Ode to Janet Jackson …

Today’s Buzz ...
“Mr. Cooper, if you’re nasty ...”
(more on that later ...)

Oh my, my, my ... he’s baaaack ...

• from last night’s program:

Pakistan: The protests and clashes over President Musharraf’s decision to suspend the constitution and invalidate the judicial system are continuing. Zain Verjee reported from Islamabad, until her transmission went out! She reported that lawyers, judges and other activists are fighting with police over Musharraf’s imposing emergency rule several days ago.

The report from Joe Johns about how the $10.5 billion dollars in aid to Pakistan since 2001 has been spent did nothing to point to a reasonable “ROI”, because there isn’t one. The Taliban is getting stronger, and al Qaeda is reestablishing its strongholds in the country. Add to this that the border with Afghanistan hasn’t been secured, and is, in fact, one of the most dangerous places on the planet, particularly Warziristan.



The entire situation and the potential outcomes are anything but promising. When Anderson spoke with Peter Bergen and Fareed Zakaria, they both offered additional insight. Peter spoke about how Musharraf has a "messiah complex" and truly believes he is the only person who can “save” Pakistan. Fareed added that part of the reason that Pakistan doesn’t act more aggressively towards defeat of the Taliban and al Qaeda is because both groups are also gaining strength in Afghanistan, keeping that country in a weakened state, and a ‘weak’ Afghanistan is advantageous to Pakistan.

BTW – Fareed Zakaria will be joining CNN and hosting a weekly international affairs program; you can read more about it here.



Minuteman Civil Defense Corps: You know, when you get together a bunch of ‘rebels’ (I’m attempting to be polite in the use of that word) who support ‘cowboy diplomacy’, and then you hand them an undisclosed amount of money (hundreds of thousands, at best estimate), what did anyone expect the outcome would be? Honestly? And I ask that as a (generally) liberal-minded person who genuinely believes that we are woefully negligent about border security. Both north AND south. And the western and eastern ports, thrown in for good measure. Abbie Boudreau did an in-depth report about this group and never did end up with anything resembling a reasonable accounting of funds already donated to build an Israeli-style fence along the Mexican border. She did find a small section of a five-strand barbed wire fence on a ranch. I sense there’ll be more to this story as time passes.




Candy and the Hill: Sounds like a children’s story, huh? Two things jump out at me – first, regardless of the spin (and it’s in overdrive), Hillary Clinton does want it both ways. No matter how many times or how many ways she deflects the question – she wants us to believe that she’s tough enough to play with the ‘boys’ on all levels, but at the first (real) shove encountered , she retreats into “they’re picking on me cuz I’m a girl” mode. Doesn’t work that way, Hill.

I won’t make a big issue out of point # 2, but it goes along with the above – last night, to me, was another example of the ‘milktoast’ media. Candy Crowley is an excellent reporter, but (possibly) because she wants to have access to President Clinton v. 2.0 in the future, she didn’t press the Senator about so many deflections that were made about legitimate questions being asked. Disappointing, to say the least.




Raw Politics: Mitt Romney ‘buying’ votes? No way!!! (That’s from ‘Sarcasm 101’) And Ron Paul supporters raking in $4.2 million dollars – online, no less - in one day?? A little difficult to believe, but I’m with all those who are saying stay tuned for some surprises coming out of both Iowa and New Hampshire. AND – doesn’t Tom Foreman always “bring it home” for us in “Raw Politics”?? :-)



Empowering Hands: Even as much of the world becomes stronger economically, socially, politically – I still feel that Africa is a “lost” continent. We keep hearing story after story after story about war and violence and destruction ... and to what end?

At least there is always hope, and Soledad O’Brien’s segment about the group “Empowering Hands” reminds us of that. The group was founded in 2004 by former child soldiers that had escaped after being kidnapped and forced to serve in Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army. The group provides counseling and small loans to assist other escapees, and the founders were honored this past Monday night by Glamour Magazine as one of their “Women of the Year” recipients. With this award, Empowering Hands will be able to buy vans and bicycles to help expand its reach into Uganda and provide assistance for other survivors. You can read more about the group in online articles from Glamour and at the UNICEF web site.





Other quick notes:

Democratic Debate News: A press release is available from CNN about programming from Las Vegas on November 15th – here is the AC360º section: "10 p.m.-11 p.m. - Special Anderson Cooper 360º post-debate program, anchored by Anderson Cooper and featuring Wolf Blitzer, John Roberts and Campbell Brown live on location in Las Vegas."

Planet in Peril to air on Animal Planet: The special will be aired on December 2nd and 3rd – you can get more info here.

Vacations not taken: Do you think reverse psychology might work? What if Anderson was told that he would no longer be allowed to take off any time to relax and take a “real” vacation?? This is from last night’s transcript: "I've spent the past ten days in central Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- I just got back today -- working on a story involving rebel armies, many of whom use kids as solders. We're going to be airing some of my reports in the weeks ahead."

Channeling Janet Jackson: So last night – during the second news break – Anderson & Erica were bantering about her cat – and infamous "cat-titude" – and when Erica referred to her as “Miss Lulu” – well, that prompted this classic response from Mr. Cooper: "Miss Lulu if you're nasty?"

I’m ending on that note – cuz there isn’t much more to say ... except “Hey, Lorne Michaels – are you ready yet for your second news-anchored-hosted edition of SNL??”

Update # 1: The Planet in Peril DVD release has been pushed back to next Tuesday, November 13th! You can still pre-order it from Amazon.com!



Update # 2: Many thanks to Bon Jour at the AC360 Yahoo group for the heads up on this "find" - you can download a PDF copy of the full-size version of the Planet in Peril calendar - just be aware that it is 8 MB (in case you don't have a lightning-fast internet connection) and that the finished document comes out to be 16 pages long - one page for each month - it started with October 2007, so you can use it NOW!! :-)



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