Two Shows, One Blog Post: Health Care Reform, Homeless In America, Haiti, And Anderson Cooper On Jeopardy!

Hi everyone. Last night when I sat down to do Thursday's blog post I realized that I was so tired I couldn't think coherently. Good rule of thumb is to avoid putting things on the interwebs when you're operating at the capacity of a drunk person. Then on Friday I spent the broadcast flipping back and forth between 360 and "The Devil Wears Prada."

So! What follows is the result of me essentially taking two shows and smooshing them into one, emphasizing the things I want to talk about. It's not a review exactly, but review-ish. If you didn't watch, some of this post probably won't make complete sense to you. Sorry? Consider the videos a consolation prize.

We began both nights on the subject of health care reform. Anderson Cooper has been giving the Magic Wall a little love to show us the current vote count, and it's hard not to laugh at the way he practically leaps out of his anchor chair to rush over there. Don't hurt yourself, man. We're patient people. And while I'm talking about minor shallow things, the phrase "The Big Mo" really needs to be killed dead. Just sayin'.

On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) dropped their preliminary numbers, which became a focus of that night's coverage. We also got a good piece from Ed Henry about sweetheart deals that have stayed in the final package, despite what Obama promised. Some of my fellow progressives might grumble, but this is called journalism--everyone's feet need to be held to the fire.

My only issue was that there was no focus on what was actually in the bill, something Rachel Maddow had covered a couple days prior. But! Fast forward to Friday and not only were we joined by Sanjay Gupta to explain all that, we also got another piece from Ed that finally FINALLY called out the Republicans for rebuking all of Obama's attempts at bipartisanship. I have no idea why we had to wait so long for this acknowledgment, but better late than never. Nice job.

John King joined us both nights to talk health care reform, though you don't have to be a genius to realize that his appearances were mainly just to get in some pimping for his new show (starts Monday!). He had an online dress rehearsal Friday afternoon and I just coincidentally logged onto Twitter at that time, so I thought, what the hell, I'll watch. It wasn't bad. Nothing ground-breaking though. I certainly won't avoid it (like I did with Dobbs) if I happen to have the TV on at that time, but I can't see myself making it a part of my day like I've done with 360.

Thursday night also brought a very nicely done report about a family forced to move into a shelter. As I've previously written on this blog, I believe that one of 360's biggest blunders ever was covering the height of the economic collapse in the same way they covered the election. I don't think they would have lost as many of the regular viewers that I know they have if they had instead covered it from a more human level, which is actually Anderson Cooper's greatest strength.

The piece below is real life. Though they might not be in the exact situation of this family, there are millions of Americans out there who can relate. Unfortunately, this perspective is often lost in between all the punditry. The lack of spoken narration and point of view of the daughter were nice touches, as they made the piece more raw. I hope they produce more reports like this in the future.



It seems 360 is still obsessed with The Dating Game serial killer. On Thursday, Anderson interviewed a woman who was taken by the man when she was a child, but survived due to a tip from a good Samaritan. Admittedly, it was a pretty compelling conversation. A lieutenant also joined them to speak about the recently discovered pictures of girls and women that they've been showing. Though I normally don't like crime stories, this was a good segment. Except! Why do they keep playing that stupid Dating Game footage? It trivializes a story that's important enough to stand on its own.

Sean Penn joined us live from Haiti on Friday and man, he did not look good. He also seemed pretty damn upset, which drives home the point that things are very bad there and about to get much worse. You can't really predict an earthquake, but everyone knows these rains are coming. If God forbid thousands die...there are going to be people that will need to answer for that. Video below.



There were some other things covered both nights, but that's about it for this blog post. Now, onto the fun. Well, perhaps Anderson would quibble with my definition of 'fun'. See, on Thursday the Silver Fox was on the celebrity version of Jeopardy, battling it out with Aisha Tyler and Cheech Marin. Anyone who has been watching Anderson for a while knows that he's actually already a Jeopardy champion. We know this because he never stops telling us. Like fer serious, if the conversation ever comes anywhere near the vicinity of that game show, he will bring it up and he will gloat.

But not anymore! Oh, the Silver Fox goes down in flames! Was he beaten by smarty-pants funny-gal Aisha? Nope. It was Cheech. Yes, that Cheech. Two Ivy Leaguers crushed by a pothead. Loves it. Watching Anderson play was almost painful; not so much because he was all that terrible, but because he takes it so dang seriously and you could tell he was freaking out. He made me feel bad for him! At one point I was even pep talking my TV ("Oh, there you go. You know this one. You covered that story."), which is pretty ridiculous given that: 1) I don't know him 2) He can't hear me anyway 3) It was taped!

That's the power of the Silver Fox for you--you want to trash talk and mock, but you just can't bring yourself to do it. Much. Oh also? I clearly watch 360 way too much (duh) because I knew what category Anderson was going to pick every time he had control of the board. Anyway! Though our anchor took the loss hard, he is not without a sense of humor about himself. That night he had on Cheech to congratulate him, and let's face it, make excuses for his own performance.

Anderson also shows us an email he received from Soledad O'Brien right after the show aired. It says, "Cheech Marin beat you? Seriously, that's sad." Oh snap! That's cold. (And kinda makes me love her more.) Our anchor tries to console himself by noting that he's actually the winner among CNN anchors, though Cheech points out that's damning with faint praise. Plus, Soledad might have come in last when she played, but at least she had some money on the board. The Coop had zippo--tying for second (and third, I guess) with Aisha.

Skip ahead to Friday, and I'm flipping back to 360 from my movie when I find...Erica Hill! ZOMG, did we go back in time? No, we did not. Erica was Skyped in just so that she could have a crack at mocking Anderson's Jeopardy loss as well. Too funny. She brings up our anchor's buzzer excuse and he tries to convince us that he knew much of what Cheech did, but just wasn't fast enough. Likely story. It's okay, Anderson. I still believe you're smart. Anyhoo! Great to see Erica again. I hope his loss isn't keeping the Silver Fox up at night. He won $25,000 for Friends In Deed. No bad there. You can see the convo with Cheech below.



Finally, it's been quite a week for CNN. They hired Erick Erickson and lost Christiane Amanpour to ABC. Not the best trade. I'm not going to go into my opposition to Erickson, but you can read about why he's a bad choice here. As for Christiane, I wish her all the best and bet she'll make This Week great. It's hard to imagine CNN without her. This is a huge loss for them. If they really do lose Anderson to CBS...that would be bad. That would be beyond bad. So, if we're looking at this cynically, things just got pretty good for our anchor regarding where he stands when it comes time to negotiate a new contract. All we can do is wait and see. That'll do it.

A Fond Farewell To Erica Hill

Hi everyone. Sorry about Thursday night's review. It's been so cold here lately that before the show, I decided to climb under the covers for a bit to warm up. You can probably guess where this is going: yep, fell asleep. Thankfully, I didn't make that same mistake for Friday's show. Actually, I still hadn't planned on posting, but when I heard the cutest work marriage on TV was breaking up, I felt a little obligated to give Ms. Hill a proper send off.

Cha-cha-changes for our friends at 360. Everyone's favorite sub-anchor is leaving "the most trusted name in news" for a full-time gig at CBS. Erica was always a delight to watch. To say she had really good chemistry with Anderson Cooper would be an understatement. Always quick on her feet, she gave as good as she got. You have to be whip-smart to pull that off, people. This is why though I am saddened to see her go, I'm also happy for her. I'm not sure CNN was really letting her showcase all her talents.

As a long-time viewer, it's going to be strange to watch the show without Erica. She made the official move to 360 (and New York) only about two years ago, but she'd been doing the headlines from Atlanta ever since I've been watching. I can't think of anyone who is going to be able to match the banter she had with Anderson. I don't have the video, but I was able to Google up the transcript from when they first met in person on May 31, 2005:

Joining me right now from HEADLINE NEWS is Erica Hill. Hey, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Nice to see you in person.

COOPER: I know, it's -- I think it's first we've actually really met.

HILL: I think it really is.

COOPER: I'm all aquiver.

HILL: Well, you know, I was getting excited myself. My mom may have been even more excited, yes.

COOPER: Well, that's...

HILL: She's a big Anderson fan, so -- but I'll get to your headlines. We'll deal with pleasantries later.

COOPER: We call them Ander-fans, by the way.

HILL: Ander-fans. I'll pass that on.

Though I've always known I've liked Erica, ironically it was only a mere week and a half ago when I realized just how much she'd grown on me over the years. Kathy Griffin had stopped by to give a preview of the New Year's Eve show and Erica was subbing. Kathy being Kathy did some mocking. While Erica kept up just fine, there was a little part of me that felt...what's the word? Protective. Hey, don't mess with Erica! Does this make her my TV news girlfriend?

On a similar note, was anyone else really amused by the "big announcement" teasing that Anderson kept doing? It was the way it was framed: "Erica and I have a big announcement to make, a very important announcement." ZOMG, are they having a baby?! I mean, you know, obviously noooo, but it sounded like they were about to tell us something couple-y. Anyhoo! Here is the video of Anderson's very gracious tribute, accompanied by a montage and some almost-tears from Ms. Hill. And here's a screencap for the road, taken four or so years ago--a sight I'm going to miss:


Since this is not a traditional review, here is as good a place as any to note some other CNN personnel changes. The Situation Room's Abbi Tatton is moving on from the network and Heidi Collins' contract will not be renewed. Long-time viewers of 360 will remember Heidi as a regular sub for the show back in the day. It sounds like she's getting pushed out. I guess CNN learned their lesson not to do the dirty work before Christmas like they did last year.

Speaking of that, while reading blog posts about the NYE special, I came across something from a Jamie McIntyre. Surely that couldn't be the same Jamie McIntyre that used to be CNN's Pentagon correspondent? Turns out, yes it was! It's a little strange to see him now blogging about Anderson Cooper's need for a safe word, but there you go. He's on Twitter too and I suggest you follow because if there's anyone who might dish up info on CNN, it's a former CNNer.

That about does it. Cute "shot" tonight. All my best to Erica Hill and family on the transition she's about to make.

ETA: Wow, I completely forgot Erica really is pregnant. So while she and Anderson certainly aren't having a baby (c'mon now), she and her husband actually are. Best wishes on that front as well.

More Letterman, Afghanistan Troop Levels, Another Heart-Breaking Health Care Story, And Anderson Cooper Has A Random Midlife Crisis Moment

Hi everybody. I think from now on if I blog Friday's show it's just going to be the abbreviated version. Mmkay? Anyhoo, we're starting things off with the David Letterman extortion scandal and while I'm not surprised, I am annoyed. My theory is that the media is all over this because besides the obvious ratings whoring, there's nothing the media likes more than talking about itself. Sure, a talk show isn't exactly the same thing as the news, but let's face it, that line is becoming mighty blurred these days.

I'm also betting that Worldwide Pants isn't the only place this kind of behavior was/is going on, thus adding to the intrigue. But anyway, Tom Foreman gives us more details on the case and breaks it all down with Magic Map-like technology. Then we have an Erica Hill piece on celebrity extortions and why they happen. Hm, celebrities have money, people want money--not exactly a brain teaser, is it? Is it obvious it's Friday?

In the "360 Bulletin" we learn the sad news that Chicago was not chosen for the 2016 Olympics. Well, it was sad news for the majority of Americans. Conservatives, however, were quite pleased. You stay classy, guys! Utterly disgusting.

On now to discussion about Afghanistan with David Gergen and Peter Bergen. We all know that General Stanley McChrystal wants more troops for the war, but now we're hearing that some White House officials don't. Cue the media meme of a battle between Obama and the generals. It's beltway conventional wisdom that if the generals ask for more troops, they should always get them (unless of course the general asking is Eric Shinseki, which in that case he should be mocked). But as David Sirota notes, the Founders worded the Constitution to avoid military juntas. Obama isn't dismissing McChrystal like Bush/Rumsfeld did to Shinseki. He's just considering all options. Isn't that a good thing?

As for this segment, I was a bit disappointed at how one-sided it felt. Though I love the Gerg, he's your classic Villager. Obviously his comments are going to imply that Obama is wrong not to immediately placate the generals. And while I greatly respect Peter Bergen, if you read his piece in TIME, you know that he has a specific view when it comes to this issue. Peter wants to stay in Afghanistan with an increased military commitment. That's a perfectly legitimate viewpoint. I just wish other viewpoints were included in this discussion as well.

For the record, if you're wondering my viewpoint (or in other words, my biases) in all of this, I don't really have one. I find this all hella confusing and I'm still waiting for the national conversation to get to the point where we're all talking about the same thing. Of note during the discussion, is the Gerg talking about how we finally found success in Iraq. I'm sorry, did we win that war? Is that whole thing over now? I must have missed the memo. I'm starting to get annoyed with everyone implying (whether they mean to or not) that Iraq is all hunky-dory now. It's not.

Kudos to Randi Kaye for her report on Governor Rick Perry. I actually missed it, but reading the transcript it looks like good work.

Then we're back to the whole Letterman thing and Brian Todd gives us a piece about co-worker relationships. After that, we're joined by Dr. Drew Pinsky. Sigh. I've got nothing against Dr. Drew personally, but I usually hate all his cable news appearances. Too much speculation. Particularly annoying was him stating that often people who are in lower positions of power who seek out relationships with someone of authority have some sort of issues going on. You know what? Sometimes relationships just happen.

Following that segment, we get this from Anderson: "When did my hair become whiter than Dr. Drew's? Anybody know when this happened? So sad." Well, that was random. April 22, 2006. Kidding. His hair actually looks the same to me since I started watching him. But I'm not a noticer. "I used to have salt and pepper hair. What happened to all the pepper?" Anderson asks. Oh, I think our anchor is looking for a little ego boost. Dear Anderson, you are still hella hot. Now...shut up about it. Love, me.

The final piece of the night is from Sanjay Gupta, on a woman who's been through health insurance hell. In 1987 Leslie Elder was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had Nationwide Insurance and all was well. Then 13 years later it happened again, but this time costs had raised so much that her bills were out of control. She's convinced Nationwide jacked up her rates because of her cancer and I believe her. So disgusting. The richest country in the world and this is what our citizens have to go through?

Before the official "shot," Anderson's mischievous colleagues throw up pictures of him and Dr. Drew again. Then Erica gives him literal pepper, you know, just in case. Anderson is not amused. Well, see, this is what you get for being all randomly vain. Oh, they mock because they love. Anyway! The real "shot" is babies times four! And they're all giggling. Let me hear you: awwww!!!

The show was just meh. 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.

Iran Talk, Census Worker Found Dead, And Interview With Bill Clinton

Hi everybody. I sat down Friday night to write this post and then...didn't. It's annoying to me when I put in the effort of getting down all the story details, and then don't end up following through with the actual blogging. After all, I could have watched the show vegging out-style, occasionally losing myself in Anderson Cooper's blue, blue eyes when things got boring. What?! Where did that come from? I would never do that. Ahem. Anyway! So this all isn't a total waste, I'm just going to barrel through this thing, hitting on the points I want to make. Okey-dokey? And we're off.

We begin on the subject of Iran. Those sneaky little devils have been building themselves a secret underground nuclear plant. At least that's what our prez says, and he is not very happy about it. You best check yourself, Ahmadinejad. Because you are on notice! This moves us into a clip of Bill Clinton talking Iran, and then into discussion with Bobby Ghosh of "TIME" and Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation. Why is it that the Heritage Foundation is never identified as a conservative think tank? That really bugs me.

Shallow alert: I'm not much of a noticer, so maybe this isn't new, but Erica Hill seems to be wearing her hair differently today. And it looks very pretty.

On to David Mattingly reporting on that murdered census worker. Now we know he was naked, tied to a tree, duct-taped, had a rope around his neck, and the word "Fed" was placed somewhere on his body. Still a lot of unknowns though. Says Anderson: "We have been very careful over the last several days in our reporting on this not to jump to any conclusions or speculation." At the time he says these words, I am in agreement.

Cut to about 30 seconds later, Anderson introduces Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, and asks the following: "What are the options in terms of what could have happened?" Bah! You just told us you weren't going to speculate, and now you're literally asking your guest to speculate. So close! After Brian, you know, speculates, Anderson thanks him and tells us, "There is still a lot we do not know. We're being very cautious in what we're reporting on this and what we're saying." Quick tip, if you feel the need to excessively note how cautious you're being, there's a good chance you're, um, not.

(Note: this wasn't anywhere close to being 360's most egregious act of speculation. I didn't even mind it all that much. But the insistence that they wouldn't, and then turning around and having a guest do just that, was borderline comical.)

Next up, "The Big 360 Interview"!!! I feel like there should be trumpets or something. Here come the Big Dawg, Bubba, or if you want to be all proper, the 42nd president of these here United States: one Mr. Bill Clinton. And this interview is making news right off the bat because at it turns out, Clinton here has changed his mind on same-sex marriage. Honestly, I don't know whether to say, "yay!" or "Jebus, what took you so long?"

He goes on to give what I interpreted as a sincere and well thought out reason as to the change of heart. Hopefully more Americans will follow suit. On a related note, I really do appreciate 360 consistently bringing this issue up. Because others aren't. I'm guessing there's a conventional wisdom out in media-land that the issue isn't as important because it only affects a small percentage of the population. But you don't have to be gay to care about human rights.

The next subject I want to hit on is Afghanistan because Clinton was kind of awesome. He tells us that while it's true that if we don't add troops we'll fail, that doesn't mean that adding troops leads to success. "Because the surge worked, in addition to the skill of our troops, because the local Iraqis were sick of the al Qaeda in Iraq," he says. And then Anderson notes that the Afghans are currently on the fence regarding supporting the US over the Taliban. Finally, context! More of this please.

Lightening round! They really love their lightening rounds, don't they? The keeper here is the story about Boris Yeltsin staying at the White House and trying to get a pizza in his underwear. Hey man, sometimes you just want a pizza, dammit, and a little lack of clothing is not going to stand in your way.

I think I'm going to end things here. It was a good show. They've been doing a fairly impressive job lately. I hope the quality isn't just some sort of UN fluke. Keep it up, 360!

The UN Gets Its Crazy On, Matt Latimer Interview, John Travolta Extorted, And Sanjay Gupta Got The Swine Flu (ZOMG!)

Hi everybody. You know what I've been thinking this country needs? More craziness. We just don't have enough of it here. Well, today I am in luck because we shipped it in from overseas! Yes, it's insanity day at the United Nations. We've been here before. Remember when Hugo Chavez called Bush the devil and said he smelled like sulfur? Or how about when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed there are no gays in Iran. Good times!

This year the cast of characters has changed slightly. Good old Ahmadinejad is up to his America-hating tricks, but there's a new star in town getting the delegates out of their seats (and making them walk out the door): Moammar Gadhafi (Qaddafi? Khaddafy? Gaddafi? We're all so confused!)

Tom Foreman joins us live for the sum up of wackiness. Let's see, Ahmadinejad stuck to his standard America dissing and, oh yeah, apparently Israel is evil. Surprisingly enough, there wasn't much mention of that whole almost-revolution thing going on in his own country. That brings us to Gadhafi who rambled on for over an hour and a half about such topics as the real source of swine flu (the military, of course) and who killed John Kennedy. Seriously. He also called Obama "my son," which I'm sure gave our prez his "oh WTF?" moment for the day.

For discussion of all this we're joined by Fareed Zakaria; Michael Oren, Israeli ambassador to the US; and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. This was a pretty good discussion, but I'm too tired to really do it justice. I will say, however, that I don't really understand why Rabbi Shmuley was a part of this. I get having him on for the tent thing, but he does UN analysis now? Of note is Anderson Cooper asking Oren if a nuclear Iran is something Israel could tolerate. He gives a long response that does not really contain an answer. Dude, you guys gonna attack Israel or what? That's what Anderson was asking, just, you know, professionally.

Moving on to the domestic side of all this United Nations stuff, it turns out our own president also gave a speech today, laying out a more inclusive foreign policy. The "Washington Times" was then all like, "worst foreign policy evah!" Wow, the "Washington Times" doesn't like Obama's policy. I am, like, so totally shocked by this. Anyway! We gotta talk about this, yo. So we're joined by James Carville and Bill Bennett. But before we get to Obama, Anderson's like, "so dudes, what did you think about that whole Gadhafi thing? How effed up was that?" I might be paraphrasing.

Also, Anderson keeps referring to former UN ambassador John Bolten as Josh Bolten, but we're totally gonna let that slide because there was a Josh Bolten in the Bush administration (chief of staff after Andy Card) and this crap gets confusing. The gist? Bill thinks the Obama foreign policy screws over our allies, while James advocates we give Obama more time to make a difference. Of note, is Anderson making the really good point that even though the world seems to love Obama, they're still not helping us that much. Case in point: ponying up NATO troops for Afghanistan. Perhaps a better defined mission might sweeten the deal.

Next up, Anderson starts talking to us about former Bush speech writer Matt Latimer and the stuff he's blabbing about in his new book "Speech-less". Apparently, Bush didn't think Palin or Obama were ready for what they were getting themselves into. As for Hillary Clinton, Dubya made "fun of her figure." Specifically, he referred to her "fat ass," but we're not told that. Are the 360 kids all prudes now? Anderson goes on to say, "The accusations have some on both sides slamming Latimer for cashing in on personal conversations that were never meant to be public. Matt Latimer joins me now." And I'm floored for a second. That was a very Colbert move. The guy is sitting there in the studio and everything and I never saw it coming.

Latimer's boss wrote in "The Wall Street Journal," that this is all just sour grapes because the dude never became a speech writing star. It seems the only person that comes out smelling like roses is Rumsfeld, who Latimer is working for right now. Okay, I remember Rumsfeld and I find it really hard to believe that he comes out looking good in any book. Latimer defends himself by saying he just wants to show people what Washington is really like. "I tried to do it in a good-natured way. It's a funny situation, it's a funny system, but it also has a lot of problems and challenges," he says. Washington is fun! Whatever.

On now to a Randi Kaye piece on the alleged extortion of John Travolta over his son's death. The Travolta family was in the Bahamas when his son became deathly ill. John wanted to fly him to a hospital in Miami, rather than let an ambulance take him to a hospital on the island. To stop the ambulance, he signed a liability form. People who were with John when his son died, then threatened to make private medical information public if he didn't pay up. This is really disgusting. Who does this to a grieving family?

We're then joined by Steve Helling of "People Magazine," who was in the courtroom for John's testimony. Basically no one knows what was on the document that Travolta signed. Again, really disgusting.

Finally tonight, we're joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta...BECAUSE HE GOT THE SWINE FLU!! And I have to say, after watching this segment, swine flu has never been so hilarious. Anyway! Two weeks ago when CNN was in Afghanistan, Sanjay got really sick--the sickest he's ever been--and a diagnosis of H1n1 was confirmed by the clinic there. But the good doctor is doing much better now and he's talking with us by satellite (because he's not in NY, not because he's sick).

It turns out our anchor also didn't feel so great in Afghanistan. Now, regular viewers know Anderson has a tendency to not sleep and get run down during field shoots. So yes, I noticed he was sick, but really didn't think it was anything noteworthy. But apparently it was a little more serious than just needing a vitamin. We learn that Anderson actually went to Sanjay with his symptoms (horrible cough, chills, light-headedness) and even asked if it was swine flu, but the doc said probably not. Oops.

Sanjay knew that the swine flu is associated with high fever, which neither thought they had at the time, but seemed to forget about the fact that they were in the desert. So yeah, it was hot there anyway and when Sanjay finally took his temperature it was 102. As Sanjay is relaying this information, we get a cough from Cooper. "Are you coughing right now?" asks the doc. Ruh roh!

Anderson answers in the affirmative, leading Sanjay to say, "I don't think we're contagious, though." You don't think? "I love that I just learned that I may have had swine flu from you via satellite," says Anderson. Bwah! Sanjay then tells us how much having swine flu sucks and Anderson's all (paraphrased), "um, should I get this checked out?" Man, wouldn't you love to see the control room right now. They're probably all, "doood," followed by ponderings of just how much contact they've had with Anderson lately. Our anchor is a bit comforted that he didn't have the fever, so maybe it's not really swine flu. Maybe. But he has had the cough for two weeks. He should get a chest x-ray if he hasn't had one already.

Anyway! They talk some more and they both start coughing. You can tell Anderson is trying so hard not to, which is kinda adorable and hilarious...and I hope he really doesn't have swine flu or I might regret saying that. I can't help cracking up though. The coughing has to be partly psychosomatic because he just got through almost the whole show without a cough and now he can't stop. Anderson tells us he might get checked out. Off camera we hear Erica Hill say, "the entire studio is gonna get checked out!" Bwah!

Anderson notes that unlike Sanjay, he didn't take any time off work following their trip. Oh man. Nobody is holding the elevator for the Silver Fox tonight! Well, if we tune in a few days from now and find a repeat of Campbell Brown or something, we'll know it's because all the 360 kids got the swine flu. Good job, Cooper! Kidding. I've grown attached to you, so get better. Also? Seeing as how you all slept in that one room in Afghanistan, I think you have some calls to make. How's Peter Bergen feeling these days?

Update: video!

If our anchor finding out on national television that he might have had the swine flu isn't fun enough for you, check out tonight's "shot." It's a dancing baby! Oh we love the dancing babies. This one dances to Beyonce's "Single Ladies," which Anderson calls, "the hit that makes almost everyone want to dance. Notice I said almost everyone." Then he mouths "not me." Well, of course you don't feel like dancing. You just found out you might have the swine flu! This may never get old.

I thought the show was pretty good tonight. We had a lot of variety and not much ridiculousness. Kudos, 360. Normally I'd give you a cookie, but I think tonight some Purell might be better appreciated.

Gadhafi Pitches His (Literal) Tent On Trump's Property, Flooding Continues in Georgia, Edwards Update, And Lindsey Graham Interview On Afghanistan

Hi everybody. We begin tonight with Moammar Gadhafi's quest to pitch his tent. Uh, it's not what you're thinking. Anderson Cooper tells us the Libyan leader hasn't been on US soil for 40 years because we used to consider him a sponsor of terrorism, but now we don't. So...he's here! And he brought a tent. Yes, as in something that you camp in. Except it has air conditioning. Fancy!

But this whole tent thing is not going well. Central Park said no to the pitching. Englewood, New Jersey? No squared. It's not so much the tent that has people riled up per se, as it is the occupant of the tent, who happens to be responsible for murdering a bunch of Americans. So you can see why people have their "no vacancy" signs out.

The crazy twist of the story--you know there had to be one--is that it turns out that Gadhafi has found a place to pitch that tent: on the property of Donald Trump. Yes, the Donald. Could this get weirder? Well, I guess it could have been Kanye. Anyway, Erica Hill has more details, including a quote from Trump Organization that talks nonsense about having business partners all over the world. It sound like they're trying to play it off that they didn't know this was going to happen.

But whatever, people do business with evil all the time in the name of the almighty dollar. Hello! Halliburton and Iran? Also, we learn that 360 tried to get Trump on the show, but he declined. Praise the Lord for small favors.

For discussion of this, we're joined by Brian Flynn, brother of one of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims, and author and television host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who helped keep the tent out of Englewood. As you might imagine, Brian is not happy. It is noted that Gadhafi won't actually be staying in the tent, but using it to meet visitors. Rabbi Shmuley wants people to protest and make it impossible for the Libyan leader to use his "terror tent of shame" for this purpose. Terror tent of shame? Really? Okay.

Back from commercial, they talk a bit about Gadhafi's embrace of the terrorist just (supposedly compassionately) recently released to Libya. "He kissed Gadhafi's hands. And we Americans need to tell Gadhafi to kiss a different part of our anatomy entirely. The fact is, he does not belong on our soil. Donald Trump should tell him, you're fired," says Rabbi Shmuley. Okay seriously, is this guy auditioning for something? This is getting more bizarre by the minute.

Then Rabbi Shmuley advocates for a potential boycott of Trump Organization, depending on how things go. I'm on-board with that even without the whole terrorist tent thing. Brian says that he will protest. Finally, they bring in Bedford town attorney Joel Sachs by phone and he talks to us about zoning laws, which is riveting television. Just sayin'.

Transitioning to the awful flooding in Georgia, which has now taken at least nine lives. David Mattingly is again on the case, this time in Cobb County. The water is actually receding, but it's left behind massive devastation. We see some of this devastation in a subsequent piece from David as he tags along with a family returning home. To make matters worse, many of these neighborhoods were not in flood zones, so the home owners did not have flood insurance. We've heard that story before. After the dramatic video is gone, I hope 360 remains on the story for the disaster to come.

Moving on to the news that Elizabeth Edwards does not want her husband to cop to being Rielle Hunter's baby daddy because it would give him an excuse to see her. We're then played a clip of John doing his whole "I'm sorry," routine (from previously) and I literally cringe because I think we're about to get one of those "why do men cheat?" segments. But thankfully, no! Actually, what we get is a Joe Johns piece that I don't think has any significant new information from what we heard last night. Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

Next up, Anderson tells us that the Pentagon has asked General Stanley McChrystal to hold off on asking for more troops for Afghanistan because the Obama administration is rethinking their strategy. Does it really matter if he formally asks for them? Everybody already knows he wants them, thanks to the leaked report from yesterday. But public support for the war is way down, so there's that.

Here to talk about the subject is Republican Lindsey Graham, advocate of more troops. He trusts the generals. Anderson points out that counterinsurgency requires a civilian component and we don't really have that on the ground in Afghanistan. Graham seems to agree, but notes that security is so bad right now that civilians couldn't do anything anyway. Fair point, I suppose.

Anderson then drums on the Al-Qaeda-is-not-in-Afghanistan thing, which we've been hearing from him quite a bit. Graham apparently falls in the camp that thinks that if we leave, the Taliban will take over and let Al Qaeda back in. Okay, but are we saying we have to wipe out all of the Taliban then? Given that they're a part of the population, that could take decades because it would involve winning over all hearts and minds. Plus, are we really prepared to commit resources in every country that could potentially harbor Al Qaeda? The Bush doctrine didn't work. Do we want to invade Somalia?

That ponderance falls in line with Anderson's next question: "is nation building something we really want to be involved with in Afghanistan?" This seems to go right over Graham's head, because he states that the surge of troops is not for nation building. But we can't win this militarily. Basically everyone admits that. So what is he talking about? Sigh. This interview was a good start regarding furthering the dialog (and Anderson did fine), but man, where's Michael Ware when you need him, you know?

On now to the "Prime Suspects" series. Tonight's topic: the Craigslist killer. Randi Kaye does the honors. Normally I hate this stuff, but I will admit to being slightly intrigued by Internet forensics, which is how they caught the guy. I will also admit to laughing and being weirded out that they had someone read the emails for voice-overs. To be filed under: "was that really necessary?" Anyway, somewhat interesting, nonetheless.

Next up, Anderson tells us that Tom Delay busted some moves on "Dancing With The Stars." "We'll show you his version of the cha-cha," he says. Oh God, do you have to?! We're later played the clip, which is just...horrific. Nightmares, people! Nightmares! If you really want to traumatize yourself, I'm sure it's on Huffpost. I'm not linking because I can't afford to be responsible for anyone's therapy bills. "Give him credit. He fully committed to it," says Anderson. Erica then alludes to the ass shots, which were...oh God. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

The "shot" tonight is a drug task force taking a little break to play with a suspect's Wii. Yeah, that's a no no. This brings Erica to ask if Anderson's Wii came with a bowling game. We all remember Anderson's rather awkwardly received birthday gift, don't we? Anyway, Anderson so clearly has not touched that Wii, which is evidenced by the face he is making. But he gives us an affirmative to the bowling anyway. Hopefully his Wii found a new home with people who will love it. (Rereading, this paragraph sounds rather dirty. Seriously, did they have to name it that?)

The show was okay. I understand the outrage over Gadhafi, but I kinda didn't get the intense tent focus. Also, it seems like the Edwards stuff could have just been a headline. Yay to the Lindsey Graham interview though. Not exactly groundbreaking, but a good start in what I'm sure is about to be a long national conversation. That'll do it.

Possible Terror Plot Uncovered, More Tea Party Talk, Michelle Obama Takes On Health Care, Teen Traces His Roots, And Blitzer Is No Jeopardy Champion

Hi everybody. Anderson Cooper is once again coming at us from Los Angeles, and we begin with some nice scary terrorism news. An Afghan national living in the U.S. is being questioned by federal authorities regarding a possible terror plot AND he has admitted ties to Al Qaeda. Awesome. From Jeanne Meserve we learn that the guy's name is Najibullah Zazi, but she really doesn't know all that much else.

Peter Bergen then joins the conversation and Anderson says the following: "I have got to say, I am, and I think there's a lot of people who are very skeptical when they hear about these kind of raids or arrests. Oftentimes, kind of on further inspection, it turns out to be just a couple guys sitting around talking, who never had any access to any weaponry or anything." Bingo. I am definitely one of those skeptical "lot of people."

Time and time again we hear about some plot, everyone freaks out, and then later we find out it was just a couple of yahoos who thought they could actually take on a whole army base or something. So while I definitely think this is important for 360 to cover, and though Peter seems to think this one is the real deal, I'm still going to let this thing percolate before I expend any real blogging energy.

Transitioning from one kind of craziness to another kind of craziness. Yeah, we're still talking about the controversy over the protests over health care reform. The POTUS could really use not having to deal with this right now, but deal with it he must. Media blitz! In a Joe Johns piece we get a sum up of our prez talking to the media, broken down by network, which is sort of weird and amusing. On a related note, while we're talking about networks, did you guys see Rick Sanchez taking on the lies of Fox News? Booyah! Now that's what I'm talking about.

Back in the piece, we also learn that Joe Wilson speaks! What does he say? Meh. Nothing that interesting. He claims that if he could do it again he wouldn't. Whatever. For discussion of this, we're joined by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Jennifer Palmieri of the Center For American Progress. Honestly, there is nothing of note here, though Tony does manage to bring up Prop 8. Quite the one trick pony, isn't he? Well, if you count abortion too, I guess he's two tricks.

On now to an Erica Hill piece on the Obama administration's latest move in the health care reform debate. Time to deploy the misses! They're hoping she'll be a force to be reckoned with. After all, she brings to the table a 75 percent approval rating among women, personal health care stories, and fantabulous arms! Unlike with Hillary Clinton, Michelle will mostly just be playing the First Lady role in this situation. I wish her good luck.

Next up, we have a Randi Kaye piece on the murder of Annie Le, which is followed by discussion. But I can't take this coverage anymore, so I switched to Jay Leno. Drew Barrymore was on. She drove a car around a track that had a cardboard Ed Begley Jr. It was weird. So...there's that.

Moving on to a cute Soledad O'Brien piece, in which we follow 14-year-old Donovan Rogers on his journey to trace his genealogy. Malaak Compton-Rock (wife of Chris) started this really cool program called Journey for Change, which took Donovan and 29 other Brooklyn kids to Africa, so they could learn to appreciate and take advantage of the opportunities they have. One part of the program is DNA testing.

The idea is to help the kids learn where they come from. When the big reveal finally comes, we learn that Donovan has roots in Sierra Leone. "I'm complete now. I know more about me and where my ancestors come from. And now that I know this, I'm going to take it further and discover more of that culture, because that's who I am," says Donovan. Cool kid. I hope Malaak is able to expand her program in the future. I really liked this piece, and judging by the look on Anderson's face when it was over, he did too. Yeah, I might have aw-ed. Sue me.

For the "shot" tonight, this just in to The Situation Room: Wolf Blitzer, like, really sucks at Jeopardy. That's right, the Wolfbot came face-to-face with one Mr. Alex Trebek and the result was humiliating, crushing defeat. The most winceable part is when he's informed that even though he's in the negative, it's celebrity Jeopardy, so they're going to make an exception and let him keep playing. Man, that had to burn his beard. So, Anderson and Erica Hill are sympathetic to their colleague's public embarrassment, right? Oh hells no! They're loving this.

To be fair, our anchor (who is a Jeopardy champion himself, thank you very much) somewhat has the Wolfbot's back, noting that it's really more about the buzzer than what you know. Uh huh. Right. And if anyone thought they were getting out of here without seeing a little of the Silver Fox's appearance, well, you don't know him that well. "Oh, you have tape. Excellent," says Anderson, as Erica intros. Yeah, because he didn't know that was coming.

Anyhoo! You can check out Anderson's big win here. If you're like me, you will be amused by the combination of overly intense seriousness mixed with that quirky dorkiness we all know and love. Also? "They told me I might be able to come back on this year," says Anderson. That would be really cool. But are there really that many celebs waiting in the wings that Anderson Cooper has to wait and see if he's been picked to come back on? I guess Alex Trebek really is our overlord.

Finally, goodbye to producer Jason Rovou, who is headed to the home of the suspendered-one. Good luck, Jason. I did not know you, but you rock a bee suit like nobody's business. On a related staffer note, don't forget Jack Gray's live-blog on Sunday! Fun will be had.

Apparently America Is Not Post-Racial Quite Yet, Updates On the Garrido And Annie Le Cases, And The Physician Side Of The Medical Malpractice Issue

Hi everyone. No point in small talk. Off we go! Anderson Cooper begins by telling us that Jimmy Carter is sticking to his comments from yesterday, that race plays a factor in all these tea party protests against Obama. You know, I thought we had solved this whole racism thing a few months ago when Obama tossed one back with a cop and a professor. Who would have guessed that wouldn't do the trick?

In a Candy Crowley piece, we get a recap of how we got to here. Remember how yesterday I said that mixing a former president with accusations of racism equals one big media freak out? Welcome to the freak out, already in progress. For the record, the Obama camp won't touch this thing with a 10 foot pole. They know better than to agree with Carter, lest they hear shrieks that the prez is playing the race card. What he thinks privately, however? Well, I guess we're going to need another off-the-record leak to find out who else the commander in chief thinks is a jackass.

For our requisite panel discussion, we're joined by David Gergen, Roland Martin, conservative activist Nic Lott, and singer John Legend. The lineup sorta makes me feel like I'm playing a game of guess which one doesn't belong. I love John Legend, but I'm not exactly sure why he's on my television right now. Then again, he's intelligent, well spoken, and yes, hella hot (hello!). So I'm not exactly complaining here. I mean, we've got John Legend and no Mark Williams. This is pretty win-win for us.

Roland totally has Carter's back and talks a bit about code words that are used to imply that someone is of the "other." Nic, unsurprisingly has a different view and notes that no racial slurs came from the podium during the protests. Oh well, that's something to brag about. When you have to specify where the racial slurs did not come from, you're not doing so hot. John thinks there's truth to what Carter said, but the comment just inflamed and distracted. Pretty much what I said. Media freak out. Now no one's talking about the real issues. Then John starts saying that he doesn't want a race war, though I'm not sure anyone has actually advocated for one.

Commercial break now and when we come back we learn that Bill Cosby plays for Team Carter. Not sure I would have guessed that. Also, am I the only one that briefly saw NBC's Andrea Mitchell? That would be a weird thing to hallucinate. Anyhoo! The Gerg hits us with some polls that show Carter is not alone. But then he says he thinks that when it comes to most protesters, the racism charge is libelous. "Seven previous presidents have tried to bring health care reforms of this kind. All seven have failed. And, as I recall, all seven were white," he says. Yes, but talk to the protesters and they'll tell you this is not just about health care reform.

John says that he believes there is some racism going on, but also talks a bit about the legitimate fear of government intervention. Hey there, mister. Quit being so reasonable. This show already has a Gerg. Anderson brings up the Nazi signs that people had under Bush and tries to equate it with what's happening now. I don't think it's the same. It sounds terrible, but Hitler/Nazi accusations are like a default these days. If they were just calling Obama a Nazi (and I hate that we're at a place where I'm using the word "just" in that sentence), I wouldn't be as disturbed. This goes beyond that.

Nic claims that the majority of the protesters have legitimate concerns and the crazies are just a small fringe. This is what drives me nuts. You know what, there are legitimate concerns to be had. But we're not hearing about reasonable people working with Obama to alleviate fears over deficit spending. No. These protesters are screaming about how Obama wants to kill your grandma and turn us all socialist. They are not credible people and they are clearly not interested in doing anything that doesn't involve destroying the president's agenda. For Pete's sake, one of the tea party organizers called him a "racist in chief."

John brings up the idiocy of Rush Limbaugh and Nic counters that he's not a legislator. "Rush Limbaugh is a legitimate mainstream conservative," says John. Bingo. Nic again tries to dismiss, by saying Rush didn't march. Um, wasn't the whole 9-12 thing the brain child of Glenn Beck, a man who has said that the president has a hatred for white people? A man who is clearly batshit insane? (Seriously, I watched his show a couple weeks ago and it was one of the craziest things I'd ever seen.)

Anderson then explains the Rush incident that John brought up. Apparently there's a video of white kids beating the crap out of black kid and Rush basically chalked it up to it now being open season on white kids. You know, because Obama is president or something. For the record, it appears it was kids just generally being idiots, which I'm told happens sometimes. Nic doesn't agree with Rush's comments, but then says he might have been joking. What?! "Oh, no, he wasn't joking," says John, adding that Rush speaks for a lot of conservatives.

To wrap up, Nic, David, and John all seem to agree that we are not a racist country at heart. However, John notes that Carter was talking about a certain fringe that is racist and he shouldn't be demonized for saying so. Amen. Now can we please try to find our way to sanity? No? Well okay then.

Transitioning now to the news that bones have been found on the Garrido property, which, actually, I thought we already knew. Testing will have to be done to figure out if they're human. For discussion, we're joined by criminal pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht and former FBI agent and profiler Candice DeLong. You all know I'm not really into the speculation. Anderson seems to push the theory that the other missing girl case really matches Jaycee's, but Candice talks him down. Good for her. There just aren't enough facts yet.

We then switch to the Annie Le case and learn that the cause of death was strangulation. Pretty horrible. In a Tom Foreman piece, we get a sorta profile of Raymond Clark, a person of interest. Tom does the whole lame talk-to-the-neighbors thing. Seems pretty pointless to me. Also, at this point I hope this really is a bad guy because otherwise he's kinda having his life ruined right now.

Then we're back for more speculation with the prior guests, but I've had enough and skip out to MSNBC. Sorry guys. That's how I roll now. Anyway, when I come back, Erica Hill is wrapping up a piece about another Yale murder and how they jumped the gun with the suspect. Afterward, she gives us a little "where is he now" with info she got from his LinkedIn profile, which I find amusing. You think of journalists with their fancy sources and whatnot, but nope, sometimes they're just Googling just like you.

Our final piece of the night is from Randi Kaye and it continues this week's medical malpractice series. Tonight we meet OBGYN Dr. Wendy Fried. Her malpractice insurance clocks in at about $170,000 a year. Um, wow. Apparently her specialty is sued a lot. She had her turn in 1998 when a patient suffered a uterine rupture that required an emergency hysterectomy. Mom and baby made it, and it seemed like everyone was happy--Dr. Fried was even invited to their Christmas dinner.

But then she was slapped with a lawsuit because the patient felt the hysterectomy was unnecessary. In the end the jury found that Dr. Fried did nothing wrong. But that didn't resolve her feelings of betrayal--she had slept at the patient's bedside, and it's led to her practicing defensive medicine. So there we go. Another side to a complicated issue. This is a good series. Too bad they're dropping it at the end of the show like they don't care.

The "shot" tonight is adorable. Just watch. The show was okay. Same old, same old.

RIP Patrick Swayze, Tea Partier Mark Williams' Craziness Causes Unintential Hilarity, Annie Le Murdered, And Bonus Kanye West On Leno

Hi everybody. Well, the 360 kids have made it back stateside safe and sound and for that I am thankful. Now only if we could get the same quality coverage in studio that we got out in the field. Eh, a blogger can dream. Though not a huge Jay Leno fan, I have to admit, I was a little curious about his debut tonight, so I did some flipping. You have been warned.

We kick things off with the God-awful annoying "breaking news" graphic telling us that Patrick Swayze has succumbed to pancreatic cancer, which of course is very sad. Way, way too young. In an Anderson Cooper piece we're given Swayze's career highlights: "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost," "Red Dawn," "The Outsiders," "Point Break," "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." He had a good career. "Ghost" and "Point Break" are two of my favorites.

Barbara Walters then calls in to talk about the interview she did with Swayze after his diagnosis. This all kinda feels excessive to me. It's always strange to see how celeb deaths rate when it comes to news coverage. A bigger news day he might have just been a headline. Anyway, we learn that Swayze was a Texas cowboy who loved his horses, which leads Anderson to share an amusing colloquialism he first heard from Reagan: "there's something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." Interesting.

Next up, Erica Hill tells us what people have been saying about Swayze online, but I totally turned to Leno and watched a musical car wash number. Sorry. Then we're joined by Dr. Anton Bilchik for the medical angle. Because we always have to have the medical angle. It's pancreatic cancer. What is there to say? It's deadly and the symptoms are subtle. Kinda a bitch.

Transitioning now to tea party coverage. But before you get your "woo hoo" on, it ain't that kind of party. Candy Crowley gives us the low down in a piece. On September 12, angry citizens took to the DC streets and opened a can of crazy on America. Oh my was it ever crazy. The gist of their message? Government bad! Oh, and Obama is a Nazi. But are they racist? Um, hello! Yes. Not all, but yes, some of them are clearly having a bit of an issue with the country being led by a black man. Once again, no mention of Glenn Beck (who basically orchestrated this thing) by CNN. I wonder if that's a policy or something.

Now it's time for the fun part. For discussion, we're joined by David Gergen, James Carville, and tea party organizer Mark Williams. I'm a little torn about again seeing Mark on my television screen. After all, he's essentially just a dude who hates the president. Why should we listen to him? Not to mention the fact that it appears CNN is breaking their own policy to have him on. But then again, he comes off so poorly that it's almost like CNN is giving him the rope to hang himself. So yes, stick him on TV and let him represent the opposition. Please.

Anderson begins by noting that the protests may have been bigger than liberals would have guessed. Um, really? Because I heard they were at most about 70,000 people, which is a pretty small percentage of the population and not even as large as anti-war protests. And we all remember how those protests totally stopped the Iraq war. Oh, wait.

Anyway, Anderson goes on to wonder if maybe this is really about people being mad their presidential candidate didn't win. Mark brushes that off and says the protesters are "working stiffs" who are being called "Nazis" by their government. Um, come again? WTF is he talking about? Who in the government is calling people Nazis? Perhaps he is confusing that with the last government calling the opposition "morally or intellectually confused." THAT actually happened.

OR maybe he's confusing the government with himself, because Anderson is all, um, actually you're the one that called Obama a Nazi. Mark flat out denies the charge, which leads Anderson to note that it's on his website. Ha! The Internets never lie, Mark! But it turns out his site doesn't call Barack Obama a Nazi. It calls "Mubarak Hussein Obama" a Nazi. You see how that's different? Do you?! Also, Mark wants us to know that Obama is "taking the seeds of socialism planted by George W. and fertilizing them and watering them until they go into full bloom" Zoh my God the president is gardening! The horror!

Since Mark claims to have been against Dubya's socialist seeding as well, Anderson asks if he protested back during that administration. Mark assures us he did. I call BS. This would be the perfect time for 360 to be all, "oh really?" and then whip out a clip of him praising 43, Daily Show-style. Now, of course you can't prove a negative. But one wonders why this wasn't all researched beforehand. That wasn't a question asked for the viewer's benefit. It's clear that Anderson does not know the answer.

The floor finally gets thrown to James, who acknowledges that a lot of people turned out, but is disgusted by their behavior. Specifically the signs that read, "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy." Classy, no? Mark tries to argue that only three people had those signs, but James notes it was confirmed by CNN that they numbered in the thousands. Then Mark tells James he needs to get out and see America. Because obviously the true Americans agree with Mark. See how that works?

Anderson then turns to our favorite voice of reason. Bring us home to sanity-land, David! "I think that, Anderson, we're going off the rails here in some of these demonstrations," he tells us. Looks like it's been one too many Nazis for our Gerg. He even wonders if the country's partisanship is becoming ungovernable. Mark finds this outrageous, noting that in the 60's we had cities in flames. And the Gerg is like, um, yeah, everyone sane condemned that. Yet here's Mark standing up for the crazies. Even James is like, hey, if you want to align yourself and the Republican party with people who scream "you lie!" at the president, then get on with your bad self.

Next Anderson gives us a little Maureen Dowd, noting that he's sure Mark reads her column "religiously." Dowd thinks the protests have an undercurrent of racism. Yeah, they do. But Mark of course dismisses this, pointing out that he's seen "exactly three" of those "witchdoctor signs" during his travels. Three again. What a coinky-dink. Like celebrity deaths, I guess offensive Obama signs always come in threes. Anyway, Mark thinks those fringe people are "no more part of mainstream America than are the hippies who wear nipple clips and feather boas in San Francisco's streets during so-called peace demonstrations." Um, nipple clips and feather boas are racist?

Anderson throws Mark a bone and says that he understands his argument here, but notes that on his website he calls Obama "an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief." And this is where your blogger loses it. You can't even be mad at this point; it's just too freakin insane. Just sit back and laugh at the WTFery, people. For the record, Mark is full on embracing the crazy, which reduces poor Anderson to having to ask if he really thinks Obama is an Indonesian Muslim. (And I love the little eyebrow cock--even Mr. Opinionless Sleeves can't deal with this BS.) I'm practically falling out of my chair at this point. The fact that Carville is currently laughing his ass off as well isn't helping.

But the Gerg apparently still thinks this guy is worth getting angry about. "You think he's a racist in chief? Racist in chief? Is that what you called him? That's unbelievable," he says. Aw, it's gonna be okay, Gerg. The crazy cannot be reasoned with. Anyway, Mark continues to cling to his whole "working class American" meme because, obviously, Obama supporters don't work and aren't really American.

Anderson tries to wrestle us back into reality by bringing up a quote from conservative David Frum. Even he thinks things have gotten out of hand. Well, this is what happens when you let the Sarah Palins of the world define your party. I think it's about time to wrap this all up. There's some more back and forth and Mark tells James, without irony, that it's hard to take him seriously when he's acting "irrational." Yes, we wouldn't want anyone to start acting irrational.

Mark also goes off about the "corporate takeover of D.C." Which is why he wants to protect insurance companies? Uh huh. Bottom line, Obama is the change that millions of us voted for. It's not our fault Mark isn't part of that group. You can see the second half of this whole exchange here. Also, apparently Mark was not happy about his appearance, which he relays in a blog post here, calling his segment, "perhaps the most outrageous thing to come out of CNN’s AC360." Well he's sorta right.

Interestingly, this post has been edited. If you do a Google blog search, you will see that he originally portrayed his segment as a "three against one," even saying that Anderson ganged up on him. The new version just focuses on David and James. Afraid of the wrath of Cooper? Too bad the Internets never forget.

Ok, time to watch Kanye West on Leno. Last night at the VMA's he stormed the stage and stole Taylor Swift's moment, confirming to the world he's a total ass. Now he's chatting with Jay. Awwwkward. I flip over just in time to see him take the chair. Leno has gotten softer in his new time slot. Instead of doing a Hugh Grant, "What the hell were you thinking?" he goes all Barbara Walters and almost makes Kanye cry by asking what his late mom would think about the situation. Now, normally I would totally be manipulated by this, but no! He's been acting like a total ass since BEFORE his mom died and now he's going to use that as an excuse? That's some stone cold douche-baggery there.

Back to CNN, we're in the middle of a Tom Foreman piece on that missing Yale co-ed, Annie Le. Except she's not missing anymore. She's dead. Very sad.

Erica Hill has the "360 Bulletin" and hey, guess who we're talking about again? Kanye. "I actually watched just the beginning of that, because the rest of it was pretty much unwatchable. I felt so bad for her," says Anderson. This kinda cracked me up because I did exactly the same thing. When did MTV become so unwatchable? I barely even knew who Taylor Swift was before last night. I only turned it on because people were talking about it on Twitter. Everything is infinitely better when there are people to bitch with online. How do you think I got through any of Bush's State of the Unions? Anyway, we also get played the requisite Obama/Kanye mashup. C'mon, like you didn't know that was coming.

The "shot" tonight is the classic SNL Chippendales skit with Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley. Two entertainers both taken too early.

The show was just okay. Hopefully they're still getting back into their studio groove. I guess we'll see.

(Not) Live From Afghanistan Day Five And Political Fallout Of Joseph Wilson's Two-Word Cry

Hi everyone. We begin in the states with John King holding down the fort. He promises us future Anderson Cooper from Afghanistan, but those of us who have witnessed a 360 overseas field trip or two know that Friday is when they do their skedaddling, meaning any Silver Fox sightings will be taped. But that's cool. Guy has to fly sometime.

We begin with clips of 9-11 remembrances. It's hard to believe it's been eight years already. Harder to believe we're still at war with no end in sight. On that note, we next have a piece from Tom Foreman on the troop situation in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to ask for more, but there's not much public appetite for escalating the war, especially among Democrats.

Some, like Senate Arms Committee Chairman Carl Levin, think the solution to our problem is better training for the Afghans. But Tom, like, totally called smarty-pants Afghanistan-experty people, and they said, yeah, we're gonna need more troops. Still no one can seem to answer the question of "why Afghanistan?"

For discussion of all this, we're joined by Michael Ware and David Gergen. It's noted that Gates is sending in 3,000 troops in the short term, which Michael calls "a drop in the bucket," thus giving me deja vu. I swear I've heard this conversation before regarding Iraq. Speaking of that "other war," similar to the Iraq Awakening, Michael thinks the key to Afghanistan will be recruiting U.S. backed tribal militias to fight the Taliban. Whatever works, man. Why does it always take us so long to do this stuff?

The Gerg points out that this is a defining moment for Obama. It's all or nothing, baby. You can't compromise on troop levels. He's either going to have to end the war up ratchet things up. Do we see another address to Congress in the future? Who do we think will yell this time? (My money is totally on Bachmann.) As for the Afghans--you know, those people who have to actually live through all this stuff--they want us out. BUT they don't want us to leave before we fix everything. BUT they want it done fast. Um, okey dokey.

Transitioning now from serious politics to well, that whole Joe Wilson thing. Joe Johns tells us that he's become a little money making machine since he introduced the world to his stupidity. But the cash flows both ways. His Democratic challenger Rob Miller has raked in over a million bucks. Ka-ching! You gotta love politics.

The Democrats aren't going to let go of this puppy. They're threatening to punish Wilson with an admonishing resolution if he doesn't apologize on the House floor. Oh no, not a resolution! The guy won't even accept reality, he's going to be bothered by something meaningless? Joe seems to imply the shouter has already apologized enough, but doesn't note that the apology was forced by party leadership. I mean, Wilson's asking for money in almost the same breath he's saying he's sorry. Yeah, he's just torn up inside about what he did.

Let's just move on, shall we? Next up, we learn that McClatchy reporter Jonathan Landay was embedded with the four Marines who died earlier this week during the ambush in Kunar Province. Landay himself almost died and he narrates his experience while we're shown pictures of the attack. Apparently it was a trap and the reporter had to run for his life during the commotion. He also notes the bravery of the men, relaying that he witnessed one captain putting pressure on another man's wound with one hand, while calling in air support with the other hand. I'm glad they showed this. McClatchy reporting always kicks ass and the men deserve the recognition.

On now to a taped conversation with Anderson and Peter Bergen that hits on the changing mission in the country, which is something we've heard them focus on a lot this week. We know the drill--it's not about Al Qaeda anymore; it's about the population. Following this conversation, they again run Anderson's piece on Patrol Base Jaker from a couple days ago, and again fade out on that poor Marine.

We then transition to...a missing co-ed. I guess the 360 kids were starting to get the shakes with all this hard news and no crime coverage. I know, it's a little harsh. I absolutely think it's a good thing to put up her picture in case people see her, and I absolutely hope she's found safe, but did we need a whole package from Randi Kaye? There's a reason I watch 360 and not Nancy Grace.

Erica Hill then does the "360 Bulletin" and hangs for "Beat 360." Winner Terry's caption implies there are people fighting over being Erica's number 1 fan. "Terry from Atlanta, I heart you," says Ms. Hill. I like how she says "heart". Erica's just cool like that. "I thought I was Erica Hill's No. 1 fan," says John. "If you all want to duke it out, go for it. We'll see the results on Sunday on STATE OF THE UNION," she replies. Nice plug. What, no mention of the time?

The "shot" tonight is Anderson's reporter's notebook. These are always pretty visceral, so a recap really doesn't do it justice. I'll try to link when they have it up. In the meantime, you should give Anderson's latest blog post a read if you haven't already done so. It's more personal than his last one. It is clear he cares about the troops and what's happening in Afghanistan. This is something I've never doubted.

I have, however, repeatedly complained on this blog that sometimes his rhetoric (and others from the show) does not match what we the viewers see. The broadcasts from Afghanistan this week overall have been fantastic. I just wonder why it took so long to get significant coverage. I'm not talking about going to the country. I know Anderson has been trying for a period of at least a year to get there. But there's no reason he can't regularly cover the country from New York. In an interview with "The Baltimore Sun" earlier this week, Anderson said the following:

CNN is in the enviable position of actually increasing our foreign coverage. We have a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan. We have a bureau there. We're able to be there on a daily basis. ... And then, we're able to go in with coverage like this during the week of 9/11. This is what we do."

But is that really what they do? I'm assuming the full-time correspondent he is referring to is Atia Abawi and I'm pretty sure I have never seen a report from her on 360. In fact, I'm not sure I had even heard of her until I discovered her on Twitter (follow her here). I know that there is going to be a future political fight regarding troop levels, and I know 360 will cover that. But once the controversy fades, will their coverage as well? Because the troops will still be there.

Despite that criticism, I do very much appreciate their coverage this week. Going to Afghanistan is dangerous, hard, and expensive. And quite frankly, there's not much of a reward for CNN--the ratings have sucked. Now, that's not to say they wouldn't have sucked anyway, but it certainly would have been cheaper sucking. So you have to give it up to them for their commitment to an important story. I just hope that commitment remains once the moon dust washes off.

Finally, if you missed any of the reports this week, the blog is a great resource--lots of embedded videos. Plus there are posts of behind-the-scenes goings-on like this one from my producer crush, Charlie Moore. That's right, I said crush. It can't always be about the Silver Fox, people. Below I leave you with a pic from that post, taken by Tim Hetherington of Getty Images. It's kinda jarring to see Peter Bergen all chillax-ed out, isn't it? He just always seems so buttoned-up and, well, British. And then of course there's Mr. Cool in his shades. Because that's how he rolls. Happy weekend, everyone!

Live From Afghanistan Day Three And Analysis Of Obama's Address To Congress Regarding Health Care Reform

Hi everyone. Anderson Cooper kicks things off from Patrol Base Jaker with a little sum up of the patrol he went on today. Then he shows us a shot of Michael Ware and Sanjay Gupta, before completely switching subjects to health care and throwing us back to the states, where we're suddenly looking at The Best Political Team on Television (TBPTOT). Hey guys, long time no see. So anyway, we're all over the place! I realize I'm probably the only loser out there actually taking notes of this broadcast, but a little less schizophrenia would make my job easier. Okey-dokey?

Also? Aw, our anchor is tired. How do I know? Well, because when he tells us that Barack Obama is taking "ownership" of health care reform, "ship" is not how he ends that word. This leads us into an "extended" clip of Obama's address tonight. I thought the speech was very good, but I would have liked to hear him say the public option is a must. Mandates with no accountability is just a massive giveaway to the insurance industry.

Following the clip, Anderson gives things over to John King (sans Magic Wall-gasp!) for some TBPTOT-wrangling. The snap polls are out already (they don't call them 'snap' for nothing, people!) and things look good for Obama. But Candy Crowley grabs the position of parade-rainer, reminding us that Bill Clinton saw similar numbers after his address. And we all know how that turned out. Plus the poll is only of those who watched the address.

David Gergen doubts any minds were really opened tonight and I'd probably have to agree. It's not like the death panel camp is going to be all, "we were so wrong!" Ed Rollins is skeptical about Obama's claims regarding paying for reform, and again, I don't hear anything to disagree with. I don't really believe that reform won't add to the deficit. The difference with me is that I don't care, or rather, I think health care reform is more important.

Jumping back to Afghanistan, Anderson intros another clip, this time of Obama correcting falsehoods. Then we're flung back to the studio with TBPTOT and Paul Begala talks about how the address actually shored up Democratic support. John King notes that Obama called the death camps a lie, actually using the word "lie." Isn't it awesome when someone calls a spade a spade? Our media should try it once in a while themselves.

Then the convo moves on to the big buzz of the night, which was South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson screaming "you lie!" when Obama said his health care plan did not cover illegal immigrants. I mean, seriously, WTF? This isn't a town hall, dude. A few things: first, I don't think any of TBPTOT actually mention his name, which is weird. Second, oh my God, did you see Pelosi's face? I wasn't paying attention to her when I initially watched the speech, but that was some reaction. And it's probably hard for her to react to anything. I mean, I'm not saying Botox, but, uh,...yeah.

Later we learn that Wilson apologized, which is good, but he's still been branded one of the crazies of the Bachmann/Palin variety as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and in case you're wondering, according to David Gergen, no, Obama's statement was not a lie. We're then shown a clip of the Republican's rebuttal, given by Congressman Charles Boustany, who made such an impression that I had to go look up his name because I had already forgotten it by the time I sat down to blog. He's no Kenneth the Page.

Paul then talks a little bit about the bone Obama threw Republicans regarding malpractice reform and the political coverage wraps up with Tom Foreman, the poor sap charged with reading through the White House online forum. "In the end, there was plenty of talk about Nazis and socialism," he tells us. I'll bet. Just call "Godwin" and you win!

Anderson again. Again telling us what they will be showing us, which is basically what he's been doing every time we see him. C'mon guys. It's time to actually show us what you'll be showing us. Viewers are going to start to feel jerked around. Anyway, then we're off to Erica Hill with the day's headlines, one of which is the hijacking of that Mexican airliner. Good on them for just giving us the facts. Another night I could see endless segments of speculation. You regular viewers know what I'm talking about. One of their Achilles' heels.

Also? Ellen Degeneres on American Idol next season? I did not see that one coming. Erica takes the opportunity to do a little teasing of the Silver Fox: "I don't have any details on whether or not she will be judging some of the dancing portions. But, you know, maybe you could get in on that. Just a thought." Our non-dancing anchor has no comment.

On the way out to commercials, they're starting to show messages from the troops to back home. Sweet idea. A non sweet idea is the massive overplaying of their special Afghanistan graphic. Moderation kids. Try it. After some pics of illumination rounds being fired the night before, Anderson gives us some info about the raid performed by British commandos to rescue "New York Times" reporter Stephen Farrell and his translator.

Both were taken hostage on Saturday. Unfortunately the translator and a British commando were killed. Translators--or fixers--are sometimes treated as afterthoughts in the press. But they have names and they have stories. Meet Sultan Munadi. He just lost his life.

Moving on now to a Sanjay Gupta piece in which he tags along with an elite medical DUSTOFF crew--those charged with transporting a patient to the hospital. It's a tough job and the clock is always ticking because they only have an hour before the patient bleeds to death--the golden hour. The run Sanjay goes on is an effort to save two Afghan locals, who in the end will survive. The operation is led by Sergent Nate Dabney, father of three boys. It's sad he has to be away from them. Following Sanjay's piece, he gives us another update on the two-year-old we met on Monday. He's walking now (with assistance)!

Next up, we have a clip of Anderson in a vehicle in full on protective gear, including helmet. He explains that he's in the lead vehicle of a convoy on their way back from patrol. It's a slow dangerous process given that they're returning on the same road they used originally. Taliban could be waiting for them. In fact, we're later told that a short time after this clip was filmed, an IED was exploded on that very road. Man, the 360 kids are a lucky bunch. Let's hope they stay that way.

In a subsequent Anderson piece, he gives us a tour of Patrol Base Jaker, which houses about 50 marines at any given time. It is a place that can get to 120 degrees and the only AC around is the guy we're looking at. Food is all MRE's, which come with a bonus side of moon dust, the stuff that coats everything. Entertainment consists of working out with old weights and if you want to golf? Well, welcome to world's biggest sand trap.

As for the bathroom facilities, Anderson points us to a pipe sticking out of the ground without further explanation. "Well, it's obvious what the pipes are for," he says. Oh my. There are also four communal toilets for, uh, the other. Speaking of which, Anderson also talks with Lance Corporal James Steven whose has the lovely job of burning shit. And yes, I mean that literally. What does he think of his position? "It stinks." You don't say.

At the end of the piece we start to hear from another Marine about what he likes about the base, but they totally cut it off. WTF, guys? So we bounce back and forth between the states and Afghanistan a bunch of times just so Anderson can keep summing up the same info, yet you can't show us the whole piece? I feel bad for the guy that got cut off.

Next up, Peter Bergen explains that we got into this mess that we're in because we tried to fight the war on the cheap. Hm, that sounds familiar. Sigh.

Our final piece of the night is from Michael Ware. He travels to Kandahar, birth place of the Taliban and Michael's home before he moved to Iraq. The whole city is anxious because the Taliban are once again a big presence, which wasn't the case a few years ago. It turns out that Michael is friends with Ahmed Wali Karzai. Yes Karzai, as in brother of Hamid. Man, that Aussie knows everybody. Ahmed is now the leader of the family's tribe. I'm not really familiar with the tribe thing. There's a future piece for you, 360. Anyway, Michael also shows us the aftermath of a bomb blast and it's all pretty depressing.

To leave us with something lighter, the "shot" tonight is Sanjay's quarters and video of him sleeping. We see a snippet of it during a preview, but when it comes time for the actual clip, um, I don't see Sanjay. Did I blink? So...not really sure what happened there. Anderson tells us Sanjay doesn't even know they have the video. Didn't they once show video of him falling too (during Planet in Peril I think)? Boys are so mean.

The show was really good again, though I felt like there was a lot of wasted time tonight regarding teases. But given that they had less than an hour after Obama's speech ended before going live, you can't really fault them too much for rough edges. Keep it up, 360!