Health Insurance Premium Hikes, Michael Moore Interview, The Transformation From Chastity To Chaz Bono, & An Update On Kiki!

Hi everyone. Your blogger is not in the best mood as of this moment. I was under the impression that it was 2010, but apparently I am mistaken. You know what sucks? Homophobia. You know what also sucks? Vandalism. And that's really all there is to say about that.

A myriad of issues has led to a craptastic day, and to top it off, I am beyond tired at this point. So! Welcome to what shall henceforth be known as your itty bitty Thursday review. Or maybe more accurately; your half-ass Thursday review. Whatev!

They kicked things off with a Randi Kaye piece on rising health insurance premiums, which I thought was pretty good. Then Michael Moore was in studio to talk health care reform. I find his TV appearances hit and miss.

While I think he's a good guy and agree with most of his views, he sometimes doesn't come off very well in person. But tonight's interview was good--not to say that him coming off well is 360's responsibility or anything.

Did you notice? There was no opposing guest to add fake balance. ZOMG! Does this mean the studio's going to explode?! There was a Tom Foreman piece in between the two Moore segments that included some insurance industry views, but that's not really the same thing. It's not like I want views censored anyway. I want perspective/context.

Speaking of the Tom piece, it focused on why premiums are so expensive. Watching it, I found myself pondering the accuracy, and perhaps smelling a little BS. Then afterward, Anderson Cooper threw the topic to Michael who explained why he disagreed with everything Tom just said. Cathartic! That should always happen.

Back to the whole lack of fake balance thing, if I'm remembering correctly, Moore was also unopposed the last time he was on. I guess 360 goes a little crazy sometimes. Remember that night we had on two gay rights supporters? People were like, "Whoa! What have you done with Tony Perkins?!"

Anyway! I think the pro-reformers very much deserved the airtime, seeing as how they've totally been given the shaft when it comes to protest coverage. Oh, didn't you hear? Yeah, the pro-reformers had a big rally.

While the media are like moths to the tea party people's flame, when it comes to the other side of the debate, um, not so much. Former CNNer Chez Pazienza breaks it down nicely in a Huffington Post piece (make sure you read his links too!)

The other interview of the night was with Chaz Bono, offspring of Sonny and Cher, and formerly known as Chastity. Gary Tuchman had a background piece, and I thought it was kinda interesting to learn the dynamics of how Sonny and Cher took it when Chasity came out as a lesbian. It turns out Sonny was actually more accepting on a personal level (though they butted heads politically), while Cher--famous gay icon--didn't take it as well.

The interview with Chaz was about his sex change. At times it was a little strange to watch. Some of it felt unnecessary or even a little too close to TMI territory. I actually know a transgendered woman fairly well. While no surgery has been performed, I've watched her transform over the years from a girl essentially into a man (name change, different dress, etc.).

Without her permission, it's not my place to elaborate, but it's an interesting topic to explore. I'm not sure why we need so much of Chaz though. There were two segments tonight and apparently more coming tomorrow. I think I've had my fill.

Last but not least, we finally got an update on Kiki! Anderson Cooper interviewed the gang member back in 2004 as part of his Homicide in Hollenbeck reporting. Some of us have been wondering what happened to him all this time. Admittedly, a part of me wasn't sure I wanted to know. I thought he might be dead. But no! And he's doing relatively well.

Kiki went to prison for a parole violation, but has recently been released and decided he's done with the gang life. He's having his tattoos removed and even got a job from Father Boyle at Homeboy Industries. So yay for that. Of course, this is all very new. A relapse is possible. Still, good luck, Kiki! I hope you make it.

The show wasn't bad. I thought the Chaz Bono stuff might have gone a little long. Is it just me or has the show been morphing into more of a newsmagazine? That's probably for the best. They can differentiate themselves from the pack better that way. I still think a total overhaul is needed if they want to see any significant ratings improvement. Anyway, that'll do it. Check out Michael Moore's Twitter for pictures from tonight's broadcast.

Killer Whale Attack, Medical Costs, Red Tape In Haiti, Toyota Coverage Continued, And More Broken Government

Hi everyone. Jessica Yellin continues to hold down the fort for the MIA Anderson Cooper. We're kicking things off tonight with a killer whale attack at SeaWorld that resulted in a fatality. Details are still a bit fuzzy. Depending on who you talk to, the female trainer either fell into the tank or she was actually grabbed by the mammal itself. It's a horrible story and a story worth reporting to be sure, but top story?

Out of everything that occurred in the world today, this is what 360 has determined most important? Given their recent stellar reporting on Haiti, this pathetically blatant ratings grab is rather depressing. The killer whale coverage goes on for almost a third of the show, including a Randi Kaye piece, statements of a witness, a phoner with someone tangentially connected to the story, and a bizarrely defensive interview with Jack Hanna. All topped off with rather ghoulish B-roll of the trainer playing with the whale in happier times. Yeah...

Brianna Keilar has the "360 bulletin" and we learn that Lieutenant Michael Lohman pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case of the police officers who shot two unarmed men during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I totally missed this. Good on them for following up.

Moving on to Sanjay Gupta live and then a subsequent piece that is all about those dreaded hospital bills. He tells us that something as simple as an IV bag can put you back $280. Why does everything cost so much? Well, hospitals buy the equipment at cost from manufacturers and then mark it up to include administrative costs and other factors like the uninsured. Interestingly, many hospitals operate in the red, while supply companies are mostly doing okay. They should delve into this further.

Sanjay also gives us an update on Kimberly, who you might remember as the girl with a brain injury that he operated on in Haiti. An organization called Can-Do saw his reporting and has brought supplies to Kimberly's family. She has also been able to secure a home, so that's great news. If only every Haitian child had exposure on a major news network.

Continuing with Haiti coverage, we're joined by Soledad O'Brien who tells us of a new aid road-block: taxes. Previously, relief supplies weren't taxed and everything just kinda freely flowed into the country. But now the government is holding things up at customs until they can determined that what's coming in really deserves to be tax free. The only way around the wait is to pay customs taxes and a lot of organizations simply don't have the money. And it should go without saying that time is of the essence.

Worse still, the government basically wants people to just give them their supplies for confirmation and then they'll give them back...whenever, I guess. Seeing as how trustworthy the Haitian government can be, organizations aren't too keen on this idea. How frustrating. Good reporting.

Transitioning now to a clip of Akio Toyoda (Toyota CEO) testifying before Congress. This segues us into a piece from Ted Rowlands, which investigates Exponent, the company that compiled the initial report that basically let Toyota off the hook for all their vehicle problems. Exponent was hired by, surprise, surprise,...Toyota. Funny how that happens. Known as the "masters of disaster," they're the ones who get called when a big corporation gets into hot water. Exxon Valdez oil spill? Yep, Exponent was on the case. You get the picture.

Now charges of junk science are being thrown around, which Exponent vehemently disputes. This kind of things seems to happen all too frequently and I'm glad it's finally under the microscope--at least in this case. Way too many cozy relationships.

Speaking of that, we next have a piece from Joe Johns that looks at whether the National Highway Traffic Safely Administration (NHTSA) was out to lunch when they should have been catching this Toyota scandal. Joe tells us that since 2000 they have received 2,600 complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyota cars, and State Farm alerted them to the problem in 2004. At that time, a preliminary evaluation of the vehicles was conducted, but then shut down after they failed to find defect trends.

A technical test was conducted in 2007 that determined floor mats to be the culprit, but a FOIA request on the test resulted in few details. So what's up with the NHTSA? A lot of "under" charges going around: Understaffed. Underfunded. Under-qualified. But there's the whole industry incest thing too. Some Toyota employees used to work for the NHTSA. So there's that. Tell me again why regulation kills freedom?

It's broken government time. Jessica sits down with John Avlon and Peter Beinart, and oooh, they brought listicles. A smorgasbord of people who are keeping our government all non worky, if you will. How cute. We'll start with John. His top picks include Nancy Pelosi (because she's polarizing and partisan and we can't have that), Dick Armey (because he's astroturfing the tea parties--a fact that would have been excellent for 360 to mention in any of their coverage on that subject), and Rush Limbaugh (because...seriously, do we need a because here?).

Peter's highlighting Frank Luntz, Mitch McConnell and Olympia Snowe for putting shrewd politics over good governing. We're all familiar with the Party of No. These people only care about their own power, screw the average American. Anyway, I'm on the fence about whether or not I liked this segment. I guess it's good to call these people out.

Congrats to Jessica for winning a Gracie award.

The show was...weird. The top story choice and the fact that it went on so long was so below them. Yet the rest of the broadcast was actually pretty good. Lots of solid reporting. I guess that'll do it.