How The Lieberman Stole Real Health Care Reform, Bailout Blues, James Arthur Ray Employee Speaks, And Chicago Violence Discussed

Hi everyone. Happy New Week! I'm a bit short on time, so this will have to be one of those lovely abbreviated reviews. There's a lot to get to tonight. On we go! The broadcast kicks off with the "breaking news" that our Democratic leadership is once again contemplating completely rolling over on important legislation in order to placate attention-seeking cry babies. That deal with the Medicare buy-in they just finagled last week? Forget about it.

According to Dana Bash, word on the D.C. street is that whole thing is getting scrapped because Senator Joe Lieberman isn't happy. That's right, it all comes down to one asshole. And if you think I'm being pejorative now, you should have heard what I called him when I initially read the news. The big irony here is that Lieberman is on record as being a supporter of the Medicare buy-in.

What changed? Dana tells us Lieberman's people says it's the deficit, but I call BS. Look, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that some people are going to do anything they can to see that the health care reform bill dies. What flummoxes me is how our friends at 360 continue to ignore the relationships our Congresscritters have with the health insurance industry. Hello! Lieberman and Aetna? At least they had the Medicare buy-in video, which to my amusement, Anderson Cooper referred to as a "flip flop." I was kinda expecting to have to add that in myself. I'm not sure what that says.

Moving on to our anchor hitting the Big Wall for some bailout breakdowns. We've got the whole outrage regarding lobbyists and bonuses going on here. Then Ed Henry pops in to tell us that President Obama is really letting the bankers have it...with his words. Action? Not so much. Also, I've yet to give the big Matt Taibbi piece that's recently being discussed around the interwebs a good read, but I'd love to see his perspective on the show.

New segment name alert: "Insider's Briefing." Oooh, fancy. Who's the insider? David Gergen of course. As if you had to ask. He's here to talk about Obama's no good, very bad week. But I'd like to begin with my own question: What has happened to our Gerg? Ok, yes, he's always been a bit of a Villager, but we tolerated it--even grew to find it adorable. Now though? It's like he's entrenched in that beltway bubble and dude is it annoying.

Case in point, he talks about how the liberals are upset about the death of the public option. All of the D.C. elite keep trying to equate the PO with far left thinking, when in reality, it's more popular than the overall bill. It has more than just liberal support. Another annoyance was the Gerg deeming the PO and Medicare buy-in as first steps to single payer. I'll give him the buy-in, but if he actually listened to the arguments on the left, the PO has always been about holding insurance companies accountable. Oh, also? Oprah! As in, this segment contained an Oprah clip. Because this is 360 and it is therefore mandatory.

Transitioning now to Gary Tuchman live in the studio. He's still on the case of James Arthur Ray and recently sat down with one of the self-help guru's former employees, Melinda Martin. She was there that night that three people died in the sweat lodge. Once again, Ray's callousness and indifference to the situation around him is relayed. Melinda says he left while victims lay dying. She herself performed CPR.

As for the woman who committed suicide, the guru flat out lied when Melinda asked him if she had been found. Ray assured her she had, but she had decided not to return to the event. While it's true she did not return, one might quibble with the word "decided," given her being dead and all. Melinda also tells us 10 people might be indicted, though she doesn't know specifics. From Gary we learn that Ray is still allowing people to sign up for courses next year, but he canceled the seminars a few days after Gary's team crashed one of them. Go Ismael!

Moving on to tape of T.J. Holmes sitting down with Vashon Bullock, a Chicago teen involved in the fight that left Derrion Albert dead. Vashon's brother Eugene Riley was there as well, and is now one of the teens charged with the crime. This is pretty depressing. Though police maintain that Darrion was an honor student who inadvertently was caught up in the fight, Vashon claims it simply a situation that got out of hand. Someone is dead, but he doesn't feel anyone needs to be held accountable. It's sad he thinks so little of life.

After the piece, we're joined by Steve Perry for discussion. Steve points out Vashon's inarticulateness and ties that back to education. Anderson notes, as I have on this blog previously, that all the same things keep being said, but nothing ever actually changes. He's only referring to government officials--I'd expand that to include these segments. What do you do though? I suppose depressing repetitive coverage is better than no coverage at all. Most other outlets have the "no coverage at all" angle, well, covered. Also? I think Steve implied Chicago is more dangerous than Afghanistan. Um...yeah...I don't think being hyperbolic really helps the situation.

The last segment of the night is the requisite Tiger Woods coverage. At least they dumped it last. I couldn't even watch Friday. I mean, top story? Puhleese. Anyway, your moment of WTF, courtesy of guest Rick Horrow: "(Tiger is) one of the most, if not the most, recognizable man in the history of the universe..." The history of the universe, huh? Wow. Well, mankind does love it's pro-golfers.

In tonight's "360 Bulletin" we learn there's a poor deer on the loose with Christmas lights wrapped around its antlers. Since antlers fall off, it has been decided (most likely by people who do not wish to chase after deer) the situation will be left up to nature. This is all reported by Erica Hill. Our anchor then goes into a spiel about deer and Grinches and...I actually stopped listening (which is ironic given the end of this little recap). The pertinent part is that the Silver Fox then ponders about the deer getting the lights off, leaving Charlie Moore to IFB him the info that Erica just said.

"I'm glad you were listening," she says. "Did you just say that?" asks our anchor. She confirms she did, he apologizes..., which would normally lead me to exclaim "You're not sorry!" except, uh, he kind does seem sorry. Anyway! I bring up this rather pointless exchange for two reasons: First, Anderson is always doing that. Poor Erica. I can't even count the number of times that I'm sitting here going, "dude, are you even paying attention to your own show?" Someone needs their listening ears!

As for the second reason, gratuitous Charlie Moore mention! C'mon, like I wasn't going to note that? I loves me some Charlie. And since he's so into having his name said on the TeeVee, I'm sure he's just as thrilled about being discussed on the interwebs. Him and Ted Fine. Why so shy?

The "shot" tonight is a kid playing a ukulele and singing Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours." I use the term "singing" loosely.

The show was pretty good. I like that we had a lot of variety. I'd like to see more investigative work regarding health care reform and the bailout. That'll do it.

More On Rangel, Political Nonsense, Keeping Obama Honest On Gay Rights, Horrorcore Rap, And Surprise Tickets To The Anderson Cooper Gun Show

Hi everyone. We begin tonight with more coverage of the Charlie Rangel scandal, but I'm still squeeing too much over The Office to really give it much focus. How cute were Jim and Pam? Best wedding ever. But I digress. The fact of the matter is that I'm just not really into this story.

I suppose you could accuse me of partisanship, but honestly, I think it has more to do with cynicism. After everything we've seen from our politicians, a tax cheat seems almost, well, quaint. That probably says a great deal about where we are in this country. I just can't get my outrage on over this, though I do fully support the show covering the story.

Moving on to Tom Foreman giving us some new poll numbers, and oh noes, there might be trouble for the Democrats! Yaaawwn. Why do I suddenly feel like it's last October? Sure the Democrats are having some problems lately, but the midterm elections are over a year away. We live in a culture where there can be more than one news cycle per day and I'm supposed to care about poll numbers that are a year out? Please. There are plenty of actual stories to report.

Anyway, the proverbial "independents" are brought up--those voters the pundits love to pontificate about. Today I read a good post from the Washington Monthly that explains why everything those pundits say is probably crap.

Our panel on all this--oh, you knew there'd be one--is being rocked out by Nicolle Wallace (former Bushie), John King, and Errol Louis. There's not really anything of note here, but I guess I'll point some stuff out anyway. At one point Anderson Cooper states the Republicans seem to have found their voice. To which I say, yeah, and that voice is saying, "No!" To everything.

However, Nicole says that accusation isn't true, and proceeds to use Jeb Bush and Bill Frist as examples of Republicans who are reciprocating Obama's extended bi-partisan hand. As I'm telling my TV screen that Bill Frist isn't even a senator anymore, Anderson says, "But you're kind of clutching at straws." Seriously. I mean, hey, why not see what Jim Talent (my former Republican senator) is up to while we're at it.

Next 360 follows up on their main story from last night--the Chicago violence. We learn that tonight there was a meeting between kids, cops, politicians, and teachers. Sounds like a good start. Gary Tuchman covered the event and he relays some of ideas proposed by Mayor Daley. We get a clip that focuses on the "stop snitching" phenomenon, and the students speaking pretty much confirm what I've suspected. They're scared and they don't trust that the police won't hurt them, let alone protect them.

I'm not saying there is no code (a male speaker does state that being a "snitch" is the worst thing you can be), but I think the distrust and fear is probably more the root of the problem. Anyway, Gary tells us an alderwoman at the meeting offered to be the "snitch" for students who wanted to give tips anonymously. You'd think they'd already have a system like that set up. Baby steps, I guess.

Erica Hill returns to do the "360 Bulletin" for us and when she's done, Anderson welcomes her back. "I have missed being mocked," he says. Well, then the Silver Fox should read my blog during the dry spells. As always, I mock because I love.

Transitioning now to the subject of gay rights, and how Obama is not doing the rainbow proud. Campaign!Obama was very gay friendly. President Obama? He's got a way to go. A piece from Randi Kaye breaks down the yet unmet promises. Repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell"? Nope. Repealing the "Defense of Marriage Act"? Uh uh. Getting a hate crimes bill passed? Not yet. Passing the "Employment Nondiscrimination Act"? Yeah, I think you can see where this is going.

Obama is very good with the lip service on this issue, not so much with the follow-through. As the King himself once said, "a little less conversation, a little more action please." On a related note, blogger Pamela Spaulding is featured in this piece and I came across her blog post regarding some behind-the-scenes aspects of her interview. I'm a geek when it comes to that stuff, so I found it interesting. Give it a read if she share my geekdom.

For discussion, we're joined by activist Cleve Jones, who has organized a march on Washington to take place on Sunday. Anderson begins by asking why he would want to put pressure on Obama, given that he's on his side. But Cleve reminds us of the Clinton years, which saw DADT and DOMA, and he thinks it's always good to hold our leaders accountable. Amen to that. Anderson then points out that Barney Frank is against the march, and we're read one of his trademark blunt statements. A quote: "No member of Congress cares whether people went to Washington or not." Ouch.

But Cleve says that's not true because Harry Reid is on board. He also notes that Barney is always against the marches. Basically Cleve thinks they need to use everything in their arsenal. I guess I agree with that. I've never been a huge protest person, because like Barney, I don't think they change much.

Honestly, I think the most helpful thing is gay people simply living their normal lives in society, showing people that they're the same as everyone else. When it's suddenly about your family member or your friend, it becomes much different than when it's just about whatever stereotype might be in a person's head. This is a human rights issue. It shouldn't just be gay people fighting.

Going out to commercial, Anderson teases the upcoming horrorcore story, which is music with lyrics about "murder, rape, and 'Saden.'" I know I've said this before, but our anchor makes the devil sound positively adorable. Yeah, this is that whole mocking thing I mentioned earlier. Oh Anderson, you make is too easy.

Gary is back again, for a piece on the horrorcore rap we were just talking about. Basically it's music (if you wanna call it that) with extremely violent and graphic lyrics. This isn't exactly news, but the hook to this story is that horrorcore rapper Richard Samuel McCroskey brutally murdered four people. The chryon asks us, "Did violent music drive rapper to murder?" Um, really? C'mon guys...

Okay, so this seems like your classic correlational situation. Did the music make the guy violent or was an already violent guy drawn to violent music? Well, we'll never know for sure seeing as though a correlation cannot prove causation, but given that all the other horrorcore rappers aren't out there murdering people, I'm leaning towards the latter.

We're joined by the requisite experts to analyze the topic, but meh, I'm not into it. As Anderson states later, "It's the easiest thing in the world to blame music for problems." Yeah, the lyrics are horrendous and the overall genre disgusting. I'd definitely advocate that parents keep their kids away. But this just feels like fearmongering.

Erica Hill is back again with the "360 Bulletin" and we learn that Michael Vick is getting a reality show. WTF? BET should be ashamed of themselves. So should anyone who contributes to this disgusting situation by watching. Oh also, Levi Johnson is going to go the full monty for "Playgirl." Oh my God, why?! And, ew! This is a very disconcerting "360 Bulletin," I must say.

Anyway, we're shown some TMZ pics of Levi working out, which totally reminds me of some other pics that someone showed me of someone else working out. Then Erica completely surprises me by showing those pictures too. I didn't think they'd go there. But go there they did. Kinda weird, and a little mean. Anyway, backstory: the Silver Fox got snapped by the paps while he was working out his massive guns (seriously, if they get any bigger I'm going to start calling him Bluto).

The pics aren't really that flattering. They're easily findable with the help of the Google if you must judge for yourself. I won't be linking because I have an issue with TMZ--my issue being I hate them and everything they stand for. So there's that. "It's really nice when you're working out for someone to take a photograph from a block away," says Anderson. "Lesson learned. I will never work out in front of a window again." Poor Silver Fox. Everyone wants a ticket to the gun show.

The "shot" tonight is a Georgia Bulldogs fan going batshit insane. Seriously, watch. Now that's team spirit. The best part is the interviewer asking him why he's painted white when the team colors are red and black. Anderson jokes that the overly enthusiastic fan is actually their producer Charlie Moore, presumably because he's a fan, and not because he walks around the office completely painted white everyday. But hey, it is the news business, so who knows. Some of them be crazy.

I didn't think the show was all that great tonight. Too much political ridiculousness and I'm not sure we needed the horrorcore discussion after Gary's piece. But kudos to them for keeping up with Chicago and gay rights issues. That'll do it.

Live From Chicago For Coverage Of The Violence, Charlie Rangel Makes Me Sad, The Politics Of Afghanistan, And NOW Takes On Letterman

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper is coming at us live from Chicago tonight in order to report on the horrible violence that has been plaguing the city's schoolchildren--94 dead since 360 began their coverage of the story. We all know the most recent victim was a 16-year-old honor student named Derrion Albert, and our anchor shows us the very spot where he was beaten to death. It's pretty creepy to see Anderson walking around in the same area that we all saw on that disgusting video.

Gary Tuchman then joins Anderson to tell us about the new plan put forth by Ron Huberman, head of Chicago Public Schools. In a subsequent piece, we learn that federal stimulus money is going to be used to target 10,000 at risk kids (the at-riskiest, I suppose). The plan entails providing each of these kids a 24 hour mentor and part-time employment. However, this isn't exactly controversy free. First of all, 10,000 is a pretty small percentage of all Chicago students and the program won't even touch those not in school. After his piece, Gary tells us that the mentors are not professionals. I suppose it could work. But it seems like there might be better ways to spend the money.

Steve Perry is then brought in via satellite and he is not down with Huberman's proposal. He notes that because the program would be funded by stimulus money, it won't be sustainable because eventually the money will run out. A very good point. Steve's focus is on teachers. Basically he wants them to step up their game and do more for their students than just normal teaching. That sounds good, but I imagine most of them are just going to turn around and say that they're not getting the support they need from parents. Everybody has to play their part. One group fails, everyone fails.

We're then joined by Chicago resident Janice Allen, who is raising her nephew. She's very concerned about the situation in her neighborhood and stresses that the kids need something constructive to do with all their free time. Steve, as on previous nights, continues to state that this problem is a local issue. "I say, with all due respect to Mrs. Allen, she and the members of that community need to know that they can change this," he says. This annoyed me a little.

With all due respect to Steve, I think these people need guidance. The problem has become so big, no one knows how to take the first step. It would be great if someone like him--who has the experience--could go to Chicago and give community leaders specific, concrete advice. The whole city seems to be paralyzed on this issue right now. They need someone or something to bring them together to get the ball rolling.

Back from commercial, we're met with the sound of very loud train passing by, and the sight of Anderson, very amused by the timing of the passing train. Gotta love live TV.

Transitioning now to our political scandal segment of the evening. Senator Ensign? Oh, that was sooo yesterday. We're doing the Democratic side of the aisle tonight. Oh, Charlie Rangel, say it ain't so! Okay, so, Dana Bash is here with Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center, to discuss Representative Rangel's failure to disclose, like, a whole bunch of stuff of the income and assets variety. Oops. Rangel chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax laws, so there's an added dose of irony for you.

I like Rangel. He's done good work. So I'm not ready to throw him under the bus quite yet. Neither, apparently, are the House Democratic leadership. Nancy Pelosi says she's waiting for the report from the Ethics Committee. That sounds reasonable. Anyway, of note from the discussion is Anderson saying, "It's pretty outrageous that the man responsible for writing our tax laws is accused of being basically a complete deadbeat on his own taxes." Damn. Tell us how you really feel, Anderson.

Then from Dana: "I caught up with Congressman Rangel earlier this evening and I asked him just about that question." Just about. Me thinks she prettied-up the "deadbeat" talk. Not to be misconstrued that I'm implying bias from our anchor, I should note that I love he was frank. I just thought it was funny. Anyhoo! We're supposed to have some more discussion with Dana, but judging by Anderson's sudden IFB-fiddling, and the split-second panicked expression on his face, this segment is over. Sorry Dana.

On now to talk about Afghanistan...with political analysts. Oh yay. Instead of listening to James Carville and Bill Bennett bicker over troop levels, I recommend you watch this video of Rory Stewart discussing the situation on Bill Moyers Journal. Thanks to commenter Anne for pointing me to some very sobering analysis.

As for the segment, James and Bill go back and forth. Bill even brings up my pet peeve of using the "success" of the Iraq surge as evidence we should add more troops. For a while, Anderson seems to be asleep at the wheel, but then...,"the major part of what worked was the change in mind, the desire by Sunnis, former insurgents, to either be bought off, paid off, or to change and start fighting against al Qaeda. We haven't seen a willingness on the part of a lot of people in Afghanistan to get off the fence," he tells Bill. Yay, context! Thank you, Anderson.

On now to discussion with Lisa Bloom and Howard Kurtz over the David Letterman drama. Now the National Organization for Women has gotten into the mix, charging Dave with creating a hostile work environment. Lisa pretty much agrees with that, as do I. I'm not trying to be all prudey about this, but the way he keeps joking about the situation is weird. Because it's not funny. Honestly, I never really thought about Dave in the first place, so it's not like I had respect built up for him that I lost. If it were someone I do feel that way about, however, like maybe Jon Stewart, yes, I'd probably look at him differently. Also, Howie, you really need to start tweeting about other things. Just sayin'.

I think I'm going to wrap things up now. Anderson has an interview with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, but I can't say I got much out of it. Anyway, this was a pretty good show. I was surprised by the lack of the phrase "stop snitching." In fact, I think Anderson only alluded to the "code" once, which is quite a change from the previous coverage. I'm not sure why they switched-up their focus, but I'm glad they did. I think the situation was put in a more proper context tonight. That'll do it.

Senator Ensign's Ethics Trouble, Economic Regrouping, Lt. Dan Choi Debates Elaine Donnelly Re: DADT, And A Young Boy Caught in Chicago's Violence

Hi everybody. Hey, you know what we haven't had in a little while? Political scandal! Once upon a time, there was a socially conservative Republican who cheated on his wife. I'm probably going to have to get a lot more specific, huh? Back in June, Nevada Senator John Ensign admitted to an affair with a woman on his staff. This news--for the most part--was met with a collective yawn (especially since he was soon totally one-upped by Mark Sanford), but now we're learning, oh, there's more.

According to "The New York Times," Ensign helped his mistress's husband get a lobbying job and clients. And then that dude turned around and lobbied the senator on behalf of said clients. Um, that's a no no under Congressional ethics rules, specifically because you're supposed to wait a year to do any lobbying after leaving a Congressional staff position. Not to mention the fact that Ensign's parents gave the couple almost $100,000. Okay, that's weird. Why are mommy and daddy getting involved like this in a senator's life?

For the proverbial discussion, we're joined by Dana Bash, Joe Johns, and Melanie Sloan of Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). I've always been a fan of Melanie, probably because I'm a fan of responsibility and ethics. She points out this is pretty much the same kind of deal that took down Bob Ney. But the limelight here goes to Dana who tracked down Ensign and peppered him with questions, which we see. He tries to do the whole "nothing to see here" routine, but she doesn't let up. Girl's got moxie! Should be interesting to see where this goes. All I know is, Ensign is in trouuuuble.

Transitioning now to Ed Henry live, talking about the new economic package being bandied about in the White House. Basically, it's a second stimulus, but they're not going to call it a "stimulus" because they know Republicans will win the message war. Ooh! Call it Freedom Dollars! Gotta love politics.

Oh noes. Ali Velshi is back at his Wall of Doom. I'm having flashbacks. Or actually, I'm zoning out. I don't know if he talks too fast, or if it's the subject, or both, but these segments never hold my attention.

For the partisan pundification of our evening, we're joined by James Carville and Ari Fleischer. A sum up: Ari thinks Obama's economic policy has ruined us, James thinks we're doing pretty good given the mess Bush left, and Anderson Cooper is really hung up on the fact that they won't call it a second stimulus. Bottom line? A good percentage of economists noted at the time that the first stimulus was too small, so many of us knew this was coming. This DOES NOT mean the stimulus failed. It HAS worked, just not enough. I will concede to Ari that Obama was much too optimistic with initial recovery figure predictions.

Of note is Ari referring to the first stimulus as the "let's go broke and get there quickly act." Sorry, that name was already given to the Bush tax cuts by the majority of Americans. Next! Also, in addition to Ari stating that the stimulus package put us in hole, he believes that it will be the random business cycle that gets us out. "So, wait. So, Ari, you're blaming (Obama) for a loss of jobs, but any recovery, you won't give him credit for?" asks Anderson with a slight smirk. Good catch by him. I totally missed that because I was busy being all ticked off.

Transitioning now to our rock 'em sock 'em segment of the night. An article in the Pentagon Journal "Joint Force Quarterly," has found that, hey, it turns out that whole being openly gay thing doesn't mess with unit cohesion after all. Who'd a thunk it? Well, I'll tell you who still doesn't think it; Elaine Donnelly, that's who. She is the president of the Center for Military Readiness, which despite its official sounding name, has no affiliation with the military. They're against gays serving openly. Arab linguist First Lieutenant Dan Choi would like to do just that. Both individuals are here to debate (go here for video). Let the games begin.

Anderson asks Elaine why Dan shouldn't be able to serve, and she goes off on a tangent about the law. Well, laws are sometimes meant to be changed. Besides, that's not really what Anderson meant, so he clarifies and asks what Dan is hurting. Again, Elaine dodges, so much so that Anderson literally tells her she's not answering his question. She then tries to compare gays in the military with men and women serving together. Dan notes that sexual orientation and gender are not the same thing. He then goes on to tell us about the real harm that happens when you kick these men and women out. Like, in case people haven't noticed, we can kinda use all the translators we can get.

Dan's answer brings this from Elaine: "Dan, I see little concern for the people who would be forced out of the military if this law passed." Um, what? Anderson is apparently equally comfuzzled, and wonders who these people are who would be forced out. But Elaine, like, literally won't stop talking, resulting in exasperated face from Anderson. "Elaine, please let me ask you a question. Elaine," he says. Finally he gets to ask again. "Zero tolerance of anyone who disagrees is a corollary policy that comes if you treat an issue as a civil rights issue," answers Elaine. Wow. So basically, we need to protect the homophobes, is that it?

Anderson points out that people can disagree with policy, but as long as they serve with respect and don't act on that disagreement, there is no problem. But Elaine's not buying it. Then she and Dan are talking all over each other and Anderson snatches back control. "Guys, wait a minute. Time out. Time out. It really does nobody any good to talk over each other. It's really actually rather irritating. And the audience just turns you off." Booyah! But actually, I'm very much into this, so...carry on.

Dan notes that he's a linguist, which is very important to his unit. He tells Elaine he has a question for her, and then begins speaking in Arabic. "See, if you can't answer that, that's not a problem. If soldiers can't answer that, it's very devastating," he says. Oh, snap. That was pretty cool. And a point well taken. Well, it would have been if Elaine was listening to anything he said. Anderson points out that basically Elaine is insulting service members because she's assuming them to be too "narrow-minded" to serve with openly gay individuals.

"Would you expect women to live with men in conditions of little or no privacy?" asks Elaine. They do, replies Anderson. He notes that he was just there. Then he goes on to ask Elaine if she's ever even been to Afghanistan...or served in the military...or maybe even been on a military base? Bueller? Seriously. Who is this woman? Can I found a professional sounding organization and spout-off on news shows too? This woman doesn't seem to have any credibility whatsoever, though I suppose she makes up for it with pretty apparent homophobia.

Anyway, Anderson brings up the journal article, to which Elaine replies, "There is no other military in the world that is implementing the extreme plan that you are advocating, Dan Choi." Extreme? Disclosing your sexual orientation is extreme? Good lord lady, he's not asking to have sex in public with his boyfriend, he just wants to live his life honestly. And newsflash, he's still gay no matter what, and that is so obviously your real problem. Ironically, as Dan points out, it's people like him that fight for Elaine's right to say these ridiculous things.

Well, that segment was lively, wasn't it? You almost have to feel bad for the people against gay rights (almost), because they've already lost. DADT will be repealed. Gay marriage will happen in this country. Unless they can figure out how to cease the progression of time, there's nothing they can do to stop it. So to the Elaines of the world, I have only this to say: tick, tock.

Moving on to a Gary Tuchman piece on little Martrell Stevens, a six-year-old who became a victim of Chicago's wave of violence when he was shot while sleeping in the back of his mother's car. The bullet that was meant for someone else left Martrell partially paralyzed. His mother is positive people know who the shooter is, but no one has come forward. In fact, she herself sees him everyday. Fear keeps her quiet. I can't even imagine. In a particularly adorable (yet sad) moment, Gary asks Martrell what happened to him and the six-year-old whispers it like a secret: "I got shot." This should not be happening.

For discussion, we're joined by Steve Perry, who implores that the community must take responsibility. Anderson latches onto the "stop snitching" thing again, but he even notes that Martrell's mom is afraid to come forward. Maybe all the witnesses are afraid to come forward. I'm not sure he's putting that angle into the proper context. The show will be live in Chicago on Wednesday and I'll be interested to hear what the local press has to say regarding 360's coverage.

Anyway, Steve points out that if these recent murders had been committed by a white kid, the black community would rise up. He's demanding to see that same reaction now. Wow, tough love and good point. Anderson notes that people seem to accept and even expect this kind of crime against urban kids. Another good point. This would be a much different story if it were happening in an upscale suburb. That's a simple fact. All these dead kids is nothing anyone should accept.

The "shot" tonight is a pint-sized Kurt Russell giving the pre-game pep talk in the movie "Miracle." So cute. For those of you who haven't seen the film, possibly because you're not a sports person, coughAndersoncough, it really is a great flick. I was amazed at how climactic it felt, even though we all totally know the outcome going in. Pretty good show. That'll do it.

David Letterman Bombshell, Chicago Violence And The Stop Snitching Code, Iran Talks, More On Polanski, And A CNN Hero

Hi everyone. Sorry about yesterday. Sometimes you just want to blog. Other times you just want to veg out and watch the TeeVee. It happens. I see they've gone back to their regular first shot again. Anderson Cooper isn't doing any more of that fancy standing up stuff. Oh well. We begin tonight with the "breaking news" that David Letterman was blackmailed and, uh, apparently has slept with members of his staff.

A few different reactions come to mind, the first being, wow, holy crap. The second being, really, this is really the top story? We all know the deal with 360 and their stupid constant "breaking news," so even though Randi Kaye (who pops up with more info) is telling us they've learned this stuff "over the last few minutes," and Anderson is saying it's "literally a late-breaking story," I kinda don't believe them.

In fact, it wasn't until I logged on to Twitter and saw that it really was just coming out, that my indignation over the top slot placement subsided a little. You see what happens when you cry wolf with your "breaking news" graphic, 360? I just had to use Twitter to check your credibility! So anyway, as I said, Randi has more, and from her we learn that Dave testified before a grand jury today. It seems the blackmailer wanted $2 million, but was busted in a sting operation. Anderson reminds us that Dave is recently married and Randi points out they had been dating since 1986. Sad. I'm guessing that's not a happy house right now. Here's more info and video of Dave's monologue in which he explains the situation.

Moving on now to the horrible violence among youth in Chicago. Anderson relays the disturbing fact that even though it's apparent that many people know who the police are looking for regarding the murder of Derrion Albert, not one person has come forward. In a subsequent Joe Johns piece, we get a recap of the "Stop Snitching" movement, which 360 and Anderson individually have covered extensively. It pertains to the idea that inner city youth abide by a kind of code that prevents them from going to the police with information.

Now, it's clear that Anderson is horrified by this phenomenon and the silence, but I want to point out that in Joe's piece, a young man admits that if people come forward, they're going to be beat up. It seems to me that though "Stop Snitching" is real and is a big problem, this might be a bigger problem and shouldn't be dismissed. Maybe not everyone is following a code, but some are simply just scared to death and don't trust the police to protect them if they were to come forward. I think relations between the police and community is probably a huge issue that needs to be studied.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by hip-hop artist Common and Steve Perry, CNN education contributor. I don't want to say that the men only contribute platitudes or truisms, but we've heard all these things before. It's the parents. It's the community. It's kids who need to be taught self worth. All true. We heard all this the last time a kid was killed, and we'll hear it the next time too. Everyone nods in agreement. But then nothing changes and it all happens again. I really hate being critical here. It's so clear Anderson really cares about this and all these men's hearts are in the right place, but something feels off about this coverage.

If they want to focus on the "Stop Snitching" angle (and I've already stated I think that might be overemphasized in the overall story), why not really tackle it? Anderson notes that there are corporations promoting the phenomenon. Well, who are these corporations? Name names. Get people to talk if possible. Anderson does actually name Tyson Beckford (and later Busta Rhymes), noting he's on a Bravo show. Well, what does Bravo think about this?

The thing is, 360 can't stop kids from killing each other. They can't make people better parents. They can't make police more trustworthy. That's not even their job. But they can investigate and identify those who are profiting off of all this and need to be held accountable. Will it cause controversy? Probably. Isn't that the point? Instead of going through the same routine every time some poor kid gets gunned down or beaten to death, why not regularly investigate different factions of the "Stop Snitching" movement? Maybe then someday things would actually change.

In the headlines tonight we have the earthquakes in Indonesia and the aftermath of the disaster in the Samoan Islands. I guess this is their only mention. That's pretty messed up.

Transitioning back to the Letterman case, we're joined via phone by Lisa Bloom and Howard Kurtz. Of note is Lisa bringing up the potential hostile work environment that Dave's behavior might have caused. I agree with that, but from Anderson: "We shouldn't go down the road of speculation. We, frankly, know nothing about the nature of these relationships, the timeline of them, when they occurred, or really anything about them." Hey, look at that. Good for him. See, I may slap him with speculation charges from time to time, but I can praise for speculation-quashing as well.

Anderson then turns to Howie and notes that he's been tweeting about the situation. "I'm glad you follow Twitter so closely," says Howie. Pshaw! Yeah, we know that ain't the truth. "Sorry. I don't. I was just told you have been tweeting," says Anderson. Will someone please teach Anderson Twitter? I mean, seriously. He doesn't have to actually talk to anyone, but for a journalist not to be taking advantage of a potential personal news aggragate just kinda boggles my mind. It's not hard, Anderson. I promise.

Next up, we have discussion with Reza Aslan; Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford; and Candy Crowley regarding the recent developments in Iran. So, as it turns out, you can make potential progress with a nuke-wanting evil-doer and not have to bomb them to kingdom come. Who'd a thunk it? See, US peeps sat down with Iran peeps who decided that, okay, fine, you can look at our nuclear site. Iran then gets to send non- weapons-grade uranium to other countries for enrichment, but not enough to make bombs.

Sooo...yay! At least, potential yay, emphasis on 'potential.' I'm not naive. Reza thinks this is significant, and although Abbas is cautious, he too thinks it's step in the right direction, even if a small one. On the political front, we hear from Candy that caution is the watchword with Obama as well. Obviously this is still an on-going process, but I think we can all say diplomacy is so much better than beating the war drums. For more on Iran, here's an informative piece from Juan Cole.

On now to more on the Roman Polanski case. I think you've pretty much figured out by now that I'm not really into the story. Don't get me wrong, a 13-year-old is a child, period. And rape is rape, period. I'm just not sure why everyone has to weigh in. Tonight we hear from Jeffrey Toobin and David Wells, a man who apparently lied about coaching a judge to be tough on Polanski.

Anderson asks why he lied and Wells responds with--I kid you not--the following: "Well, I never thought the documentary would be shown here in the United States. I got the impression from talking to the director/producer on it that it was being made by a French company, that they hoped to sell it in France, and that based on that, I never thought it would be shown here in the United States." Because lies don't count if they're only heard by French people! France is the new Vegas, baby.

Our anchor, who obviously has more restraint than me, refrains from asking, "WTF are you talking about?" and instead says this: "Why would that make any difference, though, whether it was showing here in the United States? I mean, a lie is a lie whether it's here or elsewhere in the world." You think? Good lord, where do these people come from?

Our final piece of the night is from Erica Hill, on CNN's 2007 Hero of the Year, Peter Kithene. Today was CNN's big unveiling of the nominees that culminated in a special tonight. I'll have to check it all out online since I missed pretty much everything. I have to say, I admire CNN for continuing to do this show. It's not exactly a ratings bonanza. Anyway, Peter has a clinic in Kenya and right after his win, the country erupted into violence. He was able to keep the clinic open, while others in the country had to close. Good story.

The "shot" tonight is Bronx hero Horia Cretan, who saved a little boy from a burning building. He joins us by phone and Anderson asks if he has any paramedic training. Horia tells us he knew what to do from watching TV. I had to laugh at that. I was in a situation once where I was asked if I was a nurse and I was like, no, I just watch a lot of ER. See, it's educational! But the best part about Horia's story is that he took advantage of his new-found fame to propose to his fiance on the TeeVee. Awww. All stories should be like this.

The show was just okay. As much as I am genuinely interested in the Letterman thing, um, I can catch that from a more appropriate outlet. This is CNN and if they start going all out with Dave-drama, I'm going to be pretty disgusted. I mean, over a thousand people are dead from an earthquake, and it only got a headline. That's not right. As for the Chicago story, major major props for the follow up, but I do wish they'd take another look at the angle of their coverage. That'll do it.

Roman Polanski Arrested, Iran Testing Missiles, Chicago Student Killed, Inside The Earth Liberation Front, And Modern Slavery

Hi everyone. We begin tonight with Anderson Cooper standing in front of the big screen to intro the night's segments. Ooh fancy! Although, he might have done this last week too. As I said in my prior post, I'm not much of a noticer. Remember when he used to do the standing "pose" with his foot up on step? Good times.

Anyhoo, the introing put me through a roller-coaster of emotions. At first I was annoyed because I thought we were starting with the Roman Polanski story. Then when I realized he was previewing, I got relieved. And...then he really did start with the Polanski story. Le sigh. I'm not going to deny the story merits coverage, but top story? C'mon.

In an Erica Hill piece, we learn that the director was arrested in Switzerland over the weekend in connection with a warrant over three decades old. I think most of us know the basic details of this case. In 1977 Polanski drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl, then fled to Paris right before his sentencing. France refused to extradite and he continued his directorial career. To this day, the man has his defenders, along with those who feel he got away with a crime.

For discussion (yeah, you knew it was coming), our panel is being rocked by Lisa Bloom, Jeffrey Toobin, and criminal defense attorney Joel Brodsky. Honestly, I don't care much about this. The panel gets all arguey, Anderson loses control, I zone out, and then I tune out. It's been a while since I've had to reach for my remote during the show.

Moving on to the subject of Iran, the country must not have been listening when Obama told them they were "on notice" because they just went and test-fired themselves some missiles. To talk about this, we're joined by Paul Begala and Rich Galen. Political strategists. To talk about Iran. Because that makes sense in a way that totally doesn't. I guess it really is just all a game. Apparently we've already made up our mind about Iran.

For a post that gives some good reasons as to why we don't have to freak out about this whole bomb thing, check out Michael Hastings' latest at True/Slant. From there you can find a good post from Glenn Greenwald that compares the current dialog to that of prior to the Iraq invasion, as well as level-headed analysis from Scott Ritter, the former inspector who was totally right about Iraq. Now an interview with him would have been a good segment.

Anyway, there's not much of note here, them not being experts in foreign policy and all. But I will point out that Anderson again hits on the fact that though Obama seems to be fairly popular worldwide, that popularity hasn't translated into much (example: NATO troops for Afghanistan). I think this is a good point, but he sets it up with a false premise: "For all the reaching out, is this president perceived as being weak?" I'm not sure how you immediately leap from not yet successful to being weak.

As Paul points out, the last guy's macho cowboy policy didn't really get us anywhere either. In fact, it actually made up less safe. Rich is happy that Obama has not taken the military option off the table in regard to Iran. It's funny, when the last crew said stuff like that it used to scare the crap out of me. Obama? Not so much. That's because, in my opinion, Cheney really did want war with Iran, no doubt still does. Obama can leave the war-button on the table to play the psych-out game all he wants. It's nice to know that at the end of the day, we have a president that doesn't really want to press it.

Transitioning now to the horrific beating death of 16-year-old Darrion Albert, a Chicago honor student. In a Joe Johns piece, we learn that Darrion was a good kid who was trying to help a friend and became an innocent victim in a street fight. He was beaten to death by other teens with wooden boards, a crime captured on video. Four individuals have since been charged. This kind of violence among teens is not new to Chicago--last year alone the city lost 37 school kids. 360 has been covering the crisis since 2007.

For more, we're joined by Ronald Holt, father of Blair Holt, a slain student 360 profiled two years ago, and USC Trojans football head coach Pete Carroll, who founded A Better L.A., an organization that works to combat teen violence. Both men seem to attribute this violence problem to teens' family life. Pete discusses structure and the lack thereof. He works to make connections with community leaders, no matter how dangerous, in order to show them that there is another way to live. Sounds like he's doing good work.

Anderson notes all the kids in the video just standing around watching. Honestly, that's not really a new thing or specific to Chicago, is it? I remember when I was in high school we had some pretty big brawls--sometimes daily--and 95 percent of the kids would rush to gawk. Hell, a couple of years ago there was a brawl at a local mall that got so out of hand that they had to call in SWAT. I applaud the work of the guests, as well as 360 shining a light on this, but I don't know, I'm not sure this is a story I see improving.

Moving on now to a Drew Griffin piece, which introduces us to Jake Ferguson, a former member of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). You probably don't think of hardcore radicals when you think of environmentalists, but that's exactly what the ELF was. Known as "the family," the group committed massive acts of vandalism costing millions in damages. They torched everything from lots of SUVs to Vail Ski Mountain. Eventually the FBI caught onto Ferguson and gave him the choice of going to jail or flipping on the ELF. Yeah, he flipped. Talk about giving environmentalists a bad name. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) too.

In tonight's "360 Bulletin" we learn from Erica Hill that Sarah Palin has chosen the name of her memoir. I can barely contain my excitement. The only reason I'm noting this is because before the break, Anderson gave us three choices and told us to guess: "Going Rogue"; "I'm a Maverick, Too"; or "Only Dead Fish Go with the Flow." Now, probably most news junkies already knew it was that first one, but "Only Dead Fish Go with the Flow" completely cracks me up. Fond memories of her last batshit insane speech. Anyway, I was just imagining all the 360 kids having a boatload of fun coming up with possible guesses. Producer Jill came up with the fish thing. Well done.

Up next, it's the first ever "Beat 360"/"Shot" combo! And here I've barely yet to recover from learning the name of Palin's book! "Yes, we are making history tonight," Anderson deadpans. So anyway, "Beat 360" used this picture, and then the "shot" was the video version, which I actually could not find--though admittedly didn't look very hard. Pigs flying jokes are made; hilarity is had.

After we've grown fond of the leaping porkers, Anderson wraps it up with, "And all the pigs were 'eadden' by the large crowd." Erica is shocked (SHOCKED!) he would say such a thing, but I dunno; when he says it like that, it doesn't sound quite so horrible. It's like when he says "Sadden"--the dark prince suddenly sounds, quite frankly, adorable. Oh Anderson, I kid because I love.

Stop right there, people. We're not done yet. Because 360 has decided to pull one of their magic tricks where they drop a perfectly good segment in the second hour and don't tell anybody. Anderson interviewed Julia Ormond and writer Ben Skinner about modern day slavery. It's estimated that 27 million people worldwide are victims, which is pretty astounding. They also talked about corporate responsibility--a topic I'd love to see covered more.

Anyway, this was a good discussion and it's kinda mind boggling to me that they would treat a subject that affects 27 million people almost as an afterthought. Don't get me wrong, major props for the attention, but this wasn't good enough for the first (live) hour? This wasn't good enough for any mention whatsoever, besides one tweet from a producer? Maybe I missed some blog posts. It's just odd how they treat some of their coverage. We never did get the Roxana Saberi interview. And based on blog posts, I know that some of their New Orleans coverage never made it to air. Yet they'll use airtime for segments full of speculation. Honestly, I don't get it.

The show was just meh tonight. I think my commentary pretty much speaks for itself.