Welcome back

Today's post title is extremely lame. However, the subject of the post certainly isn't. She's Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog reports on CNN's show The Situation Room. Her segments can appear pretty much anywhere within the 3-hour show, although they are slightly more common in the 2nd and 3rd hours. But like sifting river mud to find gold is worth it ( or so I hear), so too is watching the Situation Room waiting for a different kind of gleam: that of the sparkling, radiant Ms. Tatton. Gee, the stuff that comes through my fingertips when I'm posting.

Today's segment had some interesting camerawork: as host Wolf Blitzer was introducing the first go-round, an anchor could be seen on the screen behind him, with a "Do I look at the camera or don't I?" look on her face. Then they didn't cut away quick enough and we got Wolf walking up to the camera lens a la David Letterman. And during Ms. Tatton's turn, her co-host Jacki could be seen in view. Jacki, as if you don't already get more turns than Ms. Tatton; now you're getting in her shots! Nah, no complaining about Jacki; we like her. I guess Ms. Tatton is just too rare and special a treat to be enjoyed as often as others. Sorry for the petulance.

In the accessory watch, Ms. Tatton had her necklace with the square silver ornament again - I think I have pointed out in previous posts that the square appears to have somewhat rounded corners. The mystery of its significance endures. My latest guess I'll throw out: when Ms. Tatton turned 18, her parents bought it for her as a symbolic expression of her passage through the "gate" of adulthood. Like I said, I'll take that guess and throw it out. She also had a wide, white bracelet. The white was quite white - it reminded me of a white plastic deck chair - you know, the kind that stack into each other. It seems like it may have had ridges, but it's too hard to really see. But I don't recall seeing it before, so that's fun. Tracking Ms. Tatton's accoutrements is a true delight.

For her first turn, she addressed the Able Danger story. She noted Powerline, which had written that anonymous sources were not to be trusted, and Intel Dump, which said that the story didn't pass the "smell test." Ms. Tatton then quoted from an anonymous post on that second site, which turned out to be from the person behind the story to begin with.

The second segment (called The Situation Online, while the first was Inside the Blogs) was about the Gaza pullout. Ms. Tatton cited one Israeli blog, Balagan, which was sad, and one Palestinian blog, Raising Yousuf, which was hopeful. CNN is definitely getting their international news quota in thanks to the dear Ms. Tatton. Good show.

Well, this post seems like it was over quick. I can't promise I'll post tomorrow - I know, I'm horrible. I'm a pretty poor excuse for a blogger. Ms. Tatton deserves better. But I'll keep trying, I swear.