Paycuts For Top TARP Recipients, More On Cameron Todd Willingham, Immigration Debate, And James Arthur Ray Story Gets More Disturbing

Hi everyone. My Internets have not been playing nice tonight, so I think this is going to have to be one of those semi-abbreviated blogs. You may send your complaints to AT&T. Anyway, we're kicking off the broadcast an hour later tonight due to "Latino in America." Sorry CNN, I did not watch. Nothing personal, but this Gleek had other TV programming calling. Besides, it's not like you won't rerun it five billion times.

But enough about that. We've got money to worry about. Yesterday, we did some WTFing over all these company executives still living the high life after taking our tax dollars. Names? Oh, they were named. Now we learn from Ali Velshi (yeah, he's at the wall) that the Obama administration is taking away the toys--or, essentially ordering pay cuts--of executives at the top seven TARP receiving companies. Booyah!!! Of course, Anderson Cooper notes that this isn't actual reform of the financial system...and Ali tells us it doesn't address the underlying problems, sooo...booyah?

Time now to get our politics on with James Carville and Kevin Madden. Kevin thinks the salary slash is good politics, but as a worshiper of the invisible hand, he's not happy. James' basic viewpoint is that they took our money, so now they can take our orders. Then Kevin starts talking about how the government has good intentions, but always screws things up, and how we need to build partnerships. Okay, uh, let's be clear here: Wall Street doesn't even have good intentions. They don't want to be our partner; they want to make money. Period. And that's the problem. Culture of greed.

As an aside, hey, you know that whole conversation we just had here? The one about whether or not the government should control aspects of compensation regarding private companies? Um, haven't we already done this? I mean, seriously. I seem to remember a House bill imposing a 90% tax on bonuses. I guess down the memory hole it went.

Back to the discussion, apparently there's a new meme being floated by the Republicans: Obama is just like Nixon! I'll pause a second while you laugh. So, it seems Congresscritters like Lamar Alexander are implying our prez has an enemies list, which is just so...what is there even to say to that? I think there's a bit of amnesia going on, because not only did the last administration target specific news outlets much more than the Obama camp has gone after Fox News, they also outed a friggin CIA agent for political purposes. But Obama is Nixon.

We're also shown a poll that says more people now disagree with the president on the issues that matter to them. Wow. That might be damning...if it had any meaning whatsoever. Okay, who were the people polled? What issues? How are they interpreting Obama's stand on these issues? And so on and so on. Seriously, if you're going to throw up a poll, can it at least have a tad bit of relevancy?

Transitioning now to a Randi Kaye piece that brings us more info on the Cameron Todd Willingham case. She talked with Gerald Hurst, an arson expert joining the chorus of those saying what occurred was not arson. Actually, he's not just joining--he wrote a memo to Governor Perry regarding his finding before the execution. Perry's office states the report was just an opinion. This story is starting to make me nauseous. The state of Texas most likely killed an innocent man, and the Governor is trying to cover it up.

For the legal low down, we're next joined by Jeffrey Toobin who tells us that the law does not say Perry had to read the memo, or do anything with it really. He and Anderson then talk the politics of the case, but then Toobin moves to the most important point: the huge moral issue. Again, the state of Texas most likely killed an innocent man. Due to the new revelations about junk science, this case could blow the death penalty debate wide open. I'm guessing a lot of these "experts" and officials are going to be digging in their heels for that very reason.

Moving on to a Soledad O'Brien piece on Araceli Torres, an undocumented 26-year-old who was brought into the country illegally by her parents when she was a child. One day her place of employment was raided and officials discovered she had been using a fake ID. She was detained for five months and separated from her daughter, a US citizen. Worse, she faces deportation even though she doesn't know a soul in Mexico. I don't understand why we're wasting our energy on going after people like this woman. If someone was brought over as a child--meaning not their choice--and they've been here almost their whole life, they should get to stay.

I think it's about time for a debate, don't you? In one corner, we have Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio--whip cracker when it comes to illegal immigrants. On the other side, we're got Araceli's attorney, Isabel Garcia. Okay, so I start out clearly rooting for Isabel, but things get weird pretty quick. Joe says he has sympathy for people like Araceli, but then he moves right into the "they're taking our jobs!" meme. This leads Isabel to go off on the economy of Arizona, as well as start talking about how this is like "post slavery" and "black codes." Um, what?

So then Joe starts muttering about a pinata, leading me to think he's being a jerk, and possibly racist. But no! There's video of a pinata in Joe's likeness being beheaded by children (oh, yes) and paraded around. And the kicker? Isabel totally defends this. Even Anderson has to note that if it had been Obama, people would flip out. So...there's that. Not really doing her cause any favors, is she?

Kinda reminds me of that debate a couple years ago with that incredibly annoying immigration rights activist. Any other long time viewers remember that? I simultaneously agreed with her side and wanted to smack her. Even Anderson got so mad he (admittedly quietly) threw down his pen. And you don't see that everyday. The Silver Fox is usually so mellow, it was like his equivalent of "We'll do it live!"

Speaking of live, we transition now to Gary Tuchman who is standing in front of the hotel where James Arthur Ray is holding one of his seminar deals, or whatever he calls them. Trying to make a buck, is what Ray's doing. All the while not talking to officials or the family members of those who died in his sweat lodge. Earlier, Gary talked on the phone with Beverly Bunn, a woman who was there the night the incident occurred. We hear their conversation and the picture she paints is nothing short of horrific: people throwing up, passing out, being chided by Ray for wanting to leave or pointing out the condition of others.

Beverly is CPR trained and states she was prevented by "Dream Teamers" from helping to save lives. If this is remotely true, people need to go to jail. On another note, Team Gary is staying at the same hotel to try to get close to Ray, but security is tight. Not quite tight enough, however, for producer Ismael Estrada, who managed to not only get into the seminar, but also stood up and asked Ray a question. "This is not a press conference," was the guru's reply and Ismael was met with attendee boos until security took him away. So, unfortunately nothing gained there, but still, kinda badass.

The "shot" tonight is office workers getting their Backstreet Boys on. The hook here is that it was all done simultaneously. I love the non participating woman. Anyway, then Anderson has to play the Falcon Heene "Who the hell is Wolf?" clip because, hey, why not? Yeah, we're going to be seeing a lot of that one. Anderson wants to put the phrase on t-shirts. I would totally buy that. Remember those fangirly heart-shaped 360 shirts they used to sell (and maybe still do)? I always wanted them to make some for Blitzer. Because I wanted to buy one. You know, for the hilarity. The show was good. That'll do it.