Team Gupta Continues To Keep 'Em Honest In The Gulf

Hi everyone. Now that I've had over 24 hours to calm down, I'm not quite as rage-y about the Octavia Nasr firing, though I am still pretty ticked. Much (MUCH!) has been written about the subject by others, so it would feel a little redundant to weigh in here (though maybe later). In any regards, Nasr's firing speaks to layers of issues that go beyond just one reporter, or even just one news outlet. If you're interested in delving into the topic further, I have many links on my Twitter page.

As for the show, tonight the 360 kids shook things up a bit and came at us from a fishing dock in Port a la Hache, Louisiana, where Sanjay Gupta showed us around an oyster boat. What a difference a change of scenery can make to freshen up a broadcast. Plus? No bell! And the good doctor is clearly taking his role as Anderson Cooper's substitute very seriously, right down to the uniform. Black t-shirt? Check! I think it's about time for the bullet points, don't you? Away we go:

• Though we've seen Jefferson Parish Council Chairman John Young before, his presence has yet to become stale, and it was nice to hear the new perspective of Reverend Tyronne Edwards of the Zion Travelers Baptist Church. To be clear, I'm not dissing on Billy Nungesser here (I actually like him), but he's been very much overused.
  

• Reverend Edwards on Obama: "He's the very first president in history that toured all of Plaquemines Parish. And we're excited about that. But we're saying we would like to see the president, Obama, do the same thing that he did for the mortgage company, the banking company. He would have these town hall meetings where he would actually have dialogue with community people." Good point. The first block of the show is below:

• Randi Kaye's piece about Mississippi's Pecan Grove landfill was very good...and very disgusting. Pretty messed up that Waste Management can basically just override a county board and then dump an oily mess in people's backyard.

• Attack of the critter! At about 6:00 minutes in, a bug apparently seeking its 15 minutes of fame gave Randi a little scare. My favorite part is her trying not to laugh after she (mildly) freaks.
  

• While I appreciate Tom Foreman taking a look at the restorethegulf.gov White House website, did we really think it wasn't going to contain a lot of positive spin? I mean, hello! But it's good to know it at least contains some useful information, like how to make claims for damages.

• I liked the segment with Don Beshel, Byron Enclade, Stanley Enclade, and Vlhao Mjehovich. It was nice to see and hear from the locals who are living and working in this disaster, rather than professional commentators (i.e. Carville, Julia Reed...). If we have to have discussion segments, I wish they'd do it this way more often. The opinions of Carville et al. aren't worth any more than those of these men tonight.

• Sanjay's report on testing the seafood was crazy. There's an actual taste test involved?! Mmm, oily. Yeah, I'm not exactly comforted--especially given they're not yet testing for dispersants. This piece is at the beginning of the video below.
  

• Joe Johns with the headlines: "And more about LeBron James. In the event you happened to be off the planet for the last hour or so, then possibly, just possibly you do not know that the NBA superstar is going to Miami to play for the Miami Heat. Settle down. Welcome back to earth and listen to this." Oh Joe, you are winning me over with your snarky ways.

• It is at this point in my viewing that the sky opens up, the rain pours down, and my satellite says, "Oh hey, were you watching something? Because I think I'm going to go out, like, right now." And...suddenly it's like I'm half Amish. So that was the end of my time with the 360 kids. But the latter half of the video below contains a really nice piece on Haiti. Next week the show is heading back to see where things stand at the six month mark. I'm grateful they're going and very much looking forward to the coverage. All of the original team are scheduled to be there--even Gary Tuchman and Ivan Watson.
  

• That'll do it. This bullet point contains the most patriotic adorableness you'll ever see.
  

Live Coverage From Louisiana Post President Obama's Oval Office Address

Hi everyone. Well, how about that speech, huh? Way to be underwhelming, Obama. But you know what's never underwhelming? That's right, the bullet points. Away we go!

• So, you know how last week the government upped the estimate of oil flowing into the Gulf to as much as 40,000 barrels? Guess what happened today. Yep, 60,000 barrels! Do I hear 80,000? Something to (not) look forward to next week, I suppose. Anyway, Anderson Cooper calls this a "stunning" development, which I guess would be a true statement if one was not paying any attention whatsoever. Dude, are you ever not stunned?
  

• Kudos for the barrel estimation montage though. Very Daily Show-esque.

• Our anchor: "We have also known for a while that, in their own plan, BP discussed how to deal with and protect walruses in the Gulf of Mexico. And, in case you're saying to yourself, wow, I didn't know there were walruses in the Gulf of Mexico, there aren't." I actually was not saying that to myself, but your impression is still very dead on.

• As it turns out, BP is not the only dumbass on the oil block. Four of the five largest oil companies apparently would not be surprised to see walruses in the Gulf because they all have plans for them! And three of those companies claim to be getting info from a scientist who happens to be dead. Maybe ghosts can stop the leak!
  

• Garland Robinette! I was wondering when he was going to be on. Below is some of the discussion with him and Billy Nungesser:

• The similarities of the oil spill plan quick guides is kinda insane. It's like they all copied each others' homework...and they originally copied off the dumb kid. Watch that segment plus Anderson's interview with Ed Markey below:

• The president's speech. I'm not even really sure what to say, people. My overall impression was "meh." It sounded nice. I believe he cares. But it didn't feel like there was that much there there. That being said, a part of me is not sure what any of us expect him to do. This is a weird and unique situation. Like it or not (and we certainly do not!), we're pretty much stuck with BP. And Obama is limited in what he can do. Still. An acknowledgment that things are really, really bad, and a detailed plan of how we're going to at least attempt to fix them would have been nice. I mean, can we get some PowerPoint up in here?

• I have scoured the Internets for speech opinions and come bearing my two favorite blog posts. First of all, John Cole. Okay, yes, a tad harsh. But he makes some good points and having Obama give his version of the address would be worth it for the pundit freakout alone. They would probably vaporize. Everybody wins! Next up, Jason Linkins, possibly my favorite snarker on the interwebs. Favorite line: "Are we operating off a booklet of Mad Libs, written by Jon Favreau, or something?"
  

• David Gergen on the delayed action and chaos in the Gulf: "Thank goodness our Army does not go to war like this." *headdesk* But we do! Iraq. Hello! We went in there, smashed everything and then didn't know what the hell to do. Our troops didn't even have the proper armor for like two years! I'm by no means defending chaos and screw-ups (two wrongs don't make a right), but this line of conversation is ridiculous.
  

• The Joe Johns piece on Atlantis, another BP rig in the Gulf that is also possible unsafe:

• The below video contains disturbing pictures of Pelican nests (with dead chick and crushed eggs) allegedly destroyed by careless BP contractors, as well as Gary Tuchman's piece on bird rescue. I'm glad they're again allowing journalists to get close.

• Tonight's Culprits of the Catastrophe takes aim at the Minerals Management Service (MMS). Let's hope Obama reforms it as promised. Why he didn't already is beyond me.
  

• This bullet point contains hope because I still have it, though just barely.
  

Week Four Of Live Coverage From Louisana Of The BP Oil Disaster

Hi everyone. Day 56 of the oil disaster, week four of the 360 kids live from the field. Their stick-to-it-ness is about to rival how long they stayed for Katrina or Israel. Good for them. Well, shall we do this thing? The bullet points await:

• Anderson Cooper: "Now, I know it seems like we have been talking about this oil for a long time. And maybe you're getting tired of hearing about it. And I understand that, but this oil is not keeping track of days." Nope, I'm good. But thank you for your concern. Seriously, this is 360/Anderson at their best. This is the kind of reporting that built their base of viewers. And the ratings are showing it too, with a pretty consistent solid second most nights they've been in the Gulf.
  

• Well, what a surprise, more evidence that BP sacrificed safety to save a quick buck. I swear, at this point all of the company's executives should have twirly mustaches because they are becoming cartoonishly evil.
  

• After taking a shortcut, one BP official actually wrote in an email, "Who cares? It's done. End of story. We will probably be fine." We'll probably be fine? That's like the horror movie equivalent of "I'll be right back." They're not going to be right back; they're going to get stabbed by the scary murderer! And now the Gulf is full of oil.

• Billy Nungesser and Douglas Brinkley stopped by for their nightly BP bashing. You can watch the entire first segment of the broadcast including the first part of their discussion below (quality is bad, but beggars can't be choosers):
  

• Ed Henry joined us (looking uncharacteristically sweaty) to talk about President Obama's speech tomorrow and his dwindling poll numbers. The prez will be coming at us from the Oval Office, which Ed implies is a Big Deal, or as the vice president might say, a Big F*cking Deal. As for those poll numbers, 71 percent of respondents think Obama hasn't been tough enough on BP. Wow, that's bad. Except for, not really. Hell, I still pretty much have his back on this and even I'm probably one of those 71 percenters. Let's face it, we humans are pretty childish. We want this thing fixed. Now! And since Obama's our leader and BP is the supposed fixer, obviously he's not being tough enough, right? Yeah, things are more complicated than that, people. I want Obama to be tough too. I want him to tie BP up, lift them by their ankles, and repeatedly dunk them in the oily Gulf until they cry. But as far as actual things Obama could be doing to them right now? Beats me. I suspect many of those 71 percenters aren't as down on the president as your average pundit might like you to believe. That being said, Obama is not in an enviable position--not by a long shot.
  

• You know how I've been having a coronary over our press's coronary about Obama's lack of coronary over the oil disaster? Enter Fareed Zakaria who is so far this week's winner of the Internets. So reasonable! And yet James Carville is all over my TeeVee screen. (I actually probably support more federal intervention on this than Zakaria does, but still, reasonableness stands.)
  

• Now the British are mad at us for being mad? What the hell? When did the stiff upper lip turn into a whine?
  

• Still. STILL. BP will not come on 360. Seriously Tony, you're just being a wuss at this point. As always, if you think BP needs to be interviewed by Anderson, show your support by joining the Facebook group. Below is the montage of our anchor repeatedly requesting an interview:

• I missed a lot of the interview with Drew Wheelan, but sounds like disturbing stuff.

• Tonight 360 began a new (yet strangely familiar) series called Culprits of the Collapse Catastrophe. Good for them, calling out the names. It'll be interesting to see how brave they get. Going after BP isn't exactly hard at this point. That's where they started; former CEO Lord John Browne to be exact. Yes, he's a frickin' lord. You can watch Randi Kaye's piece below:

• I'm guessing that Kevin Costner knows his stuff, yet I still can't help being disturbed that we are currently so far down the rabbit hole that talking to the guy from Waterworld seems like a good option. I wait with baited breath to find out how Mel Gibson would stop the oil.
  

• Finally tonight, Gary Tuchman talks to General Russel Honore, who apparently wants to declare World War III on the oil disaster. We must invade the ocean! The fish will greet us as liberators and present us with flowers and candy! Hm. I know the General kicked ass during Katrina and all and I really do appreciate the moxie, but I kinda don't get this. He wants to move troops from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Gulf? Okay, yay, but to do what? Clean blades of grass? Gary asks him if he can draw out a battle plan and dang if he doesn't do so right there. I found that fairly amusing, and not just because he makes Florida look like a penis (oh, like I'm the only one who noticed). So anyway, the General's plan is to "find the oil and kill it." Which, um, okay. He does know the oil is not alive, right? I could see me using this kind of rhetoric because I would be doing so ironically, but Honore doesn't seem like a guy who gets ironic, like, ever. But hell, maybe we do need his plan. I mean, the best thing we got going for us right now seems to be Kevin Costner, so there you go. You kill that oil, General! You kill it with fire!
  

• That'll do it. This bullet point contains a World Cup goal. Save it for Friday!

Week Three Of Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster

Hi everyone. I left you on Friday because I stumbled upon a life and actually went out. I know, I was shocked too. Tonight I'm not feeling especially bloggy, but instead of leaving you on your lonesome, I shall throw down some videos to pick up my slack. That works, right? Don't worry, the bullet points may be few and brief, but they are still present and as always, they are awesome:

• Okay media, the president has confirmed that he is on the lookout for asses to kick. Are you happy now? Or does Obama need to stomp his feet and shake his fist for us to really know he cares?

• The train dinging is back! Our anchor actually acknowledged the noise tonight, noting that the nearby railroad crossing is broken. Has it been broken this whole time? I guess the area has more pressing matters to deal with, but you'd think that'd get annoying. Lucky for us it seemed quieter this time around.

• Anderson has developed himself one nasty cough. Breathing in crap from Haiti for weeks and then breathing in oil crap for weeks is probably not good for a person. Feel better, Silver Fox.

• The montage of BP interview requests was brilliantly passive aggressive. Anderson Cooper just wants to have a little talk with you, BP. Why so scared? You can watch the clips below. Major shout out to MoxNewsDotCom who uploaded the video after a request from me. Maybe he would have anyway, but thanks all the same. (Update: I got confirmation that he did upload it for me. How awesome is he? Send him love and puppies.) As always, for those who think it's ridiculous that BP refuses to go on the show, show your support and join the Facebook group Make BP appear on AC360.

• The next video first covers how BP is paying for a sweet spot in Google and Yahoo searches, and then goes into an interview Anderson did with Edward James Olmos. Apparently, he was on Battlestar Galactica, so one wonders if our anchor had a geeked out fan boy moment (though given the situation, probably sadly no). Anyway, the actor didn't say much to write home about. Move the White House to the Gulf? Really?

• Below is Randi Kaye's piece from Destin, Florida. Smart of them to take matters into their own hands. BP isn't coming to save anybody.

• Finally, there was Anderson's interview with Deepwater Horizon oil rig survivors Daniel Barron, Doug Brown, Matthew Jacobs, Chris Choy, and Brent Mansfield. They paint a truly harrowing ordeal.
  

• That'll do it. This bullet point contains a lollipop. Is there a surprise in the center? Maybe.
  

"How Are You Going To Make This Right?" AC360's Marathon Night Of Live Coverage From Louisiana

Hi everyone. Well, the 360 kids earned those paychecks tonight, didn't they? Except for the hour when they slipped us some taped Larry King (sneaky!), the broadcast went live until 2 AM EST. Not the longest night I've ever seen them do; still pretty close. The occasion? BP capped the well, which I believe is their 502nd attempt to stop the damn oil from flowing. Not really being a mechanical person, I had no plans to stick around and watch hours of the coverage. Then I got to chatting with some longtime 360 viewers and, well, yep, I watched the whole marathon. I did, however, stop writing things down in the second hour, so I am sorry to say that the bullet points will not be all-encompassing. But they will be--what's the word? Oh yes, awesome! Away we go:

• Below I have embeded the first few minutes of the show, which are definitely worth a watch. First of all, Anderson Cooper's pronunciation of robot (robutt!) is one of the most hilariously adorable things you'll ever hear. But to bring this back to Serious Town, there's a mad powerful moment that's related to the title of this post. On the same day that we're hearing about a new PR strategy from BP, we're also seeing absolutely devastating pictures of wildlife. Which brings us to our anchor: "BP says they're going to make things right in that commercial. It's a good slogan. It's folksy. It's familiar. It's down-home. But our question to them tonight, if they were ever willing to come on this program, which they're still not, our question tonight is this: How are you going to make this right?" He then repeats the question three more times, each time an oil soaked bird appearing on screen. Well done.

• Anderson on BP's lack of information regarding the latest fix attempt: "Sadly, BP doesn't release information as quickly as that well releases oil." Oh, snap!

• More of our anchor on BP: "They paid a big-time political consultant to make this ad, the price tag, an estimated $50 million, $50 million. Now, many of the fishermen we have been meeting for the last few weeks here are watching their livelihoods go down the drain -- $50 million -- while fishermen wait and struggle to collect a few thousand dollars that BP says they're going to pay them for lost work, but haven't paid them yet." Um, about that political consultant? One of the heads of the firm that produced the ad is CNN contributor--and frequent 360 guest--Alex Castellanos. I'm guessing Anderson didn't want to mention that part. Do I need to again explain why the concept of pundits is so disgusting to me? Seriously, this crap hurts CNN's reputation.

• BP is undertaking this massive operation and has no one around to explain what the hell is going on? Allow me to show you my shocked face.
  

• Hey, guess what, BP. Anderson Cooper is so servicey, he will not only get up early to interview you, he is now offering you free advice! "I'm going to give BP some free P.R. advice, not that they care what I say. But they're spending $50 million on an ad. They could have somebody just narrating in real time what is happening, just like Houston does when they launch a rocket, and it would get people invested in this operation." Can we just make Anderson Disaster Czar?
  

• Larry King interviewed Obama tonight and it was, well, Larry. And of course he had to ask him about being angry. You know, our president may not be showing the apparent adequate level of Rage Face, but I'm about to friggin' throttle the next person that asks that question. Thankfully, we have people like Jason Linkins, who wins the Internets for this glorious smackdown of that bullshit (bonus points for Dashboard Confessional reference).

• James Carville's story about running into Admiral Thad Allen and BP CEO Tony Hayward in a restaurant was pretty funny, mostly because Anderson was like, dude, you should have called me. He wants that interview so bad, people! As always, don't forget to join the Facebook group to make BP come on the show. How dare they freeze out the Silver Fox!

• I have to say, I wasn't that impressed with Kyra Phillips' "full access" to the rig serving as BP command central. It seems like she talked more about getting the interview than she did anything that furthered my knowledge of the situation. Plus, she bordered on making excuses for them. You know, sometimes companies give exclusives like this for a reason.
  

• Gary Tuchman's piece on the birds was so sad. But at least there are trained rescuers and the pelicans are being saved. Watch below:
  

• Gary wishing Anderson a happy birthday was very sweet: "Before we go, though, I do want to say something personal to you. This area, the New Orleans area, we love it. We just love it very much. Particularly you, your history here. And it's a very sad time. But what I must emphasize is, that it's so appropriate that on today, June 3, that you are here. Because today, June 3, is Anderson Cooper's birthday. All of us want to wish Anderson a very happy birthday." And of course the Silver Fox was like, grumble, grumble. Whatever Anderson, you know you love our love! You can watch the wishes at the end of this clip. The quality's pretty bad, but beggars can't be choosers. As for me, I got my own present for our anchor. You're just going to have to wait until the last bullet point to see what it is (or, you know, scroll).

• David Mattingly's container of oil amused me a bit. I was wondering when someone was finally going to bring props.

• I'm pretty sure I heard Sanjay Gupta allude to the fact that Katrina was not a man made disaster. Um, no. To quote Spike Lee, "Most people think that it was Katrina that brought about the devastation to New Orleans. But it was a breaching of the levees that put 80 percent of the city under water. It was not the hurricane." And the levee failure was due to man.

• Good investigative piece from Joe Johns.

• Sanjay actually anchored the latter half of the broadcast and he did a really nice job. Was it his first time anchoring breaking news like that? I think so. It's amusing to me how much calmer he is than Anderson, whose mind is clearly beyond boggled at this point at the stupidity of BP. I like both their styles: yin and yang. I'd say "fire and ice," but longtime viewers know that didn't go over so well the last time.
  

• This is where the bullet points start to wind down. It was a good broadcast. CNN done right. I hope the 360 kids enjoyed their pizza (delivered to their location--servicey!) and are getting some rest.

• Finally, the birthday boy. Admittedly, Anderson's birthday kinda jumped up on me given that I don't normally keep track of those things for people I don't know. So, when I found out it was today, I thought long and hard what to get him (translation: about 30 seconds), and I think I've come up with the perfect thing. The Silver Fox will likely not be clicking on that link from this blog, but for the rest of you dorky sadists out there, enjoy!
  

Week Two Of Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster

Hi everyone. I hope you enjoyed your weekend because things are about to get oily and depressing up in here. The 360 kids are once again coming at us from what could arguably be called ground zero of the worst environmental disaster of our lifetime. Still the oil spills; still the oil spreads--now showing up in Alabama. If there is one bright spot, it is the bullet points. They are here, and they are awesome. Enjoy:

• Gary Tuchman's piece was pretty mind-boggling. Is this really where we're at right now? Cleaning blades of grass? I feel bad for the workers. They're no doubt some of the same people whose livelihoods are being threatened by BP. Now they're forced to work for them, performing back-breaking jobs, all the while not allowed to say a peep. Talk about demoralizing.
  

• You can see a video of Gary talking about his day here and check him out on Twitter as well. Also, would you like to follow his awesome producer Joneil Adriano? Of course you would. And as long as you're following people, you may as well follow producer Ismael Estrada who wrote this blog post. You will enjoy their tweets, I promise. They probably can't compete with the bullet points, but what can really?
  

• Can we talk about what a giant douchebag this Tony Hayward guy is? Poor Mr. CEO wants his life back. Gee Tony, I'm really sorry if our destroyed lives and decimated environment are putting a crimp in your caviar dreams. Allow me to play you a sad song on my teeny tiny violin. Is there anything this guy can do right? We already know he's not so hot with stopping flowing oil. And apparently when it comes to being PR savvy, well, not so much. Worst. CEO. Ever. You know what this bullet point needs? A parody about BP to the tune of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Oh yes, it exists.

• I'm guessing the 360 kids had Anderson Cooper's live shot set up near train tracks. When I initially heard the dinging, I was merely bemused--live television has its quirks. But it kept going on and on. By about mid show I wanted to kill that damn sound. I wanted to kill it with fire.

• Billy Nungesser is like the Energizer Bunny. Do his batteries ever run out? I'm glad he returned to that Coast Guard meeting after walking out.
  

• Billy: "A lot of people say, a lot smarter people than me, that they don't want us to know exactly how much oil is coming out of that hole." To which our anchor replied: "Well, you know, that's not crazy talk, because, frankly, for the first month we all know NOAA came up with the 5,000 barrel figure. BP was still saying it was 1,000 barrels back then." No, that is certainly not crazy talk. I'm glad everyone has finally pretty much ended up at the place where I began, which is to hold the belief that BP is lying. Where we go from here, I couldn't tell you. Also, the whole number of barrels issue is so one of Anderson's things. You could practically see him be like, "Don't even get me started on that."
  

• BP continues to freeze out our anchor, and given that he actually started laughing when he tonight once again invited them on the show, I'm thinking he knows there's not going to be thawing anytime soon. But if you want to help put the pressure on, you can join this Facebook page dedicated to getting an official on the broadcast. C'mon Tony, are you really afraid of a little Silver Fox?

• Ed Henry's piece was 90 percent good, but I have had it up to here with the stupid "why won't Obama show his rage?" narrative. I'm sorry, did I miss the memo that said that the president's anger will stop the oil from flowing? Why are you denying us your magical rage, Obama?! Look, he has an even temper--that's just who he is. And for the life of me I don't understand why we're not all ridiculously excited about this. Do you people remember the last guy? Hell, there were times when I worried that he would become bored, get hopped up on Red Bull, and accidentally nuke Estonia. Now we have a guy who's all calm and reasonable, and the press is like "well yeah, but wouldn't you feel better if he raised the volume of his voice?" No! No, I would not feel better! I will feel better when the oil stops flowing. Ahh!!! *deep breath* To be clear, I didn't witness Ed personally push this narrative to Gibbs. But I did see some other guy (don't know his name) do so when I caught a few minutes of the gaggle today. Times like that I just want to march in there and knock all their heads together. Too violent?

• Now that I think about it, one thing Bush got right is that history will judge him in the end. Oh, I don't think it's going to judge him--is judging him--in quite the way he anticipated, but the concept stands. Katrina was such a failure for Bush, not specifically because he appeared inept (think flyover picture); he was inept. In the weeks and months following the disaster we learned through insiders and video that he was totally asleep at the wheel. Those are revelations that take time to come out. Seeing Obama talk basketball with Marv Albert doesn't exactly make me feel good, but then again, what, do we expect him to be out there cleaning blades of grass? As long as he has a handle on things behind-the-scenes, I'm relatively happy. And that's not something anyone can have a full picture of right now. Of course, that's not to say the press should wait to hold him to account. That would be crazy.

• I am crossing my fingers and toes that Eric Holder will be able to successfully prosecute BP; however, I am not holding my breath. I agree with Douglas Brinkley, it's time for Tony to go. Too bad we've been rocking a fail-up culture for at least a decade.
  

• I was glad to see the Ben Wedeman piece. I'm not completely up on the flotilla assault story, though it's sounding like Israel was ridiculously out of line. Can you imagine the aneurysm the Right in this country would have if Iran did something like that?

• I'm interested to see Spike Lee's new documentary. I own ""When the Levees Broke," which is a must-see if you haven't already. It took me a month to get through due to rage and sadness. I only allowed myself to watch one act a week. Since that time I've occasionally thought about watching it again, but never have because it still makes me so so angry.
  

• Yay for the investigative piece from Joe Johns.

• You guys been checking out the ratings lately? Our little show hasn't been doing too bad. Oh, sure, they're still getting stomped by Fox News, but check out Friday--that's a solid second. I'm glad. The shows have been good. They deserve it.
  

• Finally, this bullet point contains a comic strip that hilariously mocks our press, is on topic, and manages to make you picture James Carville riding a burning alligator. No, really!

Live From Louisiana For Coverage Of The BP Oil Spill And President Obama's Visit

Update 5/30/10: I've been notified that a Facebook page has been created in the hopes of getting someone from BP to go on 360. Couldn't hurt, right? If you've got your Angry Face on over this situation...join! The Internets are coming for you, BP!

Hi everyone. The bullet points were actually not expecting to be here because they thought they had plans. Que sera, sera. Consider this a bonus as you jump into your holiday weekend:

• Tonight Anderson Cooper again used the phrase "B.S.," though there was no unintentionally comical apology this time. Apparently he is no longer concerned about our innocent ears. Again, think of the children!

• So, BP might have bussed in extra workers to make things seem extra progress-y for President Obama. Raise your hand if this allegation shocks you. Yeah, that's what I thought. Can these people be in jail now please?

• BP is still giving the Silver Fox the slip. Our anchor had them in his grasp; even had an interview scheduled. "We were very excited," he tells us, while managing to actually not sound excited at all. Unfortunately, when the whole bussed-in-extra-workers thing broke, BP stopped returning the 360 kids calls. Funny that. This has left our anchor extra hot and bothered: "...they will be on lots of other people's programs. I'm not sure why they won't be on this one. But I would welcome them. And I won't bite them or anything. I will be nice." Anderson Cooper will refrain from going mad vampire on your ass, Tony. What more could you ask for?! (Our anchor would be a hella hot vampire. There's totally a franchise there. Just sayin'.)

• I missed most of the coverage of Obama's visit, but feel a little better after listening to Billy Nungesser. And of course I loved the part where he told Anderson that Obama had made him promise that when future problems arose, he would call the White House before contacting our anchor. Billy tries to keep talking and Anderson's like, wait, WHAT? Back that up. "He actually said that? He didn't actually say that." Our anchor's all cool and everything, but you know that deep down that made him ridiculously excited.
  

• More James Carville. More Douglas Brinkley. Both seemed to lean toward the more positive side regarding Obama's visit, though they wish he would have stayed longer and talked to locals. Fair, I guess. Although, I still think what Obama does is much more important than whether or not he looks like he cares. John Cole has another good post related to this subject. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite bloggers. Funny that he started out on the other side.

• Carville on the BP fake workers accusation and whether or not it surprised him: "No, not at all. It would be very consistent with BP's behavior. They lie about everything and they fake everything, so I'm not surprised at all." Pretty much.

• Much of what I don't like about Carville--all punditry, really--is the inauthenticity. They're performers--some more than others. They're spinning for their side, while at the same time trying to make a name for themselves. I find the majority of it disgusting. However, I bring this up because this situation is different. There's nothing inauthentic in what he's saying now. I will give him that.

• But this from Carville had me rolling my eyes: "We don't like their beltways and Applebee's and, you know, the food they eat, anything like that, you know. We're different people here in South Louisiana." You don't like "their" beltways? Dude, you ARE beltway. And if the situation were different, I'm betting Anderson would have called you on it...just like he did last time (word "dude" included!)

• Anderson's piece with the oyster fishermen was good. I can't believe he ate one (an oyster, not a fisherman).

• I liked the segment with Rob Marciano, David Mattingly, and Carol Costello. A good way to get a sum-up of several different reporting perspectives.
  

• Anderson on BP: "They have so many PR people, so many lobbyists. It's not as if they're, like, country bumpkins who've never seen a TV camera before." There goes the country bumpkin demographic.

• David on BP: "I really don't know how they see us, but I certainly know how everybody sees them." And more Anderson for good measure: "I think I know how they see this program, at least, because we haven't seen much of them." This is just eating at him, isn't it?

• The oil plumes Rob talked about are kinda freaking me out. Rachel Maddow has been covering them and she just makes them sound scarier each night.

• Anderson: "We've been reporting this for a long time. These guys are going to continue for a long time to come, as long as the story -- frankly, when many of the other cameras leave, we'll still be following this story. That's our commitment to the Gulf." The bitchy part of me immediately thought, "but what about your commitment to Haiti?" (We never got anything from Gary Tuchman.) The part of me that's mostly nice knows they're just trying their best to cover everything, so as I opened this post, que sera, sera.

• Sorry to all you reading who didn't actually watch the broadcast. I know these bullet points didn't really explain much. I will try to work on being more service-y in the future. These shows from the gulf have been good.

• Finally, to lighten the mood a little, Anderson Cooper can we talk about your new glasses? Because you've got a whole lot of fail going on there. The Harry Potter look works for Rachel Maddow. You? Not so much. You're messing with your brand. You are he of the silver locks and eyes of blue. Now people are just like, whoa, glasses. Don't interfere with the pretty! You want something unobtrusive: wire rims, probably in silver. Silver rims for a Silver Fox. You can thank me later. (Also? All this time I thought he was squinting and furrowing because the news was just So Intense. Now it dawns on me that maybe he just couldn't see well. I guess we're all Angela Chase and we just discovered Jordan uses eye drops.)

• This bullet point contains some yummy barbeque. Have a nice Memorial Day! Don't forget to think about the troops.
  

Continued Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster With Extra Anger At BP

Hi everyone. The bullet points are a bit tired because they had to get up early this morning. They will try to maintain an adequate level of awesomeness. On with the show:

• BP, Anderson Cooper is not happy that you will not come on his show. "BP doesn't come on this program for some reason, though we invite them to every single night, but, this morning, they did appear on other shows." Why are you playing favorites, BP?! You are giving Anderson sad face. No, actually, it's more like irritated face plus the energy of one Red Bull. Way to go, BP. Now look what you've done. Well, you know, besides that whole catastrophic oil leak and everything.

• Yes, this was very much a "we hate BP" kinda night. An awesome thing about our anchor is that the more you avoid him, the more it pisses him off, sometimes even resulting in snarkiness. See: Palin, Sarah.

• Aw, Billy Nungesser looked so dejected tonight. I don't think that he even has the energy to be angry anymore. Hang in there, Billy!

• Douglas Brinkley is quickly becoming my new favorite person. He's reasonable and thoughtful and full context. Those qualities might seem obvious, but they are rare in cable news, people. He's like the Gerg before the Gerg went all Villager on us. I mean, check this out: "...it's unacceptable to trust BP. Whatever they say is meant to minimize situations. They haven't been transparent." *Claps* Yes! As I said before, our default thinking should be that they are lying.

• I'd never even heard of Congressman Charlie Melancon before today, but that clip of him getting choked up over his home was heartbreaking.
  

• Regarding Obama's presser, I can't fully weigh in because I didn't watch. (Some of us have to work, yo.) I did, however, try to skim along on Twitter. Seems like Obama just did okay. You'd think that someone would maybe fully brief the president on the whole MMS head situation before he spoke to the entire country, but apparently not. Lordie.

• As previously stated, I'm not a huge James Carville fan. And I'm really not a huge Mary Matalin fan. Given that, I guess it was practically inevitable that we'd have a pretty long segment with them tonight. In all honesty though, it wasn't bad. I don't have anything stupid to point out.
  

• Actually, the entire broadcast was shockingly lacking in idiotic narratives. I was steeling myself for the inevitable panel discussion about why Obama didn't act angry enough, something which apparently happened after the presser. But it never came on 360! Instead, there was, like, reporting and stuff. Weird.
  

• The post I linked to makes an interesting point regarding Bush's Katrina flyover picture. It got big play in the press, but for me it ranked pretty low on the list of items that pissed me off in that situation. Just like how I was never that impressed with the 9-11 "bullhorn moment." Is it just me or is this just another case of media stupidity? Shouldn't we want our leaders to actually get things done, rather than just play the part of someone who looks like a leader? Tomorrow I want Obama to go down there and basically act like a huge-ass pair of scissors. Red tape. Snip, snip. And I don't give a damn if he's holding a bullhorn, or has his sleeves rolled up, or is walking around in a hazmat suit wearing an Angry Face when he does it.
  

• Also worth reading: Why BP is the Anti-Katrina. The Katrina comparisons have so infuriated me because in that situation people were dying due to lack of basic items, such as water and shelter. Water! We have water! What was so unacceptable about that situation is that we had resources and plans and everyone was just dropping the ball. This oil thing is completely different. Unless we've got some sort of storage facility that contains super magic oil stopping machines and Obama just hasn't distributed them yet, well, I fail to see the comparison.

• Ed Lavandera's piece was pretty depressing. You know those fisherman are just going to get screwed over.

• It was nice that 360 gave some coverage to the 11 men who died on the rig. They've mostly been treated as a mere afterthought in all of this, and I include myself in that statement. It's not right. Keith Jones testified on Capitol Hill today due to the loss of his son Gordon. This quote from him is sadly too true: "If you want these companies, one of which is headquartered in Great Britain and another in Switzerland, to make every effort to make sure their employees don't act as these did, putting American lives at risk, you must make certain they are exposed to pain in the only place they can feel it, their bank accounts. As a friend recently said, make them hurt where their heart would be if they had a heart."

• The Death on the High Seas Act sounds like it definitely needs to be amended.
  

• Well, I finally got my Coast Guard interview...and Admiral Thad Allen did not impress. I've heard good things about him in the past, but he didn't really seem to have a real grasp on the situation. We'll just have to wait and see.

• Good piece from Rob Marciano. Sounds like another way BP is being shady.
  

• There wasn't much amusement for me to squeeze out for you tonight, but the show was good. Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm a little nervous. Don't screw this up, Obama. Remember, you got this.
  

• This bullet point contains a rainbow, but no pot of gold. I'm generous; I'm not that generous.
  

Continued Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster

Hi everyone. The road trip continues, now with more oil! Man, this is DEpressing. Luckily, the bullet points remain awesome. Away we go:

• While I am very loath to make Hurricane Katrina comparisons, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser is totally this disaster's Junior Rodriguez. All we need is for him to say "bullshit" live on air.

• Our anchor's piece:

• Apparently, the red tape is out of control. Ah, government. Of course, I'd take them over BP any day. Also? Kenneth the Page appears to be doing a fairly good job. He might recover from that Republican rebuttal just yet.

• I am not impressed with the ragin' cajun schtick, but I've never been a fan of James Carville to begin with. So there's that. This Newsweek piece takes on his criticism of Obama and hits on some of what has me bothered.

• The weird part is that both Nungesser and Carville swear Obama cares; he just apparently hasn't been properly informed of the situation. Um, does that make anyone else worried? Maybe heads really do need to roll, but I want them to roll because someone actually screwed up; not to give political cover. I don't know what to think of the situation right now. Friday will be interesting.

• Our anchor REALLY wants you to come to New Orleans, people.

• Anderson to Nungesser re: BP: "Do you think they have just been dishonest with you? And, if so, why? What is their motive?" Their motive? Um, covering their ass to protect their bottom line? Does anyone actually think there's another explanation?
  

• More from our anchor: "...today, just as we have done every day for weeks now, literally weeks, we invited BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, to come on 360. Again today, the answer was no. He does the morning shows. Maybe he doesn't want to stay up late. We will stay up. I will wake up early to talk to him as a service to viewers, so you can hear the company's side, because we do want the company to be able voice their side." Anderson Cooper will set his alarm for you, Tony! And aw, it's very sweet of him to be service-y like that for us.

• Still more: "We put the one and only interview we have done with a BP executive, not Mr. Hayward, online at AC360.com. Take a look at the interview. See if maybe you think I did something in that interview that would make them not want to come back on this program. I can't, for the life of me, figure it out. I did a lot of research for the interview, but I think they're up to it." Okay, please tell me this is extreme subtle snarking and he is not actually scratching his head over why Hayward won't come on the show. Perhaps, Anderson, he has seen you on the TeeVee being all impassioned and stuff and he knows you will politely rip him a new one. Like a Jedi. Does oil jerk want the big headline at Huffington Post to be "Anderson Cooper Demolishes BP's Tony Hayward"? No, he does not. Does he want a viral video of him looking a-fool? Nope. So there you go. Also, I laughed out loud when our anchor said he did a lot of research for that interview. Aw, yes you did. I swear Anderson Cooper, sometime you're just too adorable.

• Interesting interview with Zygmunt Plater.

• The ATF story was definitely important, but couldn't it have been run anytime? We still haven't gotten any coverage of Gary Tuchman in Haiti. Here's what I found online:

• I've been doing a fair amount of defending of our prez (and still don't believe this is his Katrina), but the news from Ed Henry that he attended a fundraiser for Gordon and Ann Getty of the Getty oil fortune is just unacceptable. Bad Obama, bad! If I see a picture of you with a senator and a birthday cake, you're sooo going on my list.

• Obviously Anderson and David Gergen have entered a conspiracy to drive me crazy. From our anchor: "David, you said something the other night to me which I've been thinking about a lot. You said, if we fought World War II with the same kind of attitude and energy with which the government is fighting this, a lot of us would be speaking German. Do you still believe that?" Oh good lord. Okay, I'm not a historian, but didn't we go through some massive messed up periods during WWII? Did neither of them watch Flags of Our Fathers? Or, like, any true-to-life movie/documentary on the subject? Anderson, I know you've seen Fog of War. Romanticizing the past only gets us into trouble in the present. But I guess history really is written by the victors.
  

• People are apparently emailing our anchor in defense of Obama (not me, people. I swear!). He goes on to tell us two things he thinks the federal government could have done: NOAA could have figured out how much oil was actually leaking and the EPA could have done more tests on dispersants. "Those are two things that--and again, I'm not particularly smart, but I can see on the ground here, those two things are things the federal government could have done in answer to the e- mails I'm getting." Dude. You're not particularly smart? I think that goes a little beyond self deprecation. I mean, could you have your own cable show if you weren't particularly smart? Okay, bad example. But stop saying that. It gives me sad face. Listen to me Anderson Cooper, you're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you. As for what he said about the government, would it have truly helped? Hell if I know, but we'll just assume that it would.

• The 360 kids are staying in the gulf through Friday. It'd be cool if Anderson could get an interview with Obama. I think he has a better shot at that than BP oil jerk.

• That'll do it. Sorry this post was more inside-baseball than usual. This bullet point contains Cheetos, mostly just because I'm craving Cheetos. They can't all be winners, people.

Harry Reid's Controversial Remarks About Obama, Other 2008 Campaign Scoop, And More News From Yemen

Hi everyone. Happy New Week! This is going to be another one of those short posts. It may be 2010, but we're going to spend the majority of this broadcast in the warm afterglow of the 2008 campaign season. Political junkies' hearts are currently a-flutter over a new book called "Game Change," which has the chattering class, well, chattering over all kinds of juicy little nuggets involving our favorite and not-so-favorite political figures.

Will I be buying this book? In a word? No. Don't get me wrong, I AM one of those political junkies, and anyone who watched Anderson Cooper's 60 Minutes piece knows there's some serious Sarah Palin schadenfreude thrown in there, but as a rule I tend to avoid these kind of beltway reads.

Though they surely contain truths, the truth is a different animal. Let's cut the crap here; this is a book of political gossip, anonymously sourced from people that have agendas, as well as written by people that have agendas. I think Glenn Greenwald breaks the situation down quite nicely. When it comes down to it, I simply don't believe that Mark Halperin and John Heilemann have produced something that deserves my money.

We're kicking things off with the revelation that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid thought Obama would succeed as president due to his "light-skinned appearance" and "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Ruh roh. Yeah, cracking open a couple of brews at the White House isn't going to solve this one. Republican hypocritical outrage is 3...2...1...

We're first joined by Bill Bennett and James Carville, who each play their partisan roles as one might expect. James calls the comment "inelegant," while Bill gets all puffed up about the situation, demanding to know "Who the heck talks like this anymore?" Um, lots of people in your party?

Then we're on to Roland Martin, Soledad O'Brien, and Peter Beinart, who provide us a much better discussion. The whole double standard issue is brought up and you know what? The Republicans are absolutely right. If a Republican said what Reid said, everyone defending him now would be screaming for a resignation. But before you think I'm backing the Party of No, the opposite is true as well. They'd suddenly find their defense on. That's politics in 2010.

Funny thing is--or sad thing, actually--is that Reid is right. I definitely don't endorse the way he said it, but as the panel notes, we all know there's some truth there. I also think it should be pointed out that Reid wasn't making a personal comment. He was commenting on Obama's electability. So, should Reid resign over this? Um, no. Should he lose his re-election? That's up to the voters in Nevada. Anyway, good discussion. I like how they incorporated footage from the documentary "A Girl Like Me."

On now to Anderson interviewing "Game Change" authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. There's some interesting stuff about the Clintons here. It seems some people who were publicly endorsing Hillary were privately pulling for Obama because they thought she would be too polarizing. That's actually why I voted for Obama as well. That and the Bill factor, which apparently the Clinton people very much worried about too. Perhaps the biggest revelation is that Hillary wasn't going to accept the Secretary of State position. I'm glad she did.

Transitioning now to a Paula Newton piece on Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric hiding out in Yemen. Paula is able to talk to Anwar's father, who claims his son wrongly accused and an "all American boy." Mmhm. Not sure how well that's going to fly.

We're then joined by Peter Bergen for discussion. He gives us good info, as always, but I'm going to go slacker and just give you the funny. Says Peter: "Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, it's sort of forgotten that he had a colleague called Sajib Badat who also was going to do a shoe bomb attack on an American airline, got a case, as it were, of cold feet." Ah, I see what you did there, Mr. Bergen. "Was that a pun? asks our anchor. "It was a bad one." says Peter. See, this is what happens when you let the analysts participate in the "shot." They get all cocky. By the way, Peter trying to be funny in of itself is kinda hilarious.

In other news, screw you Mark McGwire. Thanks for ruining a lot of memories. Also, Sarah Palin joins Fox News. Because nobody saw that coming a mile away.

I think I'm just going to wrap it up here. The show was really panel heavy. Really book heavy, actually. And it's not like they had an exclusive. It's everywhere. That's some mad marketing going on, huh? This is one of those times when I'm completely confused about 360's identity. If this show is geared toward political junkies, then they did an excellent job. Otherwise I think the focus was way too much. I mean, in essence this is all old news. It's not like campaign coverage where people need to be informed about the political goings-on. I'll be interested to see the ratings. That'll do it.

Obama In A Slump, The Kidnapping Of Roy Hallums, A Setback For David Goldman, Hate Crime Cover-up, And Where Is Indiana Again, Anderson?

Hi everyone. Hey, have you noticed that lately we've only been getting the awful BREAKING NEWS graphic when there is actual "breaking news"? Improvement! Somebody deserves a cookie. Of course, now that I've said that, it'll be back tomorrow. Tonight, however, we're starting with the POTUS and his recent sucking. At least, that's the new narrative. Meh. Copenhagen's going badly. Health care reform might crash and burn. Sinking poll numbers. Oh the dramaz!

Anderson Cooper jumps up and practically runs to the Magic Wall to show us more. Must. Use. Technology! The subject is the Democrats as a whole...and Lieberman...and Nelson--oh yes, he's still bitching about abortion. You didn't think that matter was actually settled, did you? It's all enough to make a democracy-loving citizen curl up in the fetal position and cry.

To pontificate about all this (because I guess they must), we're joined by James Carville and Bill Bennett. There is literally nothing of note here. Well, other than the fact that no one seems aware that Senator Bernie Sanders might not vote for the health care reform bill. Ruh roh. As for the overall theme here, while I'll concede that Obama is definitely not having his Best Week Ever, I pretty much loathe these beltway narratives and find them worthy of nothing but mocking. It gets better though: at the end of the segment, Anderson pimps out Bill's book. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Transitioning now to the truly harrowing tale of American contractor Roy Hallums, who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2004 by Iraqi insurgents. Three months later, a proof of life video emerged--the kidnappers were demanding $12 million for his release. Eight months after that, he was rescued by Special Forces. Michael Ware joins Anderson in the studio to talk about the story, because not only did he interview Hallums, he was also able to shoot video of his underground cell a mere two days after the contractor was rescued.

From Michael we learn the horrific details. As noted, Hallums was kept in a dark underground cell, his hands and feet tied. The ordeal spanned an unbelievable 311 days. During the last three months, his kidnappers would actually concrete over where he was kept. Then every three days they would chip the concrete away to give him food. I cannot even imagine. I'm surprised he didn't go completely crazy. As the New Yorker reported in March, that kind of confinement can really destroy a person.

An interesting angle to this story is the dynamic between Michael and Hallums. Some of you might remember that our Aussie reporter had his own run-in with being kidnapped. In fact, he would have been beheaded by Al Qaeda if not for a turf war with Iraqi insurgents. Scary doesn't even begin to cover it. Both men talk about how their kidnappings were almost like out of body experiences. They note they're lucky to be alive. But then there's this sobering point from Michael: "And yet as lucky as we are, Anderson, the Roy Hallums of the world know all of this comes with a price that we'll just keep paying forever." Indeed.

Hey, have you played the CNN Challenge game? Well, it's about that time again. And when I say "that time," I mean time for promoting the thing. It seems our anchor has been sucked in. We're told he's going to play at the end of the broadcast. There's a countdown clock and everything. Good lord, WTF is with CNN and their countdown clocks? I still remember when they had one for the big Larry King/Paris Hilton interview and I will never--EVER-- let that go.

On now to a follow up of the David Goldman case. Unfortunately, he had a setback in his quest to get his son back. Yesterday, Anderson spoke with Goldman when he was en route to Brazil because it was thought that the courts had finally ruled in his favor. Upon landing, things all fell apart. For discussion, we're joined by Jeffrey Toobin; Senior CNN Producer Adam Reiss, who flew with Goldman; and Sunny Hostin, former federal prosecutor. There are no winners here. Sad.

Next up, we have a Soledad O'Brien piece on a possible hate crime cover-up. I'm assuming this is from the "Latino in America" series. Luis Ramirez was an undocumented immigrant who was walking down the street looking for work, when he was savagely beaten by four white high schoolers who allegedly yelled ethnic slurs. He later died. The crime took place in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and initially the killers were only charged with assault. Then, right before their release, they were slapped with federal hate crime charges and are now facing life in prison. Federal prosecutors are accusing the police chief and other officers of actually coaching the high schoolers in order to get off. So...wow. What a messed up world.

CNN Challenge time! Let's see what's in that Silver Fox head. But first, we must pick a host to guide us through the quiz. For those who haven't played, all the candidates pretty much beg you to pick them. It's rather amusing. Erica Hill demonstrates by first clicking on Wolf Blitzer and then herself. Both sales pitches contain little jabs at our anchor. "Is this game all about dissing me?" he asks. Yes, Anderson. Yes it is. Also? I love it when you say "dissing." That's how he rolls, people!

Anyway, the quiz commences and the first drag and drop questions goes by without fan fare. For the next question, Erica informs him he has to move all the letters around. "Oh, you're kidding," says our anchor. No, she's not. Just be glad you get to use your hands. Doing it with a mouse is a bitch. Seriously CNN, why?

Skipping ahead to the football question. Because if there's anything Anderson Cooper knows, it's football. Specifically, the question is about the location of Notre Dame, and luckily Toobin is there to provide an assist. Now all the Silver Fox has to do is hit Indiana on the map and he's golden. Easy-peasy, right? Um, not so much. "Do you know where Indiana is?" Erica jokes. "I don't think I do," replies our panicking anchor. Dooood! Really? Geography fail! But we've got Erica for the assist.

"I will never live that down," says Anderson. You really won't. Because I'm totally going to bring it up all the time. From Toobin: "Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, who can keep them straight. Right?" Yeah, because we're all just flyover states to you losers, right? I see how it is. No, really, it's fine. Can I get you a latte to go with your elitism, Jeffrey? Don't worry, I'm just kidding the Toob. As for our anchor, here come the excuses: "Let me just say, I've had a very long day. I'm very tired. I was down in D.C. earlier. I've done interviews all day." Oh, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's Indiana, dude. I'm getting you a map for Christmas!

Anyway! I'm just funning with the Silver Fox. Though I've pretty much got Indiana down, I'm sure there's a state or two that would flummox me as well. But to see Anderson in all his humiliation glory, here be the video. Regarding the game, it's weird how at the end they tell you it seems like you should watch their show more. I mean, I get the promotion aspect, but half the questions are not about stuff you'd see on 360--at least not currently. I once got a question about Batman. Seriously, WTF?

I'm just going to skip the "shot" because it's Palin related and it's hard to top the last segment anyway. It's unclear whether the quirky/fun stuff we've been getting lately marks any real change or if it's just because it's December (360 tends to get frisky in December), but I like it. As for the meat of the show, not bad, though I'd wish they'd focus more on accountability and less on punditry. Always great to see Michael Ware. That'll do it. I hope Anderson doesn't lose too much sleep tonight kicking himself over Indiana. He'll now know where that state is located as long as he lives.

Oh, also? Our anchor told us to have a good weekend. I'm not sure if he was just all frazzled from Indiana or what, but even if there's a show tomorrow, I won't be blogging. Places to be, people to see. Maybe I'll try to check in this weekend.

Live From The Otay Mesa Border, Inside A Drug Tunnel, Violence In Juarez, And Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Speech

Hi everybody. Pack your bags, because it's field trip time! Tonight Anderson Cooper is coming at us live from the Otay Mesa border because 360 got themselves EXCLUSIVE access to a recently discovered big-ass tunnel connecting the U.S. to our neighbors to the south. Longtime viewers might be feeling a bit of deja vu, as we went on a similar tunnel trip in early 2006. In fact, they've rerun that footage so much over the years that I initially thought we've actually seen a bunch of these tunnels.

The broadcast kicks off with our anchor showing us around his live shot, and then we go right into a clip of him taking us inside the tunnel, obviously filmed earlier in the day. This is vintage Anderson. Touching everything. Playing show-n-tell. The excited out-of-breath delivery. A few years ago you could have chalked that last one up to being out of shape, but we all know that doesn't fly anymore. Ahem.

If you thought the 2006 tunnel was impressive, this one is even more so. Though not complete, it boasts air vents for circulation, electricity, and even a phone system. I think my favorite part is the entrance, which is located in the bathroom of a commercial warehouse in Tijuana. There's a super-secret drop floor (well, not so secret anymore). I know this thing was built by a drug cartel (so, you know, bad), but you gotta admit, that's pretty awesome.

We watch Anderson climb down a ladder into the tunnel and then take an elevator-like contraption (yes, there's an elevator!) down 90 feet, all of it dug out of rock. After that there's a bunch of walking and climbing and stooping (and almost falling!), and as someone who is mildly claustrophobic, the whole thing was a bit disconcerting.

Back to our anchor live, we're joined by Mike Carney, the deputy special agent in charge of investigation for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. We learn that when completed, the tunnel would have come up in a commercial warehouse in the U.S. It was most likely going to be used strictly for funneling drugs and money, as building it probably cost upwards of a million bucks and allowing it to be used for human traffic would increase the chance of discovery. Too late!

Moving on to a Michael Ware piece about the extremely dangerous city that is Juarez, Mexico, located just across the border from El Paso. We're first told of a slaughter of 17 people that occurred at a drug rehab center. One cartel heard a rival cartel was trying to recruit from the center, leading to a mass execution. In Juarez, the drug cartels are brutal. They kill men, women, and children--over 2,000 dead from drug-related violence so far this year. Michael spends an afternoon and evening tracking the violence, and by my count he reports at least 17 deaths. Pretty insane.

Transitioning now to a Candy Crowley piece on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech that he gave today in Oslo. The fact that this speech comes a mere couple of weeks following the announcement that he is escalating the Afghanistan war is lost on no one. Awwwkward. You'll have to decide for yourself on the level of irony here because I didn't watch. Apparently, conservatives are happy with the speech, so there's that.

For discussion of this, we're joined by David Gergen, Huffpost contributor Tanya Acker, and former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson. Of note is Anderson bringing up a quote from John Bolten, who panned the speech, claiming it "followed the standard international leftist line." Okay, I know we've gone through this before. What part about Bolten being batshit insane aren't you people getting? Like, seriously, why is he quotable? To my surprise, Michael (sorta) backs up my insanity point, stating that Bolten suffers from "Obama derangement syndrome."

But then he has to ruin the bi-partisan-y kumbaya feeling I'm having here by attempting to re-write history. The Gerg notes that he thinks Obama made a clear distinction between Iraq and Afghanistan, the former not being a just war. Michael disagrees, and starts talking about human rights and human dignity. Dude. That is not why we went into Iraq. Sure , the whole "liberating the people" was one of the excuses thrown out there at one point when they were desperately trying to get something to stick. But Iraq was sold to us on a plate of fear. WMDs. Don't try to make Iraq about human rights.

Back to the tunnel again for repeat footage. Then we're joined by Steven Tomaski of the DEA in San Diego and Richard Salinetti of the U.S. Border Patrol. There's lots of wow-ing over the tunnel's amazingness. We also learn that increased border security is driving the cartels underground. I guess it's nice to know that progress is being made somewhere. These cartels are persistent. Once the underground problem is tackled, they'll probably start pole-vaulting over.

Next up, we have an Erica Hill piece on Roman Polanski, which is followed by related discussion with Jeffrey Toobin, but I'm taking a pass on this story.

The "shot" tonight is a happy 38th birthday shout out to veteran photojournalist Neil Hallsworth. We're treated to a couple of pics of Neil hard at work, and then a surprise live shot, which clearly thrills him. Hey, if you're showing behind-the-sceners...Charlie Moore back there anywhere? What? No reason. Anyway! Did you know you can experience Neil's awesomeness on Twitter? Well, now you do. Unfortunately, that doesn't include experiencing the sexy accent (oh, I'm a sucker for accents).

The show was pretty good. Very old school. A nice change of pace, anyway. That'll do it.

Obama's Promises, American Samoa Investigation Part 2, Legal Implications For Gang Rape Bystanders, And Karzai Brother On CIA Payroll

Hi everyone. John King continues his guest reign. I think this is going to be one of my quasi-abbreviated blogs because I am, quite frankly, tired. We begin with Joe Johns breaking down a "Washington Times" story that found Obama fundraisers are getting special access to the White House. So basically, people pay...and then they get to play--as in go golfing with the prez and that kind of stuff. Democrats are saying no big deal; Michael Steele has his boxers in a twist. Me? I am solidly at "meh" on the outrage (and even interest) scale.

Paul Begala and Ed Rollins join us to do the whole tired left/right thing and I'm all around unimpressed. As Paul says, unless there is a quid pro quo involving policy, I don't see anything to get upset about. There are more important things, in my opinion, to hit Obama on. But I do think it's perfectly legitimate to note the unkept transparency promises. Let's just keep it all in perspective.

Also, this is probably neither here nor there, but does it seem like our news is more politic-y when John King is hosting? Perhaps more State of the Union-like? I hope I'm imagining things--not because I have anything against politics or John, but because it probably means Anderson Cooper deserves more of the blame for the tabloid-y coverage than I would have hoped. And I don't want to blame him. Because he's so cute. Ahem.

Moving on to part two of Drew Griffin's investigation of American Samoa aid money. Long story short: the American territory gets walloped by a tsunami, we've been sending them US tax dollars for years, the money never gets anywhere, they look like a third world country now. Drew talks with Eni Faleomavaega, American Samoa's congressional delegate who is very proud of the tax money he secures. In a voice over, Drew says us: "In a satellite interview, he told us his responsibility doesn't include making sure that money is spent correctly."

Except, um, that's not exactly true. Or if it is, it's not what we are shown. This is what the delegate says: "If the local administering authority is not in compliance with the federal requirements on how that grant is supposed to be spent, then, by all means, they should be noted, and grants should not be given." I don't really know what to think. This reporter is no stranger to insinuations. Nothing personal. Just what I've observed over a period of two to three years. As I said yesterday, I really hate that I can't trust the facts of this story.

Transitioning now to the subject of that horrible gang rape in California. Lisa Bloom and Jeffrey Toobin join us for the legal perspective. The focus here is on the kids that watched and did nothing. Lisa manages to make my blood run cold by informing us that, allegedly, photos and video were taken of the crime. If those go online...you can't ever fully erase that kind of thing. As if the girl hasn't been through enough already. How sickening. But anyway, Lisa's point is that the bystanders could be charged with child pornography.

They also talk a bit about the responsibility of the school officials. You know, it's probably a safe bet that this kind of lax security is going on in most public schools in the country. Actually, it's not about lax security per se, but attitude of officials. We're shown a clip in which a student even states that the vice principal saw the men outside and did nothing. I am not the least bit surprised by this. She could have been talking about my high school. Maybe this will be a wake up call for the school system, but I'm not holding my breath.

At the end of the segment, John says this: "I do want to say something to our viewers. This is a horrible story, and we do not enjoy covering it. But there are responsibility and accountability questions here that we think need to be answered." Kinda weird. I wonder if they're receiving a lot of criticism. It's definitely a legitimate story and they haven't (yet) been exploitative, so like I said, kinda weird.

On now to the news that Hamid Karzai's bro is on the CIA payroll. So yeah, we're paying a drug lord. Holy complication, Batman. To talk about this, we're joined by intelligence analyst Bob Baer, Michael Ware, and David Gergen. A sum up: The Gerg thinks this isn't going to go down smoothly at home. Michael is like, duh, of course we're paying people. And Bob thinks this will taint Karzai (as in Hamid), which subsequently screws us. Going back to Michael, I was hoping to hear more from him because according to one of the pieces he filed while 360 was live in Afghanistan, Ahmed Wali Karzai is an "old friend." So...

I'm just saying, kinda weird he doesn't mention that he just talked to him last month. I really hope this isn't some sort of CNN thing. The guy reports on terrorists; he's going to have some relationships that aren't exactly politically correct. Anyway, this was a good--if a tad disjointed-discussion. It sounded like Bob and Michael disagree on paying the Afghans off. I would have liked to hear them debate. Oh wells.

We wrap things up with a Candy Crowley piece about Sarah Palin. Yes, she's still around. And bickering with her daughter's baby daddy, apparently. I'm not sure I could care less.

The "shot" tonight is a couple dudes dressed up like big iPhones. I don't know. I don't really get it. But it allows John and Erica to (sorta) ironically pimp out the CNN app. So...there you go. The show wasn't too bad.

You know, I miss the Silver Fox, but I have to say, John King is totally kicking his ass when it comes to social media. Not only does he live-blog like 10 times more than Anderson ever does, he even tweeted during the show. Now that's multi-tasking.

Also, for all you Jack Gray fans, our young Jack is all grow-ed up and just attended the big 140 Character Conference. Since I am a fan of Twitter, conferences (geek alert!), and Jack, I was very excited and hoping I could find video (not only of Jack's panel, but also the big bossman--Jon Klein). Well, mostly I suffered Google fail. But! I did find this little gem. Oh Cherie. Poor, poor Cherie. By the way, doesn't Jack's real life experience sound like some sort of warped dream you had one night? I was talking in front of all these people and Punky Brewster was there. Man, life's a trip sometimes.

Flight 188 Mystery, More From Willingham's Attorney, Balloon Boy Hoax Confirmed (Shocker!), Fox News vs. The White House, And More On Ray

Hi everyone. Well, better late than never, huh? We begin with the BREAKING NEWS that, brace yourself, the Balloon Boy debacle was all just a hoax. Gasp! Okay, first of all, duh. Second, this isn't really "breaking news." And third, really, we're still doing this? You're kinda killing me here, 360. Anyway, Erica Hill has more about the sworn affidavit given by Mayumi Heene, and we're promised more info later. Meh.

Moving from one flight-related story to another, Tom Foreman has a piece on Northwest Flight 188. Carrying 144 passengers, the plane safely landed at its destination of Minneapolis, but not until after they had to whip back around because the pilots overshot by 150 miles. Um, whoops? Apparently no one in charge on the plane could be contacted for an hour and 18 minutes, which as you can imagine in this post-911 world, made people a tad bit antsy.

But check this: military officials say they weren't contacted by the FAA until AFTER the flight passed over its destination, so by the time they went to scramble jets, the whole thing was pretty much over. Um, what?! Forget about what the pilots were doing, I want to know WTF is up with that. But right now I guess all the focus is on the mystery. For their part, the pilots say they weren't sleeping, but rather having a "heated discussion." Yeah, okay. As I said on Twitter, my guess? Playing Twister.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by former pilot Jim Tilmon. He assures us that the plane was most likely on autopilot the whole time and therefore the passengers weren't in danger. Anderson Cooper asks if it's normal for pilots to fall asleep in the cockpit. Jim's very unsettling reaction? He laughs. Dude, not the way to alleviate fears. "I don't want to say that it's normal. It does happen from time to time," he tells us. Well, I feel safe, don't you? Why are they so tired? Also, according to Sully Sullenberger, it might help to stop slashing their salaries. I'm not going to argue with a hero.

Transitioning now to Randi Kaye live with the latest on the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Actually, a lot of this feels redundant, but we do learn that though an arson expert faxed his findings to Governor Perry's office on February 13, 2004, the governor wasn't told about it until four days later--the day of the execution. So there's definitely some more digging that can be done there. Also, Randi sits down with Willingham's attorney David Martin, who previously appeared on the show. He's sans cowboy hat this time and seems to have toned the crazy down a bit, but he still sounds more like a prosecutor and maintains that his client was guilty. So much for a right to a fair trial.

Erica brings us the "360 Bulletin" and we learn there is a new world Monopoly champion. "Isn't Monopoly for, like, little kids? Not to disparage his win, but isn't there sort of an age limit?" says Anderson. No there is not! I wonder about you sometimes, Silver Fox. Oh, and I like the top hat, in case you were wondering.

Transitioning now to...Balloon Boy. Oh joy. Erica has the time line and then we have a reunion with our snarky guests from last time: Jeffrey Toobin and Lisa Bloom. Anderson again teases Jeff for calling this so massively wrong (he had previously proclaimed it not a hoax). Our anchor better laugh it up while he can now--you know that reality show is coming. "I just thought they were an ordinary American family with a flying saucer in the backyard, OK?" says Jeffrey. "But, you and Lisa "Hang 'Em High" Bloom, you were right." Then he declares the case closed. Well good! Let's move on then, shall we? Yeah, not moving on.

Lisa gives us some legal lowdown, ending with: "P.S., no charges have been filed. No arrest has been made. We're still waiting for that. Where is that?" Anderson throws the question to Jeffrey, who replies with: "Why? Why not, Anderson? Why are these people still walking the streets? Why isn't this danger to the community -- I mean, can we just relax for a second?" Gotta love the Toob's flair for the snarky dramaz. He reminds us that the Heenes are not the most dangerous people in the world. No, I believe it goes Bin Laden and then the Heenes. "They could be building a balloon as we speak, Jeff Toobin," says Anderson. Eep! I'm totally clutching my pearls.

While the boys are having their fun, Lisa, bless her heart, is still trying to do her job, and gives us a bunch more legal information. When she stops speaking there is dead silence and it is totally clear the other two weren't listening to a word she said. I would cyber-slap them both upside the head right now, except, uh, I wasn't really listening either. Sorry, Lisa! "Your knowledge of this case, Lisa, scares me a little bit," says our anchor. "This is my job, Anderson," replies Lisa. Ha! Comical snap!

The Silver Fox then informs us "for the record" that he has officially lost interest in this story. Way ahead of you on that. But thanks for keeping us posted on your interest level. Anyway, there's some more serious discussion with sporadic snarking from Jeffrey, before Anderson wraps the segment up by playing us the "Who the hell is Wolf? clip. And at that point, Toobin is completely in stitches. If they're going to talk about this stupid story, I suppose I wouldn't have it any other way.

Transitioning to the newest political controversy: The White House versus Fox News. Dun dun dun! Personally, I think this is much ado about nothing, but Paul Begala and Mark McKinnon are here and we're going to talk about it, dagnabbit. Paul and I seem to be on the same page and he sums it up nicely: "I mean, no serious person thinks FOX News all the time is a news network." The network is simply not the same as its competitors, I don't care what any journalist says (I'm looking at you, Jake Tapper).

Anyway, Paul then brings up some of Fox's talent and tries to be cute with our anchor. "There's one guy. I don't think you've ever heard of him. His name's Glenn Beck," says Paul. Obviously the goal here is to get some sort of reaction out of Anderson, who of course is well aware of Glenn Beck. For his part, the Silver Fox attempts to stay stone face, but doesn't quite succeed. That's right, I saw that split-second smirk there, mister!

Anderson asks Mark if it's hypocritical to shun Fox News and embrace MSNBC, noting that MSNBCers were invited to the White House for an off-the-record chat. Yes, but so were other people, including CNN's own Gloria Borger. And I guess we all have amnesia now and have forgotten about Bush hosting conservative radio hosts. One of the perks of winning the White House is you get to control the invite list.

Paul thinks the Fox News attacking is better left up to the strategists. "This is why God created James Carville," he tells us. Mystery solved! He also thinks that if the White House is going to freeze out Fox News they should stop talking about it and just do it. "If you're going to seduce a girl, you don't say, 'Now I'm going to blow in your ear, honey. Then I'm going to put my hand on you' -- you just blow in her ear." I'm almost positive I have heard Paul say this before. I'm not sure if I'm more disturbed that he apparently has a "line" about blowing in a girl's ear, or the fact that I know this at all.

"Mark, is that your advice for dating a girl, as well?" asks Anderson. Ha. Well, we're really off the rails now, aren't we? But bottom line here, people? This isn't even really about Fox's opinion shows. This is about the network as a whole, which no, is not objective and is not the equivalent of MSNBC. Yes, the latter network has liberal hosts in prime time. They also have a Republican on for three hours in the morning. They are not an arm of the Democratic party. Fox News and Republicans, however? One big family.

Moving on now to a Gary Tuchman piece on James Arthur Ray. Gary finally gets the opportunity to sit down with former follower Danielle Kaprowski and her husband John. They tell us that they really became disillusioned with Ray during a challenge in which he instructed followers to break concrete blocks with their bare hands, which left about a dozen people with broken bones. The injuries weren't even acknowledged by Ray. But the Kaprowskis still went to a sweat lodge because they had already paid. John became ill and left halfway through, but Danielle stayed and witnessed others become sick, including one woman who was unconscious. As for the guru? "James Ray came out of the lodge. He smiled. And he hopped on his golf cart and rode back to his room," says Danielle. Unbelievable.

Next up, Anderson interviews Jill Borsos, a Ray follower who is still a believer. I was sort of confused throughout this as to her exact relationship with Ray. She kept defending him by providing information concerning things she did or knows, but then quickly played ignorant when Anderson turned up the heat. Seemed too convenient, but who knows.

I think I'm just going to skip the "shot." The show was fairly good, for a Friday anyway. Will this be the last we hear of Balloon Boy? Eh, don't hold your breath.