I come to you, dear readers, with a heavy heart... apparently my last offering to the Blogger gods was not accepted, because after weeks of being perfectly well-behaved, the rackedy-frack system is just not letting me upload videos today.
So I'm afraid I will have to try to make do with the old-fashioned written word and occasional graphic...
One of the clips I intended to upload today was a report that Entertainment Correspondent Lola Ogunnaike did for American Morning on Tuesday. She had received a message on her Blackberry warning her that her life was in danger. This is from her online article:
I received a really disturbing e-mail the other afternoon."Do you know the person pictured in the following video," it read. "If so, please contact me immediately. Your life might be in danger." The sender claimed to be a Detective James Nicholas, Director of Crime Prevention for the Universal Crime Network.
The e-mail included a link that showed a "crime scene" video -- shown on what would appear to be a sister-station to CNN -- about a series of murders that had been linked to a music video by singer Ashanti.
Again, from her article:
It's not everyday that I get death threats, so naturally I freaked, clicked on the link and up popped a news report about a series of copycat murders that had been inspired by the R&B singer Ashanti's video "The Way That I Love You," a song about a woman who discovers her boyfriend has been unfaithful.Clutching a butcher knife and dressed in beaded gown, she cries and croons about betrayal. The cheater ends up dead in bathtub.Jealous lovers, according to the report, were on a rampage -- and the next victim, it suggested, would be me. On the wall of one of the crime scenes were the words "Lola Will Die," written in what appeared to be blood.
Sadly (and yet, of course, thankfully!) this whole thing was a publicity stunt to promote Ashanti's latest record. People could send "Gotcha-grams" to their friends (?) and even choose the method of death used in the clip shown.
The saying is that there is no such thing as bad publicity... but this one seems to have backfired; the site has been removed and Ashanti now says she has regrets about it. Good to know...!
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The lone video I did get to upload was a very short clip also from Tuesday's American Morning: Ali Velshi does a Clint Eastwood impression. Well, at least I can leave you with a laugh!
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Where in the World...?
SATURDAY: Wolf Blitzer, John King, Gloria Borger, and Candy Crowley were all reporting from Washington DC, covering Hillary Clinton's speech suspending her campaign.
SUNDAY: Atika Shubert reported from Jerusalem.
MONDAY: Susan Roesgen was in Columbus, Indiana, covering the floods; White House Correspondent Elaine Quijano was traveling with the president and reported from Ljubljana, Slovenia; Anderson Cooper was in Ruhengeri, Rwanda, working on Planet in Peril 2; Campbell Brown filled in as host of AC360 all week; John King, Dana Bash, and Jessica Yellin all reported from DC.
TUESDAY: Jamie McIntyre interviewed Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy; Nic Robertson reported from London about the air plane crash in Sudan; Frederik Pleitgin and Elaine Quijano reported from Berlin during President Bush's stop there.
WEDNESDAY: Susan Roesgen was in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, where the lake had completely disappeared; Sean Callebs was in Des Moines, Iowa, covering the flooding there; Dana Bash was with the McCain campaign in Philadelphia; Michael Ware had a major exclusive from Baghdad.
THURSDAY: Dana Bash was in NYC; Elaine Quijones was in Rome with the president; Sean Callebs and Dan Simon were in Little Sioux, Iowa to cover the tornado that touched down nearby at a Boy Scout camp; Susan Roesgen was in East Bristol, Wisconsin, reporting on the flooding, while Gary Tuchman was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
FRIDAY: Michael Ware (above) reported on major developments for the future of our troops in Iraq; Dana Bash was in Penberton, NJ to sit down with John McCain for an interview. (The rest of the day was primarily focused on the sad and untimely death of Tim Russert.)
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That's all for me today. Sorry about the lack of videos.
A couple of, as they say, programming notes: Sunday on Fareed Zakaria GPS, there will be a discussion about Iraq that promises to be excellent. Well, just check out the guest list:
This week on the show: the subject of Iraq. Two controversial scholars, Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institution, have just returned from Iraq and we'll be hearing their assessment of the current situation. Michael Ware, our correspondent in Iraq, will put his two cents in, as well as New York Times war correspondent Dexter Filkins. Don't miss what promises to be a fascinating and original discussion.
I am planning to post several of Michael's clips on Monday... he had a couple of exclusives reports this week that were just incredible. (Yes, I'm biased; doesn't mean I'm wrong!)
Enjoy the weekend!
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