Weekend Wrap-Up ….

As I look through the entries for this past week, you’d think I didn’t watch a single minute of 360°, which couldn’t be further from the truth!! But since it is Sunday at this point, I’ll just get in some brief comments about what I thought were the highlights from each day:

Monday:

Lott the Lobbyist: Yes, I know that it was just a ‘mention’ in the second news bulletin, and should come as no surprise. But Senator Trent Lott is resigning before the end of his elected term, to become a lobbyist, but he’s resigning now - solely so that he won’t have wait as long to become a lobbyist. This is the same Trent Lott that appeared on 360 shortly after Katrina and wanted us all to believe that he felt the pain of those who had lost everything in the hurricane and its aftermath, since his home had been damaged as well. I think it’s a safe bet to say that he didn’t have any ‘problems’ with the insurance settlement. As for Senator Lott becoming a lobbyist instead of, perhaps, becoming a professor at one of lesser known universities in his home state of Mississippi that could genuinely benefit from his presence, well – money talks, loud and clear ...

Republican in-fighting: How strange. How rude. How Democratic of them. In retrospect, especially after what we saw happen on Wednesday evening. Candy Crowley had a terrific segment about the growth of 'sniping' within both parties, but the subsequent panel of David Gergen, Ed Rollins and Katrina Vanden Heuvel spent most of their time focusing their discussion on Republicans. The latest Zogby poll numbers are also very interesting, as seen below:




Doctors as Ministers: When I go see an MD, I expect medical care. When I go see a priest (minister, pastor, etc.), I expect spiritual care. I doubt that many people would allow a member of their clergy to remove an appendix. As long as the AMA supports a doctor’s right to co-mingle the two roles, there certainly won’t be any decrease in this situation of doctors imposing their moral beliefs on patients.



Justice for Megan Meier: It doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon. The cyber-harassment law just passed in the town where the Meiers live isn’t retroactive. But when Anderson talked with Gary Tuchman after the re-airing of his piece from last week, he confirmed that the county prosecutor’s office is still investigating the case. Hopefully, there will be a way to enforce moral accountability, if nothing else.



Tuesday:

The main story for comment is the Middle East Peace Conference held in Annapolis. I have just one question at this point – why did it take seven years for this to happen? I know it’s a rhetorical question – I’m just throwing it out there ... the answer is self-explanatory.

Tom Foreman had one of the most succinct observations that I’ve heard in quite a long time – “And the best raw read I can get on all of this is, while many good, decent people in the Middle East say they want peace, what too many of them want is to win. And then they think it will be peaceful when they do.” There aren’t enough people, in positions of power, who know how true this statement is, and are chasing around in circles to get to a place that may not exist.



Mosh Pits: Ah yes – again from the second news bulletin – the best line of the night – from AC – “We want you to send us your "Shot" ideas. If you see Wolf (Blitzer) or Lou (Dobbs) in a mosh pit, take a photograph. Tell us about it: CNN.com/360.” I still laugh at the absurdity of that thought!!

Thursday:

Strategic Vision (or lack thereof): The political panel discussion focused on how it’s becoming increasingly apparent that in this time of almost mandatory unity – if this country is to move forward while continuing its leadership position on the world stage – voters are finding it difficult to identify one who will be successful in bringing both parties back onto common ground.

Once again, the memorable sound byte of the night goes to Tom Foreman when he used a phrase I certainly haven’t heard before – the “militant middle”. The independent voters who are truly sick and tired of the empty rhetoric and empty promises made by both of the current parties. If there was ever a time when a third party candidate would have a legitimate chance to make a difference, it would be now. It’s moments like this when I’m so frustrated that someone like Chuck Hagel chose not to run in this election cycle.



Michael Ware from Baghdad: Another on-the-ground, genuine "keeping them honest" report about the long-term obstacles that the US will face in Iraq if political reconciliation isn't achieved during this very small "window of opportunity" created by the temporary "surge success". You can't build trust at the end of a gun barrel; whether the gun is carried by the US military or Iraq military - it has to be a lasting initiative from within the population of the country. And I, for one, don't see that happening, as much as I would absolutely like to.





Ayaan Hirsi Ali: What a truly brave woman. Her life has been threatened for a very long time now. And yet she continues to speak out on behalf of peace in the Muslim world and supports the moderate view of the religion as the standard that should be followed, rather than the extremist viewpoint. She has drawn the difference in reactions to ‘violations’ of the faith for a long time – about the massive protests over the drawing of a cartoon or the naming of a teddy bear – compared to the lack of protests over the deaths caused by suicide bombings, or in that night’s topic, the sentence of 200 lashes to a woman who had been gang-raped.

I first heard her speak during an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher last February – she was a panelist along with Steven Weber and Rep. Darrell Issa. It’s unusual for Bill to ‘give the floor’ to any of those appearing on the panel, but under the circumstances, he specifically asked Ayaan to talk about her background and the challenges she faces, even though she’s ‘escaped’ and is now living outside of the Middle East. Here is part of what she had to say about Islam:

“What we should do is we should make a clear distinction between Islam as a set of beliefs, as we have done in the past in the west. Christianity was seen to be a set of beliefs. Communism was seen to be a set of beliefs. But then Muslims are adherents. And we can appeal to them. We can appeal to their common sense and we can tell them, listen, as a Muslim, these are some of the fundamentals of your religion that are compatible with democracy and with liberalism, and we have no issue with that... And so it is legitimate to tell Muslims, whether you view your religion as peace or not, this is how your religion is being used. And it's much better to get worked up about beheading people in the name of Islam than about drawing the Prophet Muhammad in a cartoon.”



Friday:

Or – so much for trying to get a day ‘off’ – or at least off-the-air ...

Well, the ‘original’ plan was for Anderson to spend the day traveling around New Hampshire with the Huckabee campaign, when – wouldn’t you know it – major breaking news happened about 50 miles from AC’s location – so it was immediately off to Rochester, NH – and on-the-scene reporting from near the Clinton campaign office – which was now the scene of a hostage crisis.

Fortunately, Leeland Eisenberg surrendered without incident at about 6:00 PM local time, after having reportedly holding up to 5 hostages by claiming to have a bomb strapped to his clothing. He demanded to speak to Senator Clinton, because he wanted ‘help’ with his mental health troubles that he couldn’t otherwise get. I really do hate stating the obvious, but when you have an obviously mentally disturbed person, who at least claims that he knows that he’s in that condition, taking this kind of action to get attention and/or help – it’s time to re-vamp the health care policy of this country. Those campaign volunteers were very lucky – the next time something like this happens, and there may very well be a next time – those involved might not end up being so fortunate.





Sean Taylor murder arrests: I was glad to see that arrests were made in the Sean Taylor murder case. Under the circumstances, I would imagine that enough DNA evidence was left behind to lead the police to at least one or more suspects right away, who were probably put under surveillance, so investigators could be led to others involved. As the family stated, it won’t bring back Sean, but at least those suspected and those who have already confessed are in prison and awaiting trial.



Evel Knievel dead at age 69: I was surprised to hear about this, even though I’d heard he’d been ill for awhile. But I wasn’t surprised in the least to hear that Anderson had so much admiration for Evel’s feats of daring and the entertainment he brought to so many. I doubt many young boys didn’t at least try to simulate ‘jumps’ that Evel performed with such ease – it’s just natural, right? Ah well – he’ll be remembered for being the best at what he did!!



So that catches me up for a week – in addition to what’s already been posted!! Thanks (as always) for visiting – hope the weekend was terrific and that the coming week brings more holiday good cheer!