American Samoa Investigation, Odd Year Politics, Horrific Gang Rape Of A High Schooler, And Interview With Sweat Lodge Victim's Children

Hi everyone. Night two of Anderson Cooper 360, minus the Anderson Cooper. John King again keeps the anchor chair warm. This hour must be a breeze for him, what with the four hour marathon he does on the weekend. We begin with a story about American Samoa, a US territory that was last month devastated by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami. John takes this opportunity to get in a little Magic Map action. I swear, it must be in his contract. Anyway, 34 people died in the disaster due to lack of a warning system--a warning system that was paid for, but never built.

Drew Griffin investigates for us and we learn that the US has provided $13 million in disaster preparedness grants to American Samoa since 2003. Yet, the governor doesn't seem to know much about the money or the system. However, Birdie Alailima, American Samoa's former homeland security adviser, says that he was working to get the warning system built, but much of the money went missing. U.S. Homeland Security investigators have found that some of the money was spent on stuff like plasma TVs. So...that's pretty bad.

Wise to the swindle, the US put the kabash on the money, demanding reimbursement of some of the funds before they would unfreeze aid. Meanwhile 34 people are dead and the territory is still not prepared. This all appears very outrage-inducing. Yet, because of the reporter, I have that little nagging feeling that appearances may be deceiving. I hate that. Admittedly, it seems that all i's are dotted and t's are crossed here, but I can't just make myself trust someone that I long ago stopped trusting (for good reason). Your mileage may vary.

Hey, did you know they sometimes have elections in years that don't end in an even number? Crazy, huh? This makes our cable news friends very happy, especially John King. Why? Oh you know why: More Magic Map! It seems we have ourselves a couple of governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, which means we need a couple of pundits--stat! Filling the void, are James Carville and Kevin Madden. We're even thrown an irrelevant Gallup poll to boot. Aw, 2008 nostalgia! Anyway, as is their wont, they try to make WAY more out of this than necessary. A lot can happen in a year, guys. A LOT.

Moving on to Sanjay Gupta talking H1N1. Again. Don't get me wrong, important topic, but I think I'm kinda swine flu-ed out tonight.

Transitioning now to one of those stories that makes you question humanity. In a Dan Simon piece, we learn that a student at Richmond High School in California was gang raped for two and a half hours on school property after she left her Homecoming dance. Even worse? Police believe about 10 people watched and did nothing to help. So disgusting. Dan talks with school board member Charles Ramsey who admits they should have kept tabs on the premises during the dance. Apparently the girl had left to be picked up by her father, and was instead lured into an alley by another student. She's currently hospitalized with non life threatening injuries.

For discussion, we're joined by CNN education contributor Steve Perry and clinical psychologist Mary Koss. I feel a little bad for pointing this out, but Mary is clearly nervous. John asks her how people could just stand around and watch this happen and this is her response: "John, thanks so much for having me and, Steve, thank you so much for expressing the outrage about this tragedy that we all feel. This is a horrible, horrible thing." And that's all she said. Um, yes, I think this being a horrible thing has pretty much been established.

John then tries again, and this time she does hit on the bystander effect, but not very well. C'mon, Kitty Genovese? Diffusion of responsibility? Bueller? Like I said, I feel a little bad since I know that if I am ever on live TV it'll be way worse than what we just saw. Anyway, as a student of social psychology, I definitely believe in the idea that the more people there are witnessing a situation, the less likely any of them will be to help. This is a part of the human condition.

That being said, I also agree with Steve, who believes that there was no doubt a "buzz" going through that dance regarding what was happening outside. So if we're looking for the "why" in this horrible story, I'm more apt to think it can be found in the melding of the ideas of both of the guests. It doesn't stem solely from the depravity that Steve seems to think is poisoning our children, but it doesn't stem solely from studied psychological principles either. Human behavior is complicated. More often than not, there simply is no "why" to be found.

Moving on to Gary Tuchman live to talk about the interview he did with the three children of sweat lodge victim Liz Neuman. Doctors tried to save Liz by putting her in a medically-induced coma, but she ultimately succumbed to massive organ damage a week and a half after the sweat lodge. Her daughter, Andrea Puckett, tells us that during that period when her mother was still alive no one connected to James Arthur Ray contacted her. The guru and Liz had been friends for seven years, so Andrea assumed he would be by her side.

When Ray finally did call--after Liz's death--Andrea immediately hung up on his ass. Good for her. Bryan Neuman, Liz's son, thinks Ray acted like a "heartless, soulless coward." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. In addition to being devastated by their mother's death, Liz's children are also outraged that Ray continues to make money and be uncooperative with authorities. This guy is really a piece of work. I take solace in the fact that the last freaky cult guy that Gary reported on significantly is now in prison. Sometimes justice just takes time.

Are you aggrieved that I deprived you of your Sanjay earlier? Well, rejoice, because the doc with the 1000-watt smile is back. He's talking about Liz's heat stroke--so it's not exactly party time--but he's back nonetheless. Sanjay explains that the human body actually has an excellent cooling system, but in a sweat lodge the system is unable to work properly because things are so humid. Obviously dehydration occurs and sometimes even disorientation, which can prevent people from leaving a situation they would otherwise know was dangerous. Actually, that part I just kinda filled in for you since this is edited in a way that cuts Sanjay off. Hm.

The "shot" tonight is a five year old body builder. I'm with Erica Hill on this one. That's just creepy. John gives us a little Schwarzenegger impression. Oh, don't quit your day job, John. I kid because I love!

Last night I blogged a bit about CNN's ratings problems--a subject I could for some reason speculate about forever (it's a sickness!). But don't worry, I won't. Anyway, about a gazillion posts and write-ups on the subject have hit the Internets in the last day or so and this one from Variety caught my eye--particularly the last paragraph:

Still, it’s surprising to see Anderson Cooper disappear into the ideological mist. Cooper himself seems bored, if not robotic from time to time. Further, the convention of “panels” seems pathetically outdated – the same talking heads saying exactly what you know they will say. Cooper’s format is failing him, and so are his producers.

It kinda pains me to say it, but if I'm going to be honest, I can't disagree.

Calling Out Greedy CEO's, Afghanistan Discussion, Sweat Lodge Update, Eva Longoria Interview, & ZOMG Balloon Boy Dad Has A Theme Song

Hi everyone. We begin tonight with Gary Tuchman bringing us the latest on those sweat lodge deaths. He's not staying long though. This is just a little whetting of our palate, if you will. I guess they figure Gary's awesomeness will keep us sticking around. They are right!

Our real top story is how all these Wall Street people keep frickin taking our money and giving it to themselves. Dudes, not cool. We all remember TARP, right? Yeah, well, top executives at recipient companies have been getting fancypants perks. But never fear, 360 is here. Says Anderson Cooper: "We think it's important to know who got what. You have to name these people. You have to hold them accountable. You have to keep them honest." Ooh, I love it when they name names.

Joe Johns has the naughty list: Jeffrey Peek, CEO of CIT Group; Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America; and Alvaro de Molina, CEO of GMAC Financial Services. Joe had all the numbers too, but I don't have time for that. The names are enough for you to get your hate on. Start with Ken Lewis. Let's just say I really hate Bank of America. Anyhoo! Good piece. Anderson and Joe discuss a bit more and there's a Goldman Sachs mention. Can we sic the investigative dogs on them next please?

For related coverage, we're then joined by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D) Ohio and David Walker, former GAO head. This segment can be summed up as Anderson saying, "what the hell?" and the two guests replying, "we suck at this." Okay, that's probably not a fair assessment. Marcy hits on the culture of greed, and notes that she has a bill to recoup the bonuses. I actually wish the bill part would have been fleshed out more.

There are A LOT of bills floating around out there that don't have a prayer. Does this one have a chance? If not, what or who is standing in its way? Same thing with her point about the underfunding of the FBI. Why is that? As for David, he thinks we need better regulation of the bailout program. It seems to me there are probably people--as in, Congress people--who are for whatever reason gumming up the works here. Hey 360, you know how you just named names a few minutes ago? Do it again.

Transitioning now to the subject of Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has finally admitted that, hey, maybe he didn't win that totally corrupt election after all. He's agreed to a runoff election...in two weeks. See, thing about Afghanistan, not exactly a place you want to "winter." The snow is coming soon and all else stops--even the war, basically. Michael Ware joins us in studio and notes that putting on an election in two weeks is going to be a huge logistical challenge. Not to mention that whole fraud thing.

We're played some dueling soundbytes from Rahm Emanuel and then Secretary Gates. One makes it seem like Obama is waiting on the troop decision, while the other implies full steam ahead. Holy contradictions Batman! But Michael doesn't seem too concerned. According to him, the Afghans don't care much who wins the election. "Whether it's Hamid Karzai returning or Abdullah Abdullah, in many ways, in Afghan eyes, it is one bunch of crooks vs. another," he tells us. Yay?

For the political angle, Paul Begala and Kevin Madden are brought in. They talk Karzai and credibility. Wow, shades of Al-Maliki, anyone? Kevin hits my pet peeve by bringing up the Iraq "surge" as an example, but thankfully Paul smacks that down by saying it was more the Sunni Awakening that improved Iraq. Then Michael chimes in (I didn't even know he was still there) that there's actually a possibility of an Afghanistan Awakening, which, sounds good? I just really don't want this all coming back to us in another 20 years. Again. Also? Michael should always be kept around to chime in.

Now it's finally time for the Gary Tuchman sweat lodge story. Our intrepid reporter--who I guess has just been cooling his heels for the last 40 some odd minutes--has been talking with a former follower of James Arthur Ray. The plan was for an on-camera interview, but she freaked and canceled. Pretty weird. This is sounding more cultish by the minute. So anyway, the woman was at a retreat last year where 20 people got sick and one woman even had to be dragged out unconscious. Now after the latest retreat, three people are dead and Ray is still doing his thing. At least there's an investigation underway. The guy sounds like one sick cookie.

Next up, we have a Soledad O'Brien piece about Latinos in Hollywood. This is because of her big special, which I think is tomorrow, so uh, watch! Yeah, I don't do promotion well. Anyway, it's also because Eva Longoria is in the piece and that segues us nicely into Anderson's interview with the actress. I actually don't know anything about her except that she's a housewife, and, apparently, desperate. Wha wha wha. I'll be here all night.

Okay, there's actually serious discussion here. Eva talks about the under-representation of Latinos in film/TV roles, immigration reform, and her work as an advocate for farm workers--many of who are children. I would have liked to hear more about that last one. I think this was taped, so if there's more, they should put it online.

For "the shot" tonight, hold onto your hats people because it seems Richard Heene wrote himself a theme song. Oh yes. And Anderson is like a kid in a candy store with this stuff. So...behold: Richard Heene, Psyience Detective. And while I'm sure my regular readers have realized by now that this blog isn't edited, no, I'm not that sloppy. That's how Heene spells it. "The kids love that kind of spelling," says Anderson. It's how we roll.

What's annoying is that the song is kinda catchy in a horrible way, so it gets stuck in your head. The camera catches Anderson doing the white guy head bob, but he immediately stops once he realizes. Oh please. Like he's going to spontaneously combust if we see him bust a move. But the real award has to go out to Erica Hill who goes for the high notes. Well done. They then discuss their vast collection of creepy songs. Anyone plays Warren Jeffs and I am so kicking some ass. You have been warned.

So, I thought the show was really good tonight. Yes, look at me, I'm being complimentary. Good job, 360! Of course, now that I've said this, I can pretty much guarantee they're going to get stomped in the ratings. It's fate or something. Sorry 360. It's in writing now. I can't undo it. You can just blame the annoying girl with the blog. I'm cool with that. Until we meet again...

Limbaugh Loses Rams Bid, Rick Perry Possibly Covering Up Execution Of An Innocent Man, Jaycee Dugard Pictures, and A Sweat Lodge Tragedy

Hi everyone. I found the show pretty uninteresting tonight, so this is going to be short and sweet. Well, short anyway. I make no promises on the sweet part. Your mileage may vary. We begin with the news that the NFL has spoken and their message to Rush Limbaugh is: no Rams for you! Actually, he wasn't going to be the sole owner, and there's this whole process involving three-quarters of NFL owners approving a bid, but I could really care less about the details.

This news would have been quite enough for me. However, this is 360, so yeah, here come da panel. Al Sharpton is back and he's joined by Stephen Smith and McGraw Milhaven from KTRS here in St. Louis. There's nothing of note, except maybe McGraw calling what happened to Limbaugh a "high tech lynching." He actually does an excellent job of being even more annoying than Sharpton, which usually is a hard feat. Impressive! I love it when they have on people from my city...and then they act like idiots. Thanks for representing.

We next move on to Randi Kaye in studio to talk about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a man executed in Texas for the arson deaths of his daughters. But now fire investigators are stating that it wasn't arson and Governor Rick Perry seems to be doing some shady things in regards to the investigation. I've missed some of the prior reports 360 did on this case, so I'm not really on top of it, but I'm glad they're doing the digging. After Randi, Anderson Cooper talks with Cameron's stepmother via phone and Colleen McCain Nelson, of "The Dallas Morning News."

On now to their week-long series "Politicians Behaving Badly." When I first heard Anderson preview this series a day or two ago, my first thought was, "dude, you are going to need way more than a week." Anyway, tonight's contestant is Nevada Senator John Ensign. The requisite panel includes Joe Johns, Candy Crowley, and Stan Brand, former general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives. I appreciate the effort, but a lot of this just feels like retreading. Even the overall topic seems overdone. Why not do a series on something like legislation that's not getting much coverage?

Transitioning now to Erica Hill talking about Jaycee Dugard. I figured this was coming. No way 360 wasn't going to jump on this story. For the first time we get to see Jaycee (she's on the cover of "People" and looks very pretty), and I actually don't mind hearing about the facts of that. But why oh why did they have to follow it up with Ed Smart and psychiatrist Judith Cohen? I sympathize with the Smart family, but what Elizabeth went through is simply not comparable to Jaycee's situation, and I don't think he has any right to act like he knows what she's going through. As for Judith, good lord, she actually resorted to body language analysis. Embarrassing.

Our final piece of the night is from Gary Tuchman, regarding the deaths of two people at a Sedona, Arizona sweat lodge. The owner of the lodge, James Arthur Ray, is apparently one of those self-help guru people. You know, he's ready to help...provided you pay thousands of dollars. The concept of the sweat lodge actually came from Native Americans and they operate them to this day. The difference between them and Ray is that whole capitalism run amuck thing. They don't charge for their services. It's their belief that Ray packed in too many people and didn't use the right materials to cover the lodge--no doubt all in the name of profit maximization. Nice.

There was no "shot" tonight, as was the case last night. I really hope this is simply a coincidence (it wouldn't be the first time without the segment), and not a reaction to the Daily Show segment that ripped CNN a new one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly a huge "shot" fan, but I'd find it pretty disturbing if they chucked it over that and my reason is two-fold. First of all, wow, that would be some massively thin skin. It's bad enough it's virtually impossible to get a critical comment posted to their blog. I mean, seriously, man-up a bit, guys.

But even worse than that--and again, this is all just reaction to a hypothetical and not confirmed situation--it completely misses TDS's main point. The "shot" is not CNN/360's problem. Jon Stewart's gripe--and where he is totally on point--is that CNN consistently lets their guests spew complete BS and does not hold them accountable in any way. Look, I don't think anyone expects the anchor to be an information superhero. They can't always fact-check on the fly during a live segment. But there's no fact-checking after-the-fact either. If CNN were to really react to the TDS segment, they should brainstorm a way to do this. Of course, that would mean actually holding their own contributors accountable, and we all know that's not going to happen.

So anyway, like I said, maybe the "shot's" absence is just a coincidence. In any regards, the show wasn't that great tonight. I don't understand what's happening with them lately.