9-11 Coin Scam, Bible Park Controversy, Dr. Phil Weighs In On Bullying And Homophobia (For Some Reason), And Kucinich Does Himself No Favors

Hi all. I'm just going to blast through most of this, and then give you some more general criticism to chew on at the end. The bullet points await!:

• The 360 kids began with some honesty-keeping regarding commemorative 9-11 coins. We're coming up on the 10 year anniversary, and though it's only still January, it's never too soon for exploitation!
  

• Then it was on to the controversy over the building of a biblical theme park in Kentucky. The sticking point is the tax incentives the park's backers will be receiving. Separation of Church and State, yo! Reverend Barry Lynn, the founder of Americans United For Separation of Church and State, joined us to argue that very point. Jeff Toobin brought the legal lowdown, and Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis USA and the Creation Museum, well,...I think you know where he stands.

• I'm weirdly not overly bothered by this. Of course, the irony hasn't escaped me that the same type of people behind this project are usually the ones who emphasize private charity over government assistance. Looks like they want their government help now!
  

• Isha Sesay told us about a new study that found men don't retain as much information from the news when the anchor is a sexy female. That a fact! I would have never guessed. Anderson Cooper takes the opportunity to pretend like he didn't hear what Isha was saying. Oh, I see what you did there, Silver Fox.
  

• As for the lady news consumers? They actually didn't test us. But I maintain that I take in everything our anchor says. Oh, sure, I may on occasion mute the repeat and have myself a little stare, but are we not human?!

• Moving on to a story about a teacher who acted quickly to deal with a bully...and was subsequently reprimanded by the school. I had read about this situation and was glad to see 360 giving it coverage, but, as all too frequently, they ruined it by having Dr. Phil weigh in. Ugh. He went on to say absolutely nothing enlightening. Seriously, are there not actual experts on this subject?
  

• If that wasn't bad enough, Anderson also had Dr. Phil comment on Harps grocery store placing a 'family shield' over a magazine featuring a picture of Elton John's family. After an outcry over the homophobia, the store took the shield down.
  

• Dr. Phil called the situation "absolutely, unequivocally absurd," so phew, I can now rest easy that my intolerance of hate has been validated. WTF, 360?

• Dennis Kucinich got the RidicuList treatment because he's suing the congressional cafeteria for $150,000 due to a surprise olive pit. Seriously. Oh, Dennis Kucinich. I mostly like your politics, but sometimes you start talking about aliens or do something like this and I just wanna be like, duuuude!

• I'd like to think all those stuttery screw-ups by our anchor (which I normally find endearing) were a punishment from the News Gods for having on Dr. Phil. Oh, also? Why the D.C. hate? You're gonna get emails!
  

• The show was just meh. I'm not going to say that the stories were unimportant, but um, hard news? None of the stuff tonight felt like top story material--or even really first half hour material. There are big things going on in the world today, and 360 seems to be taking a pass. I've previously noted that the news magazine format appears to work better for them (and especially Anderson), but c'mon, I shouldn't have to get the majority of my Egypt news from Rick Sanchez's twitter account (check out this amazing report from a Guardian correspondent). That's sort of embarrassing, don't you think? Here's hoping for more (some?) hard news in the future.
  

Actors in Campaign Ads, Gulf Coast Update, More On Bullying, And Interview With Tiffany Hartley

Hi everyone. I'm kinda bummed because I was going to bang out a good post for you last night, but when I sat down to do it...suddenly...sickness. I think I caught the Ebola! Or maybe not. Anyhoo, I'm all better now and am here to bring you what might be less than awesome bullet points. That's the way the blog bounces.

• Love that they continue to keep 'em honest. They might actually be doing better this campaign season than they did in 2008. I dunno. I'll have to think about that.

• Actors in campaign ads?! Say it ain't so! Oh Damian Muziani...

• ZOMG scary illegal immigrants...that are actually stock characters. C'mon guys. So generic. Put some imagination into your fear-mongering!

• Anderson Cooper: "Now, before you get too outraged at Republicans for pulling stunts like this, you should know that Democrats do it, too, using bogus real people, casting ads like Sunday matinees, all the same kind of trickery." Jebus, Mary, and Joseph. How many times? How many times, people?! *deep breath* Once again Silver Fox, I actually believe you on this...but you can't just say balance-y crap without backing it up. Great examples for the Republicans. Can we please have one--just one--for the Democrats?
  

• Our anchor later in discussion with Ed Rollins and Anita Dunn: "We should point out, I mean, Republicans do it, Democrats do it, that no one has a lock on this sort of thing. Special interest groups do it." The story is election 2010. You should be focused on the present when it comes to the ads. Otherwise, that means no party ever gets to improve.

• We were then joined by Billy Nungesser to talk about the new report that doesn't cast the Obama administration in the best light when it comes to the oil spill. I'm happy for the update, but not sure how I feel about the guest. The 360 kids have allowed Nungesser to become this trusted source--friend of the show type person. Now there's a report out that in part criticizes him, and he's allowed to bash the feds, all the while dismissing what it says about the locals. This is one of those circumstances where I don't feel like I'm getting all of my 360 degrees.

• From there we segue into a completely unrelated segment from CNN's new train wreck, Parker Spitzer. Oh, the desperation is palpable, people. Apparently they've resorted to making other shows pimp this hot mess out. Given that it literally caused me to switch channels, great programming decision!

• During my time over at MSNBC, I sadly missed all of the bullying coverage regarding Phoebe Prince. Below is the discussion with Rachel Simmons, Larry Hackett, and Sunny Hostin.

• I missed a lot of the Tiffany Hartley coverage as well (and don't see the video online yet). We had a Gary Tuchman piece (Gary on a boat!), and then Anderson had an interview with Hartley herself. I've been somewhat purposefully avoiding this story because I don't want to make any sort of judgment until more is known. If I start doubting Hartley, I'm going to feel pretty terrible if Mexican pirates really did kill her husband.

• For the "shot" tonight, Bristol Palin has a music video! Well, now my life is complete. Our anchor: "She wasn't the first in the party. We should point out a few days ago, we showed you this R&B music video co-starring her baby's daddy, Levi Johnston, canoodling with singer Brittany Senser." As my brain is having a seizure from the wrongness of what just came out of his mouth, he follows up with: "I'm using one of those Maury Povich terms, baby's daddy." Anderson Cooper, I am saddened/amused you know these references.

• That'll do it for me. The show was okay, though as noted, I missed some stuff. I guess Anderson is just destined to drive me crazy re equivalencies. Good thing he's so cute such a good reporter.
  

Dear Alan Grayson, You're Not Helping

Hi everyone. The bullet points are tired tonight! So, no time to waste. Away we go:

• We're kicking things off with some honesty-keeping of Alan Grayson, the current occupant of position number uno on my list of progressives who frustrate me. He's in a race for a Florida U.S. House seat against Daniel Webster, a man with some pretty radical views, or at least affiliations. In other words, Grayson could have easily took the high road and let his opponent hang himself. But no, instead he decided to make the same idiotic mistake of so many before him. Rather than running on his progressive values, he went screeching in the other direction, putting out an ad called "Taliban Dan" that takes Webster widely out of context. Now, predictably, it is Grayson who finds himself on the defense, while Webster gets to play victim, and no one focuses on the actual issues at hand (which were demonstrably in Grayson's favor). Bravo Alan! Thanks for reminding me that Democrats still have the ability to screw up literally anything!
  

• The Congressman actually joined us tonight, and oh, our Anderson Cooper was ready, y'all! But first, he apparently needed to make me sigh: "We should take a moment to say that it's not our job to stick up for everyone who happens to get hammered by a tough campaign ad or get caught up in which side's point of view is good or bad for the country. That's why we have elections. That's up to you to decide. But because elections live or die on voters having accurate information, we think our job is to call people out, no matter where they are on the political spectrum, liberal, conservative, for polluting the waters of public knowledge, in other words, 'Keeping Them Honest.'" Yes, exactly. We know. It's kinda implied in that whole journalism thing.

• For much of the interview, our anchor focused on the "Taliban" aspect, which personally didn't bug me near as much as the out-of-context clip. Yes, the former is beyond the pale, but it's also subjective. The edited quote is completely black and white. It is out-of-context. Period. For the record, when called out on this, Grayson says he doesn't agree. Actually, he dodges just about everything Anderson throws at him, and is a bit of a dick to our anchor to boot. Awesome.
  

• Grayson: "But what is the first thing that a career politician says when he's called to answer for his own words? These were his words, not mine. The first thing a career politician like Daniel Webster says is, I was quoted out of context." Dude, he was! You did. And the messed up part is that he has said a bunch of disturbing stuff, but you changed the narrative.
  

• All this talk about editing...in an edited interview. Amusingly ironic. Not hypocritical--there's no wrongness here, but there's a "heh" factor.
  

• Grayson: "Anderson, it's a little disingenuous for you to say that I have avoided answering questions about this ad. You are not the only show on TV." Oh, snap. I actually don't know who's right here. Grayson was on MSNBC recently. Other than that, haven't been watching.
  

• Our anchor did a pretty good job. He's turning into a bit of a little pit bull. But the cute kind that you're comfortable allowing your children to play around. First block below:
  

• The next segment picked up from last night, focusing on the subject of bullying, specifically anti-gay groups' efforts to stop certain prevention/awareness programs. Justin Aaberg, a Minnesota 15-year-old, recently took his own life and now his mother is fighting to bring awareness to his school district, which currently does not allow teaching about sexual orientation.

• We're joined by Minnesota Family Council president Tom Prichard and Rosalind Wiseman from last night. Given the name of his organization, can you guess what Prichard believes? If you pegged him as one of those "gay agenda" fools, you win the prize. Teh gays are coming for your childrens! ZOMG...oh noes! Meh. Can these people hurry up and stop existing? Because they're really starting to piss me off.
  

• If you really need more of a reason of why the Prichards of the world are just flat out wrong, watch the next segment in which Anderson talks with bullied teens. Heartbreaking.
  

• Anderson also spoke with Ellen DeGeneres about her own experiences and why she identifies with these kids. This is one celeb interview I can get behind. First of all, who doesn't love Ellen? But more importantly, it's totally relevant (unlike the head-scratcher that was Trace Adkins). The "that's so gay" issue from last night is brought up again, which I feel very strongly about. I'm a get-to-the-root-of-the-problem kinda gal. I'm not one for this put-a-bandage-on-it crap. All these haters in the media, and the churches, and the Congress (and those who stand by and say nothing)--this isn't happening in a vacuum. This shit is connected. Sarah Silverman gets it.

• Since I'm already meandering off topic, hey, you think "that's so gay" is bad? Allow me to introduce you to "no homo." Thanks hip hop! (Ellen below.)
  

• Okay people, there was more show, but I'm spent. I gave you the best parts anyway. If I may though: Dear Anderson, can you see? Because sometimes it seems like maybe you can't all that well. You have glasses for a reason, my friend. We won't laugh...much. XOXO

• The show was pretty good. I kinda wish they'd do some punching upwards though. I'm not sure how gay kids aren't supposed to feel crappy when a U.S. senator thinks openly gay people shouldn't be teaching in schools.
  

Following Campaign Cash And Bullying Prevention Awareness

Hello everyone. If you missed it, be sure to check out my latest newsy musings post. Anderson Cooper, Jon Klein, and Rick Sanchez--oh my! Tonight the bullet points are back, though they will admittedly be leaning heavy on the video. Let's get this party started! Or, you know, keep people honest. Whatev!

• The 360 kids kick us off with the question of just where (where!) all this cash is coming from to pay for these shiny campaign ads we all know and love. Issues of transparency and factiness? Be still my news-loving heart!

• Okay, they didn't actually get to the bottom of anything, but points for effort! In seriousness, the fact that they couldn't get anywhere is the story. And a very important one at that.

• But to prove the point that they really did try to find out, we're shown clips of staffers actually making calls. Because that's necessary. Look, the 360 kids know how to use phones! Sorry guys. I don't mean to rain on your five seconds of fame, but it had to be said.

• We then had discussion with Jeff Toobin and Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation. I love that foundation! The talk mostly revolved around the Supreme Court decision that basically said corporations are like people and have the right to screw us over by buying elections. Or something like that! Very good segment.
  

• Next we had Tom Foreman tackling the ads in the narrowing Connecticut senate race between State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon. Yes, the WWE stands for what you think it stands for. We're told that it's just come out that WWE teamed up with "Girls Gone Wild" several years ago for a pay-per-view event of scandalousness. As we're told this information by Anderson Cooper, we're played a racy clip of scantily clad women. There is licking involved. C'mon 360. I commented to a friend that it was a very Fox-like move to pull, and she reminded me that no, no, Fox would have played the clip and then had those ladies on for an interview afterward. Touche. Score one for CNN...I guess.

• We're played an attack ad against McMahon, which is followed up with this from Anderson to Tom: "A lot of body-slams there. So, what's true here?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I see what you did there. Yeah...don't do it again. Heh.
  

• As for the actual fact-checking, not bad. Yay for context! Video below:
  

• For those wondering if our anchor still has a cold, I would take that sneeze (which sounded like it went directly into the mic--sneeze attack!) as confirmation. Aw. (This is why I could never be on live television--the possibility of these things is just too nerve-wracking.)
  

• We had Gary Tuchman live for some Sharron Angle news. Funny story! See, Angle is running against Harry Reid in Nevada, but Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian is also running, and apparently Angle is nervous about this third guy stealing some of her mojo. How do we know this? She met with Ashjian in the hopes of getting him to drop out and instead...he recorded the meeting! Oh, lollers. So now, after criticizing Reid for backroom dealing, she's caught on tape trying to make it worth it for Ashjian to step aside. Angle, apparently, forgot that politics is a contact sport and you should always be on guard. Hide your kids, hide your wife, cuz they be recording everybody up in here! (Yes, yes, Ashjian is a douchebag for doing that.)

• From the crazy politics, we next moved onto sadness. Oh, sadness. Randi Kaye had a piece on the heart-breaking death of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, a teen who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, secretly streamed video of Tyler kissing another man.
  

• At the top of the broadcast, Anderson noted that they'd be looking into Tyler's life and the life of his roommate, which totally made me cringe. Given that his death was likely precipitated by a gross invasion of privacy, examining Tyler's life too closely would have been in very poor taste. I was relieved to see that this was not the case. The piece actually spends more time on Ravi. We get the requisite conversation with the neighbor (this is so out of character for him!), and, well,--you know the drill. The piece is below:
  

• Randi's piece was followed by a very good conversation with Jeffrey Toobin and Rosalind Wiseman regarding the subject of bullying. Toobin made the great point that everyone needs to be careful about how much we really want to bring law enforcement into the issue. He's right, that could easily turn into a disaster.

• Anderson brought up the anti-gay groups who are actually fighting against bullying prevention measures and Toobin followed up with the win (emphasis mine): "Let's be clear, too. These groups don't think homosexuality is normal. They think it's wrong. They think it is a menace to society. So they are the ones who are making it harder for kids, who feel isolated enough as it is, to come forward. I mean, this is not some sort of value-neutral approach by these conservative groups. They are trying to make homosexuality an outcast condition, and that's part of the problem." These groups can't be treated as just people with another point of view--kids are dying.

• Kudos to Anderson for noting the "that's so gay" issue, especially in regards to "The Dilemma" movie trailer (with Vince Vaughn). I didn't remember until the moment our anchor brought it up, but I watched that trailer online a week or so ago (yeah, sometimes I sit around and watch movie trailers. I'm a loser--now you know). Anyway! Yes, I was shocked (and I don't shock easy). WTF?! Seriously, watch it. So unacceptable. Also, I like that Anderson name-checked Queen Latifah. I mean, c'mon.

• The good news? There's actually a PSA campaign underway to combat this, and I have seen one of their ads on TV. Here's another one. The bad news? Apparently it's needed worse than I thought. No sooner had I tweeted about that trailer, than I found myself in a debate with someone--an educated non-bigoted someone--who thought the movie line wasn't a big deal. So...ugh.
  

• Toobin: "We should see which company makes the movie. It may be our own." You all know I hate the celebrity interviews, but having Vaughn or Latifah on to answer for this would be kinda awesome. Yeah...never gonna happen. Segment video below:
  

• The segment on the Mexican pirates:
  

• The "shot" was Levi Johnson in a music video. Yeah,...I don't think so. But I do now have a suddenly urge to get some Purell, so thanks for that, 360.

• The show was good! Everybody gets a cookie!
  

Hurricane Earl, Discovery Channel Hostage Situation, Anti-Bullying Efforts Under Attack, And A Dancing Dog

Hi everyone. I'm pretty short on time tonight, so the bullet points won't be containing much detail. In fact, much of this may not make sense if you didn't actually watch the broadcast. Um, sorry? Don't worry, there's a dancing dog at the end:

• Here comes Hurricane Earl! Annnd...now that Dixie Chicks song is stuck in my head. Again. Anyway. Listen to the evacuation orders, people. Don't make me worry about you!

• After adhering to my usual strategy of ignoring (most) breaking news as it's in the process of breaking in order to avoid the inevitable wrong information, I knew very little about the whole Discovery Channel hostage thing. Gotta say, Discovery would not have been my first pick as the channel that made someone get their hostage crisis on. That sound bite with James Lee and the NBC producer was pretty amazing.

• Tom Foreman's piece was perfectly fine, but did anyone else notice the big "Rick's List" in the background at one point?
  

• Hey, Amber Lyon again. She's getting a lot of flack for her Craigslist ambush. Not sure how I feel about that, but I still kinda like her. Don't care much about what any psychologist said though. But props to 360 for not having one on to speculate for a whole segment. Yeah, don't do that!

• What the hell was that pinging noise?! I felt like we were on life support...or watching the show "24."

• The show deserves credit for keeping up with the bullying issue. I read about the opposition to the Safe Schools Improvement Act and am glad they're giving it coverage. I suppose at this point I shouldn't find anything Focus on the Family does surprising, but it's still a bit hard to fathom that their intolerance is so great that they'd even let it get in the way of preventing children from being bullied. Children.

• Focus on the Family's Candi Cushman made no sense. She said a lot of sentences, but they rarely answered Anderson Cooper's questions and they rarely applied to practical life.

• Yay to Rosalind Wiseman for articulately explaining why what Candi advocates isn't going to work. Referring to something bad as "gay" is pretty pervasive among kids. Years ago my brother had a friend who used to do that constantly. He'd even argue with me about it--thought it was no big deal. Yes, it's a big deal. Kids need to know that.

• Rosalind to Candi regarding what Focus on the Family advocates: "In all respect, it does not in any way reflect the reality of what schools are like. So we can have policies that are about ideal reality or we can have policies that are about concrete reality and reflect what children are experiencing. And that's when we become relevant to young people." I think this is pretty much what it comes down to on a myriad of subjects--from bullying, to birthers, to terror babies, and everything in between. People like Candi have their own idea of what the world should be, and damn the facts of the reality of what it actually is. What this means for the sane among us, well, probably nothing good.

• Back to Chad, is it just me or did he sound a bit pissed? Ruh-roh. I hope he's not stressed out because this is going to be a big one, which was something we saw from him before Hurricane Katrina. Great, now I'm really worried. Deep breaths, Chad!

• Tonight's "Text 360" question was from--wait for it--Lilibeth in Edmonds, Washington! Cracks me up. Lilibeth, if you're out there (we know you're a fan of the show!), I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the fact that 360 continues to do this gimmick, even though they can apparently only get one viewer to text them anything worthy of putting on the air. How many times has it been for Lilibeth now? At least a half dozen. But hey, go her!

• How much do we love Isha Sesay? A lot, that's how much.

• The "shot" tonight was particularly exciting for me. Why? Because I gave it to them! You might remember it as last night's final bullet point. As soon as I saw it I knew this video was practically made for the 360 kids. Yes, I helped get a dog dancing the merengue onto the most trusted name in news. You're welcome, America! I believe my life is pretty much complete now.

• The show wasn't bad. You'll notice some segments have gone unmentioned. Kinda zoned out there. It happens.
  

When Package Copy Goes Horribly Wrong

Update 5/15/10: Hey guys. If you're wondering, yes, I plan on doing a post about 360 Friday. Look for it tomorrow or early Monday.

Hi everybody. When I sat down to watch tonight's broadcast I had no intention of doing a post. My plan was to have a little fun live-chatting with some friends and then go to bed. But sometimes you see something on the TeeVee that just screams "blog me!" and such was the case tonight.

The show kicked off with the latest on the oil spill, while my friends and I discussed how cable has absolutely destroyed the concept of "breaking news" (and how we're a little bitter about that). Soon 360 transitioned to the subject of the craziness going on in Arizona. A worthy topic, though not something that personally interests me a great deal.

My chat buddies and I instead talked about the extremely disturbing viral video of a drug raid that recently took place in Columbia, Missouri, in which family dogs were shot in the presence of a seven-year-old. This is your drug war in action. More info can be found here.

From there, 360 had discussion with Alex Castellanos and Paul Begala. What did they discuss? I honestly couldn't tell you, nor do I care. As I said on Twitter, at this point I don't even hear the pundits anymore. It's just all Charlie Brown's teacher to me. I wish CNN would listen to Donna Brazile and her suggestion of getting rid of the pundits. Unfortunately, not only are they not listening; they're hiring more. Le sigh.

But enough about all that. It's time to talk about what caused me to blog tonight: the story of Larry King, a gay 15-year-old who was relentlessly bullied and then allegedly shot to death by another student. A truly horrible situation. The show has actually reported extensively on the case previously. The piece that ran tonight from Randi Kaye was more of a summary and update. And in terms of copy, it was bad. Very bad. Seriously, check this out:

More than two years ago in February 2008, the bullying suddenly stopped, not because Larry was finally accepted but because he was dead. Murdered, police say, by a fellow student.

And this:

On Larry's final day, he left his make-up and high heels at home and went to school wearing his uniform, just like everyone else. It's unclear why. But if he had decided to try and blend in, he never had a chance.

Before the piece had even ended, my friends had made a flurry of comments, all with basically the same sentiment: WTF? I get that our news peeps have a job to do, but the paragraphs I've highlighted could have been relayed in a much more appropriate manner. Yes, this is a news story--it's also the life of a 15-year-old boy. This reminds me of when they used the Magic Wall to extensively document the days before Phoebe Prince killed herself. There's some stuff you just shouldn't do.

For anyone out there thinking of hating on Randi Kaye, the fact of the matter is we just don't know who the responsible party is here. Her copy could very well have been written by a producer. You would've hoped that someone would have said, "hey, that reads rather insensitive," but I guess not. To add insult to injury, this was all followed up with discussion with Dr. Phil. How he merits the "Big 360 Interview" is beyond me. Also, raise your hand if you were absolutely creeped out by him talking about those little girls performing the Single Ladies dance.

So...yeah. Not much praising from me tonight. You win some, you lose some. Tomorrow they're scheduled to run the first special show in the new format. Should be interesting. Maybe? I'm pretty skeptical that this is going to work out for them, but never say never.

Interview With Superintendent Gus Sayer, RNC Gets Even More Hilarious, Investigating Scientology Part IV, & April Fool's 360-Style

Hi everyone. I hope you all made it through April Fool's Day without too much annoyance. I'm not really a fan of April overall, so there's that. We're kicking things off tonight, as usual, with Anderson Cooper giving us a preview of the forthcoming Scientology piece. Then we're on to our real top story: bullies and the heartbreaking suicide of Phoebe Prince.

Strangely, Anderson begins by somewhat defending their coverage of the story: "Now, I know some people say look there's always been bullying and kids just have to suck it up." Who's saying suck it up? Please tell me people aren't emailing that. He goes on to say that the advent of the Internet age has made bullying all that more intense, which is a good point, and one I didn't think of in my muddled headache-y state last night when I blogged some ponderings.

Also, remember last night how I said I wasn't sure I could think of anything worse than for a parent to find their child hanging? Says our anchor: "Phoebe hung herself in the stairwell of her family's apartment building. Her younger sister found her, if you can imagine the horror of that." I stand corrected. God almighty.

Like clockwork, we're taken to the Magic Wall where we find a timeline of the events surrounding the bullying that Phoebe endured. I have to say, it's a little creepy. I can also tell you that I know I am not the only person who had that initial reaction. This is one of those times where I think our CNN friends got too caught up in the mechanics of their job and didn't really stop to think about what they were doing. It was very off-putting.

Moving on to a live interview with Gus Sayer, superintendent of South Hadley Public Schools, which is where Phoebe Prince attended. This is one of those 'what did they know and when did they know it' kind of situations. Anderson presses pretty damn hard, but this guy is all over the place. I'm not even going to bother picking out all the contradictory statements, but at one point he denies seeing the district attorney's report (an investigation of the incident was performed) and then goes on to talk about what the report contains.

Maybe the guy is just a really poor interview and doesn't explain himself well. I don't know. I found it pretty distasteful to speculate that Phoebe didn't kill herself due to bullying. I'm not going to completely deny the possibility, but you can't tell me he didn't throw that out there just to save his own ass. Skeezy. Also of note is Anderson pointing out that the school's investigation was done by the principal...who would be the guy who would be directly at fault. That's a page from the Bush Administration playbook there.

For his part, the superintendent is not happy with this line of questioning. He accuses Anderson both of not letting him finish and of being unfair to the principal. For a second I thought our anchor was going to apologize, but when the defensive rant from Sayer ends, he just wraps up the interview. Good for him. He did a really good job here. After this interview there's discussion with Lisa Bloom and anti-bullying consultant Barbara Coloroso.

Transitioning now to a huge bizarre graphic accompanied by a voice booming: "Dispatches From Planet Washington." Oh, WTF? Are they kidding me here? So anyway, what comes next is some hilariousness courtesy of Congressman Hank Johnson, who is apparently very concerned about Guam becoming so overpopulated that it will tip over and capsize. Now, normally I would never believe that someone could say something quite so stupid, but this a member of Congress, so no, I am not shocked.

For his part, Johnson claims he meant he was concerned that adding marines to the island could result in a tipping point for its infrastructure. Right. Yeah, that is totally what you meant. By the way, when they were playing that clip, they had it split screened and Anderson was for some reason scribbling random numbers on the Magic Wall. Don't go Glenn Beck on us, Silver Fox. After this train wreck, we get that loud big-ass graphic again. Seriously, that was an April Fool's joke, right?

Keeping on our Washington theme, we move on to the news that the RNC is getting more and more hilarious by the day. Remember how I was a bit underwhelmed by their bondage-themed strip club scandal and was hoping for a little something more to up the amusement? Well, ask and ye shall receive! Now one of their fund-raising mailings directs people to a sex line. Awesomeness. Although to be fair, sex line mishaps can be bipartisan. Hillary Clinton knows what I'm talking about.

Even worse for the RNC and head Michael Steele, their troubles don't begin and end with the subject of sex. They've got bigger fish to fry, like being shunned by Sarah Palin and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Not the Family Research Council!! For discussion of all this, we're joined by James Carville and Michael Gerson. Nothing hugely of note here, though James does accuse Tony Perkins of being a hypocrite because he endorsed David Vitter and now he's clutching his pearls over the bondage club.

Vitter, you might remember, had a bit of an infidelity problem. Less widely reported is the rumor that he likes to wear diapers in front of his prostitutes. Oh yes. I actually checked out the sourcing of this rumor back in the day and found it to be a bit sketchy, so I've always been hesitant to do any repeating. Carville is not so hesitant and totally throws Vitter under the bus. Dayum. Also, Anderson starts to ask a question that he says he's asked of "a lot of people," but then Carville interrupts and suddenly the segment is over. Well, great. Thanks, James. Now we will never know what he was going to ask!

Scientology time! See my prior posts for all the background. Tonight's segment mostly focuses on what happens when one leaves the church. Anderson speaks with Jeff Hawkins, who claims he was abused by leader David Miscavige and subsequently left in 2005. I've been trying not to be ultra judgy up to this point, but what he's describing sounds soo much like a cult. When he left Scientology he had no job, friends,...he even divorced his wife.

Plus he was given the label of "suppressive person," which is how church members describe Scientology enemies. According to Hawkins, the church has a policy of "disconnection," meaning to basically break ties with anyone deemed to be suppressed. His ex-wife calls this an "absolute, utter, total lie." She should really try not to be so subtle. The church calls it a lie too, but adds that a Scientologist wouldn't want to be around anyone who disparages their religion anyway. Another former member, Chrisy Collbran describes it more as a manipulation than any official policy. Like I said, culty.

Finally tonight, Anderson throws it to Tom Foreman to give us some headlines before the "shot, but who does he find instead? Rick Sanchez! "Oh, my good lord. Rick Sanchez," exclaims our anchor. Bwah! Exactly. That is how everyone should react to unexpected Sanchez. I actually had a slight inkling that something like this was coming since a little birdie made a tweet, though no details were given. Anyway, Mr. Twitter King is here because he has a beef with the Silver Fox--that beef being the absolute glee our anchor gets playing the taser video over and over. Also? Rick Sanchez is very bad at acting mad. Yeah, you know what's coming: April Fool's! (Update: video!)

I enjoyed the little trip down memory lane that Sanchez gave us: "You sent me on all these wild and crazy stories. I went out in the middle of the ocean. I went in a boat. I got sunk in a canal. I did the tase thing. And now you make fun of me." Don't forget about the time you were in the fire! For those unaware, Rick actually used to regularly contribute reports to 360 and they made him do some massively messed up things, leading to this bit of awesomeness from Jon Stewart back in 2006.

I cannot tell you how much time other long-time viewers and I spent mocking him in those days. Our theory was that CNN was secretly--or not so secretly--trying to kill him. But if it wasn't for Rick I wouldn't know that a single candle can heat a freezing car to 50 degrees. So there's that I guess. Anyway! Back to the Silver Fox, his trauma of the night is more than just having to endure Rick's presence. It's time for clips of Anderson looking stupid! The whole time this is going on, Sanchez is bizarrely trash talking him in this over-the-top accent, causing a puzzled look on our anchor's face that is pretty clearly saying, "WTF is going on right now?"

The clips start with Anderson's big Indiana fail, where he can't identify the state on a map. "Duh," says Rick. Dude, you thought the Galapagos Islands was Hawaii. I wouldn't be getting on that Geography high horse. Our anchor once again claims he was tired. At least he's sticking to his story. The next clip is the Silver Fox's momma stopping by to embarrass him on his birthday. I like her ability to make him go from 40 to 12 in under 30 seconds. Finally, there is Anderson's recent Jeopardy disaster. "Cheech, Cheech. I hear that in my sleep," says our anchor. Yeah, I'm not touching that one.

So...that was fun and hopefully not too traumatic for the Silver Fox. For those who actually wanted to see the "shot" that was previewed and subsequently never shown, you can check it out here. Single Ladies devastation! Aww! I love the look on the middle girl's face. It totally says, "oh way to go, dad." But he was very sweet about his blunder and not "horrible" at all.

I found the show pretty engaging tonight throughout, which these days can sometimes be a rarity. It really does make a difference when the anchor is actually invested in what he's reporting. There are still clear problems with the show overall (as with the network), but it'd be a lie to say they're not making any changes. There is a noticeable difference from where 360 was last year at this time when it resided in Suck Town.

Regarding the network overall, they haven't had a good week press-wise. Everyone and their mother is writing about their ratings problems and how to fix them. Many of these links you can find on my Twitter page if you're interested. Tonight The Daily Show did another rather brutal take-down, giving CNN a new slogan: "CNN: We have no idea what the fuck we are doing." Ouch. I'll try to remember to tweet the link tomorrow. That'll do it.

Holding Schools Accountable For Bullying, Hutaree Update, Obama Allowing Offshore Drilling, And Investigating Scientology Part III

Hi everyone. I seem to have just developed the worst headache, so I'm going to breeze past some of this. Otherwise, it's just going to come out cranky. Well, crankier than usual. At this point I think we all know the drill for the top of the show: a Scientology preview/recap.

Then Anderson Cooper is at the Magic Wall to talk about bullying. Yesterday we learned of the suicide of Phoebe Prince. Tonight we're told that 13-year-old Jon Carmichael and 12- year-old Kimberly Linczeski also recently took their own lives due to harassment from classmates. I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that so many of these kids choose hanging. It's hard for me to imagine anything worse than a parent finding their child like that and then having to cut them down.

From here we go to an Alino Cho piece in which she tries to talk to the principal of Phoebe Prince's high school regarding whether or not they dropped the ball on this case. She gets him to answer a couple of general questions at the door and then he threatens to call the cops. Defensive much?

For discussion, we're joined by author Rosalind Wiseman, expert on all things "mean girls." So much better than Dr. Phil. Of note is the notion that upon witnessing an incident, officials should not go to the bullied student, but rather the bullier. Kids that get picked on will say they're okay even when they're not. Rosalind says we need to get kids to believe in adults. Good advice.

Next up, Anderson has an interview with Jon Carmichael's parents, Tami and Tim, about the bullying their son faced. And it is beyond sad. If sad were a location, this interview resides about five miles past that spot.

Something that hasn't really come up in the coverage yet is how ingrained the acceptance of bullying is in our culture. Recently I've been watching the 90's show Freaks and Geeks. The teenage son is constantly being bullied. In one episode he's even thrown naked out into the hallway. Yet none of it is treated all that seriously by anyone. You see this over and over in TV shows and movies. It's like many people just expect it to happen.

Bullying isn't a new phenomenon by any means. It makes me wonder if it's gotten worse recently or kids are reacting to it in more extreme ways now. Perhaps even these suicides have been going on for decades and they just never got this kind of national attention, so no one even identified a widespread problem. Whatever's going on, people are paying attention now. This needs to stop.

Transitioning now to Drew Griffin updating us on those Hutaree militia people. Turns out they're looking more like those yahoos in Miami who plotted to blow up the Sears Tower, than anyone, you know, competent. But they still had a lot of weapons so let's not dismiss them too much.

On now to a Tom Foreman piece on Obama's offshore drilling plan. We get played clips of Campaign!Obama dissing on the notion, but this isn't exactly a flip flop since he's always been down with the practice to an extent. The Sierra Club is not happy, I'll tell you that.

For discussion of this, we're joined by David Gergen...and WTF is going on with the graphics? I guess 360 is trying new things. They do know that it's not the visuals that are their problem, right? Anyway! There's talk about bargaining chips..and getting Republicans to come on-board on energy legislation...and I'm wondering what part of "The Party of No" the Gerg does not understand.

It's time for part three of the Scientology series and I have to admit, it's starting to wear on me. It's not the report itself, but the presentation. I'm guessing this might end up as a special, which is no doubt the best way to watch. The way we're currently watching (edited over the whole week) makes it feel like you're seeing the same thing over and over. I get why they do it this way though. At least they're being consistent. Too many times we'll hear of a "series" that ends up having half its days bumped.

So anyway, the new stuff tonight is Anderson talking to church members who border on yelling at him for having the gall to ask questions about why the police were never notified about the abuse. Good times. Our anchor was actually pretty impressive in this segment. Particularly this part:

You said that Marty Rathbun beat people more than a dozen times. You said Mike Rinder has beat people and that was known. Apparently, at the time, at least some of it was known at the time. And yet, that seemed to be acceptable behavior in the church and no charges were ever filed against any of these people. It seems remarkable if, in fact, that is really the truth, unless the opposite is true and their charges are true and it was the head of the church who was doing these beatings, in which case, it would make sense that no charges would be filed or no one would come forward.

Remarkable indeed. And that's basically all I have to say.

The "shot" tonight is a kid climbing in one of those claw machine games. Eh. Not all that funny and actually probably dangerous. Bring back the cute animals! The show wasn't bad. That'll do it.

Teen Bullied To Death, Dr. Phil (Why?!), Militia Plot Update, Scientology Investigation Part II, And Sean Penn Interview From Haiti

Hi everybody. Like last night, we begin with what Anderson Cooper refers to as a "short preview" of the Scientology report that will be shown later in the show. I would quibble with his use of the word "short." Our top story, however, is the sad death of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old who was viciously bullied for six solid months before ultimately hanging herself in her home. Nine teens have been criminally charged in connection with her death and other students have been expelled.

Anderson takes us to the Magic Wall, and I honestly don't know if I find the show's now predictable use of CNN's overabundance of technology to be bordering on ridiculous or a positive addition to the story. I'll take a page from their playbook and "let you decide." Our anchor notes other teens and pre-teens who have also recently committed suicide due to bullying. To their credit, 360 has very much been on top of this overall story.

In a Gary Tuchman piece, we learn more details of this newest case. Phoebe had just moved to America from Ireland and briefly dated one of those aforementioned nine teens. The other girls were not happy about the relationship, and when it ended, the bullying began. Phoebe received threatening messages and was also harassed in front of others, including faculty members. School administrators were aware of the situation, which leaves everyone wondering why it wasn't stopped. So sad.

For discussion of all this, we're joined by...Dr. Phil. Why 360, why?! In case it's not clear, I am not a fan. I appreciate him being passionate about the subject and bringing awareness and whatnot, but ugh, please get him off my TeeVee screen. Also? Way to think outside-the-box there. Of note as well is the b-roll footage of teens being shown during his segment. To me, the conversation made it unclear as to whether they were the victims or the bullies, though my guess is victims. Not really something to be ambiguous about.

Moving on now to a Drew Griffin piece that updates us on that Christian militia group called Hutaree. He's stalking Ray Stone, the son of the group's leader, but the guy speeds away in his truck. The real take-away from this report is how authorities broke up the plot. Apparently, other militia members, referred to in the piece as "mainstream militia," thought Hutaree was a little too out there and came forward. Mainstream militia? Wow. You know you're crazy if self-described militia members think the government needs to have a look at you.

Transitioning now to the second installment of the Scientology series. Tonight we meet Jeff Hawkins and Tom Devocht, two former church members who also claim they were abused by leader David Miscavige. Also, Amy Scobee and Steve Hall corroborate Marty Rathbun's charge that Mike Rinder was repeatedly a victim of Miscavige's violence. The church pointed CNN to a BBC interview in which Rinder vigorously denied all allegations. But that was before he quit Scientology. Rinder now claims he lied to the BBC in order to protect his career and membership in the church.

Apparently, Miscavige is the end all and be all of Scientology and if you cross him, your future in the church is not bright--hence all the denials. And there are a lot of denials. Anderson sat down with the ex-wives of some of the men who are now coming forward (including Rathbun). They're all adamant that their husbands were never abused, telling our anchor that they knew "every square inch" of the men's bodies and they had seen no evidence. It's a little creepy if you ask me.

Also, CNN gets letters. See, last night 360 reported that Miscavige had declined to be interviewed for the report. Then today they received a letter from a Scientology lawyer saying that the statement was untrue. Anderson proceeds to play us a clip in which spokesman Tommy Davis tells our anchor that Miscavige is much too important to come on CNN and respond to the charges himself. "Booyah!" says Anderson. Okay, no, but that would have been awesome. Instead he just reiterated that the invitation to Miscavige is still open.

After that big-ass preview last night, where was the part where the ex-wife calls Anderson rude? I wanted to see his response. Dudes, you are making a blogger frustrated. Don't waste show time with an extended preview, teasing us with that little bit of controversy, and then fail to deliver in a timely manner. Just sayin'.

Finally tonight, the subject of Haiti. Anderson hits up the Magic Wall once again, this time throwing down some stats and showing us some scary/depressing video of the mud in the camps. The rains have pretty much arrived and disaster is on the horizon. For an update from on-the-ground, we have a taped interview with Sean Penn of beattherain.org. He paints a rather dire situation. The majority of the camps are simply made of tarps and sticks. There are flood zones all around. Obviously the combination could spell catastrophe.

The discussion also touches on the escalating violence in the camps, particularly sexual violence against women. Still such a horrible situation. For those interested, tonight's Frontline on PBS was focused on the Haiti quake. I haven't had the chance to watch yet myself, but the full video can be found here. The series consistently does excellent reports. It actually aired opposite 360 for me, and I have to say, when I saw Dr. Phil on my TV screen I came really close to ditching our CNN friends for PBS. In fact, if the video wasn't online, I probably would have.

The "shot" tonight is Buddy the black lab playing ball with Theen the baby deer. Cuteness abounds. But the Silver Fox is still very much hung up on the tickled loris from last night, which I suppose I shall link to again, since my sitemeter tells me that is clearly what you people want.

Tonight's show was pretty good. Though I may dislike Dr. Phil, I can't exactly count that as bad journalism, though I do wish they'd get less predictable. One thing I thought I'd share is a message I got from a friend after the show:

I haven't been watching 360. How's the Scientology reports? I was put off by the fact that Anderson said in his blog post that they never drew any conclusions; at that point I figured it was just going to be a bunch of he-said-she-said and I have no patience for that shit.

For the record, I defended 360, stating that without video evidence of abuse, I'm not sure that this is a story they can really take a firm stand on. But I think my friend speaks to a bigger issue in that the viewers have come to expect sometimes mediocre reports that fail to identify the truth. I can only speak for myself, but when Anderson says they're going to let the viewers decide for themselves, it's like nails on a chalkboard to me. Literally I have a visceral reaction, even though I know intellectually that not all stories are the same and sometimes the approach is warranted.

To be clear, I do not want 360 to think for us or force their opinions. But when I hear Anderson say they're going to let us decide for ourselves, I don't hear a network reiterating their objectiveness and respect for viewers (which I'm sure is what he has in mind). Instead, I hear someone telling me that, essentially, they're not going to finish their job. This all goes back to the balance thing, which I've harped on more than enough on this blog. It's a shame if their poor track record with that subject is also hurting quality reports. Anyway, just something I thought I'd put out there. That'll do it.