Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/07/27/gal.capitolbldg.file20.gi.jpg caption="In terms of grand trends or prognostications, the votes this week actually meant pretty much nothing." width=300 height=169]
America voted this past week, or at least some Americans did, and if you read any of the nonsense that passed for political analysis in the wake of that, now would be a good time to flush that right out of your system. Like a plate of bad oysters, or any lingering memories of The Tyra Banks Show. Because in terms of grand trends or prognostications, the votes this week actually meant pretty much nothing.
Yes, I’ve said it, and I’m glad I tell you! Glad! (Insert maniacal laughter here. Go ahead. The other people on the subway will give you more room.)
For heaven’s sake, we’re talking about primaries in a fistful of far flung states. Such contests never, I repeat never, get the kind of turnout associated with general elections and have proven at best sketchy guides to how the later voting will go. And yet the bone throwers in DC are trying to exact from this handful of checkmarks 1) How strong the brew is in the Tea Party’s pot, 2) How much trouble incumbents may face, and 3) Whether Levi and Bristol can somehow patch it up and become the happy, young couple Wassila needs in this difficult time.
Part of the problem is that it is summer. There is just nothing else for the Punditeers (like Mouseketeers, only without all the smiling and singing) to do in D.C. Oh sure, there is a reheated debate about immigration reform, but that’s going nowhere. Military cutbacks? Yawn. Even Charlie Rangel’s “crazy from the the heat” rant on the House floor about how they’ll have to drag him out before he’ll quit had trouble rousing the rabble.
But even in the worst of times, the DC crowd loves nothing so much as picking apart polls and polling to predict who might be a winner in the next round of voting. Even if there is really very little at which to pick.
To be fair, one could make the long shot observation that the voting this week suggested a general trend against political insiders; that voters are somewhat more inclined to hold political experience against a candidate than to count it for him or her. But that’s hardly a revelation.
So kick back. Open up another cold one. Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. Democrat, Republican, or Independent, the voting this week came and went like a tree falling in the woods, and we won’t hear the crash, at least until summer is gone.
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/crime/2010/08/13/ga.stabbing.suspect.hearing.cnn.640×360.jpg caption="Elias Abuelazam, 33, is linked to 18 stabbings in Michigan, Virginia and Ohio, police say" width=300 height=169]
Serial killing suspect Elias Abuelazam agreed in an Atlanta court Friday to be sent back to Michigan to face murder charges but will have a chance to change his mind because his lawyer was not present at the hearing.
The judge has scheduled a second session for later in the day.
Abuelazam is suspected of slashing 18 victims in three states, killing five of them.
The suspect agreed to waive an extradition hearing, a court proceeding in which Michigan would have made its case on why he should be returned and Abuelazam could have argued why he should not.
Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor
Dr. David Liepert
Special to CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/OPINION/08/13/liepert.imams.declaration/tzleft.liepert.david.courtesy.jpg caption="He says declaration repudiates anyone who seeks to use Islam for any purpose but peace" width=300 height=169]
Immediately before 9-11, al Qaeda was considered almost below most Americans' notice. One Washington Post/ABC News poll found that in early 2002, only 14 percent of Americans thought Islam encouraged violence.
These days, the popular perception of Islam is dominated by al Qaeda and its radical agenda. Al Qaeda has grown into a monster that dominates the American psyche, and many non-Muslims fear that the majority of Muslims are bent on violent takeover.
Throughout the last decade, the mainstream majority of Muslims have seemed almost silent, but today that all changes.
As of this writing, 38 of the 50 Islamic scholars who make up Canada's Muslim mainstream leadership have signed the Canadian Council of Imams Declaration, released today. More names will follow. These signatories will lead Muslim communities onto a path of active engagement, taking back Islam and claiming it for multicultural peace.
Soledad O'Brien
CNN
Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/crime/2010/08/13/am.meserve.stabbing.suspect.cnn.640×360.jpg caption="Police say Abuelazam, 33, was in custody twice before they knew he was a suspect" width=300 height=169]
Police had suspected serial killer Elias Abuelazam in custody twice in the past month, both within hours of when stabbings were reported, but say he hadn't been linked to the bloody attacks at the time.
Abuelazam, suspected of slashing victims in three states and killing five of them, was arrested last Sunday on a traffic charge and July 29 for giving alcohol to a minor, according to authorities and court documents. He was released both times.
After his August 5 traffic stop in Arlington, Virginia, police learned he had an outstanding warrant for assault and was arrested. They found a knife and hammer in his car - both weapons authorities think were used during a string of knifings in Michigan, Virginia and Ohio.
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Special to CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/bestoftv/2010/08/12/ac.gohmert.terror.cnn.640×480.jpg caption="Ruben Navarrette says the "terror babies" fear is groundless" width=300 height=169]
By spending a few days here in America's fifth-largest city - which also happens to be at the heart of the nation's immigration debate - I had the chance to see this volatile issue from many different vantage points.
But as far I know, I didn't see any terror babies.
Regular viewers of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" will recognize that term as referring to children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants. The children are automatically granted U.S. citizenship under the 14th Amendment and then are smuggled back to their home countries to be raised as pint-sized, America-hating terrorists. Then decades later, when the children have grown into adults, they could easily - because of their U.S. citizenship - re-enter the United States to attack it from within.
So terror babies are sort of like a sleeper cell, one that has to be put down for a nap every few hours or it gets fussy.
Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor