Exile from Burma …

Friday’s Buzz ....

• from Friday night’s AC360°:

Marion Jones ...

This admission certainly came as no surprise. The question remains, though, as to why now? Particularly after years of vigorous denial about using steroids. I certainly hope that Ms. Jones’s Olympic teammates don’t end up having to forfeit their medals because of her banned activity. As for athletes in other sports “using” – I’m pretty sure that all you have to do is look at pictures of, for example, Barry Bonds from the early 1990’s and compare them to current photos. I’m fairly certain that lifting weights doesn’t double the size of your neck ...




Police Video ...

After seeing the Phoenix Airport video involving Carol Ann Gotbaum, this video was a classic example of why average citizens tend to be quick to condemn police for “use of excessive force”. The initial report is that this teenage girl’s offense was being out after a locally imposed curfew, and that she bit the officer. Bit him? OK – not the way to ingratiate yourself to an officer, but punching her in the face and using pepper spray? I don’t think so ...



Escape to Thailand ...

It’s always good to see Matthew Chance – you can be sure of an enlightening segment, and this one certainly qualifies.

As the military regime in Burma turns to using force against its citizens, especially the highly revered Buddhist monks, the more that flee into neighboring Thailand. They are running not only because of the violence against them, but due to starvation and the destruction of their villages. Matthew conducted several interviews, one with a monk who stated that he saw government troops using tear gas on monks inside a monastery. Many of the monks are just young children. Refugee camps in Thailand continue to multiply.

Matthew also discussed that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to appear on government-controlled TV in Burma, and she has also been “invited” to “talks” with current military leader Than Shwe – if she agrees to a number of “conditions”, such as relinquishing her call for international sanctions on current government officials. Both Matthew and Anderson agreed that was unlikely to happen, so this will turn out to be one of those “hollow” attempts to demonstrate peaceful motives.






Rugby World Cup ...

What a terrific interview with Michael Ware! And wasn’t it fantastic to see him out of Baghdad and smiling?? He was in Marseilles, France to attend, report on and celebrate at the Rugby World Cup!

SO – we learned a bit about the game of rugby – namely, a “scrum” is a form of “trench warfare”, a “haka” is a war dance, and a “hooker” is a team member in the middle of a scrum who is trying to retrieve the ball for his team by using only his feet in a “hooking” motion. And yes, Michael has confessed to being a “happy hooker” during his life!!!

Anderson showed a close up photo of Michael which highlighted his nose – and the fact that since it’s been broken many times - now it’s somewhat crooked. Thankfully, AC didn’t take MW up on his “offer” to break his (own) nose on the air, since it wouldn’t be a big deal after having had it broken so many times on the rugby field – yikes!!

If you’d like to follow the action, you can do so here. And if you’d like more “Rugby 101” information, click here.





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

Geological mishaps and human dilemmas …

Today’s Buzz ...
Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:

from last night's program:

La Jolla Landslide ...

“Landslide”

“Take my love, take it down
Climb a mountain and turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down”

Music & Lyrics by Stevie Nicks

I know that has nothing to do with houses falling into sinkholes, but it’s one of my favorite songs and the music just kept going around in my mind during this entire segment ...

So what would be going through your mind right now if you had spent several million dollars on a La Jolla home (and believe me, it’s required that you have a net worth of at least $25M to even enter those kinds of neighborhoods) – only to see it sink into the ground? And – if you recall back to last night and the insurance practices piece – also know that since “acts of God” are not covered – you won’t be able to collect a dime from your insurance company? YIKES!!!

Now I’m not a civil engineer, but just from a visual perspective (see below) – would you buy a house – any house – that was built within the “cut and fill” construction method? Doesn’t that defy common logic? Yet – that’s the way that many communities have been built – especially in Southern California.



Mine Collapse ...

At last – a mine collapse report with a positive outcome. It would have been too disastrous for words if over 3000 people had perished over one mile underground – while mining for gold. Mining for coal is dangerous enough, but coal is still a crucial commodity for survival. It would be a difficult, though not impossible, justification to make to say the same about gold. Good job by the rescue teams in Johannesburg, South Africa to get these miners back to safety as relatively quickly as they did!


Adoption Investigation ...

Harris Whitbeck and producer Rose Arce reported on the potential trafficking of Guatemalan babies, particularly by an agency called “Casa Quivira”, which operated with minimal oversight in that country. And if I’m not mistaken, I think there was just a bit of ‘squirming’ on the part of Clifford Phillips, Director of Casa Quivira, during his questioning by Anderson last night. I just hope that this won’t put an unnecessary “freeze” on legitimate global adoptions, whether in Guatemala or elsewhere. There’s more information here about Harris Whitbeck’s investigation.


Airport Passenger Death ...

The story about the death of Carol Ann Gotbaum at the Phoenix airport just gets more convoluted as each day passes. And I had the feeling that would happen, which I think is why I haven’t said much yet. It’s so sad to know that she never even really needed to be at that airport in the first place, but chose the stopover to be able to see her children before she continued on to her rehab facility in Tucson. I’m sure there will be much more coming to light about this event in the near future.


Burma crackdown ... continued

Anderson’s interview with Shari Villarosa, the Acting US Ambassador in Burma, was enlightening, albeit not in the positive sense. Among other items discussed, she said that of the monasteries she’d been able to see, most were either vacated or had military barricades placed around them. And those that were still open had fewer monks inhabiting them, which indicates that numerous monks have been, at a minimum, detained – and most likely imprisoned. She went on to say that she had heard reports that many arrests were being conducted during the relative secrecy of the night, and she suspects that thousands of protestors are now being detained. It was interesting to hear her say that the junta government believes that it can keep power by controlling the flow of information. You know – this is 2007 – not 1907. Information is going to get into, and get out of, the country in much more sophisticated ways than Than Shwe is prepared to combat. The story continues ...


Child Health Insurance Bill ...

What a coward. Is there much more that can be said? The “leader of the free world” told four million American children yesterday – “No health care for you” – by vetoing the child health insurance bill in private, absent the television cameras and other media coverage that normally attend even routine presidential actions. Sometimes I just can’t say it as well as others – this is an excerpt from NPR’s coverage:

Asked why the president has also issued veto threats against almost all the spending bills this year, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president has a role to play in the legislative debate.

"One of the things the president can do is say, 'I'm not going to sign a bill that comes to me with extraneous spending. I'm not going to sign a bill that has policies in it that should not be a part of the United States policy,'" Perino said. "And so I would hope that we wouldn't have to do veto threats, but I think that the Democrats have shown that these are the types of legislative angles that they're going to take, and that's why the president has to send some veto threats up."

At issue is the fact that, added together, the spending bills exceed the president's own budget by some $23 billion.

But Dan Mitchell of the libertarian Cato Institute says that amount is paltry compared with the amount of excess spending that Bush signed during the Republicans' control of Congress.

"There certainly does seem to be a legitimate argument that the president only objects to new spending when Democrats are doing it, because he certainly wasn't objecting when Republicans controlled Congress," Mitchell said.

On Tuesday, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said that if there is a spending problem, it is the White House asking for nearly $200 billion in war funding.

"If the president is really concerned about stopping red ink, we are prepared to introduce legislation that will provide for a war surtax for that portion of military costs related to our military action in Iraq," Rep. David Obey (D-WI) proposed.

“If President Bush does not like that cost”, he added, “he can shut down the war.”

(I know, I know – I can hear the applause all the way here ...)

• A few “Anderson appearance” notes to finish this entry – other than Sesame Street (obviously), they’re to promote the upcoming “Planet in Peril” documentary:

October 9th – “The View” – check here for local time listings

October 15th – “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”

October 16th – “Sesame Street” – Grouch News Network (GNN)

More appearances are certain to follow ...

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

Free Burma

While I generally don’t advocate for sources that I haven’t been able to thoroughly check independently, I did want to at least demonstrate support for those fighting for a free Burma. Their courage and dedication should be admired and, as was expressed by Acting US Ambassador Shari Villarosa last night on AC 360°, our outrage needs to continue to be expressed and the push for peaceful, democratic change in Burma shouldn’t be forgotten.

name recognition ...

Today’s Buzz ...
Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°:

A quick note about the “Myanmar/Yangon” vs. “Burma/Rangoon” designation – in my previous posts, both here on the blog and at the Yahoo group, I was attempting to be a “compliant global citizen” by using the United Nations "accepted" names for this country and its capital city. That will no longer be the case – as long as the current murderous, oppressive military junta has control over the Burmese population. If you’d like a brief history of the name change, check out Wikipedia or The Washington Times.

Burma crackdown – it’s difficult to believe that the fight for freedom is over. Even with the beatings and murders of monks and other Burmese citizens during this latest wave of protests against the ruling junta government. There should be more international pressure placed upon the countries that still have trade relations with the country – especially Thailand and China. One of the inevitable retaliation problems, however, is that many times aid workers are then restricted, or banned altogether, from assisting those who need it most. With almost 30% of the Burmese population living in abject poverty, there simply cannot be restrictions on this type of activity. It makes a reasonable person wonder (repeatedly) why our own government cites “moral authority” as partial justification for the Iraq invasion, but is consistently weak-willed in confronting such clear and transparent oppression and corruption in so many other countries.




Insurance practices – I don’t think I could have summed this segment up better myself than the screen cap below does. If you’ve ever dealt with an insurance claim that carries a perceived “value” of more than a few hundred dollars, you know this is true. Washington State has made a bold move to curb insurance companies from taking advantage of the average policy holder, and I truly hope that the law doesn’t end up being rejected by the voters next month. If you want to read a supplement on Drew Griffin’s report from last night, click here.


AND - Happy belated birthday to Gary Tuchman!!! He is one hard-working dude :-) ... and how nice was the cake “hand-off” – it’s great to show appreciation to those who make you (and your news program) look so very, very good!!!


One “update” before I even sign-off for the moment – Anderson will be appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on October 15th (thanks to “plaza35079”) – and even though I do try to keep my other admirations to a minimum here – one more “plug” – Stephen Colbert will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday, October 10th to promote his new book “I Am America – and So Can You”. I already know I’m going to have to read it either alone, or in the company of those who won’t mind hearing many (many) fits of laughter!

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