Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 7/23/08
We are on at a special time tonight 11p ET, after the "Black in America" documentary. Anderson will talk with CNN's Soledad O'Brien and several of the people profiled tonight.
We'll also have tonight's headlines. Check out what else is the program in Evening Buzz.
Be sure to check out Anderson and Erica on our live web camera from the 360° studio. We’ll turn the camera on at 1045p ET and turn it off at midnight ET. LINK TO THE BLOG CAMERA
We’ll start posting comments to this blog at 11p ET and stop at midnight ET.
Evening Buzz: Dolly Slams Into Texas
Maureen Miller
360° Writer
Tropical Storm Dolly is messing with Texas tonight. South Padre Island took a direct hit when the storm came ashore earlier today, as a category two hurricane with 100+ mph winds. All over the island, roofs are gone, trees are uprooted and many residents will have a lot to clean-up. We noticed on the town's web site the slogan "Where Paradise meets the Gulf". It's not a paradise tonight. 360's Gary Tuchman is on the island for us. It's been a tough assignment for him. You may have seen him earlier today on CNN. He'll have the latest on Dolly.
Also tonight, Barack Obama in the Middle East.
Erica’s News Note: Stating the obvious
Erica Hill
AC360° Correspondent
The middle class is squeezed. A lot. And it’s getting worse.
Chances are, you know this first-hand. I do. Milk is outrageous, the price of gas makes me cringe, and my monthly electric bill needs to be opened sitting down. The worst part? As prices go up, there is less money coming in. No wonder “staycations” are the thing in summer travel.
Between 2000 and 2007, median household income dropped $1,175 – yet costs for the average family rose by nearly triple that amount. Daycare alone went up more than $1500 a month for some families. Who has an extra $1500 a month?! To make matters worse, to cover rising expenses, more and more families are turning to plastic, creating a vicious cycle.
FULL POST
Gary Tuchman vs. Hurricane Dolly
Gary Tuchman struggles to stand as Hurricane Dolly ravages South Padre Island, Texas. Read his experience below.
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Gary Tuchman
AC360° Correspondent
Don’t mess with Dolly
As I write this, much of South Padre Island, Texas is underwater. It looks very much like parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri from a few weeks ago, but the way South Padre got to this point has been much more rapid fire...
The reality of autism
Editor’s note: Dr. Charles Sophy is responding to recent comments by radio talk show host Michael Savage. Savage said this about autism: “Now the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is in 99 percent of the cases. It's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out.” WATCH SAVAGE ON LARRY KING LIVE
Dr. Charles Sophy
Medical Director, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services
(the nation's largest foster care operation)
Uneducated opinions such as Mr. Savage's are truly reprehensible. There is NOTHING fraudulent about Autism! It is a real medical condition. It is like saying there's no such thing as a broken leg.
It's not that there are necessarily more autistic people in the world now, but parents and medical experts in the U.S. today are more aware of and more apt to explore "unusual" behaviors or developmental delays in babies and toddlers.
Moreover, there is no medicine for autism. So overmedicating or over prescribing for autism is not a possibility. FULL POST
Attack outside my window
Editor's Note: Laura Weinberg was a former producer for CNN in New York. She is currently living in Jerusalem and shares this experience with us.
Laura Weinberg
Jerusalem
I have started to tune out the sirens here. Yesterday was Tuesday, July 22, and for the first time I am working from Jerusalem. I just spent two days in our Ramallah office and since I do not have a direct ride to Jerusalem, I decided to work from home today.
Plus I need some time to decompress.
This morning, I wrote an email to two of my parents very close friends who are very knowledgeable about the current situation. As I was explaining to them via email why I was incredibly concerned about the state of Palestinians in the West Bank, the checkpoints they are encountering within the west bank, and the reasons why I was upset about the settlements, I did say that I understood that the separation wall has arguably caused a significant decrease in the amount of suicide bombers in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I also recognized that I am luckily here in a relatively peaceful time, and as I said that, I knocked on wood…
FULL POST
Beat 360° 7/23/08
Hey there 360° bloggers! It’s time for ‘Beat 360°!’
Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption. Our staff will get in on the action too.
Tune in every night at 10p ET to see if you are our favorite! Can you Beat 360°? It's been a while but Hillary Clinton is back.
President George W. Bush signs the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008, in the Oval Office of the White House Today with Senator Ted Stevens (L), Senator Olympia Snowe (2nd L), unidentified (3rd L); Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (4th L), Congressman John Shimkus (5th L), Congressman Bart Gordon (2nd R) and Congressman Chip Pickering (R). The law requires Internet Protocol (IP) telephony service providers to offer 911 services and create plans for a national IP-based emergency response network.
Have fun with it.
Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
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But wait!… There’s more!
When you win ‘Beat 360°’ not only do you get on-air prime-time name recognition (complete with bragging rights over all your friends, family, and jealous competitors), but you get a “I Won the Beat 360° Challenge” T-shirt!
Good luck to all!
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UPDATE: Check out our Beat 360° Winners!
The black men we hear about, and the black men we know
Program Note: In the next installment of CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien examines the successes, struggles and complex issues faced by black men, women and families, 40 years after the death of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch encore presentation Saturday & Sunday, 8 p.m. ET
We devote several days on the blog to smart insight and commentary related to the special.
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Jami Floyd
AC360° Contributor
"In Session" Anchor
I woke one morning thinking about black men. I had dreamt about black men in the night, having been bombarded by images of them the day before.
At the airport, I’d read a long article about the fall television schedule, and then-NAACP President Kwesi Mfume’s calls for more black and brown faces on television.
On the plane, I’d read also about Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white man who had been on trial in Texas for the dragging death – a lynching really – of James Byrd Jr., a black man. (He has since been convicted of murder and sentenced to death).
That night, I turned on the television in my hotel room only to see Martin Lawrence, “steppin' and fetchin'” on Fox. So, I turned off the tube and curled up into bed with Toni Morrison’s nobel prize-winning The Bluest Eye, a book I’d enjoyed to that point. But this night I read a chapter about a black man raping his daughter. Another starkly hateful and negative image of the black man.
So I closed the book and went to sleep.
And I woke that next morning thinking of these black men – and those who hate them: white men who hate black men, black women who hate black men, black men who hate themselves.
FULL POST
Meeting cousin Rubystein...
Program Note: In the next installment of CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien examines the successes, struggles and complex issues faced by black men, women and families, 40 years after the death of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch encore presentation Saturday & Sunday, 8 p.m. ET
We devote several days on the blog to smart insight and commentary related to the special.
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Editor's note: Martha Rand Hix is the great, great grandchild of William Harrison Rand, who had children with his white wife and children with his black mistress in the 1800s. She has a black cousin named Rubystein McGhee, whom she met at a family reunion in Lodi, Texas.
Martha Rand Hix
The truth of the matter is, the best part of genealogy has always been the cousins.
When Rubystein McGhee said we’re kin, I already knew there were black Rands from East Texas. What I didn’t know was exactly how Rubystein’s Harold Rand related to my great-great-grandfather, William Harrison “Hal” Rand, 1822-1909.
Hal brought the Rand family to Cass and Marion counties of Texas in the early 1850s, from Alabama via Mississippi. What I hadn’t known? That Hal’s mixed-race love, Ann Mullins Rand, later Ann Alsbrook, also brought the Rand family to East Texas. Hal, aka Harold, had two families, all riding west in the same wagon.
Once I realized Rubystein’s Harold Rand was also my Hal Rand, I couldn’t stop the thrill. This lovely lady is my third cousin! FULL POST
Arab view of Obama trip
Octavia Nasr
Arab Affairs Editor
Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East made headlines on Arab media. As soon as it was announced, one newspaper headline anticipated “Obama will visit the region accompanied by an army of journalists." This set the stage for the coverage theme that this visit is not aimed at Arab media outlets or their audiences but rather at the U.S. voters back home. Many opinions focused on Obama’s need to acquire more foreign policy experience.
An opinion editorial in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reads: "This Middle East tour is aimed at boosting Obama's foreign policy credentials and refuting the notion that his rival, Republican John McCain is more mature in military and national security matters."
In Iraq, Obama met with several officials and discussed his plan for troop withdrawal if elected president.
Go behind the scenes: AC361°
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Anderson Cooper's birthday surprise
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