The Financial Crisis Goes On, Suze Orman Answers Your Questions, Palin Continues To Astound America, And You Really CAN See Russia From Alaska

Hi everybody. Well, yesterday the Dow was down over 700 points and today it's up almost 500. Is there such a thing as financial sickness? Can we take Dramamine for this? Jebus. But don't let out a sigh of relief just yet. Because we're still at DEFCON 5 when it comes to our economy. If Tom Ridge was Treasury Secretary, he'd have us at code red. But anyhoo, the real BREAKING NEWS tonight is that the Senate has decide to step up to the bailout bill plate.

We learn from Jessica Yellin that the more mature house of Congress is set to vote on legislation tomorrow, and they're hoping that deal sweetners, such as an increase in bank account insurance and other add ons, will convince the crazies of the House to give their support. Whether that will work out remains to be seen because constituents are still very much against any bailout, and vocally so. I'm confused as to why there is no mention of the bailout alternative offered by House progressives. It doesn't look to have gotten much press. Whose fault that is, I do not know.

Ali Velshi joins us next, instructing us to not focus on the Dow because the "stock market is a weak barometer of the economy." He's worried about the credit market, which is apparently already seeing some issues in regards to major corporations raising money. Obviously, if this continues, the problems will trickle down with disastrous results. So, uh . . . hey, at least we're not North Korea, right?

Moving on now to an Ed Henry piece that teaches us that today's word is "bipartisan." Can you say "bipartisan," children? I think you can. Because see, McCain is all about coming together and being bipartisan to solve this dilemma. Sure, he was Mr. Blame Game before, but that was so yesterday. Now he's one step away from friggin singing Kum ba yah, yes siree. Except, er, he's got his surrogates out there attacking Obama and, uh, while he's preaching togetherness on the stump, there are attack ads running on the TV, so . . . yeah. For his part, Obama has also decided to don his nicest rhetoric, but he's not the loser in this situation. After his piece, Ed drones on about some "maverick" and "country first" BS that is becoming increasingly difficult for the country to swallow.

For discussion, we're next joined by David Gergen, Ed Rollins, and Hilary Rosen. I've noticed that Anderson Cooper is getting even more specific with introductions lately, being sure to note all the political leanings, which is good. I bet this crazy election has caused an eruption of batsh*t insane emails to them. Anyway, Ed makes the same point that I did last paragraph regarding McCain playing nice, while at the same time running attack ads. Anderson does the balance thing, pointing out that Obama didn't call up House members to try to sway votes. Hilary reminds him that it was the Republicans who failed in delivering the votes they had promised. She then makes the very good point that ultimately, this falls at Bush's feet, because he didn't do a good job convincing the American people this bill was needed, which led to them rising up and putting the fear of God (or losing an election) into a lot of the House members. The Gerg notes that McCain has a lot of work to do because momentum is now on Obama's side. Fingers crossed, that's where it stays.

On now to Suze Orman answering your questions, and continuing to scare the ever-loving crap out of me. Okay, she seems nice and smart, but I think I would develop an ulcer if I had to see her about my finances on a regular basis. Simma. Down. Now! People shouldn't feel like they're being berated when they're receiving advice. The questions and answers are up on the 360 blog (sans overbearing personality and scary pointing--scratch that--there's some pointing), if anyone is interested. My favorite is Chelsea. Only 14 and already learning about student loans? Who says kids aren't responsible?

Transitioning now to more Sarah Palin absurdity, because the 360 kids just can't help themselves. I'm loving how they are so clearly as flummoxed by this woman as I am. We're first played another Couric/Palin clip in which the VP hopeful completely obliterates the McCain camp's experience argument . . . and reminds us all that McCain is really old. She's like the gift that keeps on giving--I just hope we can return her come November. We're then joined by James Carville and Bay Buchanan, before being played another clip. In this little gem, Palin is asked what newspapers and magazines she reads to form her world view. Her answer: "any of 'em," and "all of 'em." Oy.

Anderson can barely contain his bogglement as he notes she couldn't name a magazine or newspaper. Bay, unsurprisingly, thinks it's no big deal. She then tries to spin things as though the question was somehow a put down to Alaska. But Anderson is on his toes and doesn't let that fly, noting that there were no implications to the question and he's been asked the same thing a million times. Bay concedes that Palin could have been more specific, but keeps up her defense by trying to tell us Palin said she reads lots of them (them meaning newspapers/magazines). "I believe she said all of them," Anderson says, and then says it again after Bay tries to brush it off. Bwah! He is so on with this subject.

James is worried about Palin because he thinks she's "supremely uninterested in the world around her." This doesn't bother Bay one bit. She then goes into the whole "she's one of us" BS argument. You know what? I don't want my president (or VP) to be like me; I want them to be better and smarter than me, and with this ticket, I'm beginning to think it's the other way around.

Anderson brings up the fact that a couple of years ago, Palin barely even knew about the surge. He points out that he's sure Bay herself would have been able to give an opinion on the surge when asked. Then Bay spouts quite possibly the most jaw-dropping reply of BS I've ever heard: "I'm sure I did, because I do this for a living. I read the issues and study them. And I have strong opinions, and I come on CNN and I express them. But that's not what she did for a living." Oh. My. God. I read the issues and study them too and I'm a friggin nobody from the middle of the country. Newsflash: This woman is running to be a heartbeat from the presidency! Wake up! Anderson has this one too: "She was commander in chief of the National Guard." Seriously.

The final clip is Palin hedging and hawing when it comes to the morning after pill. Ultimately, she comes out against. James points out that the issue should not be Palin's personal position on the pill, but whether she'll prevent other women from having access to it. Amen to that. Bay tells us that she's opposed to the pill because she believes life begins at conception. This might shock my readers, but I actually respect Palin's position here, though I add the caveat that I am strongly against any attempts to push her beliefs on others. There has been much hay made over her opposition to abortion even in cases of incest and rape, but I think any pro-lifer (I'm pro-choice) who allows the exception is a hypocrite.

If the issue is truly about unborn life, then it shouldn't matter how that life was conceived, because the life had no choice in the matter. Having these exceptions makes it about the actions of the woman, as though she is being punished for consenting to sex. If you're going to be pro-life, be pro-life. Oh, and that means no death penalty or support for war either. Hypocrites all. Anyway, back with James and Bay, they argue back-and-forth for another minute or two while Anderson, I don't know, takes a nap or something.

Keeping with the Palin news, we move onto a Gary Tuchman piece that has become quite popular on the progressive side of the Internets. Remember how Palin hilariously claimed she has foreign policy experience because you can see Russia from Alaska? Well, Gary trudged all the way up there and found out that, hey, you can really see Russia from Alaska. (Sorry, Jeff Corwin. Tis true.) Provided he can also wrestle a moose (and really, who can't these days?), I think our Gary has just qualified himself to be vice president. Okay, the deal here is that there's an island that's part of Alaska called Little Diomede and then only two and a half miles away there is Big Diomede Island, which is a Russian military installation. Between the two is the international dateline, meaning the two islands are about a day apart. Pretty trippy.

There are only 150 people on Little Diomede and Gary talks to a good portion of them, including adorable children. So, how many times has Palin visited to keep an eye on those wiley Russians? Uh, zero times. Oh, way to keep us safe from the commies, Palin! What's funny is that most of the residents of the island hadn't even heard she had been selected for VP (or even knew her name for that matter) because they don't have television. The mayor knows who she is, but even he can't swallow her foreign policy claim. This just keeps getting more and more sadly hilarious. Although, what's just plain sad is the poverty these people are living in. There's little running water and sometimes they even dump their trash into the sea, which inevitably finds it's way to Russia on occasion. Gary's piece ends with, "So far, no international incidents. " Heh. Oh, and those Russians living suspiciously close to our country? Yeah, the Little Diomede residents aren't so much worried about them. In fact, I'm guessing that whole lack of running water thing is more of a problem.

The Shot tonight is . . . well, someone has named their dog after Anderson Cooper. And not just any dog. This is one of those dogs that you look at and just laugh out loud. Sorry, I don't have a link/cap for you. So, uh, nice compliment? I myself have named my hamster after Anderson. Kidding. I've never owned a hamster. I find it a little weird to name your animals after famous people, though I will admit that my childhood dog was named Cagney after James. As you might imagine, it wasn't my choice.

Trying to watch the webcast is becoming increasingly frustrating and I'm about to give up. I'm being webcast blocked! It worked fine before. I don't know if it's my computer or their links (I try them all). It'll load up, but there will be nothing there. Or the link will just take me to some completely unrelated video. Anyway, technology is being mean to me and I've about had it with all the bells and whistles anyway. Just throwing that out there. No reason, really. The show was pretty good. They're handling the financial stuff better than I thought they would.

Finally, some good news! The Baghdad government is going to start paying the Sunnis when we stop. Thank you to commenter rosephile for the link. That'll do it.

Hurricane Ike Becomes A Monster, Sarah Palin's First TV Interview, And Obama/McCain At The Service Forum

Hi everybody. Anderson Cooper is once again preparing to become "hurricane guy" and tonight comes at us live from Houston, a city that quite possibly has a problem (lame, I know). And that problem's name is Ike. We start things off with the BREAKING NEWS that the National Weather Service (NWS) does not play. They've just issued a pee-your-pants kind of warning to individuals living in the coastal areas of Texas: "Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death." So . . . wow. Actually, that's extremely similar to the warning I was reading on blogs prior to Hurricane Katrina, though those weren't issued by the NWS. There's obviously a chicken little risk here that could result in people not heeding serious warnings in the future, but I'm going to go ahead and assume the NWS would never have used such strong language unless they thought it was absolutely necessary. And that kind of freaks me out. Chad Myers joins us with the latest on what Ike is up to. He says nothing comforting.

Transitioning now to coverage of the interview that Sarah Palin did with ABC's Charles Gibson. You know, I'm getting really sick of the news noting how both candidates stopped campaigning today in honor of 9-11. I mean, hello! What the hell is this interview? And this date was specifically chosen. Kind of sickeningly, really. Anyway, we first get a clip of Palin's response to Gibson's question of whether or not she has the experience for the job of VP. Apparently, she doesn't blink. I have to say, that is such a Bush-like way of thinking that it scares me too much to even joke about.

Our next clip is about whether or not she believes in the Bush Doctrine and anyone watching can so obviously tell she doesn't even know what the Bush Doctrine is. John King (sorry, I didn't keep track of the pundits that well tonight) tells us that the Obama camp is annoyed that they've called this 9-11 truce and have to wait until tomorrow to hit on this issue. David Gergen agrees that she's clueless about the doctrine, but doesn't see it as a big deal because he doesn't think most Americans are familiar with it either. Oh good lord, Gerg. Most people aren't running for VP. I know what the Bush Doctrine is and I'm a political nobody from the middle of the country. Apparently I can be the second most powerful person in the US and arguably the world. Who knew?

Continuing with the foreign policy theme, we get a clip of Charlie asking Palin about the Russia/Georgia conflict. People are jumping on her comment regarding possible war with Russia, but really, in full context it is much less troubling. On the other hand, I'm aghast at her absurd assertion that Russia's proximity to Alaska gives her insight into Russia's leadership. Though to be fair, Gibson led the question. Still, she actually said these words: "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." You can see them from there, people! The mind boggles. Oh, and I also liked her offense at Russia invading Georgia unprovoked. Because we're the authority when it comes to railing against preemptive war.

Moving to an Iraq clip now, Palin is asked about her claim that Iraq is a "task that is from God." First Palin attempts to say it isn't her exact quote. When that doesn't work she claims she's repeating some Abraham Lincoln quote. Or something. This was a major dodge. Not only that, but as Robert Zimmerman points out, Palin utterly fails in explaining how her ticket will handle the Iraq war differently than Bush. Bay Buchanan, on the other hand, just loved Palin's answer. Well, of course she did. Also? Bay Buchanan is unwatchable. Just saying. Give me Amy Holmes, Ed Rollins, even Bill Bennett, but Bay needs to go. Anyway, Robert notes that Palin isn't running for "Reverend in Chief." Seriously. Look, I'll handle the praying; I need our leaders to actually, you know, lead.

Our next clip involves how much travel Palin has done outside the US. Turns out? Not much. Something else she has in common with Bush (prior to his presidency). Bay thinks this is just great. Because it makes Palin real! Just like you! Good lord. Anderson then tries his journalistic best to squeeze something different out of these partisan pundits by flipping things around. He asks Bay if there was anything that disappointed her about Palin's performance and she immediately says no and goes right back into her talking points. *Sigh* Good try anyway, Anderson. Once he finally gets Bay to shut up (seriously 360, do not have her back), he asks Robert if there was anything that impressed him about Palin's interview. Robert rather liked her answer about Pakistan . . . because that's Obama's plan, which McCain opposed. You see what he did there, people? Robert gets half a point.

Transitioning back to Chad Myers to scare us some more about this impending hurricane. Anderson wants Chad to email him on where they should go. He wonders if they should go to Galveston and Chad replies with an emphatic Ted Stevens-like, "No!" Ha! Aww. Send him somewhere really safe, Chad! We viewers worry so.

Okay, back to politics. We're joined by Candy Crowley, Mark Halperin, and David Gergen to discuss the Service Forum that Obama and McCain participated in tonight. I actually had every intention of watching it, but as soon as I saw McCain I had a sudden urge to spew profanity. And when you find yourself at that point, well, it's time for a nap, which is how I instead spent the two hours. No regrets here. So anyway, apparently McCain got asked about Palin's community organizer diss and wouldn't you know, it turns out he loves community organizers. I am shocked, shocked by that answer.

Anderson notes that whenever a candidate is asked about these kind of controversies, they always back away, yet still allow it to go on. Ain't politics grand? The Gerg has a reply to this, but I'm way too distracted by the yahoo behind him acting like an idiot. Where the hell is The Gerg? Obama then continues with the whole tone by stating how hard he thinks it is to be a mayor. Mark apparently was not thrilled with McCain's answer and states that he needs a seven second delay for the profanity he's feeling right now. Whoa. Mark has kinda been being awesome lately. But I should note he felt Obama wasn't entirely honest either. I know I didn't watch the forum, but from these clips it seems like it was a pretty big waste. Wake me for the debates.

Next up, we have a Candy Crowley piece that I am quite frankly not thrilled about. See, she starts off talking about 9-11 and today's political truce and then goes on into the Iraq war. I may have missed it, but I'm pretty sure she at no time notes that 9-11 had nothing to do with Iraq. I'm not in any way insinuating she was trying to make a connection and in fact you would think that in 2008 the non connection wouldn't need to be noted. It does though. There is still a percentage of the population that believes the false connection. And conflating the two in a piece without pointing out that they're not connected just feeds the myth.

We turn back now to the topic of Hurricane Ike and go live to Gary Tuchman in . . . Galveston. Ohhhh noes. What are you doing there?! Gary tells us that people in the area are freaked out. Well, I would think so. Anderson asks if Gary will be in Galveston when Ike makes landfall. Now it's my turn to do the emphatic, "No!" Of course, no one can hear me, so I'm forced to listen to Gary say he's not sure, but they have a safe hotel. *Sigh* Also? Gary's hair is doing amusing things in the wind, but I'm too nervous to sufficiently mock (with love). After Gary, we get Susan Candiotti coming at us from Surfside Beach. I can't really get a handle on what kind of danger she's in there, so I shall save any freaking out on her behalf for later.

On now to another update from Chad. He's got his map and his coffee analogy. Hopefully real coffee too because here comes a very long 24 plus hours. Anderson tells us that though he's not sure where he'll be, when Ike makes landfall he'll be covering it. Well, you're not going to be in Galveston! You hear that, mister? Man, I need to, like, be a fan of people with less dangerous jobs. Maybe accountants or something. Anyway, I'm going to try to watch (through my fingers of course) most of Ike when he makes landfall tomorrow night. I have to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to go out of town, so, uh, this should be interesting. I'll try to post something before I go though. Hey, maybe I'll do a little live-blogging. You can witness the evolution of a nervous breakdown. Heh. We'll see. But seriously, good thoughts go out to everyone in this monster's path. Stay safe.

The Best Of Anderson Cooper 360 In 2008

The listicles continue! It's that time of year again. Yesterday, I posted my choices for the worst of 360 in 2008, which means it is now time for the praise-heaping to begin. I like doing that much better. As previously stated, the majority of the picks have been chosen by me, using my memory and a quick trip through my archives. I have also taken input from two other long-time 360 viewers. If you think I've left something out (and I've no doubt left out plenty) or disagree, feel free to chime in and leave a comment. Now on to the lovin!

THE SCOTT MCCLELLAN INTERVIEW
I'll admit, when I heard Anderson Cooper tease this interview as "probably the toughest McClellan has faced," I might have raised an eyebrow in bemusement. But dang it if he wasn't telling the truth. Probing questions. Passionate follow-ups. This was our anchor totally on his 'A' game, leading me to deem the interview one of Anderson's best ever. Unfortunately, it got a little tainted when Dan Abrams decided to be a jerk and play fun with editing (you'll notice most of those clips don't even include Anderson's questions), but there was praise to go around as well. All in all, a most excellent job.

PLANET IN PERIL: BATTLE LINES
I debated on whether to include this because it wasn't exactly done by 360, but logistical issues and work put into the special no doubt affected the regular broadcast, so I think it merits inclusion. As I stated in my recap and review of PIP, the CNNers should be proud. Traveling across the globe is no small feat, and to do it in pursuit of important stories that the public may not exactly be clamoring for, is an admirable undertaking. All of the segments were informative and engaging, though Sanjay Gupta's reporting from Peru probably stands out as the strongest of the bunch. I look forward to the third installment of this series and respect CNN for their ratings-be-damned mentality when it comes to this issue.

EXTREME CHALLENGES SPECIALS (AKA, THE MAP TABLE!)
One of the most frustrating things about cable news is their seeming belief that if anyone spends more than a few minutes discussing a specific topic, everyone will spontaneously burst into flames. This sound bite world we live in almost ensures that news is delivered to the masses lacking context. Not so with the map table. The discussions conducted during these specials are intelligent, thought-provoking, and often educational. In my prior post I derided the ever-present panels, but this is an example of conversation done right. I only have one request: more please.

CONSISTENCY IMPROVEMENT
Not long ago, you could ask any long-time 360 viewer to identify the show's biggest problem and you would almost always get the same answer: consistency, or actually, a lack there of. I know I myself have previously deemed this show the most inconsistent I have ever seen. It used to be that viewers had no idea what they were going to get and when they were going to get it. Would 360 be leading with Britney Spears? Doing an excellent hour on foreign issues? Nobody knew.

It was to the point that I had great difficulty describing the show to other people--even though I had been watching for years. But something happened in 2008. Aside from a few slip ups, I can now actually expect to see real important news at the top of the show every night. The sensational stories are still done (of course), but they've mostly been relegated to their own 'crime and punishment' segment, and the more trivial matters (and fun) have rightly found a home at the end of the broadcast.

The show has also exhibited a stick-with-it-ness that I'm not sure we've seen before concerning the segments ("The Shot," "Beat 360," even the retired "What Were They Thinking?). They used to pretty regularly start a segment, only to forget about it or ditch it a few days later. Though I would like to see a slight overhaul of the show regarding the panels, I hope they stick with this new-found consistency.

CULPRITS OF THE COLLAPSE
The financial coverage hasn't always been as deep as I would like, and I know I've noted previously that it would have been nice to get some good investigative coverage of these issues before everything went to hell, but I still think 360 should be commended for stepping up and calling out. They took on some powerful people (surely none too thrilled) and even made viewers ponder their own culpability in the economic disaster. Could the financial coverage have been better? Sure, but the attempt, and the fact that they're staying on the overall story is a step in the right direction. Honorable mention to hardworking financial guru, Ali Velshi.

ELECTION REPORTING FROM THE FIELD
Amid all the ridiculous pundits feeding us their wrong predictions, and sniping surrogates that had us scrambling for the remote, there was one really bright spot when it came to the coverage of the election: actual reporting! I'm really not that interested in what the chattering class of the Washington elite have to say about the problems that I face, but it's always a good thing when reporters bring us the perspectives of every day people just trying to get by. Though there were many correspondents that found themselves all over the good ol' USA, Gary Tuchman's reporting specifically stands out.

Whether investigating the persistent Obama-is-a-Muslim myth in Tennessee, taking a look at the nexus of politics and poverty in Kentucky, or following around everyone's favorite moose hunter in Alaska, Gary's stories were always respectful and engaging. Specifically in regards to covering Palin, it would have been easy for him to get caught up in the adoration from her supporters, or go the opposite route and turn snarky (which though enjoyable for me, would have admittedly been wrong). Instead, he struck a perfect balance, even with the piece where we learned that hey, you really can see Russia from Alaska. Here's hoping that 2009 brings less speculation and more actual reporting.

THE UNBELIEVABLE REASONABLENESS OF DAVID GERGEN
Let's face it, a lot of people who get booked on cable news are simply insane. Some of the conversations I've heard on the TeeVee I could never imagine going down in real life. This alternate reality where any statement is deemed legitimate for discussion often made the panels, shall we say, frustrating. That being said, as long as David Gergen is there, you know everything is going to be okay. The knowledge and thoughtfulness and just plain rationality that he brings to the table has resulted in proclamations of love and had me singing his praises on more than one occasion.

Sure, in the past I've noted his tendency to always give everyone the benefit of the doubt, even when they maybe don't deserve it. But in a world currently blanketed in cynicism, don't we need somebody like that? And yes, after watching him for a few years now I have come to the realization that he is, in fact, adorable. Besides, you have to love a man who knows how to boogie (Oh my God!). Honorable mention to the always amusing and informative Jeffrey Toobin.

COVERAGE OF LGBT ISSUES
Gay rights is not a subject that most outlets are exactly scrambling to cover, but 360 has done a good job keeping us informed of the battle, specifically concerning the developments regarding Prop 8. Though I understand that some viewers might find that the intense passion behind the issue results in annoying television, I thought the debates between Tony Perkins and Lisa Bloom and then Tony Perkins and Dan Savage were quite good. It should also be noted that, to my knowledge, 360 was one of the first to significantly cover the murder of Lawrence King.

HODGEPODGE OF FUN
This would be the spot where I dump everything that I want to mention, but don't exactly know where to put. One thing I've always admired about 360 is that though they take their work seriously, they don't really take themselves seriously. They realize that during this time of depressing news at every turn, it's okay to take a minute or two and have a little fun. Whether it's ambushing David Gergen with a declaration of love from Jessi Klein, asking Ed Henry's cameraman to pan out so we can see his shorts, playing "Single Ladies," for the 15th time, or conducting a mock "Voice of 360" contest, we've had some laughs in 2008.

The show also shines in their willingness to embrace new ideas. Yes, the webcast and live-blog are fairly gimmicky, but they're growing on me. Floor Crew Friday is a specific highlight. I've always had an affinity for behind-the-sceners, but who knew they could be so much fun! The Great Starburst(s) Debate of 2008 will go down in history. As for the regular blog, this year we saw it get quite the makeover. Fancy-pants! Not only is it more informative, with more perspectives than ever, it also allows us to read the comic-stylins' of the great Jack Gray. It's been quite a year. Here's to more fun and innovation in 2009.

Immigration Reform Dead, Road To Nowhere, Raw Politics, Missing Girl, Patricia Cornwell Cyberstalked, And Paris Freed (Thursday's First Hour)

Hey everybody. We're beginning things tonight with the BREAKING NEWS that the immigration reform bill has stalled in the Senate. Dana Bash joins us live with the news and then we're introed into a piece. Basically what happened is Senate Democratic leaders wanted to limit debate to get this thing moving, but the Republicans balked because they wanted to time to change things. So the whole thing just pretty much died. These people can't do anything right! After her piece, Dana tells us the person hurt most by this is Bush because this was going to be his big domestic accomplishment. Not anymore, apparently. But seriously, can he really be further damaged? I'm thinking at this point the only place he has to go is up. Next we have someone on the phone. Can you guess who it is? I think you can. It's Lou Dobbs! Like you're surprised. But in case you were, CNN has helpfully put his picture up for you. Anyway, Lou is pleased about the Senate doing absolutely nothing, but Anderson wonders what that says about them. Lou blames it all on the leadership and then goes off about border security. Anderson asks if anything is going to actually change. Lou thinks it will and states that the elites are finding they can't disregard the 280 million members of the middle class. Where does that number come from? Because aren't there over 30 million poor people in the US and only 300 million total. And that's not counting the rich. I'm just wondering if this is an actual stat.

Next up we have an Ed Lavandera piece on Edwin Hall, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Kelsey Smith. We're told that Hall went by the name Jack and then CNN shows us the result of a little Internet surfing they've been doing: "And someone going by the name Jack on this MySpace Web page looks just like Edwin Hall." Wait, you're not for sure it's him?! It's most likely him, but it's still a little disturbing, especially since we're then basically shown the contents of the page. For what purpose, I'm not sure. After Ed's piece we're shown a clip from Larry King of Kelsey's parents and boyfriend being interviewed. The boyfriend states that he actually found out about it on the radio. Man, that is messed up. Anderson thinks so too, reinterating the point when we cut back to him, "her boyfriend heard on the radio."

Transitioning now to a Tom Foreman "Keeping Them Honest" piece on more of our wasted tax dollars. The deal here is that we're spending $10 million on a tiny road in Florida because Alaskan representative Don Young was the head of the House Transportation Committee before the Democrats took over and he wants the road. "So, why was the congressman from Alaska so interested in this tiny road through Florida?" It's because Coconut Road, as it's named, is home to a hotel where "Mr. Young was the honored guest at a campaign fund- raiser here in which local business people, many of whom could benefit from the interstate connection, gave him $40,000." Interesting. Sounds like bribery to me. Don Young, BTW, is insane. Just, you know, for future reference. This is the guy who got his panties in a twist when it was suggested that just maybe some of his pet project money should be diverted into helping victims of Katrina. Perish the thought! Between him and Ted Stevens, I'm really going to need to put Alaskans on notice for their voting choices.

I guess since Tom Foreman just got to do a piece, he's forfeiting "Raw Politics" to Candy Crowley tonight and she begins with the news that Bush is going to veto a bill to ease restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. Sigh. We also learn that Clinton and Obama are in the fundraising race again, with raised and lowered expectations leaking out every which way. Next, it seems though Ron Paul is barely registering on the real polls, he's quite popular on the unscientific Internets. Somebody's been freeping. Lastly, McCain is winning no fans with his immigration stance. The South Carolina chairman of his campaign just quit. Probably not a good sign. In tonight's edition of "What Were They Thinking?" we learn that five high school students from Galesburg, Illinois, had their diplomas withheld because people cheered when their names were called and the school felt it "violated the school policy aimed at restoring graduation decorum." Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Those officials should have gone to my graduation. They probably would have had a heart attack over all of the lack of decorum. So anyway, the school wanted an apology, the kids balked, the kids got a lawyer, and, yeah, that was pretty much the end of that. At least the school isn't stupid enough to let themselves get sued over cheering.

On now to a Jim Acosta piece on Danielle Cramer, the girl that was found in that concealed room. Right now it's kind of unclear what happened. The defense attorney for the accused is trying to paint it like she ran away and lived their willingly, but it doesn't seem like the cops are buying it. However, we're told "police stress this was not an abduction, that Danielle was a runaway." I think yesterday I said she was kidnapped, so, uh, consider this a retraction. Honestly, I don't think anyone knows what's going on here, so moving on. Next up we have an interview with author Patricia Cornwell, about a man that has been cyberstalking her. She only met the man once, but now he's spreading awful lies all over the Internet about how she's an anti-semite and plagiarist. "And people read this stuff on the Internet, and they don't know where it's coming from. They don't do any research on it. And so it takes on a life of its own," says Anderson. Yep, that's pretty much the way of the intertubes. Cease and desist letters have been sent, but the stalker won't quit. Basically he's trying to use her name to sell books. Patricia's next step is to contact Google and Yahoo to see what can be done, but, uh, good luck with that. Unfortunately for her, the Internet is forever. People really suck sometimes.

After this we've got a clip of Anderson's interview with Carl Bernstein, but I'll save that for next hour. Moving on to Anderson in a bit of a predicament. See, he has made a pledge not to say Paris Hilton's name and now she's gone and made news. Well, not real news, but you know. "All right. This one's hard. So, hear me out. There aren't many people -- in fact, there are no people, whose name I won't mention on this program, except for one. I don't really remember how it started, but it somewhere in between a sex tape, a car crash, and a bizarre and growing celebrity fascination, based on, as far as we can tell, nothing," he tells us. See, Anderson Cooper I told you this would happen! You refuse to say her name and next thing you know, she's gonna make news. And dang it if that isn't just how it went down. Anyway, he passes the buck to Randi Kaye and in her piece we learn that Paris is free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last! Well okay, she's actually just been released to her mansion because she was about to have a nervous breakdown or something. Because that's fair. And then we get to see footage of food delivered to her mansion because, apparently, we have nothing better to do. I think I'm with Anderson here, folks. I salute his boycott of she who shall not be named!

The Shot tonight takes place in the Alabama State Senate. Republican Senator Charles Bishop apparently had a disagreement with Democratic Senator Lowell Barron and decided to communicate that disagreement with his fists. Oh! We're also played clips of rumbles that took place in Taiwan and Russia for good measure. Those crazy politicians. "I think our American politicians can get better at this, though, if they keep trying," says Anderson. There's actually a few politicians I wouldn't mind seeing punched in the face. Just saying. Like you wouldn't watch that. Pshaw. The show was good. B+

Obama's First Press Conference As President-Elect, Honesty-Keeping Gone Wrong, Palin Loves Reporters Now, And A Prop 8 Debate

Hi everybody. The work week ends in a different country than it began. I'm still savoring the win. Can you tell? But unfortunately I also have to live in reality and in reality there is suckiness. Anderson Cooper is coming at us from Washington D.C. tonight for unknown reasons and we begin at the financial wall of doom, with no Ali Velshi to comfort us. It's bad, people. Job losses out the wazoo. If it gets any worse, I'm going to have to watch this segment through my fingers.

But BUT maybe help is on the way. A Candy Crowley piece brings us the lowdown on Obama's first press conference as president-elect and he indicates that the financial crisis will be priority numeral uno. If Bush doesn't pass a new stimulus package, he will. The press also holds Obama's feet to the fire on another very important issue: what kind of puppy are they getting?! What's hilarious is that he answers with almost the same seriousness you'd expect from diplomacy talks. See, Malia is allergic (oh noes!), so they need one that's hypoallergenic, but they want to get a shelter dog, which he notes are often, "mutts like me." Okay, so he wasn't all serious.

Next up, Tom Foreman is here to keep Obama honest regarding what he said on the trail versus what he said during the press conference. My regular readers know I love me the fact-checking, even when it's my guy getting checked. But I did have to shake my head a bit, given that the show let McCain get away with the socialism BS forever and this is literally Obama's first presser. But whatever. That's small fry compared to the contents of the segment. Because when it comes to honesty-keeping, what we have here is a massive fail.

Tom begins by noting that Obama has been preaching tax cuts for the middle class during the campaign, but states that when he was asked directly about tax reform today, he dodged. We're then played a clip in which Obama says he's going to need to look at the economic data to know how to proceed. This alone is pretty nitpicky and eye-rolly, but unfortunately for Tom, it's not even the worst part of the report. You see, Obama wasn't even asked about tax reform, he was asked about raising taxes on the upper class. Listening to Tom, you'd think he was backing off his promise of middle class tax cuts, which is completely untrue.

If you can believe it, thing get worse from here. Tom next reminds us that during the campaign, Obama called for talks with Iran. Then we're played a clip of Obama that seems to show him hedging. But in reality, the clip we're played is an answer to a question regarding how he's going to handle the congratulatory letter sent to him by Ahmadinejad. This is all nicely broken down in this Daily Kos diary (and I'm all over the comments, by the way). At the end of his segment, Tom notes that circumstances might cause Obama to change his campaign promises and that's a good thing to point out, but it does nothing to excuse the extreme hackery we just witnessed.

The obvious question here is: WTF, Tom? Like, how does something like this even happen? Did no one read the whole transcript? If you read the comments of the linked diary you'll find a lot of hate for Tom and CNN, and even though I think this segment was atrocious, I did a lot of defending there tonight. I'm not into reactionary responses and I don't put much merit in blanket statements not backed up with facts. I don't know what happened here. I've been watching Tom for years now and unlike a certain investigative colleague of his (ahem), there is no pattern of hackery. My only guess is they simply screwed up. And hey, it happens, they're human. I'm just sad that even if I don't specifically set out to, I know I'll now be scrutinizing him closer in the future. My hope is that they will correct this report because it's the right thing to do, though I won't hold my breath.

Moving on now to some discussion with David Gergen, Marcus Mabry, and Christine Romans. Nothing much of note here. The Gerg thought Obama did well during the press conference and the panel does a lot of talking about what we might expect from him regarding our tanking economy.

We then swap that panel out for a new one, consisting of Christiane Amanpour, Jill Dougherty, and Peter Gergen. No offense to the last guys, but seeing our international-covering peeps made me smile. They start off with the subject of Ahmadinejad's letter, which is apparently freaking out Israel. Christiane notes that while Israel is skeptical of Obama, there is also a lot of support for him. Anderson points out that Ahmadinejad doesn't even have true power and Christiane tells us there's a growing sentiment in Iran that would like to restore relations with the U.S. That would be a nice item for Obama to cross off his to-do list.

Jill then gives us the scoop on our Russian friends, who are threatening to put missiles on the border with Europe, which actually isn't a very friendly thing to do. From there, Peter bums me out on the subject of Afghanistan, because the country is going to crap and we don't have many options. As we wrap things up, Anderson asks everyone what they think is the most pressing international issue. Peter says Pakistan, Jill says Russia, and Christiane says Iran, Iraq, and climate change. And I'm sure the fact that everyone picked the focus of their own work is just a coincidence.

Transitioning now to Alaska where our Gary Tuchman has been braving the cold for (I think) quite a while now. Before the election, the cold I mentioned might have referred to the brush off Gary got when trying to ask Palin a question. But my how things have changed. Now that she's back to work as governor, she's become just a regular chatty Cathy. Palin tells Gary that the anonymous quotes claiming she didn't know about NAFTA or that Africa is a continent are lies, all lies, and the people behind them are "jerks." She also notes that those expensive clothes everyone got worked up about are the property of the RNC and she's never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr. Pepper. A Diet Dr. Pepper? Not a Coke or Pepsi? How mavericky .

Palin cries sexism too and, of course, criticizes the media. But seeing as Gary is a member of the media, and probably a wee bit tired of being blamed for everything, he tells us he gave her a little challenge. Palin then conceded that, yeah okay, not everyone was a meanie, though apparently she noted that, "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch." Hm, kinda like how one unqualified vice president can ruin the whole country? But I digress. I'm not even sure what she's talking about in regards to the sexism charge. As far as I can tell, the McCain camp started shrieking that when reporters dared to want to speak to her. Gasp! But whatever. She's back in Alaska, America. We're safe.

On now to discussion with Lisa Bloom and Tony Perkins on the passage of Prop 8. Oh, this should be good. By the way, Anderson refers to this as their "Uncovering America" segment. Last night Prop 8 fell under "Nation Divided." Oh, 360. Consistency! Anyway, Anderson starts off by noting the same thing I have previously: that all the same excuses about why gay marriage needs to be banned used to be made when it came to the subject of interracial marriage. But Tony's not following him. He's all, think of the children! Lisa reminds us that every minority group has gained their rights through the courts and she believes the measure will be overturned.

Also? She rips Tony a new one over his concern about the children because she's a single mother who has raised two kids, there are many families that do fine without a mother and a father, and a child growing up in a gay family deserves a home that's treated equally to that of heterosexuals. Lisa no doubt is unaware of my existence, but total cyber high-five to her! Since Tony's so bent on kids having married parents, Anderson asks if it might be beneficial for kids raised by gays to have their parents married. Tony then starts blabbing about how California played by the rules and you don't change public policy to benefit the minority. Oh, BS. Some things are just wrong.

Tony then wonders why the "homosexual activists" won't quit rioting. What?! Is he watching the same thing I'm watching? "That doesn't look like a riot to me," says Lisa. "Where have the riots been? Tony, where have the riots been?" asks Anderson. Excellent. It's nice to see total absurdity being challenged. Tony claims they've spray painted churches and jumped on cars, which I bet in reality is one crazy dude that painted one church. Lisa then says that you don't have to be gay to support gay rights. Damn straight! Er, no pun intended. And she also wonders why gays don't get a tax discount since they're getting the sham when it comes to equality and all that.

Then there's some legal talk, which leads Tony to claim that when it comes to denying people the right to marry, there's no oppression going on. I'll let you think about that one for a second. Anderson must be bit boggled as well because he brings it up again, "Tony, you don't feel this is oppression on any level? You don't feel there's any discrimination?" Tony then hides behind civil unions, saying they give gays the same rights, which prompts Lisa to ask why heterosexuals can't just have civil unions too. Hint: because they're not really the same thing as marriage.

Anderson wraps things up by asking Lisa why marriage is more important than a civil union. Her answer in full: "Because it's about basic decency and respect. And people who have had those rights now in California for the last five months feel so affronted that they're being taken away. In the midst of all of the inclusion this week, gay people were excluded. I think that's sad. I think it's going to change over time. If you don't believe in gay marriage don't have one, but don't keep other people out of the process." Amen. "Don't redefine it for everybody else," says Tony. "It's been redefined many times," replies Lisa. Okay, can I just say that Lisa is kind of awesome? She was a good booking for this, though I suspect they were well aware of that.

Moving on now to . . . doggies! Okay, so we all know that the Obama's are getting a puppy. Well, apparently the 360 kids will take any opportunity to show off their own furry friends. Erica Hill is back in the studio in New York with her pal Jake, though she insists on being referred to as Jake's mom. Tom Foreman and his dog Nola are hanging with Anderson. They discuss hypoallergenic dogs and Jake shows us a few tricks. I am impressed by the high-five. My dog knows the basic commands, along with the more unusual, such as, "Did I invite you in here?" which means leave. And, "That is so rude!" which also causes him to leave and is usually uttered after he runs up and burps in my face. Seriously. But he's a good dog. Nola seems pretty Zen. Just saying.

The Shot tonight is backstage photos of the Obamas on election night. The webcast wouldn't work for me tonight. I'm not even sure there was one, which would make Anderson's suggestion for us to check it out kind of not cool. I leave you with some great pictures that sum up what happened this week. If you don't get teary, well, you're a little dead inside. Have a good weekend.

Severe Storms, Bush Presser, Airport Pork, Superbug, Meeting Resistance, Iraq Talk, Polar Bears, And Raw Politics (Wednesday's Show)

Hi all. Because I get to work at home tomorrow, you get your Wednesday review earlier than usual. Everybody wins! We're kicking things off tonight with Anderson Cooper telling us there are strong storms wreaking havoc in the center of the country. Wait a minute, I am in the center of the country. Chad Myers then joins us with more, and oh look, my city is partially in a red box. That can't be good. And here I thought it was just raining. As I contemplate whether or not I should actually be watching my local news, Chad fills us in on some tornado sightings. It seems like all this stuff should be over by now, but I probably say that this time every year.

Next up, we have Ed Henry live to report on the press conference today where Bush dropped a rhetorical bomb, which everyone is really hoping doesn't metastasize into real bombs. In regards to Iran, Bush thinks we need to stop them from getting the bomb in order to prevent "World War III." And that little turn of phrase of course made everyone go "whoa!" Although I have to say, I'm just kind of glad that when it comes to World War III, he seems to be landing on the side of anti. Because you never know these days. Anyway, this attention-getting language is all just a way for a lame-duck to stay relevant. Bush is still pledging to handle Iran diplomatically, but as Ed reminds us, that's what he said about Iraq. If we get through 2008 without another war we'll be doing good, people. Anderson then points out that Russia's Putin (and I automatically love any story where Anderson says Puddin, ahem) is mixing things up by meeting with the Iranian prez and basically taking his side on the nuclear issue. "So much for the president looking into his eyes, I guess, and seeing his soul, as he once said about Vladimir Putin." says Anderson. Oh, snap.

On now to a Drew Griffin "Keeping Them Honest" piece on more pesky earmarks--this time related to flight delays. If you flew this summer, well, it probably sucked for you. Flight delays galore, with Newark being the worst. And that's exactly where I'm flying in two weeks. Fabulous. So Drew, being the investigative little journalist that he is, decided to check out what the senate's doing to fix these problems. As it turns out, Massachusetts senators Kerry and Kennedy have gotten $8 million earmarks to replace control towers at tiny little airports that are important to them. How helpful. We're shown the infamous clip of Kerry windsurfing and Eliza has to take a deep breath and remind herself that it is not 2004 and it is no longer necessary to defend the senator against every little thing.

So okay, it looks like a pretty clear case of pork, especially since the FAA says the airports weren't on the priority list. Drew tries to get an interview with Kennedy or Kerry, but shockingly, no dice. Then he just kind of happens to come upon Kennedy and totally sics him in the hallway. No cameras are allowed, so the filming is done far back in a shaky fashion. It looks a little creepy, quite frankly. Kennedy claims the airports are on list, Drew says no. Oh hell. So that went nowhere. This being 360, we're going to need to cross on the other side of the partisan aisle before we're done. Hm. Now, which republican do you . . .why, it's Ted Stevens of course! That's right, everybody's favorite slightly-insane Alaskan just got $3.5 million to build an airport in Akutan, Alaska. Of course there's hardly any people there, but oh, there is Trident Seafoods, a major Stevens contributor. What a coinky-dink. So okay, this guy's done bridges to nowhere, a ferry to nowhere, and now, runways to nowhere. What is with this guy and building transportation for small amounts of people?

Transitioning now to a Jason Carroll piece on a new superbug. Dun dun dun! The deal here is that there's this mutated strain of staph infection that used to mostly be found in hospitals and clinics, but now it seems to be branching out a bit and may have caused as many as 19,000 deaths in 2005, which is more than AIDS. It's serious, but don't freak out, people. It's going to be okay. I don't get why they have to report this stuff like the world is ending (though to be fair to 360, Anderson puts it into some much need perspective with "Raw Data"). The media did the same thing initially with the Avian flu, and now even though it's still very much a threat, we don't hear a peep from them.

For discussion about the superbug, we're joined by, who else, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay tells us this bug is alarming because it doesn't respond well to antibiotics. It's characterized by a wound that doesn't get better and fever, and spread by skin contact or sharing sports equipment. Prevention seems pretty easy, just use common sense and, you know, be clean. Wash your hands kind of seems like a given, but I guess it's not for some people.

In tonight's edition of "What Were They Thinking?" Erica Hill brings us the saga of Ellen Degeneres' dog. You've probably heard about this by now, but for those who like to sleep under rocks, the normally cheerful comedian spent her show absolutely sobbing because of a dog mix up. She had adopted a dog from a rescue group, but when it didn't get along with her cats, she gave it to her hairdresser's daughters. The problem was she didn't read the fine print of the agreement and it turns out giving the dog away was a no no. So the group took the dog away from those poor kids, thus devastating Ellen, and now the group is getting threatened by crazy people. And man, Erica is visibly ticked about the dog. My take? Honestly, I think everybody needs a nap. When it comes to kids and dogs, sometimes rules are meant to be broken. The best part about this segment though is at the end when a dude totally just walks right in front of Anderson's camera. The looks on Anderson and Erica's faces are priceless. They're practically speechless. What was that guy thinking? There you go; there's the segment for tomorrow.

Moving on now to an Anderson piece on a film called "Meeting Resistance" that is currently being screened by the military. The topic is the Iraq insurgency and the goal is understanding to better know thy enemy. The Bush administration has been peddling lies about the insurgency from the beginning (dead enders, last throes), but really what it comes down to is the question of what you would do if your country was invaded and occupied. The film shows that some fight for religion and some fight for national pride, but I'm guessing none of them were fighting because they hated the freedoms of Americans living thousands of miles away. Funny how reality often can't be pigeon-holed into a talking point.

For more on the subject, we're joined by Michael Ware. Aw, no more rugby, I guess. Michael tells us that the mere presence of coalition troops has always been the primary motivating factor for the insurgency and we greatly underestimated their nationalism and feelings of being dishonored. And then of course there was that whole idiotic dismantling of the Iraqi army. Thanks Bremer! Anderson notes that it's been reported that violence is down and asks who is actually still fighting. Michael tells us the big winner is Iran and that al Qaeda might be under pressure, but they were never the big thing anyway. Oh, and that decreased violence? "We herald this in headlines, because it's only down to 30 bomb attacks a month. Can you imagine if there was 30 attacks in Israel every month or America or Australia? Yet, we still call that a victory." Well said, Michael. Well said.

Next up, we have a "Planet in Peril" promo piece from Jeff Corwin, where he and an expert sedate and study a momma polar bear and her cubs. And the cubs are not at all happy about this. Aw. Moving on to Tom Foreman with our "Raw Politics," but I'm going to skip through until the end, which is the best part. Stephen Colbert is running for president! In South Carolina only! Heh. He's got my vote. "His campaign is just for laughs, of course, but so was Tommy Thompson's," says Tom. Ouch. Anderson then notes that he "thinks" he's going to be on "The Colbert Report" on Thursday. And I'll just go ahead and play agent and say, yes, he is correct. As Stephen said on Tuesday's show, "So gentlemen, start your fanfiction now." The Shot tonight is a burning Pope and Erica raises something, but they're screwing with the commercial breaks and I left the room thinking it was over. Whoops. The show was good again. They're on a roll! B+

Obama's New Team, The Mumbai Attacks, Sarah Palin Refuses To Go Away (No Matter How Much We Wish It), And Wal-Mart (And People) Suck

Hi everyone. Happy New Week! We're back! I'm back. 360 is back. Anderson is back. So, what is the news giving us as a welcome back present? BREAKING NEWS that our stock market is totally tanking. Again. You know, next time I think I'd prefer just to skip the gift. Oh, and also? It's official: we're in a recession and in fact have been for a year now. In other news, the American Meteorological Society announced today that, yes, the sky is blue. Seriously, what's with all the official declarers being the last to know? Remember how everybody freaked when NBC grew some balls and called the civil war in Iraq, um, a civil war? Civil war? What civil war? All that violence is the birth pangs of democracy, you commies.

Okay, so back to our imploding economy, Ali Velshi is already at the wall of doom and he starts giving us the lowdown, saying the words "bad news" way too much for my taste. Apparently we are in a global recession, which typically lasts 16 to 18 months. So, since it's been going on for a year...four to six months to go, people! Unless of course this is like some sort of super recession. I don't know if we've had one of those. But, um, let's not start now, okay?

Moving on now to a Candy Crowley piece on Obama's new entourage--the peeps that will be running this here country during the coming years. Obama says he's a strong believer in strong opinions and hoo boy, he's chosen some. Trying to combat group think is an excellent plan though, given all the "yes men" stories to come out of the Bush administration. Let's see, he's keeping Gates in defense, tapping Jim Jones for National Security Adviser, putting Eric Holder in charge of justice, making Susan Rice our ambassador to the UN, picking Janet Napolitano to head Homeland Security, and, oh yeah, some woman named Hillary Clinton is going to fill a little position called secretary of state. Maybe you've heard of her.

Next up, Anderson tells us they, "wanted to know what deals were actually made to get the Clintons on board," and apparently Joe Johns has done a piece to tell us. So the story goes, Bill Clinton agreed to nine conditions, including publishing the names of a lot of his library and foundation donors. Okay, that is an actual deal that involved reporting and stuff, but the rest of this piece is just all info anyone could know by simply paying attention as to how government works. Like, Joe tells us that in return for Bill giving up the donors, Hillary gets time on the world stage and Obama has to agree to share the spotlight. Um, duh. This isn't super-seekret information that CNN got from their inside sources. So, yeah, great insight on those deals there that they so obviously didn't talk to you about, CNN. PS: Please stop with the Clinton obsession!

On now to the inevitable strategy session, with tonight's pontificators including Joe, David Gergen, and Hilary Rosen. Hm, anybody want to take a guess as to what is topic numero uno? It pretty much goes as so: like, oh my God, what do you guys think Clinton and Obama will talk about?! So...yeah. Then the subject changes to Obama's new posse and Anderson wonders if he risks alienating the hard left with the centrists now on staff. Okay, seriously, the media needs to stop this newly forming conventional wisdom. First of all, who is the hard left? Do you even know what they want? Because it doesn't seem like you do. Anyway, Hilary says that the new appointments will be abiding by Obama's policy and she thinks most progressives are going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Exactly.

Anderson then mentions that there's been talk of Bill taking over Hillary's senate seat. What?! Joe tells it could actually happen because they're having trouble finding takers. Then he tells us, no, he's totally lying. Bwah! You had me going there, Joe. He does deadpan better than Anderson. After this we get a clip of Bush saying he was unprepared for war, which is not nearly as satisfying to hear as I once thought it would be. I mean, he's hardly copping to anything, but years ago if he said that it might have made me cry. I needed it. Now I hear it and I don't feel anything. Does this mean I've over Bush? I don't know. The anger's still there, but it's like...it's like he can't hurt us anymore. You know?

Transitioning now to a Nic Robertson piece on the horrible situation in Mumbai. You know who I blame for this? Jon Stewart and his Daily Show peeps. Not the answer you were expecting, was it? Go with me on this: every time they go on vacation, something horrible happens. Pick a disaster and nine times out of ten they were off. This is why comedy should never take a break--if not for the laughs, for reasons of world security. Okay, so that was me giving you levity before I start telling you that 180 people are dead and it's really looking like Pakistan, or at least Pakistanis, were the perpetrators. I don't think I need to tell you how that would make a region that's already a clusterf*ck into well, a super-clusterf*ck.

Continuing with the subject, we have a taped interview Anderson did with Fareed Zakaria. I loves me Fareed (though I always forget to watch his show). This terrorist attack hit Fareed very close to home because his mother works at one of the hotels attacked, though thankfully she wasn't there at the time. He then gives us a little background on India, noting that there must have been some terrorist connection in that country as well. It seems that when it comes to the private sector, India rocks. The government though, not so much. It will be interesting to see how India responds to this. If they're anything like us, well, watch out Uzbekistan, you're about to get preemptively invaded.

Next up, we have a Gary Tuchman piece on the senate race going down between republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and his challenger Jim Martin and...oh, who am I kidding? This is all about one of 360's favorite obsessions: Sarah Palin. They say she's back, but, uh, did I miss the part where she actually went away? I was going to compare her to some sort of bug, but that seemed a little too mean, so I'm going to go with sand. Sarah Palin is like sand in your car after a trip to the beach. You sweep it and you sweep it and you think it's all gone, but then days later, nope, still some there. So anyway, Palin is stumping for Chambliss and she's out there talking about the majority party infringin' on their second amendment rights and, uh, excuse me, Sarah? No one is talking about taking away your second amendment rights. We've kinda got a whole big financial crisis and two wars to deal with. Seriously, it's cool.

Gary then talks with some rally-goers who can't seem to get enough of the former VP candidate, with one simply saying, "Well, I mean, she's hot." Eloquent, dude. Eloquent. Oh, and poor Gary is back to yelling his questions among the unwashed journalist masses. By the way, if Martin wins, the Democrats will be one away from that magic filibuster-proof number of 60 seats, but I guess that can't compare to Sarah Palin saying things. Oh well. At least we get to see Gary. Seems likes it's been a while. After his piece, he joins us live with a fun fact. Well, not really fun exactly, but apparently the same woman that Palin lost to in the 1984 Ms. Alaska contest just sang the national anthem at a Jim Martin rally. Small (and weird!) world.

Our last piece of the night is from Randi Kaye regarding the trampling death of that 34-year-old temporary worker at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. This whole thing is just disgusting. Over the weekend I watched the cell phone video of the man getting CPR and I felt pretty guilty and dirty for doing so. Now it's on CNN. I guess I should have known. Anyway, apparently the shoppers even kept shopping after they were asked to leave because someone had died. What is wrong with people?! For Wal-Mart's part, they claim they had brought in extra security. Whatever. This is not really changing my belief that Wal-Mart is evil.

For the legal lowdown on all this, we're next joined by Jeffrey Toobin. There's a security tape of people going into the store and stepping on the man, but Toobin doubts there will be charges because there was no intent to do wrong. Although a civil suit against Wal-Mart is likely. Good! They set the stage for this. They should have given out numbers in line for the popular items. But that might mean some people would leave before entering the store, and oh, we can't have that. I hope they pay through the nose. After the Wal-Mart tragedy, they switch the topic up to the murder of Jennifer Hudson's family. I missed most of this, though there was some amusing banter about Nancy Grace. "She's totally part of our team," says Anderson. I think he's mocking. Please, let him be mocking. Heh.

The Shot tonight is one 360 obsession morphing into another. This was the tease: "just what do Beyonce and Governor Sarah Palin have in common?" Don't even try to guess, people. It's Alaska. And it's only because somebody got their "Single Ladies" dance on in the same state where Palin keeps an eye on Russia. Yeah, you're reaching, 360. You're reaching. Also, brrrr! I'm not sure why they keep bringing up Palin because it seems like most people hate her. Oh sure, there are that small group of die hards, but those are the same people that call CNN the Communist News Network and mumble about that evil liberal media that is destroying America. Just saying.

Anyway! The cold booty-shaking leads to them playing the half-naked booty-shaking and leotard-clad booty-shaking, like they did before. Erica Hill urges leotard-clad man to "shake what his momma gave him," a saying which seems to perplex Anderson Cooper. Oh, c'mon, Anderson, your momma gave you some excellent genes to shake. Ooh! And excellent jeans. Though those might have just been for the ladies. I don't know. Either way, there will be no shaking of anything from our anchor. But yesterday we got shirtless swimming, so really, who can complain?

I missed most of the first webcast tonight due to the very technical problem of me forgetting to turn on my speakers, though apparently it is Erica's belief that you should aways have a notebook and pen. Hm. In the next webcast we get a movie review. This webcast is multi-purpose, isn't it? Jerry gives, "Four Christmases" two thumbs up. Good to know. Erica says she has not been to a movie in two years because of her child. Yikes. Though really, I'm not doing much better. There was a time not too many years ago that I would see a movie every Friday. Times have changed.

Anyway, Anderson shouts about the existence of DVDs and ooh, I've got something to share. See, over Thanksgiving I was lamenting to my brother about how I keep forgetting to record Ugly Betty (shut up! It's good) and ABC's full episode player is evil. Well, he totally hooked me up with this site called surfthechannel and you can watch all sorts of stuff there. Now I'm catching up on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show I probably don't recommend if you are easily offended.

Okay, kinda got off track there, but then Toobin shows up and apparently his 15-year-old son is a baker. Jeffery would love to exploit this for cash because, dude, kids are expensive. Aw, he'll be sad when Junior's working all the time and he can't see him as much on holidays. My poor brother had to drive back home Thanksgiving night (about a two hour drive) so he could work the next morning. That's about it for me, though I'll also add that I noticed Anderson said he'll be "online throughout the hour." This is much better than saying he will be blogging, which usually ends up being a lie. I know it's insignificant, but the truthiness of it still irked me. That'll do it.