard about this by now, but for those who like to sleep under rocks, the normally cheerful comedian spent her show absolutely sobbing because of a dog mix up. She had adopted a dog from a rescue group, but when it didn't get along with her cats, she gave it to her hairdresser's daughters. The problem was she didn't read the fine print of the agreement and it turns out giving the dog away was a no no. So the group took the dog away from those poor kids, thus devastating Ellen, and now the group is getting threatened by crazy people. And man, Erica is visibly ticked about the dog. My take? Honestly, I think everybody needs a nap. When it comes to kids and dogs, sometimes rules are meant to be broken. The best part about this segment though is at the end when a dude totally just walks right in front of Anderson's camera. The looks on Anderson and Erica's faces are priceless. They're practically speechless. What was that guy thinking? There you go; there's the segment for tomorrow.
Moving on now to an Anderson piece on a film called "Meeting Resistance" that is currently being screened by the military. The topic is the Iraq insurgency and the goal is understanding to better know thy enemy. The Bush administration has been peddling lies about the insurgency from the beginning (dead enders, last throes), but really what it comes down to is the question of what you would do if your country was invaded and occupied. The film shows that some fight for religion and some fight for national pride, but I'm guessing none of them were fighting because they hated the freedoms of Americans living thousands of miles away. Funny how reality often can't be pigeon-holed into a talking point.
For more on the subject, we're joined by Michael Ware. Aw, no more rugby, I guess. Michael tells us that the mere presence of coalition troops has always been the primary motivating factor for the insurgency and we greatly underestimated their nationalism and feelings of being dishonored. And then of course there was that whole idiotic dismantling of the Iraqi army. Thanks Bremer! Anderson notes that it's been reported that violence is down and asks who is actually still fighting. Michael tells us the big winner is Iran and that al Qaeda might be under pressure, but they were never the big thing anyway. Oh, and that decreased violence? "We herald this in headlines, because it's only down to 30 bomb attacks a month. Can you imagine if there was 30 attacks in Israel every month or America or Australia? Yet, we still call that a victory." Well said, Michael. Well said.
Next up, we have a "Planet in Peril" promo piece from Jeff Corwin, where he and an expert sedate and study a momma polar bear and her cubs. And the cubs are not at all happy about this. Aw. Moving on to Tom Foreman with our "Raw Politics," but I'm going to skip through until the end, which is the best part. Stephen Colbert is running for president! In South Carolina only! Heh. He's got my vote. "His campaign is just for laughs, of course, but so was Tommy Thompson's," says Tom. Ouch. Anderson then notes that he "thinks" he's going to be on "The Colbert Report" on Thursday. And I'll just go ahead and play agent and say, yes, he is correct. As Stephen said on Tuesday's show, "So gentlemen, start your fanfiction now." The Shot tonight is a burning Pope and Erica raises something, but they're screwing with the commercial breaks and I left the room thinking it was over. Whoops. The show was good again. They're on a roll! B+
Next up, we have Ed Henry live to report on the press conference today where Bush dropped a rhetorical bomb, which everyone is really hoping doesn't metastasize into real bombs. In regards to Iran, Bush thinks we need to stop them from getting the bomb in order to prevent "World War III." And that little turn of phrase of course made everyone go "whoa!" Although I have to say, I'm just kind of glad that when it comes to World War III, he seems to be landing on the side of anti. Because you never know these days. Anyway, this attention-getting language is all just a way for a lame-duck to stay relevant. Bush is still pledging to handle Iran diplomatically, but as Ed reminds us, that's what he said about Iraq. If we get through 2008 without another war we'll be doing good, people. Anderson then points out that Russia's Putin (and I automatically love any story where Anderson says Puddin, ahem) is mixing things up by meeting with the Iranian prez and basically taking his side on the nuclear issue. "So much for the president looking into his eyes, I guess, and seeing his soul, as he once said about Vladimir Putin." says Anderson. Oh, snap.
On now to a Drew Griffin "Keeping Them Honest" piece on more pesky earmarks--this time related to flight delays. If you flew this summer, well, it probably sucked for you. Flight delays galore, with Newark being the worst. And that's exactly where I'm flying in two weeks. Fabulous. So Drew, being the investigative little journalist that he is, decided to check out what the senate's doing to fix these problems. As it turns out, Massachusetts senators Kerry and Kennedy have gotten $8 million earmarks to replace control towers at tiny little airports that are important to them. How helpful. We're shown the infamous clip of Kerry windsurfing and Eliza has to take a deep breath and remind herself that it is not 2004 and it is no longer necessary to defend the senator against every little thing.
So okay, it looks like a pretty clear case of pork, especially since the FAA says the airports weren't on the priority list. Drew tries to get an interview with Kennedy or Kerry, but shockingly, no dice. Then he just kind of happens to come upon Kennedy and totally sics him in the hallway. No cameras are allowed, so the filming is done far back in a shaky fashion. It looks a little creepy, quite frankly. Kennedy claims the airports are on list, Drew says no. Oh hell. So that went nowhere. This being 360, we're going to need to cross on the other side of the partisan aisle before we're done. Hm. Now, which republican do you . . .why, it's Ted Stevens of course! That's right, everybody's favorite slightly-insane Alaskan just got $3.5 million to build an airport in Akutan, Alaska. Of course there's hardly any people there, but oh, there is Trident Seafoods, a major Stevens contributor. What a coinky-dink. So okay, this guy's done bridges to nowhere, a ferry to nowhere, and now, runways to nowhere. What is with this guy and building transportation for small amounts of people?
Transitioning now to a Jason Carroll piece on a new superbug. Dun dun dun! The deal here is that there's this mutated strain of staph infection that used to mostly be found in hospitals and clinics, but now it seems to be branching out a bit and may have caused as many as 19,000 deaths in 2005, which is more than AIDS. It's serious, but don't freak out, people. It's going to be okay. I don't get why they have to report this stuff like the world is ending (though to be fair to 360, Anderson puts it into some much need perspective with "Raw Data"). The media did the same thing initially with the Avian flu, and now even though it's still very much a threat, we don't hear a peep from them.
For discussion about the superbug, we're joined by, who else, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay tells us this bug is alarming because it doesn't respond well to antibiotics. It's characterized by a wound that doesn't get better and fever, and spread by skin contact or sharing sports equipment. Prevention seems pretty easy, just use common sense and, you know, be clean. Wash your hands kind of seems like a given, but I guess it's not for some people.
In tonight's edition of "What Were They Thinking?" Erica Hill brings us the saga of Ellen Degeneres' dog. You've probably heard about this by now, but for those who like to sleep under rocks, the normally cheerful comedian spent her show absolutely sobbing because of a dog mix up. She had adopted a dog from a rescue group, but when it didn't get along with her cats, she gave it to her hairdresser's daughters. The problem was she didn't read the fine print of the agreement and it turns out giving the dog away was a no no. So the group took the dog away from those poor kids, thus devastating Ellen, and now the group is getting threatened by crazy people. And man, Erica is visibly ticked about the dog. My take? Honestly, I think everybody needs a nap. When it comes to kids and dogs, sometimes rules are meant to be broken. The best part about this segment though is at the end when a dude totally just walks right in front of Anderson's camera. The looks on Anderson and Erica's faces are priceless. They're practically speechless. What was that guy thinking? There you go; there's the segment for tomorrow.
Moving on now to an Anderson piece on a film called "Meeting Resistance" that is currently being screened by the military. The topic is the Iraq insurgency and the goal is understanding to better know thy enemy. The Bush administration has been peddling lies about the insurgency from the beginning (dead enders, last throes), but really what it comes down to is the question of what you would do if your country was invaded and occupied. The film shows that some fight for religion and some fight for national pride, but I'm guessing none of them were fighting because they hated the freedoms of Americans living thousands of miles away. Funny how reality often can't be pigeon-holed into a talking point.
For more on the subject, we're joined by Michael Ware. Aw, no more rugby, I guess. Michael tells us that the mere presence of coalition troops has always been the primary motivating factor for the insurgency and we greatly underestimated their nationalism and feelings of being dishonored. And then of course there was that whole idiotic dismantling of the Iraqi army. Thanks Bremer! Anderson notes that it's been reported that violence is down and asks who is actually still fighting. Michael tells us the big winner is Iran and that al Qaeda might be under pressure, but they were never the big thing anyway. Oh, and that decreased violence? "We herald this in headlines, because it's only down to 30 bomb attacks a month. Can you imagine if there was 30 attacks in Israel every month or America or Australia? Yet, we still call that a victory." Well said, Michael. Well said.
Next up, we have a "Planet in Peril" promo piece from Jeff Corwin, where he and an expert sedate and study a momma polar bear and her cubs. And the cubs are not at all happy about this. Aw. Moving on to Tom Foreman with our "Raw Politics," but I'm going to skip through until the end, which is the best part. Stephen Colbert is running for president! In South Carolina only! Heh. He's got my vote. "His campaign is just for laughs, of course, but so was Tommy Thompson's," says Tom. Ouch. Anderson then notes that he "thinks" he's going to be on "The Colbert Report" on Thursday. And I'll just go ahead and play agent and say, yes, he is correct. As Stephen said on Tuesday's show, "So gentlemen, start your fanfiction now." The Shot tonight is a burning Pope and Erica raises something, but they're screwing with the commercial breaks and I left the room thinking it was over. Whoops. The show was good again. They're on a roll! B+
posted by eliza at 1:20 AM
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