Update On The Polygamy Raid, More Flight Cancellations, Political Speculation, And "Surge" Talk With Michael Ware (Wednesday's Show)
Hi everybody. At this point, Campbell Brown has made herself comfortable in Anderson Cooper's anchor chair. Not so much with the blogging though. Our sub seems to be MIA when it comes to the extracurriculars. Anyway, we kick things off with BREAKING NEWS related to the polygamy raid story and go to David Mattingly live for the latest. You remember the 16-year-old girl that made the call that sparked the raid? Well, apparently she gave the name of her abusing husband: Dale Barlow. Weird thing is, authorities are looking for a Dale Barlow from Colorado who says he doesn't even know the girl. Wait, what? I'm confused. One thing's for sure, the picture of "Dale Barlow" that 360 shows us? Creeeepy. I don't know if this man has anything to do with the girl that made the call, but that picture screams child molester. Just saying. We also learn that during the raid authorities found what appeared to be a sex bed in the temple, which they believe was used to consummate marriages. All together now: ew.
Next up, we're joined by Flora Jessop, an FLDS escapee, and mind control expert Steven Hassan. Flora talks a bit about the sex bed, noting it is "very common for them to do the consummations of the marriages in front of others." Whoa, whoa, whoa. In front of others?! Campbell has to make sure she heard that right too, "So, this was taking place on this bed, but with an audience?" Unbelievable. Flora also tells us of the tolerance that was taught regarding black people. Apparently black people were actually born white, but God turned them black to show they were sinners. Lovely. I wonder what they were taught about other races. Or maybe they don't even know other races exist. Steven then buts in to ask Flora a question: "wouldn't you say now that you are free, and you have learned about mind control, your life is far superior, and that there is hope?" To which she replies, "Oh, absolutely. With the help of people like Steve Hassan, we have been able to overcome those fears." I have to say, that little interaction in of itself was a little creepy.
Coming back from commercial, we are again "treated" to the seriously disturbing singing of Warren Jeffs. Ah! Okay 360, it's on now! Tremble in fear! Anyhoo, we then move on to a Gary Tuchman piece. Aw, I kinda thought maybe Gary was enjoying a vacation, but nope. He's been sent to polygamy land where no one loves him. Bummer. Like usual, Gary is mostly shunned, but a few Jeffs supporters give a word or two of displeasure about the raid. He also sits down with some non Jeffs supporters who aren't thrilled with all the children being taken. After his piece, Gary tells us Dale Barlow's parole officer believes he is in Colorado City and could actually be mere blocks from him right now. This story just keeps getting weirder.
Moving on now to a Randi Kaye "Keeping Them Honest" piece on where the FLDS gets all the money to buy their sex beds and stuff. Hint: who's usually getting screwed in these situations? You, silly! Since the men can only be legally married to one wife, the other wives are considered single mothers. And though they certainly aren't fond of our government, it sure doesn't stop them from taking welfare. But the men do their part too. See, they work their butts off in construction jobs and all their money gets funneled to the church. Pretty sweet gig if you're the leader of the church; not so much otherwise.
Transitioning now to a Drew Griffin piece and...oh my God what is wrong with our planes?! Now it's coming out that there are problems with American landing gear too. Do they want me to cry on my flight later this month? Seriously, do they? Truth be told, I have never been afraid of terrorists on planes, but I have always been afraid of random mechanical failures and now it's like all my nightmares realized. So okay, in one instance of landing gear failure it actually disabled the anti-icing thingee ma bobber and it turned the plane into a popsicle. I enjoy a frozen treat every now and then, but not when it's my plane! So what's the FAA doing about this? They're "aware of the problem," Well, fabulous. Don't get proactive or anything. Apparently people need to die before anyone tries to fix anything in this country.
Next up, we have Candy Crowley to talk about a new poll that finds New Yorkers prefer a McCain/Condi Rice ticket to an Obama/Clinton ticket. Gasp! Oh my God, a statistically insignificant poll taken seven months out from the election that contains someone who's not even running! This is huge news. Alert the media. Oh wait, they've been alerted. And actually, Candy kinda looks like she wishes she hadn't been. Don't get me wrong, she brings it with the punditry and all, but really all we need is the first sentence out of her mouth: "Well, let's remember that polls are snapshots." Yup. Moving on.
Forty-five minutes into the show, we finally get to the good hard news stuff. A Michael Ware "Keeping Them Honest" piece asks the question, "Is the surge working?" Answer? Yeah, it is, but the surge is much more than what people think. It's not just an increase in troops. According to Michael, it's an entire shift in strategic thinking. Killings are way down due to a combination of several factors. Most of us know by now that we're cutting deals and paying our enemies to kill our other enemies. (By the way, my prediction of how that will ultimately turn out for us? Not well.) Also rarely mentioned in your average "surge" soundbite is the Al-Sadr cease fire and all the blast walls that are essentially segregating the country. And I would bet you that anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of our country doesn't know the majority of what was in that piece. Unfortunately you really have to look for Iraq news with context nowadays and most Americans just...don't.
After Michael's piece he joins us live. Like last night, he laments about how the Petraeus and Crocker hearing seemed to be stage managed for people wanting to be president. He's still missing the true debate (as am I), but was pleased to hear Iran mentioned more and the democrats begin to change their rhetoric on withdrawal. For the most part, Michael thinks Petraeus and Crocker did the best they could, though he would take them to task for characterizing the Iraqi government as an ally. "I mean, please. I think that's quite a stretch," he tells us. He then goes on to say, "America has got to stay this course," which kind of makes me cringe a bit. Please don't use Bush talking points, Michael. It makes puppies cry sad tears. They always end the interview with Michael right where I think there needs to be a follow up. Because, is he advocating the McCain strategy? Surely not. Even forgetting the horrible loss of life, the status quo in Iraq cannot be sustained by the army or financially. And if the government is not our ally then...what? What does Michael think should be done?
The Shot tonight is an elephant in a bubble. Apparently there is such a thing as a bubble artist. Of course there is. Weirdness. The show was okay. I really wish they'd scale back on the polygamy stuff. Give us the facts, but do we really need the mind control expert? B
Next up, we're joined by Flora Jessop, an FLDS escapee, and mind control expert Steven Hassan. Flora talks a bit about the sex bed, noting it is "very common for them to do the consummations of the marriages in front of others." Whoa, whoa, whoa. In front of others?! Campbell has to make sure she heard that right too, "So, this was taking place on this bed, but with an audience?" Unbelievable. Flora also tells us of the tolerance that was taught regarding black people. Apparently black people were actually born white, but God turned them black to show they were sinners. Lovely. I wonder what they were taught about other races. Or maybe they don't even know other races exist. Steven then buts in to ask Flora a question: "wouldn't you say now that you are free, and you have learned about mind control, your life is far superior, and that there is hope?" To which she replies, "Oh, absolutely. With the help of people like Steve Hassan, we have been able to overcome those fears." I have to say, that little interaction in of itself was a little creepy.
Coming back from commercial, we are again "treated" to the seriously disturbing singing of Warren Jeffs. Ah! Okay 360, it's on now! Tremble in fear! Anyhoo, we then move on to a Gary Tuchman piece. Aw, I kinda thought maybe Gary was enjoying a vacation, but nope. He's been sent to polygamy land where no one loves him. Bummer. Like usual, Gary is mostly shunned, but a few Jeffs supporters give a word or two of displeasure about the raid. He also sits down with some non Jeffs supporters who aren't thrilled with all the children being taken. After his piece, Gary tells us Dale Barlow's parole officer believes he is in Colorado City and could actually be mere blocks from him right now. This story just keeps getting weirder.
Moving on now to a Randi Kaye "Keeping Them Honest" piece on where the FLDS gets all the money to buy their sex beds and stuff. Hint: who's usually getting screwed in these situations? You, silly! Since the men can only be legally married to one wife, the other wives are considered single mothers. And though they certainly aren't fond of our government, it sure doesn't stop them from taking welfare. But the men do their part too. See, they work their butts off in construction jobs and all their money gets funneled to the church. Pretty sweet gig if you're the leader of the church; not so much otherwise.
Transitioning now to a Drew Griffin piece and...oh my God what is wrong with our planes?! Now it's coming out that there are problems with American landing gear too. Do they want me to cry on my flight later this month? Seriously, do they? Truth be told, I have never been afraid of terrorists on planes, but I have always been afraid of random mechanical failures and now it's like all my nightmares realized. So okay, in one instance of landing gear failure it actually disabled the anti-icing thingee ma bobber and it turned the plane into a popsicle. I enjoy a frozen treat every now and then, but not when it's my plane! So what's the FAA doing about this? They're "aware of the problem," Well, fabulous. Don't get proactive or anything. Apparently people need to die before anyone tries to fix anything in this country.
Next up, we have Candy Crowley to talk about a new poll that finds New Yorkers prefer a McCain/Condi Rice ticket to an Obama/Clinton ticket. Gasp! Oh my God, a statistically insignificant poll taken seven months out from the election that contains someone who's not even running! This is huge news. Alert the media. Oh wait, they've been alerted. And actually, Candy kinda looks like she wishes she hadn't been. Don't get me wrong, she brings it with the punditry and all, but really all we need is the first sentence out of her mouth: "Well, let's remember that polls are snapshots." Yup. Moving on.
Forty-five minutes into the show, we finally get to the good hard news stuff. A Michael Ware "Keeping Them Honest" piece asks the question, "Is the surge working?" Answer? Yeah, it is, but the surge is much more than what people think. It's not just an increase in troops. According to Michael, it's an entire shift in strategic thinking. Killings are way down due to a combination of several factors. Most of us know by now that we're cutting deals and paying our enemies to kill our other enemies. (By the way, my prediction of how that will ultimately turn out for us? Not well.) Also rarely mentioned in your average "surge" soundbite is the Al-Sadr cease fire and all the blast walls that are essentially segregating the country. And I would bet you that anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of our country doesn't know the majority of what was in that piece. Unfortunately you really have to look for Iraq news with context nowadays and most Americans just...don't.
After Michael's piece he joins us live. Like last night, he laments about how the Petraeus and Crocker hearing seemed to be stage managed for people wanting to be president. He's still missing the true debate (as am I), but was pleased to hear Iran mentioned more and the democrats begin to change their rhetoric on withdrawal. For the most part, Michael thinks Petraeus and Crocker did the best they could, though he would take them to task for characterizing the Iraqi government as an ally. "I mean, please. I think that's quite a stretch," he tells us. He then goes on to say, "America has got to stay this course," which kind of makes me cringe a bit. Please don't use Bush talking points, Michael. It makes puppies cry sad tears. They always end the interview with Michael right where I think there needs to be a follow up. Because, is he advocating the McCain strategy? Surely not. Even forgetting the horrible loss of life, the status quo in Iraq cannot be sustained by the army or financially. And if the government is not our ally then...what? What does Michael think should be done?
The Shot tonight is an elephant in a bubble. Apparently there is such a thing as a bubble artist. Of course there is. Weirdness. The show was okay. I really wish they'd scale back on the polygamy stuff. Give us the facts, but do we really need the mind control expert? B
posted by eliza at 12:35 AM
1 Comments:
Let's hope she does not get TOO comfortable in that anchor chair!
I really would prefer Tom Foreman or Miles O' Brien do the show.
Miles is really being wasted at CNN,and that is a shame.
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