Day Two Of AC360's Coverage Of The Unfolding Disaster In Haiti

Hi everyone. Tonight CNN and the 360 kids produced another stellar broadcast. The magnitude of the situation in Haiti is still almost too much to really get a handle on. Anderson Cooper himself alluded to this today in an interview with the Huffington Post's Danny Shea. It's worth a read, especially the part about Pat Robertson's despicable comments. Our anchor is nothing if not classy and diplomatic.

Despite 360's minor technical problems at the top of the first hour, I've been impressed at their ability to keep things running smoothly. I know a lot of newsers have been having problems. CNN had a lot of issues earlier yesterday, and today Brian Williams had to do part of his Nightly News broadcast by talking into a satellite phone. So kudos to whoever are the technical whiz kids.

As far as the show goes, all the reporting stood out. But I guess if I had to pick one image that will stick with me, it's seeing the unidentified bodies literally dumped from a truck, as if they were just construction waste or something. Former human beings treated like trash. Sickening, yet understandable. People going to their grave forgotten is something that obviously especially bothers Anderson--it's a theme that's been evident in his prior reporting on other stories. His piece tonight was pretty heartbreaking.

Ivan Watson continues to impress me enormously. He needs to be on CNN Domestic more. I watched a lot of his reporting earlier today and couldn't turn away from his story about the trapped little girl. Another one of those kind of must-watch stories was Sanjay Gupta treating that 15 day old baby. We got to see the correspondent in Doctor Mode, and if you watched how sweet he was to that little girl, I'd guess we saw a little bit of Dad Mode too.

Thank God for Gary Tuchman bringing us some positive news. It was nice to see a rescue with no injuries. Also, though I know he was hesitant to bring it up, I very much appreciated the humor regarding the woman being trapped in the candy aisle. If I am ever God forbid trapped in a horrible disaster, the candy aisle would totally be one of my top location choices.

Anderson's piece from the prison was really interesting. I like how they went a little C.S.I. on us, determining by the hand prints and rope that prisoners had escaped down the side of the building. Finally, also notable in the broadcast was Joe Johns' "Keeping Them Honest" reporting about Haiti. It kinda made me dread where we'll be at with this story in the coming months. Will there be a political fight about aid? Will the country be abandoned once the cameras leave? Only time will tell.

I realize these blog posts might be a bit of a disappointment to my regular readers, but I just can't fathom doing a review right now. I'm actually finding Twitter to be a more desirable medium when it comes to covering this story. I've been doing a lot of Haiti-related tweeting, so give me a follow if you're not already (@newsjunkie365). I've also set up a special Twitter List of journalists and a few others on-the-ground in Haiti. And as always, check out CNN Impact to learn how to help.

Most of us have probably already heard a variation on this, but here's Anderson talking to Charlie Rose. Below are some of Thursday's most noteworthy videos, beginning with Sanjay Gupta treating a baby with a severe head laceration:



Ivan Watson reports live on the attempted rescue of a young girl trapped under rubble. We learn on 360 that the rescue had finally occurred:



Anderson Cooper's piece on the cemetery, as well as Gary Tuchman's live report about the rescues he witnessed and his interview with rescue workers:



Finally, at the risk of up-ending the universe, I'm posting a clip from Fox News--yes, Fox News (ZOMG!)--that I think you should see. I've always liked Shepherd Smith, and Steve Harrigan's reporting here is pretty incredible to watch:



That's all for now. Let's hope tomorrow is a little bit better for Haiti.

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.

John Edwards Back In The News And Back In Trouble, A Request For Troops In Afghanistan, Garrido Is Weird, And Georgia Flooding

Hi everybody. We begin tonight by NOT being assaulted by the annoying "breaking news" graphic. I am pleased. Anyway! Anderson Cooper--Emmy winning--Anderson Cooper tells us "The New York Times," has some new scoop on John Edwards. Yeah, that guy. About 10 political scandals back. Think hard and I'm sure you'll remember.

Once upon a time there was a handsome politician who was a true progressive with a shot at the White House. Unfortunately for this politician, he had a rough go of it. His beloved wife's cancer returned, and his candidacy fizzled out. Then there were these weird whispers about an affair. It couldn't be true! Not this politician. Besides, the whispers came from a tabloid. So the establishment media stuck up their noses and the politician brushed it off and that was that.

Until there was a hotel confrontation...and pictures. And suddenly nobody was brushing anything off. Then of course there were the apologies and the Oprah heart-to-heart, but that baby? That other woman's baby? That was not his. Definitely not. Which brings us to where we are today. Because according to "The Times," oh yeah, Edwards is the baby daddy. At least that's what they report he's about to admit. Is there anyone out there who is shocked by this?

Apparently, this is all coming about because "The Times" obtained a book proposal from former Edwards' aide, Andrew Young, and I guess he's spilling his guts. Young claims Edwards asked him to claim paternity of Rielle Hunter's baby and he did. The aide has also written that Edwards promised Hunter that after Elizabeth died they'd get married in a NYC rooftop ceremony complete with Dave Matthews Band. Where to even begin? I mean, dude, why you gotta drag Dave into this?

Obviously the big issue here--besides Edwards clearly being a douchebag--is that Hunter just testified before a grand jury about the money she received from the Edwards campaign. You'll remember that she supposedly made videos for him and that's why she was paid. I guess we'll see how that all plays out. Also, throughout all of this, Anderson uses some version of the word "lie" a bunch of times. And I kinda love it. See? That didn't burn or anything, did it? More spade calling please. (Oh, Joe Johns was here live and I guess I kinda just wrote him out. Sorry Joe.)

Anderson tells us that they invited Edwards on the show, but he declined. So they got the next best guest. Um, scratch that, they had to go a little further down the list and what we end up with is someone tangentially connected to the story: Hunter's sorta friend, Pigeon O'Brien (yeah, I know). I say "sorta friend" because they haven't talked for a while, and Rielle doesn't even want her doing this. So, in terms of this interview, I think the question on the tip of everyone's tongue is, "um, why?" I don't know, people. I don't know.

Anyway, Pigeon knows the baby is Edwards' and we also get a weirdly long PR-type explanation of Hunter's campaign videos, which were apparently very "innovative" (before the Youtube, people!). But the real kicker is when Anderson asks her what they called Edwards. We get this tortured look from Pigeon and our anchor actually asks again. Because this is very important! The nickname? Lovelips. To the Silver Fox's credit, he does not react to this at all. Not even an amused blink.

So okay, I'm not really sure why that just happened. She was a good guest in that she was very articulate, but I'm not really buying her supposed motive that this is all about justice. I mean, the story is going to be in "The Times." I think there's a good chance people will hear about it. I smell an opportunist. Hopefully I'm wrong. Either way, pretty pointless interview.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by David Gergen and attorney Sunny Hostin. Anderson lays out everything Edwards has done and asks the Gerg if he's ever seen anything like this. Oh c'mon! We seem to see something like this every other month. But the fact that Edwards was a real presidential contender is a big point, which the Gerg expands on. It's a topic that I wrote about when the affair first broke. You can read about how Edwards went from "my guy" to DEAD. TO. ME. by clicking here.

Sunny gives us the legal low down and we learn that Edwards could actually go to prison if it turns out he was being as ethical with his campaign cash as he was with his marriage. Then Anderson disses Hunter's videos, which I only note because Pigeon just got done talking them up, so it's a little amusing. And finally the Gerg, dear sweet Gerg, tries to rationalize that Edwards' silence might partly be due to wanting to protect Elizabeth. Because he was thinking about her feelings so much before. I want to be un-cynical like the Gerg when I grow up. He always thinks the best of people.

Transitioning now to what in my opinion should have been up top: the leaked report from General Stanley McChrystal regarding the need for more troops in Afghanistan. Obama has already ordered 21,000, but they need more or the war effort could fail. They also need more trained Afghans. This leads us into a repeat Anderson piece from when they were in the country a couple of weeks ago. Scroll if you missed it.

Discussion time! We're joined by Peter Bergen, Michael Ware, and Rory Stewart of Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights. I love Rory. He walked across Afghanistan all by himself in 2001. I mean, wow. Loyal--some might say obsessive--viewers will remember Rory from 360's Afghanistan trip three years ago. See? Rory does not support adding more troops because he doesn't think Americans will stomach 100,000 to 200,000 troops there indefinitely.

Peter notes that "the classic counter insurgency doctrine" requires about 600,000 soldiers and cops to control Afghanistan. Oh...we are screwed. As Peter says, "do the math." Yeah, we're no where near that. Anderson further bums us out by pointing out all the corruption in the Afghan government. Then we get to Michael, whose awesomeness sometimes leaves me speechless. Blunt honesty: "The government that doesn't exist. I mean, America is not going to win this war. Let's face facts. I mean, we're now at the point where we could lose this war," he says. Michael seems to advocate a kind of "Awakening" strategy, except with tribal forces.

Rory thinks everything needs to be reframed because actually doing this whole Afghanistan thing is going to require a significant amount of troops for 30 or 40 years, which would not be popular at all stateside. He thinks what is in the works right now really isn't going to change anything. Anderson then brings up how our troops really seem to be nation building and not hunting terrorists. This brings Peter to point out the big mismatch we currently have in our resources. We need civilians on the ground, but we mostly have marines, who aren't exactly trained for what they're doing right now.

The absence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is brought up as well and Michael again pushes that we need Afghans to fight. But of course Anderson points out that we went that way before with the Mujahideen and I think we all remember that didn't work out so hot for us in the long run. Rory doesn't think anything we're doing adds up. Well,...great. Speaking of greatness of the non sarcastic variety, that was an awesome panel discussion. Seriously, do I see an "Extreme Challenges" special in the future?

I caught Obama on Letterman tonight and having just watched this panel, it was quite interesting to hear him talk about how we need to defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Obviously this topic needs much much more discussion. In a perfect world, tomorrow 360 will play that Obama clip, followed by Michael Ware live to rip it apart. Then they'll have on someone from the Obama administration to respond, all the while Michael remains live. But alas, we don't live in a perfect world.

Moving on now to their new "Prime Suspect" series, which I pretty much couldn't care less about. In a Dan Simon piece, we learn that Philip Garrido had a black box that he thought tapped into the "other side." Or something. And ooh, we even get to see the box! It's black, in case you were wondering. So yeah, turns out Garrido is kinda kooky. I never would have guessed that about a kidnapper who held a woman and her two kids in his backyard for years.

On now to the horrible flooding in Georgia. David Mattingly is standing knee deep in the water and he tells us that they've had 12 inches of rain in 12 hours. At least five people are dead. It's a pretty bad situation and I would have thought it would rate above the Edwards thing, but guess not. Anyway, David tells us that authorities have cautioned people to stay away from the water. David is doing a good job with that, no? He then demonstrates the strength of the current by throwing a plastic bottle into the flooding. Dude, did you just litter? And you know that's not the first one he threw. Joking aside, I hope everyone stays safe.

The "shot" tonight is of Michael Jackson. Meh. They just can't let go, can they? I thought the show was pretty good. There was some ridiculousness with the Edwards story, but the Afghanistan coverage made up for it. I hope they stay on the story. 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.

Racism In The Tea Party Movement (With More Craziness From Mark Williams), Joe Wilson Gets Pwned By Congress, And Investigating Medical Malpractice

Hi everybody. We begin once again with the sense-assaulting "breaking news" graphic. Since that seems to be their default show opening now, regardless of what's actually "breaking," I think it would be more productive if I only noted it when they didn't use the thing. Way to make something utterly useless, huh? Anyway, Anderson Cooper tells us we're awaiting a police conference on Annie Le, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Right now we're talking race and politics, with a former president thrown in for good measure. Apparently Jimmy Carter did a little chatting with Brian Williams (BriWi to the cool kids) and he thinks a lot of these tea party people who we've been seeing get their crazy on have an issue with our prez's skin color. Ruh roh. Don't get me wrong, he totally has a case here, but mix racial accusations and a former Democratic president, and you've got all the ingredients needed for a full on news cycle freak out.

To begin said freak out, we're joined by Roland Martin and, oh look, tea partier Mark Williams is back. His appearance last night was quite popular. Given 360's new tendency to ratings pander, and the fact that Mark is clearly a fame whore, you should see my totally shocked face that he is once again on my television screen. Oh well. Buckle up kids, it's gonna get bumpy.

Anderson first gives the floor to Mark, who has to get in his requisite Carter diss. He of course denies the racial accusation, but does admit there is a fringe to his movement. I guess that would be fringe-fringe. Roland, not surprisingly, agrees with Carter, and starts name checking all the people in the conservative movement who have recently said or committed racist acts. Example: Glenn Beck saying Obama has a hatred of white people. It's also noted that threats against Obama are up 400%. I'm actually not sure if that number is accurate, but I would believe it.

Mark thinks that's it's not race that's different about this administration, but that Obama is a big old thief. Taking all our money AND borrowing from China. Wait, how is that different from the last guys? He's also got his undies in a twist over Obama supposedly bowing to the Saudi king or whatever. Um, hello, Bandar Bush ring a bell? All this nonsense goes on while Anderson, I dunno, takes a nap or something. Wake up, Cooper! Finally our anchor cuts in to tell them to stop talking over each other.

Roland then gives a long explanation as to why this is all racist, but I'm not really sure he's selling his point. I suppose that's okay though since Mark is back to freaking out about the socialist gardening he brought up last night. I don't even know what the hell we're talking about anymore. Earth to Anderson. Bueller? Roland asks Mark if he would denounce the witch doctor signs and he says he would. But dude, you called him an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug," on your own blog!

Then Mark tries to act like he bears no responsibility for inciting all these wackjobs. Oh, and he implies Roland is a race-baiter. That about wraps it up. "Good discussion," says Anderson. Dude, what have you been watching? So, um, yeah. That was fairly dumb. I take back my comment from yesterday that they should have this joker on to hang himself with his own rope. This is just about sensationalism now. More reporting, less idiocy please. Here's the video, if you're interested.

Speaking of idiocy, today Congress took out their big ruler and smacked Representative Joe Wilson on the wrist. Joe Johns has the latest: Okay, we all remember the "you lie!" incident, right? Well, today the idiot got formally punished. But was it all a waste of time? Joe's semi-snarky copy would imply that it was. I'm pretty meh about the situation. Was it a fairly pointless thing to do when they should be working on more important things? Yes. But I've seen them to do worse. You know, like that whole war thing.

For discussion of this, we're joined by Alex Castellanos and Paul Begala. I'm just going to cut to the good stuff. Alex actually tries to claim that if we're going to censure Wilson, we should also censure Obama, since he also used the word "lie" during his address. Oh. My. God. He can't be serious. Anderson is a bit more awake during this segment and is sporting his trademark "even I can't take this BS" smirk. He points out that, um yeah, Obama was talking about allegations about death panels, which uh, were factually inaccurate. "Are you equating that to some guy, a congressman yelling out at the president?" asks Anderson.

But Alex seems to deny that what Obama said was accurate. This is the problem, nobody can even agree on what's a fact. "Alex is entitled to his own opinion. He's not entitled to his own facts. There are no death panels," says Paul. Booyah! Just keep saying it. Later Paul brings up how Kanye West said Bush didn't care about black people and how Democrats distanced themselves from that statement. Man, that guy is coming up everywhere these days.

Anyway, Alex tries to claim that none of this racial subtext was around before the election, which leads Paul to be all, uh, did you see the Sarah Palin rallies? Seriously, have these Republicans suffered some kind of collective head injury? Next they all talk about the asshattiness of Mark Williams. The segment wraps up with Alex talking fiscal conservatism, a legitimate issue to disagree with the president on. Too bad most of the opposition insists on focusing on insanity.

Transitioning now to Tom Foreman talking about the latest in the Annie Le murder case. He tells us that the police have a person of interest in custody. (The suspect has since been arrested.) For discussion of all this, we're then joined by forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht and criminologist Jack Levin. Why, I'm not quite sure. These kind of things continually frustrate me.

This is a show that defines and prides itself on being fact-based, yet here we are with two segments of speculation. Cyril even goes as far as to peg this as an "if I can't have her, no one can," crime of passion. And he could be right. Or he could be widely widely off the mark. That's the funny thing about spouting shit when you don't know all the facts. The show is better than this, or at least they pretend to be.

From one missing girl to another, we're next joined by Dan Simon, who tells us the cops are searching the Garrido property where Jaycee Dugard was held. They're looking for a link to two other child abductions in the area. One girl looked a lot like Jaycee and was her age, so of course everyone goes, "ah ha!" About 15 years ago two young girls went missing in the St. Louis area and later turned up dead. They were almost the same age with the same blue eyes and blond hair. Parents were freaked that there was a serial kid killer on the loose. There wasn't. The cases weren't connected. Let's not jump the gun here.

Our final piece of the night is from the always awesome Gary Tuchman. He's tackling the subject of medical malpractice and does so by sitting down with two of the nation's top trial lawyers: Les Weisbrod and Todd Smith. The attorneys aren't very big fans of capping malpractice settlements and they don't think it would help costs anyway. I am not shocked that I am hearing this from trial lawyers. Apparently punitive damage malpractice verdicts are way less common than everyone thinks. In fact, Weisbrod claims he's had seven or eight over a 30 year period. What? That doesn't seem right, but wow.

Gary reminds us, however, that settlements are often paid before cases get to a judge. Doctors claim this leads to defensive medicine. Gary brings up his orthopedist friend who "takes care of (his) broken bones." Just how many broken bones has it been? This is because of the roller-blading, isn't it? Anyway! Ortho friend's main sentiment is that sometimes life just sucks even when everyone does their job right. Amen, ortho friend, amen.

My opinion? Um, I agree with everyone! As someone who's seen way more than her share of doctors, I can tell you that sometimes they suck. Like, a lot. And I sure as hell want to retain my right to sue them for everything they're worth (no, I never have). I can also tell you that they do put patients through expensive invasive procedures just to cover their asses. Yes, I've had this happen. So...quite the pickle. Uh, good luck with that, guys.

That'll do it. The show was okay. It's getting pretty clear they're ratings pandering. I wish they'd stop.

(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!