And Then We All Really Hated BP

Hi everyone. The bullet points of awesomeness are back! And they might even be more awesome this time. I report, you decide:

• I love that 360 put the BP live feed in the corner of the screen for us to watch. So hilariously passive aggressive. Basically them saying to BP, "that's right, deal with that, bitches."
  

• Okay, I've previously noted that I enjoy Douglas Brinkley's appearances on the show, and that's because he seems knowledgeable about the topic at hand. But, uh, what's the deal with James Carville?
  

• From Anderson Cooper: " It's interesting, James, because early on, conservatives were attacking the Obama administration, trying to say, look, this is Obama's Katrina. And they fought back against that. But you do have to raise questions about this Interior Department and this EPA." Back up there, Silver Fox. Yes, the administration pushed back against that meme because it was ridiculous. And inaccurate. And hearing you bring it up makes me cringe. But absolutely, absolutely questions need to be raised. Responsibly.

• There are already petitions for the removal of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, which might very well be warranted. As for the culpability of Obama himself, my interest lies in how far he has or hasn't gone to right the wrongs of the Bush Administration when it comes to the cozy relationship between government and industry. I think we all know the score at this point: the fox has been guarding the hen house for a long time in all areas of government (see the recent mining disaster for another example). Bush didn't start the trend, but he sent it into warp speed. So, has Obama been making good faith attempts to clean house (a task that may very well take years) or has he protected the status quo, thus leaving the country vulnerable to incidents just like this one?

• I love Passionate Anderson, but tonight I think he needed to take it down one small notch. Simmer down, son. There was a lot more harping tonight than there was actual accountability-holding. Spade calling is great. I just get nervous when the outrage starts to hit a certain level because it can be at risk for becoming unfocused, which the viewers feed on. I'm not accusing Anderson of doing a Bill O'Reilly, or being insincere, or even having an unwarranted reaction. I'm just saying it's a fine line and I hope he treads carefully.
  

• Can we stop being surprised that a for-profit corporation would lie their asses off and cover their mistakes to protect their bottom line? Newsflash: this is what they do. They are first and foremost beholden to their stockholders. They have the equal rights of people, which to me makes them akin to sociopaths. Yes, yes, in some ways that's hyperbolic. Many corporations do exhibit social responsibility. But in situations such as this one, I think our collective default thinking should be to assume the corporation will be up to no good. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five billions times, well, you get the picture.
  

• Gary Tuchman's report was just plain scary. The far right has had a lot of success in infiltrating school boards. Progressives need to get their act together on this issue.

• John Legend is very smart (and let's face it, mighty fine), but, uh, why is he a guest for the kids and race series again? You're black, you're famous, you're booked!
  

• Oh, new terror threat. This is your reminder to be afraid.

• I liked Anderson's plea for people not to cancel their trips to New Orleans. But it's not just the Big Easy. When I was driving home from work today I heard a teaser from my local news on the radio about how St. Louisans might want to avoid Destin, Florida (a popular vacation spot for our area for some reason). I was like, "dude, shut up, what are you doing?"
  

• I was surprised to hear Anderson mention the Spotted Cat because I thought it closed, but a friend from the area informed me it reopened. So of course I had to inquire about Washboard Chaz. Apparently he's still going strong and played at Jazz Fest this year. Aw. It still cracks me up thinking of that night when Anderson rang Chaz's little bell. You could just tell he wanted to ring it so bad. I think some of my friends and I might have even been taking bets on what time in the broadcast it would happen. Good times.

• This bullet point is camouflaged and can therefore be carried anywhere.
  

Keeping BP Honest And An Interesting Study On Kids And Race

Hi everyone. I'm really short on time, but I thought I'd drop some bullet points of awesomeness on you. Away we go:

• Our anchor is done with the playing around, people: "...a lot of developments to tell you about tonight, but, first, let's just cut through the B.S. Excuse the language." ANDERSON COOPER! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?! *clutches pearls* THINK OF THE CHILDREN.

• For those of you new to the blog, I previously suggested an entire segment be called "That's Bullshit." So, you know, fun with irony.

• I'm not completely sure, but it really looked like our anchor actually did the Magic Wall segment live (ZOMG!). I don't know, the live-bug was being kinda wonky. It would make sense though given how jittery he seemed--like someone gave him a Red Bull before the broadcast. See Anderson, you made it through and nobody died. (That we know of! Dun dun dun! Did I mention I'm tired?)
  

• Well, this is a change of pace for our blank-slated anchor: "This is like in Katrina, when politicians said, now is not the time to point fingers. Remember that? Look, you all know what's going on out there. It's not in BP's interest to have accurate figures on how much oil is gushing out of that pipe every single day. It's not good public relations." Calling a spade a spade. I like it.
  

• Actually, the honesty-keeping of BP was pretty good tonight. And yay Douglas Brinkley. Like that guy.

• 360 wants YOU, BP! Anderson is chomping at the bit to interview the snot out of any of them. Think he'll ever get takers?

• Oh look, political heads-in-boxes talking about Sarah Palin. Snooooze.

• The New York Times has a piece out busting Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for saying he served in Vietnam when he really didn't. This bullet point isn't to point out douchebaggery, but rather to state my surprise that Anderson and panel are actually shocked by this. We have our moments, but for the most part, we're still living in a very low accountability world. Politicians/officials say bald-face lies all the time and don't get called on it. Hell, at this point Blumenthal might even actually believe he served in Vietnam. People go on the TeeVee spouting made up facts and figures and no one bats an eye at them. This is why I got so excited when Jake Tapper teamed up with Politifact to fact-check This Week.
  

• You know those whack-a-mole carnival games? The one where you have a mallet and you smack the little creature every time it pops up? Basically, I want my journalist to be the mallet, and every time there's an untruth floating around out there.."whack!" It's a pretty good deterrent for idiocy. So what I'm saying Anderson Cooper, is that I want your arm to be tired by the end of the broadcast.

• And I found it interesting that our anchor cited bloggers as the people who check everything and not, you know, his own show that actually has traction, but I'm probably reading that unfairly.

• I like the opening of the race study segment with Anderson sitting and talking to us. Very 60 Minutes.

• The segment itself was really interesting, though disturbing. As stated, it was simply a pilot study. The social psychologist in me kept wondering if there were variables skewing the results. What would happen if the children were given the option of "none," as in, "there is no dumb child." Should the questions have been asked twice--once with a black questioner and once with a white? Would that in of itself have distorted data? Lots of things to think about. I wish Anderson had further questioned the girl who said she sometimes thought her skin color was nasty. That has to come from somewhere. Pretty heartbreaking. Anyway, I'm glad they're doing this series. I'm not completely convinced it's statistically significant, but you can't deny that for the most part, the kids pointed very quickly.

• That's it for me. This bullet point contains a cookie...but only if you're good.