Another day, another OJ (hour, that is …)

Today's Buzz ...

** tonight on Anderson Cooper 360° (subject to change):


** About last night's program: Considering that there will be probably another 30 – 45 minutes devoted to this topic on tonight’s 360° because of today’s scheduled court appearance, I wanted to further comment on my concerns from yesterday. It’s not that I don’t think this story should be covered – I’d just like to see it done in proportion to the relevance of the other events that arguably should be covered in the course of an hour long news program.

It’s no surprise that this latest saga now has all kinds of questionable characters coming out of woodwork. I’m not an attorney or a police officer, but how could the Las Vegas police grant immunity to someone like Thomas Riccio so soon in the proceedings? And what about this less-than-reputable licensing agent (Mike Gilbert) who helped OJ scam his way into millions of dollars through cash-only memorabilia sales? Wouldn’t it be so ironic at this point if OJ managed to weasel his way out of all of these pending felony charges, only to be finally jailed for tax fraud by the IRS? Wasn’t that the way that gangster Al Capone was finally taken down (if I’m remembering the “Untouchables” movie correctly)?

Anyway – I’m also baffled as to why this “tasered” student is getting so much coverage. I’m hearing that it was all some kind of pre-planned publicity stunt. The tape that keeps getting shown over and over seems suspicious. Oh well – just “don’t taser me, bro” – right??

And justice is once again in the balance – the Phil Spector jury is deadlocked and will now be able to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Remember to watch the Cafferty Files special tonight at 8:00 PM ET!! And tomorrow night at 8:00 PM – check out a new SIU special – “Judgement in Jena” – you can read more about it here – “CNN's Kyra Phillips gets to the heart of a racial crisis gripping a small southern town. A can’t miss hour of justice in black and white.” I know that I wouldn’t have been as aware as I was about this issue as soon as I was – without the 360° coverage – it was one of the first programs to bring this story to light.

And in that same line of thought – Anderson gave what seemed to be a typically humble speech yesterday when accepting the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award – you can read more about it here – I’ll see if any more can be found – and I know that (relatively) no one will see this, but in response to one item in the speech - without any question whatsoever and without any doubt whatsoever – Anderson’s stories DO make a difference – which is probably why some of us bristle so uncomfortably when he’s obligated to spend inordinate amounts of time on totally and completely useless coverage of, well, too many topics to list here. Enough said (for now) ...

And – not to leave on a completely “down” note – but I’m staging my own tiny protest by posting no screen caps from last night – although I WILL go back and get one of the bears in the hammock for later – they were just too cute!! But here’s one for something that I’m definitely looking forward to!

Thanks for visiting – updates posted as needed – have a terrific day!



Update # 1 - another day, another conference ...

Anderson will be presenting the "Planet in Peril" documentary at the CMJ07 Music Marathon & Film Festival in NYC - it runs from October 16th thru October 20th - here's the CMJ press release and you can read more about the marathon here as well.