Homegrown Terror, Pakistan Arrest, Interview With Senator Ben Nelson, And The Plight Of The Polar Bears

Hi everybody. Hide the kiddies, because apparently it's homegrown terror night. This is where 360 takes the opportunity to freak us all the hell out. And they're employing their technology to do it. Anderson Cooper takes us to the Big Wall, where we find a map of the United States that is filled with terror-related doings. Kinda like when Ali Velshi used to show us the Dow everyday. Except, instead of viewing our crashing economy, it's people who potentially want to kill us. So there's that.

Our anchor takes us through a whole mess of information about plots and arrests that I don't have time to recap. Actually, I'm wondering if they lost people here, because there's no way anyone can take that all in at the speed it's coming. I don't really have a solution to that. I certainly would never advocate dumbing anything down. Just a ponderance.

Anyway, this is the lede tonight because five Americans--possibly from Virginia--were just arrested in Pakistan. A Randi Kaye piece has more about their terrorist intents, but a lot of this still isn't completely confirmed.

From here we go to Peter Bergen for discussion. The rub: homegrown terrorism is on the rise (Peter doesn't know why). BUT it's also way harder to pull off. BUT it's way hard to catch people with clean track records. So...there you go. Sleep tight, I guess.

Peter then surprises me by stating that he believes it is untrue that there have been no successful terrorist acts on American soil since 9-11. He gives the attack on an El- Al counter at LAX and the guy who shot up the Little Rock recruiting center as examples (Hassan is mentioned as well, though there's still so much we don't know).

I don't really go for his reasoning here. Shouldn't there be a difference between someone connected to terrorism who commits an act out of an agenda, and someone who's mentally unstable and just latches onto radical Islam for whatever reason? I guess I just don't see why we would treat the unstable "lone wolves" any differently than the unstable guy who shot up Virginia Tech. Obviously they are still extremely dangerous, but terrorists?

That being said, the threat of homegrown terrorism is very real. Joining us to discuss how it can be combated, is Texas Muslim leader Mohamed Elibiary. It seems jihad is the new cool for some Muslim youth. Mohamed likens it to kids getting caught up in gangs. Ironically, most of these kids don't even understand Islam or the causes being fought. Anderson asks what can be done and it's noted that our government never adopted a counter-radicalization policy. So hey, let's do that.

Your moment of randomness: During the "360 Bulletin" we learn there's a boycott of some trashy show called Jersey Shore. The Silver Fox tries to claim he hasn't seen it and has no plans to ever do so. "That is what he says on TV," says Erica Hill. "No, it's true," protests our anchor. Oh, honey. I'm sorry, but we sooo don't believe you. Adorable liar.

Transitioning now to the topic of health care reform. Yesterday, we learned that Senator Ben Nelson's abortion amendment was struck down, and ultimately it will come down to him, Joe Lieberman, and Olympia Snowe as to whether the whole bill passes. Next, we have an interview with Nelson himself. The senator proclaims the loss of his amendment a deal breaker, unless similar language from Stupak survives in the final bill. Anderson brings up the Hyde Amendment, which already ensures federal money will not fund abortions, but Nelson isn't buying it.

The public option is brought up as well and Nelson goes on about buying coverage across state lines, but c'mon. How do you keep insurance companies honest without a public option? Anderson wonders if he's worried about being labeled the Democrat who killed health care reform. The senator brushes it off, stating there still might be reconciliation, so he won't be blamed and blah blah. Eh, I'm actually hating on you quite a lot right now and you haven't done anything official yet. You're going to be reviled.

On now to discussion with Dana Bash, Joe Johns, and David Gergen. There's still no done deal by any means, so this is a lot of speculation. Very informed speculation though, so that's not a criticism. This segment makes me want to pull my hair out in frustration. No reflection on 360, just, why does our government have to be so stupid? Le sigh.

Transitioning now to Al Gore talking on American Morning about the hacked climate emails. Then we once again get a mention of Sarah Palin's take on the whole controversy, specifically polar bears. I don't know why. Wait, actually, yes I do. Segue! Cue the Planet in Peril piece on polar bears! We see Jeff Corwin and scientist Steve Anstrep track the animals. The species is now experiencing nutritional stress due to the melting of the ice, which has resulted in difficultly hunting seals. So, basically a big bummer. Check out my post from yesterday for lots of Planet in Peril related links.

The "shot" tonight is the year in auto-tune. Oh yes. This would more accurately be described as the ridiculousness of the year in auto-tune. Sully soo did not belong. Anyway, the 360 kids wrap things up with the oft-played "Who the hell is Wolf?" clip. Because, hey, why not?

The show wasn't bad. Nice and newsy. I'm wondering if they need to make the homegrown terrorism stuff more accessible somehow. It's definitely an important story. Thoughts?