Anderson Cooper Returns To Hollenbeck, Spotlight On Insurance Companies, Tornado (!), A Haiti Update, California State Spending, And Oscar Talk

Hi everyone. This week Anderson Cooper has returned to Hollenbeck, the East L.A. neighborhood he reported on in 2005 regarding gang violence. We begin with a report from him that explores the murder of Steven Bueno, a 20-year-old who was shot in the head in broad daylight in his own driveway. Steven's father Milton shows Anderson where his son fell and where the blood spattered. This death, though tragic on its own, is just an example of a systematic problem in Hollenbeck: violence and the code of silence.

Steven wasn't alone outside that day he was shot; his friends were there with him and surely saw something, but according to police, no eyewitness has come forward. Anderson even speaks with his best friend, who denies he saw the actual shooting take place. Milton has urged his son's friends not to seek retribution for what happened, but he knows it is only a matter of time before the cycle of violence continues.

We're next joined by Dr. Steve Perry to further discuss the code of silence--or stop snitchin' movement. My regular readers know I've previously had some issues with how they've tackled this subject. While I'm still a little frustrated at their lack of investigation into the corporations behind this movement, I was pleasantly surprised to find this current discussion had more context than we've witnessed previously.

For example, Anderson notes that some people may be afraid of coming forward, and he questions the adequacy of police protection. But he also relays that the officers he's talked with say there have been no problems in that area. My guess is there is very little trust of the police in this community and if that's the case, it wouldn't be surprising if there's a huge gap between what's true and what's perceived. And perception is everything.

Steve says those who fail to come forward are "cowards." I'm not sure that's exactly helpful. Though to be fair, he then goes on to talk about how this is really a community-wide problem with a lot of roots in the school system. They also bring up how all these rappers who promote stop snitchin' don't even live in rough neighborhoods anymore. In fact, Steve tells us 50 Cent lives in a mansion in Farmington, Connecticut. Ha! Yeah, it's a hard knock life for him.

Transitioning now to President Obama speechifying at Arcadia University and getting all up in the health insurance companies' grill. For more, we're joined by Ed Henry who tells us that people are excited because Campaign Obama is back! He and Anderson then, fer serious, spend the majority of this segment talking about Obama's passion and fieriness. Good lord.

Moving on to an interview with Wendell Potter, Cigna whistleblower. Awesome. I love this guy. Wendell says what you and I pretty much already know, but can never be said enough: the insurance companies are a for profit business. They don't care about you. They don't care about your sick mother. They care about money going into the pockets of their stockholders and answer only to investors.

They know they're the only game in town, so they don't care if their constantly rising premiums cause a little lost business (people who subsequently become involuntarily uninsured)--there's no where else for us to go. As Wendell says, yeah, they're down with parts of health care reform--specifically the part where everyone is forced by law to buy their crappy product with no public option to keep them honest. Seriously, this world needs a lot more Wendells.

Now for the other side, because the studio will explode if every issue is not split equally down the center, regardless of how truly equal a debate may be. We're joined by Mike Tuffin of America's Health Insurance Plans, and things get interesting right off the bat. Anderson informs us that they had actually asked Mike to be on with Wendell, but his people said he wouldn't do that. Our anchor then asks why and we're met with a deer in the headlights look from Mike, who goes on to stammer about how he'll discuss anything Wendell said. The implication is that Anderson's statement isn't true, but you know, he never actually gives a denial.

Our anchor is then put in the confusing position of wondering if his staff screwed up or the guy is lying (or, even, Mike's people made the request without his knowledge). So he simply tells us that they were told by his people that he wouldn't be on with Wendell, which is pretty much all he can do. Anyway! Regardless of what the hell just happened, big kudos to Anderson. Situations like this should always be disclosed, but too often they're not. And if Mike's nervous reaction was any indication, he sure wasn't expecting that little piece of information to be brought up.

Mike begins by talking about how most insurance is employer-based with private insurance buyers being a small percentage. Yes, and what about all the people who are stuck in a job they hate because it provides them insurance they can't otherwise get due to pre-existing conditions? We can't keep relying on employer-based insurance. People need to be able to afford it and qualify for it on their own. This is about choice, which I thought Republicans loved. When my father died, my mother not only had to deal with that extreme life stresser, she also had to change careers because her job at the time (which she loved) did not provide insurance.

Oh, about those pre-existing conditions? Mike here says they'd just love to do away with all that. But their hands are tied (TIED!) due to the pesky voluntary-ness of the current insurance system. "If people get insurance only when they're sick, for instance, or when they're headed to the hospital, you're going to have exploding premiums," he tells us. On the way to the hospital? Really? Car insurance is mandated by law, yet strangely I haven't heard of people placing calls to agents from accident scenes. I mean, c'mon. Plus, where's the guarantee premiums won't explode anyway? You know what that was called? The public option.

We now pause this broadcast to bring you breaking news footage of a big freakin' tornado in Oklahoma. The video was taken by storm chaser Andy Gabrielson, who apparently is insane. As I watched, the phrase, "What are you doing, you idiot!" came to mind. I'm torn between being blown away by what is admittedly amazing video, and being annoyed they're encouraging this sort of thing by having Andy via phone to talk about it. Oh well. If he didn't talk to 360, he'd talk to someone else.

Moving on to some news from Haiti. First, Anderson informs us that Charisa Coulter, one of those American missionaries, was released today. Only Laura Silsby remains. Our anchor also does a taped interview via Skype with Matt Marek of the Red Cross from Port-au-Prince. Anderson brings up all the people who are apparently still in need of help. Matt concedes there's much more to be done, but does a little Red Cross back-patting regarding how many people they've assisted.

They then both talk about the rains and the new fear of mudslides and floods. It never ends for those poor people. Matt tells us that right now they're working on meeting the immediate needs of survivors, but have also implemented a plan to begin moving people from the camps to transitional shelters or even more permanent living situations. I imagine that's going to take a long, long time.

Next up, we have a Ted Rowlands piece on California, which was good, but I think I'm going to skip ahead due to time limitations.

Finally tonight, we're joined by Joy Behar to talk Oscars. Boy were they a snoozer! I only watch these award shows so I can chat/tweet during them. I think everybody and their mother had a live-blog running. I participated in three myself, thank you very much. The only thing mildly interesting that happened was the Kanye moment, and even that wasn't all that thrilling. They don't make them like Roberto Benigni anymore. Joy would like to see Snooki at the next awards. Seriously, does she want me to cry? Because I'll cry.

The show was pretty solid tonight. I mean, yeah, we had the requisite throw-two-sides-up-like-they're-equal for the insurance debate, but the segment wasn't too bad. There were other little hiccups as well that I've already pointed out. Again though, good show. I am, however, a little annoyed that they keep putting good pieces in the second hour that I know are being missed by people who would want to see them. Tonight the piece in question explored how the Twitter war between CNN and Ashton Kutcher led to the distribution of thousands of malaria nets. Check out the blog post.

Sneaking in pieces during the second hour is something I mentioned in my special weekend blog post, which mostly focused on ratings and CNN's systemic problem. For those of you who commented, thank you. I will try to chime in myself when I have more time. Everyone else feel free to jump in. Anyway, it was great to see Anderson update his Hollenbeck reporting. For those wondering, I hear a Kiki update is scheduled for Thursday, emphasis on 'scheduled.' To up our nostalgia, Anderson even whipped out the old field t-shirt. Ah, memories. That'll do it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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