For Me, For You, For Later

It's not that often that CNN brings good news, practical advice and a few laughs all wrapped up in one segment. Sunday's Newsroom had a special guest, Cookie Monster, and he shared his special message with Christine Romans. Take a look:

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An Important Your $$$$$ This Weekend

This weekend, CNN’s Your $$$$$ will feature sections of I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions – America’s Debt Crisis, a groundbreaking and timely documentary that takes on what some say is the biggest problem facing our country – the national debt. In this follow-up film to the original documentary I.O.U.S.A. featured on CNN last year, the dire debt situation is explored from all angles. Your $$$$$ co-host Christine Romans moderates a panel that not only covers all viewpoints, but spans across generations. I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions is a documentary directed by Patrick Creadon, produced by Christine O’Malley, and presented by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Panel guests include: Pete Peterson, Founder and Chairman of Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The Blackstone Group and former U.S. Commerce Secretary; David Walker, President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation and former U.S. Comptroller General; Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator and Managing Director, Allen & Company LLC; Amy Holmes, Independent Conservative and Co-Host, Talk Radio Network’s “American Morning News;” Diane Lim Rogers, Chief Economist, The Concord Coalition and Blogger, Economistmom.com; Maya Maguineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and Director, Fiscal Policy Program, New America Foundation; Joe Johns, CNN Correspondent; Jeanne Sahadi, Senior Writer, CNNMoney.

CNN Your $$$$$ - I.O.U.S.A.: Solutions - America's Debt Crisis will be 2 hours

1 – 3 pm (ET) on Saturday and 3-5pm (ET) on Sunday!!!!!!


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June Babies

Your Money host Christine Romans and CNN's business correspondent Stephanie Elam both announced recently that they are expecting babies.

Elem and her husband are expecting a baby girl in June. Here's a video from August 2008 of Stephanie talking about her wedding and sharing a picture. Congratulations Stephanie!



Our congratulations to Christine Romans and husband Ed Tobin also. They are the parents of two boys and expecting baby number 3 in June.

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Sanjay Gupta: Cheating Death NYC Book Party

NY Post's Cindy Adams spoke to CNN's Sanjay Gupta about his book Cheating Death at a book signing party held earlier this month.

GERONTOLOGISTS or biologists or sociologists or physiologists or whatever kind of ologists scientifi cally decree that man's life span has been extended eight years. Dr. Sanjay Gupta told me that Monday, the very day of the announcement.

Said CNN's chief medical correspondent: "A woman's average previous life span has been 72; men, 70. We now add eight years onto that. It's not due to the stress of work that men have two years less because today women also share that same environment. It's just something about the male gene."

However, you'll only live longer if you do not meet Sanjay's staff. They are injurious to your health. They'll tell you how in the '60s, his mother, in a sari, was the first-ever woman engineer at Ford. They'll constantly say how wonderful, patient, kind, intelligent, caring, helpful, loving he is. You could meet them healthy and come away with diabetes.

It was a book party this week for his just-published "Cheating Death." After Dr. Sanjay Gupta hugged Dr. Deepak Chopra, I asked if, with elder abuse increasing, is life worth extending? He said: "Many parts of the world, like Japan, which has the highest concentration of centenarians, respect elders. America discards people from the work force at 65. This country cannot further physical changes without also making cultural changes.

... to read the full article: Life goes on and on.

LIFE has several pictures of the event:

Jonathan Klein, Philip Kent and Dr. Sanjay Gupta

CNN's Robin Meade, John Roberts and Kiran Chetry

CNN's Larry King, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Soledad O'Brien

CNN's Christine Romans, Larry King and Dr. Sanjay Gupta

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Out of the Box June 24

Soledad O'Brien to receive award on 7/3

Better Late Than Never

CNN’ers at the White House Correspondents Dinner

Roland Martin posted the following tweet. "I'm hosting several Black In America screenings in DC, Philly, Atlanta, NY, New Orleans in July. And I'll be at Essence July 3-6; Alonzo Mourning's Summer Groove July 8-11;and the Alpha Phi Alpha convention July 17-19. So it will be a busy July when I return from vacation ..."

Roland Martin to address NABA members at 40th anniversary celebration

Fareed Zakaria at Pacific Coast Builders Conference

Launch Party for Larry King’s book

Alina Cho attends cocktail party for Bulgari in support of Save the Children

6/15 Time Warner Center summit moderated by Christine Romans, Ali Velshi, and Andy Serwer

Picture of Christine Romans from 6/15 even

Soledad O’Brien moderates Public Forum on “The Evolution of Blacks in Accounting ... NABA Impact”.

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Monday catch-up

This morning Kate Bouldan updated the latest information on American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to 8 years in prison in Iran on charges of being a spy:

The Committee to Protect Journalists has several articles

on the Saberi case on their Iran page.

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This morning, John Roberts spoke with Michael Hastings, who has written an article for GQ magazine on the current status in Afghanistan:

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Ben Wedeman reports on a tomb near Alexandria that may hold the remains of Antony and Cleopatra:

Ben's article for CNN.com is here.

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Finally, from this weekend's edition of Your $$$$$ (and considering the state of the economy, shouldn't that be re-titled $$$ or $$ by now?) Ali Velshi and Christine Romans talk to Richard Quest about internet piracy, car-scrapping schemes, and Susan Boyle:

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Reza Aslan will be on AC360 tonight; he is also on The Daily Show tonight, and his new book is out tomorrow! All good stuff!

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Terrorists and Pirates

The news this week was dominated by the high-seas hostage drama as an American captain was held by heavily armed Somali pirates on a small lifeboat in the Indian ocean. Navy SEALS ended the standoff yesterday, and the captain is on his way home now, but some of the background pieces on the pirates reveal important insights on the on-going trend.

Thursday, American Morning aired a piece from Nic Robertson about the possible links between the pirates and al Qaeda. Just who is funding these attacks and benefitting from the enormous ransoms being paid?

Saturday gave us a NewsRoom report from Stan Grant, who is in Mombasa, Kenya (where the ship was originally heading and is now currently docked.) Local fishermen and tourists react to the acts of piracy:

And here's a perspective that most of us have not studied since junior high: what is the affect of piracy on world trade? Ali Velshi and Christine Romans spoke with Richard Quest on the weekend edition of Your $$$$$ about the bottom line:

Meanwhile, Nic covers a second news story on Thursday, a different (dare I say "more normal"?) type of terrorism -- a cell gets rolled up in Manchester, England. The raids had to be started earlier than planned after an all-too-human blunder: Top Secret documents were photographed being carried into 10 Downing Street, with the names/addresses of the targets plainly visible:

A second report aired on The Situation Room a few hours later, with some local reaction to the arrests:

Finally, a word about a different kind of terrorism: Jeanne Meserve explains the concerns that cyber-terrorists could attack US power grids. Kyra Phillips talks to former CIA operative Robert Baer about the newest aggressions:

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Sit Back And Enjoy Some Clips

No Highlights from State Of The Union with John King this week. But I do have one article from the Winston-Salem Journal who caught John King having breakfast on Friday morning.

(left to right) Alan Bentley, Jennifer Kline, John King, and Nancy Rivers discuss the economy at Cagney's on Friday March 6, 2009. King, the anchor of CNN's State of the Union was in town interviewing people for a segment that will air Sunday March 8, 2009.

CNN came to Cagney's Restaurant on Cloverdale Avenue this morning.

A film crew visited the restaurant as part of a segment that will air Sunday on "State of the Union with John King."

King, the host of the program, spoke with patrons about the state of the economy and how it was affecting their lives.

The segment will also include interviews King shot on Thursday with Mayor Allen Joines and with Damian Birkel, the founder of Professionals in Transition.

King was CNN's senior White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005, and then became the network's chief national correspondent. His show is based in Washington, but he travels about two and a half days a week for segments filmed around the country.

"My favorite part of the program is when we get out and talk to people," King said after taping the segment. "It's good to keep in touch with everyday people.

"You live in Spain long enough, you start to speak Spanish. You live in Washington long enough, you start to speak Washington."

The segment will air at 11 a.m. Sunday.

What do your doodles mean? That's the question that Elizabeth Cohen was answering the other day on American Morning. Oh course, John Roberts and Kiran Chetry were showing off their doodles.

What did Ali Velshi once consider doing with a swiffer?

Why is Ali Velshi throwing money at John Roberts when he finishes telling viewers about a tax break for small businesses? Here's another clip from America Morning...

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Juggling Flaming Chain Saws

photo credit:E. M. Pio Roda / CNN ©2009 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

Did you know that Ed Henry has a weekly radio program on CNN Radio? Here's the latest broadcast that was posted on CNN's Political Ticker:

Today on "44 with Ed Henry," CNN's Senior White House Correspondent talked about the wild week for President Obama, from the stimulus plan's roller coaster ride through Congress to his first prime time White House press conference.

Ed Henry talks to CNN Radio listeners online every Friday at 11 am ET. To listen to “44 with Ed Henry” live, go to www.cnn.com and click “CNN Radio”

On January 14th, Alina Cho was spotted at the 2008 National Board of Review awards gala. Photo credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

On February 5, 2009, Soledad O'Brien attended the 2009 Straight for Equality awards. Photo credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Pictured is Roland Martin and Jacquie Hood Martin at the 40th NAACP Image Awards after party on February 12, 2009. Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NAACP

A few clips from American Morning caught my eye tonight. Are you familiar with Michael Gates Gill's story? He's the author of “How Starbucks Saved My Life.” Lola Ogunnaike spoke with him at Starbucks earlier this month.

And finally tonight, Christine Romans was discussing the economy, the stimulus package, and TARP. She choose an interesting analogy to open her report with and John Roberts was more than slightly amused by it.

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Bloopers & More

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a great start to 2009! Tonight's post is full of highlights from this past week's American Morning. First, Ed Henry reported on President Elect Obama's work out routine.

I'm not sure that John Roberts should be criticizing Ed Henry's shorts when he doesn't always remember to put on a tie in the morning.

The next clip is Jeanne Moos report, Getting to “know” Kennedy.

I liked the advice at the end that John Roberts and Christine Romans discussed:

• The old adage of it's better to keep one's mouth shut and appear stupid than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
• You have two ears and one mouth, use your ears twice and your mouth once

Too bad it is not heeded more often.

And on Thursday's American Morning, Joe Johns and Kiran Chetry showed two blooper reels from 2008:

Reel 1:

Reel 2:

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Tears & Surprises

Newsday.com recently spoke with D.L. Hugley about his new program on CNN. Here's an excerpt from the article:

CNN has had a new weekend talk show host since October, and he's ... a stand-up comedian? "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" offers a take on the week's events in politics, entertainment, sports and pop culture. Hughley acknowledges the union may be "an unholy alliance," but sees it this way: "If CNN can have Nancy Grace, they can have me, too."

You and CNN - as if the line separating news and entertainment wasn't already murky enough?

The news has always informed what I talk about. My gig hasn't changed. News has been inundated with entertainment elements since O.J. So to even now pretend that news and entertainment haven't meshed is disingenuous.

You were taken by surprise when former White House rep Scott McClellan came on and endorsed Barack Obama. What else has caught you off guard?

Al Sharpton and I haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things, and I was shocked at how different he was than I always imagined he would be. I've misjudged his motives. I always thought he was just doing what he does because he wanted attention. The more I talk to him, the more I realize that - however sometimes misguided he can be - he does what he does because he wants to make things better.

The "Original Kings of Comedy" tour and subsequent film were career milestones. How were you influenced by Bernie Mac?

Bernie taught me that the hardest thing for a black man to do was to be an individual. I have to tell myself that often, and whenever I think it, I have to think about him. Comedically, he was uncompromising. Right before he passed, he was at a charity event for Obama and said something that involved color, and people got irritated. That's how he was - an individual.

There's been this exhalation since the elections, at least in New York. Is there a particular pressure not to pounce on Barack Obama?

He'll do things that people find ironic and funny, and when he does, they should attack. For me, those things happen organically. Sooner or later, he'll be a politician - he'll do something that I think is ironic, or very human - and when he does, I'll be there.

Have you met Anderson Cooper yet? He's spread kind of thin, no?

Anderson Cooper is CNN's Ryan Seacrest.

Candy Crowley interviewed the President in the Oval Office this week. What could the President do that would throw Candy off balance? She talked about the interview on No Bias, No Bull with Campbell Brown.

Part 1:

Part 2:

What could bring Christine Romans to tears on Your $$$$$? On Saturday's program Ryan Mack discussed investment options for 2009 and then things got personal. Luckily, Ali Velshi was there to keep the program going.

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The Week in Pictures

How about a few pictures tonight? First, Christiane Amanpour, her husband, James Rubin, and son, Darius attended the Salute to Women In Sports Awards dinner on Tuesday in New York.

AP Photo by Evan Agostini

Next, Christiane Amanpour at the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism Awards on Thursday in Beverly Hills.

Photo from AP Photo by Gus Ruelas

Now, a few images from the Time Warner Political Conference 2008 that was held earlier this week in New York City. (Photos credit: Getty Images for Turner/CNN)

Richard Stengel, Jim VandeHei, Jon Klein, and Graydon Carter.

Campbell Brown

Jeffrey Toobin and Jeff Greenfield

Christine Romans, Eamon Javers, David Faber, Allan Sloan, and Michael Mandel.

Larry Hackett, Candy Crowley, Howell Raines, Mark J. Penn, and Mark Halperin

I'll have more pictures from the event on Sunday night in my post on All Things Anderson.

Ali Velshi was on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz last Sunday talking about the coverage of the troubles on Wall Street. David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun took issue with Velshi’s reporting.

Part 1

Part 2

John King will once again be on this weekend during the 9PM hour with Battlegrounds:

Chief national correspondent John King will anchor a one-hour special titled The Next President: Battlegrounds on Saturday, Oct. 18, and Sunday, Oct. 19, at 9 p.m. (ET). The program will focus on toss-up states in the hotly contested presidential election and the role of their voters in deciding the nation’s next commander-in-chief. King will anchor the special from St. Louis.

Polling experts will analysis the reliability of polls trending heavily toward Obama and discuss what both candidates are doing to win Missouri. King, who will be joined by members of the Best Political Team on Television, will use the “Magic Wall” to breakdown the electoral math for the general election and explore voting patterns in Missouri counties.

On Saturday, Oct. 11, The Next President: Battlegrounds won the 25-54 demo among cable news networks for its premiere telecast, increasing the audience by more than 50 percent in both total viewers and the demo versus the year-to-date average.

All Things CNN is now on Twitter.

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Matthew McConaughey On House Call

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sat down with actor/producer Matthew McConaughey for his first television interview following the birth of his son, Levi Alves, for House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

In House Call for Saturday, Aug. 9, the subjects discussed focused on labor and delivery, the significance of his son’s name, life after baby, vaccinations, and saving the cord blood and placenta from the childbirth.

House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta airs each Saturday at 8:30am ET / 5:30am PT on CNN with replays each Sunday at the same airtime. Below are highlighted excerpts from the interview that will air in two parts, on the weekends of Aug. 9 and Aug. 16.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sat down with actor/producer Matthew McConaughey for his first television interview following the birth of his son, Levi Alves, for House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. House Call airs on Sat. and Sun. from 8:30 – 9am ET. Credit: Kyle Christy/CNN

Actor/producer Matthew McConaughey on the significance of his son’s name.

GUPTA: Levi McConaughey, that's his name.

MCCONAUGHEY: Levi Alves McConaughey.

GUPTA: I like that. So where did that come from?

MCCONAUGHEY: Levi is another name for Matthew. Matthew and Levi were the same apostle, the same evangelist. Those are two names for the same man. And I had always like the name Levi for that reason... So a favorite verse of mine in the book of Matthew in the Bible, 6:22 is my favorite verse... all of a sudden Levi comes into the world and... we look up and it is 6:22 p.m. and we just were like, oh, my God, are you kidding me?...And Alves is her last name... So Levi Alves McConaughey.

Actor/producer Matthew McConaughey speaking with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the labor and birth of his son

GUPTA: Did you guys have a plan ahead of time and was she going to get an epidural, was she going to get pain meds? How did that all go?

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes, we did have a plan. (LAUGHTER) It didn't happen. It didn't happen.

GUPTA: Sometimes the best-laid plans.

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes. We had a plan, we had an ideal that we said, let's go in and do it as natural as possible.

GUPTA: Was it frightening for you? When you're hearing all this go on, the pulse was dropping and they say C-section. What's going through your mind?

MCCONAUGHEY: You see a woman just really digging deep into her soul and bearing pain and being on top of it and you see a strength come out of a woman that you've never seen before... And the baby comes out and his eyes were wide open and he was crying, glad to see the day.

GUPTA: So no regrets about the way that it went?

MCCONAUGHEY: No, it went down perfectly. And even though we went 60 hours to do what could have been done in a few hours, it was a great journey for both of us...we call it the best dance we've ever had. We've gone through something that we're like, I know and you know and only you and I know and that's good for us.

Actor/producer Matthew McConaughey and CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta discuss neonatal cord blood, and a use for the placenta.

GUPTA: A couple of quick questions. Did you decide to store cord blood? Did anyone talk to you about that?

MCCONAUGHEY: I have the placenta and -- yes, I also did the cord blood. Yes.

GUPTA: Do you keep that because you think it might be helpful to Levi at some point in his life? Why did you do that?

CCONAUGHEY: The cord blood?

GUPTA: Yes.

MCCONAUGHEY: I don't know that much about it, I just know it could-- I understand it's a smart thing to do now and we did recycle it and so that is stored. I don't have any real reasons why -- our doctor said it's a great idea and I suppose hopefully I'll find out why it's a great idea later.

GUPTA: And you kept the placenta?

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes.

GUPTA: So what's the story there?

MCCONAUGHEY: Well, it's going to be. That's fertile ground, so to speak. So we're going to have -- we're going to plant -- it's going to be in the orchards and it's going to bear some wonderful fruit. There's an aboriginal custom, one of many, but when I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river and it was for the women and it was the most fertile land and fertile river and all the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength.

And this tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it. It was gorgeous.

Actor/producer Matthew McConaughey and Dr. Sanjay Gupta discuss life after baby, including breast feeding and already taking baby Levi to his first John Mellencamp concert.

MCCONAUGHEY: What surprised me the most? Here is what surprised me the most, everyone, or most everyone talked about how, oh, you have a kid, life changes, it's like 180 degrees on a dime full stop, wow. And a lot of them had an insinuation under that like, you have to stop living your life as you live it. That hasn't been the case.

GUPTA: Is that right?

MCCONAUGHEY: And that's been a nice surprise because Camila and I were laughing about it the other night. We took Levi to a John Mellencamp concert. We've taken him out. Everywhere we go, we're getting him traveling with us to get him equipped to be around sights and sounds of people. There's no one in the house, if Levi's sleeping on his crib on the table. You're never told in our house, shh, Levi is sleeping. No. Get used to the ambience. Come with us. That's how I was raised. I went with mom and dad when they played bridge. I went with them when we barbecued. Bring the crib outside. Stay with us.

So our life has not changed. It just takes a little more prep time to do whatever it is you're going to do. And especially with Camila breastfeeding every three hours, she can't be away from the child. So she's got to be there.

GUPTA: Does she plan on breast feeding for a long time? Have you guys talked about that or has she talked about that?

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes. I mean, I know there is different theories. I know we're definitely going up to a year.

Actor/producer Matthew McConaughey speaks with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta on paparazzi frenzy clarifies that a recently published image was not that of his girlfriend and son.

MCCONAUGHEY: that picture you may have seen, that wasn't him.

GUPTA: That wasn't him?

MCCONAUGHEY: He was in the tent. That was a great paparazzi moment. That wasn't Camila either. Camila is in the tent. It was a shot from here, right? And I'm out, I'm here, there's a brunette girl and a kid right here behind her and it says, Matthew McConaughey on the beach while girlfriend Camila and Levi stayed in the shade.

MCCONAUGHEY: The kid is like, almost 2-years-old. So I'm going, you're telling me that at 20 days Levi is -- just jumping up and down on two legs.

GUPTA: He is a McConaughey. (laughter)

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes, I was jogging the other day and he lapped me.

Highlighted excerpts credit: “House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.”

Dr. Gupta was on American Morning on Friday and he talked with Rob Marciano about the interview.

I have one more clip to add to the follicle frenzy following Ali Velshi. This one is from Issue #1 where they felt the need to show us a close up of his facial hair. Don Lemon also shared his thoughts on Ali coming back from vacation.

One other note, it was great to see Christine Romans back on CNN. She was subbing for Geri Willis on Issue #1.

The Cafferty File is one of the segments that I look forward to each day on The Situation Room. Jack Cafferty is always one to speak his mind. In the following clip, the question is about whether or not the President should know how to use a computer.

Now, I can’t say that I disagree with anything that Cafferty said in his commentary. But, I found myself a bit perplexed as I watched. Jack Cafferty has stated on several occasions that he doesn’t even have a cell phone and doesn’t want one. We’re not even talking about a Blackberry (or its equivalent) that you find most reporters carrying these days- but a simple cell phone. I just find that criticizing the lack of use of one modern day tool when the person doing the criticizing doesn’t see the need of another modern day tool…well, a bit odd.

Have you voted in our Hot Fun in the Summertime polls, yet? Well there is still time and some of the races are definitely heating up! Here’s a quick update on where things stand at the time of this post:

Hottest Male Anchor poll: Surprise! Surprise! Anderson Cooper is running away with this one with 66% of the vote so far.

Hottest Female Reporter poll: It is AC360's Erica Hill with a solid lead and 36% of the votes.

Hottest Producer poll: Charlie Moore with 27% of vote is just barely ahead of Tommy Evans' 26%.

Hottest Female Anchor poll: The race is split three ways with Kyra Phillips currently leading with 25%. Betty Nguyen and Robin Meade aren't that far behind with 22% each.

Hottest Male Reporter poll: This is the tightest race at this point. John King and Michael Ware are tied with 33% of the vote each.

How is your favorite doing? The polls are still open, so express your opinion and vote! Click here to be taken to the polls.

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Another New Arrival

Soledad O'Brien at Yankee Stadium

If you've been watching CNN on Sunday afternoons, you may have come to expect to see Ballot Bowl. Today, CNN cut back on the politics to continue coverage of the Pope's visit to the United States. This afternoon, he celebrated mass at Yankee Stadium.

Soledad O'Brien talking with CNN Sr. Vatican Analyst, John Allen, at Yankee Stadium


T.J. Holmes at Yankee Stadium

Here are a few highlights from this week's events:

The CNN family just keeps growing and growing. On Saturday's Your $$$$$, Ali Velshi explained why his co-anchor, Christine Romans, was not there... she had recently welcomed a baby boy into her family. Here's the video clip...

ModernMom.com recently posted an interview with Kiran Chetry. Here's a few snips:

What’s your definition of a Modern Mom?

Well, since I’m answering this question typing on my blackberry and wrangling my two year old in her doctor’s office for a check-up, I guess I would say a lot of being a modern mom is trying to juggle it all!

We want to be able to spend as much time as we can caring for and enjoying our kids, while at the same time many of us are working full-time or keeping a household running, or both!

What’s your secret to balancing career and family?

Hey, if someone knows the secret, tell me! But since I work so early (I leave the house just after 3 am) a small afternoon nap is key. It gives me a little recharge so I can spend the afternoon and evening with the family and keep up with my daughter until her bedtime.

To read the full interview which includes a picture from her daughter's second birthday, visit ModernMom.com.

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Shock and Awe: Five Years Later

Has anyone else found themselves missing Wolf Blitzer broadcasting The Situation Room from the New York Election Center now that he’s back in the DC studio? You don’t need to sell me on the idea that The Situation Room should be based in DC – that really does make the most sense – but I didn’t realize how much I had gotten used to the look of the show from New York until they came back to DC. Here's a side by side comparison...

New York	Washington, DC
(Screen caps from TSR 3/11)	(Screen caps from TSR 3/13)

Its hard to believe that The Situation Room wall of monitors could seem small. Other than monitor size, the Election Center also presented a few other benefits. Wasn't it nice having Jack Cafferty in the same room as Wolf? And of course there is this season’s cool gadget- the magic delegate map...

Saturday's Your $$$$$ had an interesting segment from Ines Ferre about reducing workplace stress. (Don't we all need that?) Here's a clip:

Who says that money doesn't grow on trees?

Wednesday, March 19th will mark the Fifth Anniversary of the war in Iraq. Here’s what CNN has planned:

6 AM – 9 AM ET CNN/US

American Morning considers whether expenses for the war drains the economy and contributes to recession or actually pumps up the economy with the infusion of money spent on the war effort.

6 AM – 9 AM ET Headline News

Morning Express with Robin Meade will air special salutes to the troops for the war anniversary. Starting today, members of military families can visit www.CNN.com/robin to express how the war has affected their lives, including the triumphs and challenges they've experienced over the past five years. The show will air a sampling of e-mail and photo submissions as a tribute to our troops and their families.

4 PM – 7 PM ET CNN/US

The Situation Room, anchor Wolf Blitzer and his team will examine the war from all angles. Correspondents will report on the cost to prosecute the war and rebuild Iraq, troop morale, the fate of Iraqi refugees and strategies for fighting insurgents.

9 PM ET CNN en Espanol

Panorama Mundial will broadcast reports from Iraq filed by CNN’s international correspondents.

11 p.m. (ET) on both CNN/US & CNN International

“Shock and Awe: Five Years Later,” an Anderson Cooper 360º special. This in-depth hour offers retrospective dispatches from those who have covered the war for the past five years, including such CNN journalists as chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, national correspondent Gary Tuchman and Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware and contributors including Ret. Gen. David Grange.

Also for the anniversary coverage, chief national correspondent John King reports from the Middle East as he travels with Vice President Dick Cheney for a 10-day trip that includes visits to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Turkey.

Online, CNN.com will provide special coverage on Wednesday, March 19, and Thursday, March 20, focusing on the impact of the war on military families. Users also can visit the “Salute to Troops” blog at http://www.CNN.com/exchange/blogs/salute/index.html, which includes special audio, photo, video and text messages from families and friends honoring their loved ones in service. All service personnel who have lost their lives in Iraq are remembered in a CNN.com special section at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties.

iReport.com, CNN’s recently launched user-generated community Web site, features first-hand accounts from military families about how their lives have changed over the past five years at http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=3605. Viewers and users are encouraged to upload their video, photo, audio or text submissions about the anniversary of the war in Iraq to the site. iReport.com contributors also may gain recognition by having the material they submit to the site – once vetted and approved for use – appear on a CNN network or CNN.com.

Source: CNN Press Release

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