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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

California Burning; Who Is Behind Suicide Bombings in Baghdad?; Pediatrician Under Arrest for Possessing Child Porn

Aired October 28, 2003 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): California burning. How did it start? Who's to blame?

Two more dead. What's behind the deadly suicide bombings in Baghdad?

A disturbing case, a pediatrician under arrest. The charges, child porn.

Caught on tape. A Tyco exec's $2 million bash thrown on the company dime.

A first look at an exclusive new poll. Guess who young people want as president?

And our special series, "Infidelity." Tonight, is monogamy a myth?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And a good evening to you. Thanks for joining us on 360.

We begin with war. That is what some of the men and women now battling the California wildfires are calling it, war. The flames, ferocious, deadly, right now 13 major wildfires ranging across southern California are blamed for at least 16 deaths.

More than 600,000 acres of land blackened. More than 1,500 homes now destroyed. The fires are scattered from the Mexican border to suburbs northwest of L.A. Battling the blazes, tough, exhausting.

Some firefighters have been working so long, they now have to be pulled off the line. And this just in to CNN. New evacuations north of Simi Valley in the city of Stevenson Ranch.

Now, firefighters are giving thousands of residents 15 minutes to leave their homes. The area is about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. Just want to repeat that. Stevenson Ranch, firefighters are giving thousands of residents 15 minutes right now to leave their homes.

Let's go first tonight to Lake Arrowhead in Carolina. Flames have jumped California's Highway 18, known as the Ring of the World Highway, and they are advancing on hundreds of homes. National correspondent Frank Buckley reports from inside a ring of fire where firefighters have been battling to save a neighborhood -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Anderson, it's become very tense here along Highway 18 after hours of relative calm because, as you say, the fire has jumped Highway 18. Let me show you what's happened.

Just within the last 45 minutes, the fire jumped over Highway 18 and in fact did consume at least one structure believed to be a conference center or a community center. The good news is this entire area is evacuated. So no one believed to be inside. But what's worrisome is that firefighters were desperate to keep this fire south of Highway 18, because if it jumps to the north, what's behind it is nothing, and what they call defensible space.

They don't have anything that they can use as a major firebreak between Highway 18 and all of those hundreds, perhaps thousands, of structures in and around the Lake Arrowhead area. It's an ominous development after all of these relative successes, where they're able to knock down the fire, keep it away from structures along Highway 18 throughout the day, where they were able to set backfires when the wind would lay down for a bit, and work with fire against fire, burning back against the main body of the fire, trying to burn away the fuel that the fire might consume.

So some very ominous developments here along Highway 18. We can also just tell you one other note, and that is how dangerous it is here and how quickly the weather conditions can affect coverage of this fire. Some of our colleagues from KNBC, one of the television stations here in Los Angeles, were covering this fire operation. And just a few moments ago, we got word that their microwave truck there, their news van was consumed by fire.

The people inside, the news crew and the reporter, they are fine. They were rescued by the firefighters and pulled out of harm's way. But their entire vehicle burned to the ground.

So a very quickly changing situation. And firefighters right now are watching the weather conditions very closely as this fire moves over Highway 18 -- Anderson.

COOPER: Frank Buckley, thank you so much for that report. So much suffering tonight.

About 100 miles south now, it is estimated 10,000 Californians have been forced out of their homes. Many were allowed to return just over an hour ago. David Mattingly with more.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fire in eastern San Diego County still raging tonight, menacing yet another town. Firefighters from two other states have arrived here to help relieve the firefighters that have been on the front lines. And they still have their hands full.

There are three large brush fires still burning in this county. One of them is almost contained. But the largest, called the cedar fire, has officially become the largest in San Diego history, burning well over 200,000 acres and still causing a lot of problems here.

Some of the people who lost their homes on Sunday were allowed to walk back into their neighborhood a short time ago. Among them, the Paul family. They were at church when the evacuation order went out on Sunday. By the time they got to their home, there was no time to pack. They got out with almost literally the clothes on their back.

They knew ahead of time their house had been hit. But we were still with them there for that terribly emotional moment when they saw their home for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the destruction, I had thought it might just be ankle high. But I don't know, maybe this is even worse. You can recognize things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole back half of the house was something that we designed ourselves and made the home the way we wanted it. And it held up better than the front, the original part of the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're able to make a joke?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God, well you have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: And so much misery to go around in this county tonight. The Paul family's house is just one of more than 800 that have been effected, burned by this fire.

You might have noticed the unusual tint to that video, Anderson. That's because there's still so much smoke in the air that the sun has not been able to come out. So everything here, even at midday, looked orange. In fact, it is still so much in the air here, that it started to look dark about mid-afternoon -- Anderson.

COOPER: David, the Paul family, where are they tonight? What do they do now?

MATTINGLY: They are in a hotel right now. They did take some time today to do some shopping around for some rental property. But there are a lot of people competing for those rental properties. They said there are a lot of applications put in everywhere they went. There are a lot of families here without homes, and they're all competing for that prime rental property right now for another place to live while their homes are being rebuilt.

COOPER: Well, our thoughts are with them and all the others tonight. David Mattingly, thanks very much.

The most destructive of the fires, as David mentioned, the cedar fire near San Diego. It apparently was started by a hunter who got lost and lit a beacon fire to call attention to himself. The fire obviously got out of control. Authorities say the hunter has been detained.

Jeff Flock is covering the fires in the San Diego area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The flames are everywhere. Look how close we can come up to it.

(voice-over): Covering wildfires, it's sometimes hard to get near the fire lines. Not this time. There is just so much of it.

(on camera): We were watching this very carefully to see if these flames will shoot up into these trees.

(voice-over): The worst fire in San Diego County history, and we're walking through it with those who know fire best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire's going to run uphill.

FLOCK: Nick Ridge (ph) has been a firefighter, fire chief, fire tanker pilot. Seeing the spectacle through his eyes opens ours to the little details of wildfires. The animals driven up from their burrows by the heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little guy is alive.

FLOCK: How these firefighters set and use a hose to control this backfire to burn off fuel and save a house. We also learn about so- called killer trees, like this one. A ground fire burning its roots and then right up through its heart.

(on camera): It's coming up like a chimney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The tree has turned itself into a chimney now.

FLOCK (voice-over): We end our walk through fire with this up- close look at its effects.

(on camera): Rubber literally melted and turned to ash. All that's left are the steel belts from the radial tires.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Unbelievable. Wildfires of course deadly not just for homeowners but also for firefighters. The National Interagency Fire Center says 883 firefighters have died fighting wildfires since 1910. The top three causes, 433 of those deaths caused by what's called burnover, when fire overtakes a firefighter's position.

Ninety-three firefighters have died from heart attacks. And 47 deaths were attributed to problems involving airborne firefighting efforts. Well, we'll have more on the fires a little bit later.

Now Iraq, Fallujah, where a suicide bomber strikes again. At least two Iraqis are dead, six others wounded. It is the latest in a wave of suicide bombings. And U.S. military officials say the attacks bear the marks of foreign terrorists.

Today in Washington, the president spoke about the violence in Iraq. But he also spoke about progress on the ground. It was a relatively rare news conference in the White House rose garden. Senior White House correspondent John King was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president repeatedly defended his handling of post-war Iraq, but did concede a fresh wave of deadly attacks is forcing some changes.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The strategy remains the same. The tactics to respond to, more suiciders driving cars will alter on the ground.

KING: Mr. Bush said foreign terrorists are at least in part to blame. But while aides have privately criticized Iran and Syria, Mr. Bush's response was muted.

BUSH: We're working closely with those countries to let them know that we expect them to enforce borders, prevent people from coming across borders, if in fact we catch them doing that.

KING: In a 48-minute rose garden news conference, the president cited progress in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and social safety net and called the attacks an effort to scare humanitarian groups and international troops away.

BUSH: This country will stay the course. We'll do our job.

KING: Democrats were not swayed.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: If this is progress, I don't know how much more progress we can take. I would also say that there is a growing credibility gap between what is said and what is being done.

KING: The president said he had no regrets about visiting an aircraft carrier back in May to declare major combat in Iraq over. But also distanced himself from this banner, saying it was hung by the Navy to salute the sailors on the carrier, not by the White House to send a broader message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But the White House tonight forced to retreat a bit from the president's description of that banner, acknowledging that, while the Navy asked for the banner, the White House quickly agreed the mission accomplished banner would be a good idea. Not only did the White House agree, it paid for the banner and produced it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. John King, interesting development. Thanks very much for that tonight.

Tonight there is some good news for the president in terms of how young voters see him. In a few moments, we're going to have the very first look at an exclusive CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll of young voters. All of this as we continue our lead-up to America Rocks the Vote, a forum with the Democratic candidates and young Americans next Tuesday in Boston. More on that in a moment.

Before we get to the poll, let's take a trip "Cross Country."

Nationwide: solar deja vu. Another solar storm. Look at these images -- amazing.

Heading for Earth, it is expected to hit Thursday. Unlike last week's storm, this one is on record as being just shy of the biggest solar storm on record. So protect your cell phones.

Alexandria, Virginia: guilty plea stands. Confessed al Qaeda operative Iman Faris (ph) gets 20 years behind bars. He asked the judge to withdraw the plea deal. The judge said no. Faris (ph) is accused of plotting an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Collingswood, New Jersey: the fallout. Nine caseworkers are fired after the discovery of four severely malnourished brothers in a New Jersey home. None of the boys age nine to 19 weighed more than 45 pounds. The adoptive parents are behind bars.

New York: accusations of a hip-hop sweatshop. A teenager says she faces terrible working conditions in Honduras, where she makes T- shirts for the Sean P. Diddy Combs clothing line. The company marketing the clothes says it will investigate.

And that is our look "Cross Country" tonight.

Child porn, drugs, and the children's doctor. Parents on high alert after authorities say they caught a pediatrician red handed. We'll have the latest.

Also, who says CEOs don't know how to party? We'll show you a $2 million birthday blowout. We're talking men, models. What's that guy doing?

And Jimmy Buffet? That is definitely not Jimmy Buffet. Why has this tape wound up in court?

And, is monogamy natural, or are we hard wired to cheat? Our weeklong series "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America."

First, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network evening newscasts. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A number of stories happening around the world. Let's check tonight's "UpLink."

Chakin (ph), Afghanistan: ambush. Two CIA civilian contractors are dead. Coalition officials tell us the men were killed in a firefight between enemy fighters and the Afghan army, who were backed by U.S. war planes.

Bogota, Colombia: possible freedom. Roman Catholic Church leaders say the Colombian government is considering a hostage release deal from leftist rebels. Seven backpackers have been held hostage by the National Liberation Army since last month.

Russia: still trying. Rescue workers believe they are within meters of finding 13 trapped miners. They're using explosives and digging equipment to reach the location where they hope to find the men alive. The miners have been trapped for five days.

Northern Kazakhstan: smooth landing. A three-man crew from the International Space Station, well, they are back on Earth. The American, Russian and Spaniard returned aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule. And there they are.

That is tonight's "UpLink."

Well, at this moment in Chicago, a pediatrician is behind bars. The charge? Possessing child porn. Prosecutors say they discovered the doctor's secret life on his computer. CNN's Dan Lothian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a house call by federal agents at the Chicago apartment of pediatrician Mark Wattsman (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty much removing evidence from the house. They're taking out the computer. They had maybe two vans here that they're filling up with boxes. They took his garbage.

LOTHIAN: What authorities allegedly uncovered behind this door was a secret life filled with child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, two computers with 3,000 to 5,000 sexual explicit photos of children as young as eight; 200,000 deleted images, some of them recovered, showed children having sex.

Encrypted DVDs requiring a secret code to view. And an evidence eliminator program. This week, the 37-year-old doctor who last worked at this Illinois hospital was charged with possession of child pornography.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I want to make clear to everyone that Dr. Wattsman (ph) is not charged with any offense against any children. It is not alleged that he has taken any illegal conduct against any children. LOTHIAN: In court, federal prosecutors admitted they had more questions than answers in this case. Inside the doctor's apartment and his car agents say they found morphine, Viagra, and drugs that caused temporary paralysis and unconsciousness.

(on camera): But no drug charges have been filed. His attorney says the narcotics are tools of the trade for his other job as an anesthesiologist.

(voice-over): If convicted on child pornography charges, he faces up to five years behind bars.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, just how many cases of child porn are prosecuted by the federal government? Here are some fast facts.

In 1994, 72 child porn cases were prosecuted. In 2000, the latest year we have figures for, 563 cases. The big jump is largely due to the rise in Internet use. It's important to know these cases included people who possessed, distributed and manufactured child porn. Now, of those cases, in 2000, 498 resulted in convictions.

Well, young voters tuning in or turned off by this year's candidates? What do you think? An exclusive new poll may surprise you.

Also tonight, in excess. The $2 million birthday bash. See for yourself why it could bring down a former CEO.

And our weeklong series, "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America." Does monogamy come naturally or are we really born to cheat? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Political hopefuls have notoriously reached out to young voters. Some have succeeded, while others have done, hmm, not so well. If the 2004 Democratic presidential hopefuls wish to unseat George Bush by catering to the youth vote, they may have a rough road ahead.

The results of our exclusive CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll show that among adults 18 to 29, 62 percent say they approve of the way President Bush is handling his job. Democratic candidates are criticizing the president for going to war, but 61 percent of young Americans think the situation in Iraq was indeed worth going to war over. And on the economy, young Americans see a rosier future.

Who do they like among the Democratic hopefuls? The big winners are General Wesley Clark, followed closely by Governor Howard Dean and Senator Joseph Lieberman. Senator Kerry and Congressman Richard Gephardt's youth support is low. Not low, support for the Reverend Al Sharpton.

One issue the youth voters seem most at odds with compared to older voters, legalization of same-sex marriages. And one last result that should come as no surprise to all of us, rock 'n' roll still rules.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: All right. What I don't believe, eight percent said they like pop music? Only eight percent? I think they're too ashamed to cop to it.

Joining me now, the alarmingly young Gideon Yago, MTV news correspondent here in New York, and the executive director of Rock the Vote, Jehmu Green, joins us from L.A. Appreciate both of you being with us.

Jehmu, let me start off with you. A majority of 18 to 29-year- olds in the survey approve of the job that President Bush is doing. How does the White House translate that into voters coming out, young voters coming out? Jehmu, can you hear me?

JEHMU GREEN, ROCK THE VOTE: Well, I think they definitely have a job -- I can. Anderson, can you hear me?

COOPER: Yes. Go ahead.

GREEN: I think the White House has a job ahead of them to convince young voters to vote for them. Yes, they absolutely are approving of his job rating right now. But one of the interesting things coming out of your poll is that, as far as the reelect numbers go, they still are under 50 percent decided as far as if they will support him in the election next year.

COOPER: Gideon, how do candidates -- I mean, lately we've seen them go after young voters in all sorts of ways. What works?

GIDEON YAGO, MTV: Sure. Well, I mean, the one thing that works -- there are two things that work. Number one is talking about issues that are important to young voters. And number two is connecting to them directly.

COOPER: Does that mean playing sax on Arsenio Hall -- not that Arsenio Hall is on the air anymore.

YAGO: No, not necessarily. It means speaking honestly and not delivering spin. And finding the issues that are important to young voters, first-time voters in particular, and connecting with them on that.

I think you're going to tune off the young voter, the first-time voter, if you start giving them campaign rhetoric, if you start just giving them stump speeches. But if you find a way to resonate with them about the things that they care about, then you will scoop them up en masse.

COOPER: Jehmu, looking at this poll, I was interested to see Clark doing very well among potential young voters. Also Howard Dean, also Al Sharpton. Reverend Al Sharpton I think with like 12 percent. That surprised probably a lot of people.

GREEN: I think it definitely shows that young voters are looking for the candidate with straight talk, the candidate that potentially is not from inside the Beltway. A new face, a fresh voice.

I was surprised to see that Dean's popularity with young voters was not as strong as conventional wisdom would have. But I think the top thing coming out of your poll is that no candidate has captured the young voter. They are absolutely up for grabs. And the Democrats have some work to do to become the young voter candidate, as Clinton did.

COOPER: Gideon, it's interesting, because Howard Dean has gone out and -- on the Internet to get to young voters. I would have thought his numbers would have been higher.

YAGO: I've seen his supporters out at anti-war protests. I've seen supporters outside of concerts. But this is by no means a sure thing. I mean, it's too soon to tell, which is another way of saying I don't know in politics.

COOPER: You're not supposed to admit that you don't know, by the way.

YAGO: Oh, OK. Sorry. But what you do see from these poll numbers is that, over the course of the next year, it is either the Bush administration's or anyone one of the Democratic hopefuls opportunity to lose this huge demographic voting block.

And you look at big corporations and the way that they court young people in terms of making them product loyal. The reason -- I don't understand why politicians aren't doing that and approaching young voters in the exact same way.

Very optimistic. They could potentially swing this election. And connect with them, and you've got a sure thing.

COOPER: We're going to have to leave it there. Gideon Yago, pleasure to meet you. And Jehmu Green, thank you very much for being with us.

All right. Here comes my big plug. I hope you'll join me November 4th, 7:00 p.m. right here on CNN. I'll be hosting "America Rocks the Vote" live from Boston, where the Democratic contenders will square off and answer directly to young voters. It should be a pretty interesting evening.

You can also rock the vote right now from your cell phone. If you want to receive text message alerts and vote on our online polls, sign up now at cnn.com/360, click on the rock the vote link. I have no idea what any of that means, but Gideon is going to explain it to me in the break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): How can the California wildfires be stopped?

A mad dash to freedom one year later.

And our special series, "Infidelity." Are we wired to cheat? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In our "Reset" tonight, an update on the California wildfires. Want to show you a live picture right now. Actually, we'll get to that live picture in just a moment.

Firefighters continue to struggle against 13 blazes in Southern California, what Governor Gray Davis says may be the worst and most expensive disaster ever to hit the state. A short time ago, the path of the Simi Valley Fire shifted suddenly, heading north toward hundreds of homes in Los Angeles County's Stevenson Ranch community. That's about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. People were given just 15 minutes' notice to get out of their homes. We are following this fast-moving fire very, very closely right now.

Sixteen deaths have been reported so far in all the fires. The fires have consumed more than 600,000 acres, an area equal to about three-quarters the entire state of Rhode Island. Nearly 1,500 homes, at least 430 other buildings, have gone up in smoke.

And the flames, as you can see from the map, stretch from the Mexico border to the L.A. area and no one is predicting when they will be out.

And this is the live picture we were talking about. This is Stevenson Ranch. A house has just gone up into flames. You are just seeing the aftermath. This thing is moving very quickly. People in this neighborhood found out about the fire, were given 15 minutes to evacuate. As you can see, the fire is moving fast. They are still there, people still driving out of this community. Firefighters on the scene trying to respond as close as they can. A lot of people just standing around, watching. That's all they can do. Others evacuating quickly. They have 15 minutes to get everything they can out.

And that's a look at "The Reset."

Ten thousand firefighters are on the frontlines throughout Southern California right now.

Daryn Kagan is at the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, where firefighters are using bulldozers to draw a line in the sand.

Daryn, good evening. DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, want to show you water drops that we're witnessing right now just over my left shoulder. I hope we caught that for you. About a 200 yards from where we're standing.

This ridge that we're standing on -- this is the line between Ventura County, Los Angeles County, and the city of -- city of Los Angeles. What you were talking about, that Stevenson Ranch -- Stevenson's Ranch Fire that you were talking about is over my right shoulder. Perhaps you can see the heavy smoke.

When we were out here this morning about 7:00 a.m., local time, there was barely any smoke over there. The challenge today for firefighters -- they thought that the weather conditions were going to work in their favor. In a lot of the parts of this area that it did.

Want to show you one other thing. Right along this line, the county/city line, they wanted to draw a line in the sand here and say that the fire stops right here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): Firefighters in Southern California have been aiming for this for days now. Weather conditions calm enough to take this battle to the sky.

They hit it with four different kinds of helicopters, some dropping as many as 2,000 gallons of water at a time. And on the ground, they drew that symbolic line in the sand, trying to stop the fire from spreading into the city of Los Angeles.

That took powerful firecats to ride the edges of canyon ridges, mowing down any further fuel.

(on camera): If there was, like, a civilian way to describe to somebody how powerful this cat is?

RAY HUFFMAN, L.A. CITY FIRE DEPT: To describe how powerful it is? Basically, we'll push your house off the foundation with these cats.

KAGAN (voice-over): The purpose of this back-breaking work, of course, is to save houses and all types of homes. A thought that might have some asking, Why here?

CAPT. BILL WICK, L.A. CITY FIRE DEPT.: The line is being drawn around the entire perimeter of the fire. We were just fortunate that this particular area was weather-wise -- this was the most advantageous -- and this was where the fire was going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And want to show you one other tool they're trying to use here in L.A. County to fight the fire. You are looking at prisoners from the L.A. County jail system. This is actually considered a privilege and an honor. They work very hard to, according to fire officials, to be able to do that. They're down there in that ravine working with buzzsaws. We're told that over 100 prisoners, working the perimeter right now of this fire.

But even with everything that they put at this fire today in this location, again, in the end, it's going to depend, Anderson, on what mother nature has to say overnight in terms of the winds, especially in that Stevenson Ranch area.

COOPER: And we will be following closely. Daryn Kagan, thanks very much.

We're going to take you back live to the Stevenson Ranch area that Daryn just mentioned. A fast-moving fire. You see a couple of cars in this area. On the horizon, you can see the fire. You can see the smoke. Residents in this area had 15 minutes, just time ago, we're told 15 minutes, Get your bags, Get everything you can, get out. This thing is moving fast.

We're showing you a live shot. You can see a lot of the areas deserted. Just a few moments ago, we saw some people just standing around, kind of watching it, almost incredulous, talking on cell phones, telling their loved ones where this thing is moving because it is moving very, very fast. As you can see now, zooming in, it is actually traveling on the mountainside right now. This is an area in Los Angeles County. The winds suddenly shifted northward on Tuesday, moving the flames. Hundreds of homes hit in this area. Firefighters rushed a lot of their resources to this area. Helicopters, as Daryn just showed you, airplanes loaded with flame retardant chemicals.

They are trying to fight this thing wherever they can, as aggressively as they can. But it is moving fast and it is very difficult.

We're going to be monitoring this for the rest of our program tonight.

Let's take a turn right now, look at "Justice Served." Are you tired of P. Diddy Daddy -- Puffy -- you know they guy I'm talking about -- looking for a new icon of gangsta style maybe? Well, prosecutors say former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski may be da man. He's on trial, accused of using Tyco as a personal piggy bank, something he insists the board was OK with.

Today, the tape -- the jury got a glimpse of a birthday video from 2001. What a video it is. Kind of a censored CEOs gone wild. As you watch the tape, keep in mind, if you own even one Tyco share, you may have helped pay for this party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On behalf of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) myself, we'd like to welcome all of our friends.

COOPER (voice-over): It was billed as a birthday party. A birthday blow-out seems more accurate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a fun week. We have a lot of good things going on. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Tennis, golf, eating, drinking, all the things that we're best known for.

COOPER: The theme, the Roman Empire -- before it fell. Part of a six-day extravaganza for 75 guests on the Italian island of Sardinia. The price? An estimated $2 million. Jimmy Buffett played for an hour. They paid him $250,000. Male models were there to greet the guests and, according to court testimony, look good. It took place at a swanky hotel where rooms can cost more than $1,000 a night.

Who footed the bill? Kozlowski paid about half, and says Tyco paid the other half because the trip was, for the most part, a business function.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: All right. You know McDonald's rents out rooms for parties? Much better rate than that.

Anyway, that is just some of what the jurors saw today. That is just the G-rated stuff. The judge in the case ordered the most salacious parts of the tapes edited out.

So what wasn't shown? We turn to Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom.

All right, Lisa. How bad was it?

LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Yes, I noticed how you set up this piece. So I'm the one to talk about the giant ice sculpture of Michelangelo's "David" with vodka coming out of his most famous body part. A giant cake in the shape of a female body with sparklers coming out of her breasts. Erotic dancing. I'm going to remember this, Anderson, the next time I come on.

COOPER: And I guess Tyco paid for part of it. And he's saying it was a business expense.

BLOOM: Well, Tyco paid for half, and half of the guests were employees. He's going to say this was the nature of the corporate culture.

COOPER: Employees, by the way, including the personal chef and personal trainer at Tyco. Tyco needed a personal trainer?

BLOOM: Well, he's going to say this is part of the corporate culture, that there were lavish parties, that there were lavish personal expenses. It's up to the jury to decide whether or not that's, in fact, the case.

COOPER: The defense said they didn't want this whole tape being played. They called it prejudicial? Is it?

BLOOM: Well, look, if he was on trial for bad taste he would probably be convicted. That's why...

COOPER: And bad dancing.

BLOOM: And -- well, and bad dancing. That's right.

But he's not. He's on trial for larceny and conspiracy. Very serious charges. The prosecution wants to make him look bad. I think they've succeeded by getting this videotape into evidence.

COOPER: Well, also, a person who testified today, a former mistress of his who he lavished a lot of jewelry on.

BLOOM: Well, she was an events planner. But look that...

COOPER: Events planner, mistress. It's such a fine line.

BLOOM: Well that affair happened in the '80s. She retained employment well after that time. She planned this party. You know, I don't necessarily think there was anything wrong with that.

COOPER: All right. There you go. But he was lavishing a lot of jewels on people. The question is, Who paid for it?

BLOOM: A lot of jewels, including his current wife.

COOPER: All right. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.

BLOOM: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, you probably saw the dramatic pictures. And how quickly -- there we are -- how quickly we forget. An update on a gripping story from a year ago. The Haitian orphan who wanted to make a new life here.

Also tonight, Kobe Bryant's Shaq attack. Find out why the Lakers star is on the offensive against his own teammate.

And a little later, a weeklong series, "Broken Vows." Infidelity in America. The question -- is monogamy a manmade myth?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We got new video in from the California wildfires. We're getting in pictures, local L.A. television news truck catching fire at the rim forest fire. There it is. Just telling you in advance, no one was injured in the van. They were able to get out of it in time. No one was injured here. But just an example of how quickly these fires are moving. This crew was out covering the fires. All of a sudden, their van filled in smoke.

This picture is a plume of smoke over Southern California. This is a live picture. The first we've gotten a look the at. It gives you a sense how big this plume of smoke, these plumes of smoke are. How high they are going. It would almost be beautiful if you didn't realize how much suffering and pain is happening underneath those clouds. That is from the rim forest fire. Unbelievable images.

Well, time for "How Quickly We Forget," our chance to update a story that grabbed our attention at one time only to fade from view. Tonight we remember the unforgettable image of a young Haitian boy a year ago. His daring struggle to begin a new life in the U.S., an orphan whose fate this is limbo. Here is CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A child handed down to waiting arms. Dozens overboard, wading and swimming in a rush to freedom. That was one year ago. 200 Haitians in a wooden boat made it to the shallows off Miami. Among them, Ernesto Joseph, who is less free today than when he left his homeland. Joseph is living here in a hotel room under house arrest, waiting for the U.S. Government to decide whether to deport him.

CHERYL LITTLE, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Ernesto case is the classic example of the extent to which our government is going in order to keep Haitians out.

ZARRELLA: A judge granted Joseph asylum based on orphan status. But he was kept at this adult detention center while the government appealed. In June he was finally released to his uncle's custody. But on October 2nd he had to turn himself back in, after an appeals court ruled orphan status did not make him eligible for asylum.

ADELPHIN PIERRE, JOSEPH'S UNCLE: They already take his picture and do his paperwork for the deportation.

ZARRELLA: The boy's attorneys have submitted official birth records to the government showing he's 16. Immigration officials say they are reviewing the information. Joseph's attorneys are hoping the government will now allow them to take the boys case to a state juvenile court. There he can pursue U.S. Residency under a special provision for unaccompanied abandoned minors.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, "How Quickly We Forget."

Still to come this evening, broken vows. Our series on infidelity. A look question on whether humans are hard wired to cheat.

And a little bit later on the "Nth Degree" and the story of the richest lunch ladies in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: That's our "Buzz" question. You've got a bit of time to respond. I want taking you again live to California, showing you a live picture. This is the Stevenson Ranch fire. A cruiser in the area, people milling around. People have been asked to evacuate. They were given some 15 minutes to do so. There is the reporter stepping into the shot. The fire is basically up on the mountain. The situation has improved somewhat we are told. We're following this story closely and we'll bring you updates that we can. The fire in that area has not reached the houses, we are just being told. So, that's a little bit of good news in this difficult day.

We continue with "Broken Vows" infidelity in America. Tonight, we are looking at monogamy. Are we fighting human nature when we pick one mate or is monogamy natural?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With this ring.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With this ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do thee wed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do thee wed.

COOPER (voice-over): It's what we're taught from childhood to believe in, choosing one partner for life. But is monogamy natural? Sure, penguins are known to be monogamous. But most mammals aren't. Of 4,000 known species, the vast majority don't couple up forever. Male gorillas have harems of females, so do baboons. And female chimps our closes genetic relatives copulate hundreds of times with different partners for each pregnancy. Some anthropologists believe human ancestors settled for monogamy about 3.5 million years ago. The reason, survival through co-dependence. Females needed the men to hunt and protect while they raised kid. The men needed someone to raise the children while they hunted. This survival coupling slowly evolved into the exclusive relationship, marriage. Despite estimates that as many as one in five people will have an affair at least once in their lifetime, most modern couples still say monogamy is something they strive for.

For example, a University of Chicago survey found 83 percent of adults said they only had one partner or none in the past year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's natural. I think it's a choice that we make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think once you've made the decision to partner with a spouse, then I think it is natural to be with them forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be natural, despite urges. Then again, you're always going to have urges.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we're joined now by noted anthropologist Helen Fisher of Rutgers University. She's currently writing a book on the emotions of mating, including lust, attraction and attachment. For now, talking about monogamy, though. You say there's this sort of dual desires, a desire for monogamy, yet at the same time a desire to spread your seed, if you will.

HELEN FISHER, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Yes, that's the human pickle. I think we've evolved the brain circuitry for attachment, and millions of years ago, men needed women, women needed men, and we formed -- we acquired the brain circuitry to fall in love and form a pair bond. But people cheat. I've looked in 40 cultures, and everywhere around the world where people have the opportunity, a certain number of them will cheat on the relationship.

COOPER: In all cultures across the world? Doesn't matter where you are?

FISHER: Yes. No anthropologist has ever found a culture where it did not occur. Now, in some societies it occurs a great deal more than others.

Americans, in fact, cheat a little bit less regularly than a lot of people in the world, because we don't have enough time. And we have a tremendous amount to lose.

But in the last study of Americans, apparently something like 25 percent of men cheated and 15 percent of women. And that's probably low. I mean, probably a lot of them were lying.

COOPER: But you know, some people are going to say, look, this is like a guy's excuse, saying look I'm hard wired to cheat, it's a Darwin thing, there's nothing I can do. That's not the case?

FISHER: No, it's not the case. Because I mean, this is the part of the brain that makes us human, it's called the prefrontal cortex. And with that part of the brain that evolved during human evolution, we make decisions about what we do in our lives. We lie in bed at night and you say, gee, I feel a deep attachment to my longtime partner, and I feel mad romantic love for somebody else, and then you decide what you're going to do about it. You can say no to adultery.

COOPER: So will power, it's basically will power, or religious belief, or whatever it is that keep us...

FISHER: I would guess that some people have a harder time than others, though. I mean, divorce runs in families. I wouldn't be surprised if adultery runs in families. And probably the brain circuitry for some people makes them a little bit more prone to it than others.

COOPER: I've read that you think there is such a thing as serial monogamy, and that perhaps that is sort of the more natural situation human beings are compelled to be in.

FISHER: Right.

COOPER: Serial monogamy, what does that mean?

FISHER: It's a series of pair-bonded relationships. For example, we all know people who have been married for four years and had one child, and then they divorce and then they remarry again and they have another child. And during the course of their lives, they may have several relationships and marry only two or three people. But it's a series of pair-bonded relationships. And millions of years ago, that was probably adaptive, to form a pair bond, have a child, and then after the child is out of infancy, pick a new partner and create more genetic variety in your young. Leaving the human animal with this tremendous desire to pair up, a tendency to be restless in long relationships, and also having the roving eye.

COOPER: In the cultures that you've looked at around the world, really, I think you said some 40 cultures, do non-monogamous relationships work?

FISHER: Adultery does not work in a marriage. Even in societies where a man is permitted to have several wives, and has four wives, the wives are jealous of each other. Sometimes they'll even poison each other's babies. So, you know, we're an animal that's built to form a pair bond, and we're built to cheat, and then we all decide, each one of us, how we're going to handle this. And some people have a relatively easy time and very long, stable marriages, and other people have two unstable marriages and then in the mid-life, find stability. If you really want a good marriage, pick the right person.

COOPER: All right. Good advice. Helen Fisher, it was really fascinating. Thanks very much, I look forward to your new book.

All right. Our special series, "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America," continues all this week. Tomorrow, the constant temptations athletes face and the wives who are expected to endure their cheating, often in public. We're going to meet one of them.

On Thursday, to catch a cheat, a how-to on spotting infidelity. Tips from an expert. And on Friday, surviving infidelity. How some couples have gone past the betrayal. It is possible.

Coming up next, "The Nth Degree." Something nice. Lunch ladies finish first. But first, today's buzz. Are we hard wired to cheat? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. Still got a couple of minutes. The results, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right, time for the buzz. We asked you, are we hard wired to cheat? Fifty-four percent said yes; 46 percent no. Certainly not a scientific poll. Just interesting viewer buzz.

Well, now to some of your instant feedback. Tracy from Baltimore had this to say: "In my opinion, it doesn't matter whether we're hard wired to cheat or not. Cheating may be understandable to some, but it is never excusable. Just my opinion." And we appreciate it. Send us your instant feedback, anytime day or night. Log on to cnn.com/360. I'll try to respond to as many as I can in person.

Let's take a look at "The Nth Degree." Anytime. And here we go.

Finally tonight, sweet justice to "The Nth Degree." Do nice guys always finish last? Maybe not. Look at what's happened to former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski who's charged with spending the 1990s wallowing in decadence. As we showed you earlier, he's accused of throwing parties like this one that would make a Roman emperor blush. Dropping bling-bling on his ladies, buying an umbrella stand for a cool $15,000. He says the board OK'ayed his big spending ways, but prosecutors say the opulence was on the stockholders' dime.

And this is how the lunch ladies of Holdingford, Minnesota spent the 1990s, take a look. Serving up lunch for kids day after day, and putting one quarter from each paycheck toward Powerball tickets.

So, do nice guys always finish last? Well, today the former Tyco chief is facing corruption charges. And the lunch ladies, there they are, of Holdingford, well, hit the jackpot with a Powerball ticket worth more than $95 million. We call them the lucky lunch ladies. They call themselves the Happy Huskers, after their school's mascot. They claimed their prize after serving lunch as usual, which many of them say they'll continue to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to work around tomorrow's menu, because we don't know what shape we're going to be in tomorrow morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Will they go out and buy a $15,000 umbrella stand? Why not? We know they at least have earned it.

That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Baghdad?; Pediatrician Under Arrest for Possessing Child Porn>


Aired October 28, 2003 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST (voice-over): California burning. How did it start? Who's to blame?

Two more dead. What's behind the deadly suicide bombings in Baghdad?

A disturbing case, a pediatrician under arrest. The charges, child porn.

Caught on tape. A Tyco exec's $2 million bash thrown on the company dime.

A first look at an exclusive new poll. Guess who young people want as president?

And our special series, "Infidelity." Tonight, is monogamy a myth?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: And a good evening to you. Thanks for joining us on 360.

We begin with war. That is what some of the men and women now battling the California wildfires are calling it, war. The flames, ferocious, deadly, right now 13 major wildfires ranging across southern California are blamed for at least 16 deaths.

More than 600,000 acres of land blackened. More than 1,500 homes now destroyed. The fires are scattered from the Mexican border to suburbs northwest of L.A. Battling the blazes, tough, exhausting.

Some firefighters have been working so long, they now have to be pulled off the line. And this just in to CNN. New evacuations north of Simi Valley in the city of Stevenson Ranch.

Now, firefighters are giving thousands of residents 15 minutes to leave their homes. The area is about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. Just want to repeat that. Stevenson Ranch, firefighters are giving thousands of residents 15 minutes right now to leave their homes.

Let's go first tonight to Lake Arrowhead in Carolina. Flames have jumped California's Highway 18, known as the Ring of the World Highway, and they are advancing on hundreds of homes. National correspondent Frank Buckley reports from inside a ring of fire where firefighters have been battling to save a neighborhood -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Anderson, it's become very tense here along Highway 18 after hours of relative calm because, as you say, the fire has jumped Highway 18. Let me show you what's happened.

Just within the last 45 minutes, the fire jumped over Highway 18 and in fact did consume at least one structure believed to be a conference center or a community center. The good news is this entire area is evacuated. So no one believed to be inside. But what's worrisome is that firefighters were desperate to keep this fire south of Highway 18, because if it jumps to the north, what's behind it is nothing, and what they call defensible space.

They don't have anything that they can use as a major firebreak between Highway 18 and all of those hundreds, perhaps thousands, of structures in and around the Lake Arrowhead area. It's an ominous development after all of these relative successes, where they're able to knock down the fire, keep it away from structures along Highway 18 throughout the day, where they were able to set backfires when the wind would lay down for a bit, and work with fire against fire, burning back against the main body of the fire, trying to burn away the fuel that the fire might consume.

So some very ominous developments here along Highway 18. We can also just tell you one other note, and that is how dangerous it is here and how quickly the weather conditions can affect coverage of this fire. Some of our colleagues from KNBC, one of the television stations here in Los Angeles, were covering this fire operation. And just a few moments ago, we got word that their microwave truck there, their news van was consumed by fire.

The people inside, the news crew and the reporter, they are fine. They were rescued by the firefighters and pulled out of harm's way. But their entire vehicle burned to the ground.

So a very quickly changing situation. And firefighters right now are watching the weather conditions very closely as this fire moves over Highway 18 -- Anderson.

COOPER: Frank Buckley, thank you so much for that report. So much suffering tonight.

About 100 miles south now, it is estimated 10,000 Californians have been forced out of their homes. Many were allowed to return just over an hour ago. David Mattingly with more.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fire in eastern San Diego County still raging tonight, menacing yet another town. Firefighters from two other states have arrived here to help relieve the firefighters that have been on the front lines. And they still have their hands full.

There are three large brush fires still burning in this county. One of them is almost contained. But the largest, called the cedar fire, has officially become the largest in San Diego history, burning well over 200,000 acres and still causing a lot of problems here.

Some of the people who lost their homes on Sunday were allowed to walk back into their neighborhood a short time ago. Among them, the Paul family. They were at church when the evacuation order went out on Sunday. By the time they got to their home, there was no time to pack. They got out with almost literally the clothes on their back.

They knew ahead of time their house had been hit. But we were still with them there for that terribly emotional moment when they saw their home for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the destruction, I had thought it might just be ankle high. But I don't know, maybe this is even worse. You can recognize things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole back half of the house was something that we designed ourselves and made the home the way we wanted it. And it held up better than the front, the original part of the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're able to make a joke?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God, well you have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BUCKLEY: And so much misery to go around in this county tonight. The Paul family's house is just one of more than 800 that have been effected, burned by this fire.

You might have noticed the unusual tint to that video, Anderson. That's because there's still so much smoke in the air that the sun has not been able to come out. So everything here, even at midday, looked orange. In fact, it is still so much in the air here, that it started to look dark about mid-afternoon -- Anderson.

COOPER: David, the Paul family, where are they tonight? What do they do now?

MATTINGLY: They are in a hotel right now. They did take some time today to do some shopping around for some rental property. But there are a lot of people competing for those rental properties. They said there are a lot of applications put in everywhere they went. There are a lot of families here without homes, and they're all competing for that prime rental property right now for another place to live while their homes are being rebuilt.

COOPER: Well, our thoughts are with them and all the others tonight. David Mattingly, thanks very much.

The most destructive of the fires, as David mentioned, the cedar fire near San Diego. It apparently was started by a hunter who got lost and lit a beacon fire to call attention to himself. The fire obviously got out of control. Authorities say the hunter has been detained.

Jeff Flock is covering the fires in the San Diego area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The flames are everywhere. Look how close we can come up to it.

(voice-over): Covering wildfires, it's sometimes hard to get near the fire lines. Not this time. There is just so much of it.

(on camera): We were watching this very carefully to see if these flames will shoot up into these trees.

(voice-over): The worst fire in San Diego County history, and we're walking through it with those who know fire best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire's going to run uphill.

FLOCK: Nick Ridge (ph) has been a firefighter, fire chief, fire tanker pilot. Seeing the spectacle through his eyes opens ours to the little details of wildfires. The animals driven up from their burrows by the heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little guy is alive.

FLOCK: How these firefighters set and use a hose to control this backfire to burn off fuel and save a house. We also learn about so- called killer trees, like this one. A ground fire burning its roots and then right up through its heart.

(on camera): It's coming up like a chimney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The tree has turned itself into a chimney now.

FLOCK (voice-over): We end our walk through fire with this up- close look at its effects.

(on camera): Rubber literally melted and turned to ash. All that's left are the steel belts from the radial tires.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Unbelievable. Wildfires of course deadly not just for homeowners but also for firefighters. The National Interagency Fire Center says 883 firefighters have died fighting wildfires since 1910. The top three causes, 433 of those deaths caused by what's called burnover, when fire overtakes a firefighter's position.

Ninety-three firefighters have died from heart attacks. And 47 deaths were attributed to problems involving airborne firefighting efforts. Well, we'll have more on the fires a little bit later.

Now Iraq, Fallujah, where a suicide bomber strikes again. At least two Iraqis are dead, six others wounded. It is the latest in a wave of suicide bombings. And U.S. military officials say the attacks bear the marks of foreign terrorists.

Today in Washington, the president spoke about the violence in Iraq. But he also spoke about progress on the ground. It was a relatively rare news conference in the White House rose garden. Senior White House correspondent John King was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president repeatedly defended his handling of post-war Iraq, but did concede a fresh wave of deadly attacks is forcing some changes.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The strategy remains the same. The tactics to respond to, more suiciders driving cars will alter on the ground.

KING: Mr. Bush said foreign terrorists are at least in part to blame. But while aides have privately criticized Iran and Syria, Mr. Bush's response was muted.

BUSH: We're working closely with those countries to let them know that we expect them to enforce borders, prevent people from coming across borders, if in fact we catch them doing that.

KING: In a 48-minute rose garden news conference, the president cited progress in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and social safety net and called the attacks an effort to scare humanitarian groups and international troops away.

BUSH: This country will stay the course. We'll do our job.

KING: Democrats were not swayed.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: If this is progress, I don't know how much more progress we can take. I would also say that there is a growing credibility gap between what is said and what is being done.

KING: The president said he had no regrets about visiting an aircraft carrier back in May to declare major combat in Iraq over. But also distanced himself from this banner, saying it was hung by the Navy to salute the sailors on the carrier, not by the White House to send a broader message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: But the White House tonight forced to retreat a bit from the president's description of that banner, acknowledging that, while the Navy asked for the banner, the White House quickly agreed the mission accomplished banner would be a good idea. Not only did the White House agree, it paid for the banner and produced it -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right. John King, interesting development. Thanks very much for that tonight.

Tonight there is some good news for the president in terms of how young voters see him. In a few moments, we're going to have the very first look at an exclusive CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll of young voters. All of this as we continue our lead-up to America Rocks the Vote, a forum with the Democratic candidates and young Americans next Tuesday in Boston. More on that in a moment.

Before we get to the poll, let's take a trip "Cross Country."

Nationwide: solar deja vu. Another solar storm. Look at these images -- amazing.

Heading for Earth, it is expected to hit Thursday. Unlike last week's storm, this one is on record as being just shy of the biggest solar storm on record. So protect your cell phones.

Alexandria, Virginia: guilty plea stands. Confessed al Qaeda operative Iman Faris (ph) gets 20 years behind bars. He asked the judge to withdraw the plea deal. The judge said no. Faris (ph) is accused of plotting an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Collingswood, New Jersey: the fallout. Nine caseworkers are fired after the discovery of four severely malnourished brothers in a New Jersey home. None of the boys age nine to 19 weighed more than 45 pounds. The adoptive parents are behind bars.

New York: accusations of a hip-hop sweatshop. A teenager says she faces terrible working conditions in Honduras, where she makes T- shirts for the Sean P. Diddy Combs clothing line. The company marketing the clothes says it will investigate.

And that is our look "Cross Country" tonight.

Child porn, drugs, and the children's doctor. Parents on high alert after authorities say they caught a pediatrician red handed. We'll have the latest.

Also, who says CEOs don't know how to party? We'll show you a $2 million birthday blowout. We're talking men, models. What's that guy doing?

And Jimmy Buffet? That is definitely not Jimmy Buffet. Why has this tape wound up in court?

And, is monogamy natural, or are we hard wired to cheat? Our weeklong series "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America."

First, let's take a look "Inside the Box" at the top stories on tonight's network evening newscasts. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: A number of stories happening around the world. Let's check tonight's "UpLink."

Chakin (ph), Afghanistan: ambush. Two CIA civilian contractors are dead. Coalition officials tell us the men were killed in a firefight between enemy fighters and the Afghan army, who were backed by U.S. war planes.

Bogota, Colombia: possible freedom. Roman Catholic Church leaders say the Colombian government is considering a hostage release deal from leftist rebels. Seven backpackers have been held hostage by the National Liberation Army since last month.

Russia: still trying. Rescue workers believe they are within meters of finding 13 trapped miners. They're using explosives and digging equipment to reach the location where they hope to find the men alive. The miners have been trapped for five days.

Northern Kazakhstan: smooth landing. A three-man crew from the International Space Station, well, they are back on Earth. The American, Russian and Spaniard returned aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule. And there they are.

That is tonight's "UpLink."

Well, at this moment in Chicago, a pediatrician is behind bars. The charge? Possessing child porn. Prosecutors say they discovered the doctor's secret life on his computer. CNN's Dan Lothian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a house call by federal agents at the Chicago apartment of pediatrician Mark Wattsman (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty much removing evidence from the house. They're taking out the computer. They had maybe two vans here that they're filling up with boxes. They took his garbage.

LOTHIAN: What authorities allegedly uncovered behind this door was a secret life filled with child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, two computers with 3,000 to 5,000 sexual explicit photos of children as young as eight; 200,000 deleted images, some of them recovered, showed children having sex.

Encrypted DVDs requiring a secret code to view. And an evidence eliminator program. This week, the 37-year-old doctor who last worked at this Illinois hospital was charged with possession of child pornography.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I want to make clear to everyone that Dr. Wattsman (ph) is not charged with any offense against any children. It is not alleged that he has taken any illegal conduct against any children. LOTHIAN: In court, federal prosecutors admitted they had more questions than answers in this case. Inside the doctor's apartment and his car agents say they found morphine, Viagra, and drugs that caused temporary paralysis and unconsciousness.

(on camera): But no drug charges have been filed. His attorney says the narcotics are tools of the trade for his other job as an anesthesiologist.

(voice-over): If convicted on child pornography charges, he faces up to five years behind bars.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, just how many cases of child porn are prosecuted by the federal government? Here are some fast facts.

In 1994, 72 child porn cases were prosecuted. In 2000, the latest year we have figures for, 563 cases. The big jump is largely due to the rise in Internet use. It's important to know these cases included people who possessed, distributed and manufactured child porn. Now, of those cases, in 2000, 498 resulted in convictions.

Well, young voters tuning in or turned off by this year's candidates? What do you think? An exclusive new poll may surprise you.

Also tonight, in excess. The $2 million birthday bash. See for yourself why it could bring down a former CEO.

And our weeklong series, "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America." Does monogamy come naturally or are we really born to cheat? We'll take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Political hopefuls have notoriously reached out to young voters. Some have succeeded, while others have done, hmm, not so well. If the 2004 Democratic presidential hopefuls wish to unseat George Bush by catering to the youth vote, they may have a rough road ahead.

The results of our exclusive CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll show that among adults 18 to 29, 62 percent say they approve of the way President Bush is handling his job. Democratic candidates are criticizing the president for going to war, but 61 percent of young Americans think the situation in Iraq was indeed worth going to war over. And on the economy, young Americans see a rosier future.

Who do they like among the Democratic hopefuls? The big winners are General Wesley Clark, followed closely by Governor Howard Dean and Senator Joseph Lieberman. Senator Kerry and Congressman Richard Gephardt's youth support is low. Not low, support for the Reverend Al Sharpton.

One issue the youth voters seem most at odds with compared to older voters, legalization of same-sex marriages. And one last result that should come as no surprise to all of us, rock 'n' roll still rules.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: All right. What I don't believe, eight percent said they like pop music? Only eight percent? I think they're too ashamed to cop to it.

Joining me now, the alarmingly young Gideon Yago, MTV news correspondent here in New York, and the executive director of Rock the Vote, Jehmu Green, joins us from L.A. Appreciate both of you being with us.

Jehmu, let me start off with you. A majority of 18 to 29-year- olds in the survey approve of the job that President Bush is doing. How does the White House translate that into voters coming out, young voters coming out? Jehmu, can you hear me?

JEHMU GREEN, ROCK THE VOTE: Well, I think they definitely have a job -- I can. Anderson, can you hear me?

COOPER: Yes. Go ahead.

GREEN: I think the White House has a job ahead of them to convince young voters to vote for them. Yes, they absolutely are approving of his job rating right now. But one of the interesting things coming out of your poll is that, as far as the reelect numbers go, they still are under 50 percent decided as far as if they will support him in the election next year.

COOPER: Gideon, how do candidates -- I mean, lately we've seen them go after young voters in all sorts of ways. What works?

GIDEON YAGO, MTV: Sure. Well, I mean, the one thing that works -- there are two things that work. Number one is talking about issues that are important to young voters. And number two is connecting to them directly.

COOPER: Does that mean playing sax on Arsenio Hall -- not that Arsenio Hall is on the air anymore.

YAGO: No, not necessarily. It means speaking honestly and not delivering spin. And finding the issues that are important to young voters, first-time voters in particular, and connecting with them on that.

I think you're going to tune off the young voter, the first-time voter, if you start giving them campaign rhetoric, if you start just giving them stump speeches. But if you find a way to resonate with them about the things that they care about, then you will scoop them up en masse.

COOPER: Jehmu, looking at this poll, I was interested to see Clark doing very well among potential young voters. Also Howard Dean, also Al Sharpton. Reverend Al Sharpton I think with like 12 percent. That surprised probably a lot of people.

GREEN: I think it definitely shows that young voters are looking for the candidate with straight talk, the candidate that potentially is not from inside the Beltway. A new face, a fresh voice.

I was surprised to see that Dean's popularity with young voters was not as strong as conventional wisdom would have. But I think the top thing coming out of your poll is that no candidate has captured the young voter. They are absolutely up for grabs. And the Democrats have some work to do to become the young voter candidate, as Clinton did.

COOPER: Gideon, it's interesting, because Howard Dean has gone out and -- on the Internet to get to young voters. I would have thought his numbers would have been higher.

YAGO: I've seen his supporters out at anti-war protests. I've seen supporters outside of concerts. But this is by no means a sure thing. I mean, it's too soon to tell, which is another way of saying I don't know in politics.

COOPER: You're not supposed to admit that you don't know, by the way.

YAGO: Oh, OK. Sorry. But what you do see from these poll numbers is that, over the course of the next year, it is either the Bush administration's or anyone one of the Democratic hopefuls opportunity to lose this huge demographic voting block.

And you look at big corporations and the way that they court young people in terms of making them product loyal. The reason -- I don't understand why politicians aren't doing that and approaching young voters in the exact same way.

Very optimistic. They could potentially swing this election. And connect with them, and you've got a sure thing.

COOPER: We're going to have to leave it there. Gideon Yago, pleasure to meet you. And Jehmu Green, thank you very much for being with us.

All right. Here comes my big plug. I hope you'll join me November 4th, 7:00 p.m. right here on CNN. I'll be hosting "America Rocks the Vote" live from Boston, where the Democratic contenders will square off and answer directly to young voters. It should be a pretty interesting evening.

You can also rock the vote right now from your cell phone. If you want to receive text message alerts and vote on our online polls, sign up now at cnn.com/360, click on the rock the vote link. I have no idea what any of that means, but Gideon is going to explain it to me in the break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): How can the California wildfires be stopped?

A mad dash to freedom one year later.

And our special series, "Infidelity." Are we wired to cheat? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In our "Reset" tonight, an update on the California wildfires. Want to show you a live picture right now. Actually, we'll get to that live picture in just a moment.

Firefighters continue to struggle against 13 blazes in Southern California, what Governor Gray Davis says may be the worst and most expensive disaster ever to hit the state. A short time ago, the path of the Simi Valley Fire shifted suddenly, heading north toward hundreds of homes in Los Angeles County's Stevenson Ranch community. That's about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A. People were given just 15 minutes' notice to get out of their homes. We are following this fast-moving fire very, very closely right now.

Sixteen deaths have been reported so far in all the fires. The fires have consumed more than 600,000 acres, an area equal to about three-quarters the entire state of Rhode Island. Nearly 1,500 homes, at least 430 other buildings, have gone up in smoke.

And the flames, as you can see from the map, stretch from the Mexico border to the L.A. area and no one is predicting when they will be out.

And this is the live picture we were talking about. This is Stevenson Ranch. A house has just gone up into flames. You are just seeing the aftermath. This thing is moving very quickly. People in this neighborhood found out about the fire, were given 15 minutes to evacuate. As you can see, the fire is moving fast. They are still there, people still driving out of this community. Firefighters on the scene trying to respond as close as they can. A lot of people just standing around, watching. That's all they can do. Others evacuating quickly. They have 15 minutes to get everything they can out.

And that's a look at "The Reset."

Ten thousand firefighters are on the frontlines throughout Southern California right now.

Daryn Kagan is at the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, where firefighters are using bulldozers to draw a line in the sand.

Daryn, good evening. DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, want to show you water drops that we're witnessing right now just over my left shoulder. I hope we caught that for you. About a 200 yards from where we're standing.

This ridge that we're standing on -- this is the line between Ventura County, Los Angeles County, and the city of -- city of Los Angeles. What you were talking about, that Stevenson Ranch -- Stevenson's Ranch Fire that you were talking about is over my right shoulder. Perhaps you can see the heavy smoke.

When we were out here this morning about 7:00 a.m., local time, there was barely any smoke over there. The challenge today for firefighters -- they thought that the weather conditions were going to work in their favor. In a lot of the parts of this area that it did.

Want to show you one other thing. Right along this line, the county/city line, they wanted to draw a line in the sand here and say that the fire stops right here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): Firefighters in Southern California have been aiming for this for days now. Weather conditions calm enough to take this battle to the sky.

They hit it with four different kinds of helicopters, some dropping as many as 2,000 gallons of water at a time. And on the ground, they drew that symbolic line in the sand, trying to stop the fire from spreading into the city of Los Angeles.

That took powerful firecats to ride the edges of canyon ridges, mowing down any further fuel.

(on camera): If there was, like, a civilian way to describe to somebody how powerful this cat is?

RAY HUFFMAN, L.A. CITY FIRE DEPT: To describe how powerful it is? Basically, we'll push your house off the foundation with these cats.

KAGAN (voice-over): The purpose of this back-breaking work, of course, is to save houses and all types of homes. A thought that might have some asking, Why here?

CAPT. BILL WICK, L.A. CITY FIRE DEPT.: The line is being drawn around the entire perimeter of the fire. We were just fortunate that this particular area was weather-wise -- this was the most advantageous -- and this was where the fire was going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And want to show you one other tool they're trying to use here in L.A. County to fight the fire. You are looking at prisoners from the L.A. County jail system. This is actually considered a privilege and an honor. They work very hard to, according to fire officials, to be able to do that. They're down there in that ravine working with buzzsaws. We're told that over 100 prisoners, working the perimeter right now of this fire.

But even with everything that they put at this fire today in this location, again, in the end, it's going to depend, Anderson, on what mother nature has to say overnight in terms of the winds, especially in that Stevenson Ranch area.

COOPER: And we will be following closely. Daryn Kagan, thanks very much.

We're going to take you back live to the Stevenson Ranch area that Daryn just mentioned. A fast-moving fire. You see a couple of cars in this area. On the horizon, you can see the fire. You can see the smoke. Residents in this area had 15 minutes, just time ago, we're told 15 minutes, Get your bags, Get everything you can, get out. This thing is moving fast.

We're showing you a live shot. You can see a lot of the areas deserted. Just a few moments ago, we saw some people just standing around, kind of watching it, almost incredulous, talking on cell phones, telling their loved ones where this thing is moving because it is moving very, very fast. As you can see now, zooming in, it is actually traveling on the mountainside right now. This is an area in Los Angeles County. The winds suddenly shifted northward on Tuesday, moving the flames. Hundreds of homes hit in this area. Firefighters rushed a lot of their resources to this area. Helicopters, as Daryn just showed you, airplanes loaded with flame retardant chemicals.

They are trying to fight this thing wherever they can, as aggressively as they can. But it is moving fast and it is very difficult.

We're going to be monitoring this for the rest of our program tonight.

Let's take a turn right now, look at "Justice Served." Are you tired of P. Diddy Daddy -- Puffy -- you know they guy I'm talking about -- looking for a new icon of gangsta style maybe? Well, prosecutors say former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski may be da man. He's on trial, accused of using Tyco as a personal piggy bank, something he insists the board was OK with.

Today, the tape -- the jury got a glimpse of a birthday video from 2001. What a video it is. Kind of a censored CEOs gone wild. As you watch the tape, keep in mind, if you own even one Tyco share, you may have helped pay for this party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On behalf of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) myself, we'd like to welcome all of our friends.

COOPER (voice-over): It was billed as a birthday party. A birthday blow-out seems more accurate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a fun week. We have a lot of good things going on. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Tennis, golf, eating, drinking, all the things that we're best known for.

COOPER: The theme, the Roman Empire -- before it fell. Part of a six-day extravaganza for 75 guests on the Italian island of Sardinia. The price? An estimated $2 million. Jimmy Buffett played for an hour. They paid him $250,000. Male models were there to greet the guests and, according to court testimony, look good. It took place at a swanky hotel where rooms can cost more than $1,000 a night.

Who footed the bill? Kozlowski paid about half, and says Tyco paid the other half because the trip was, for the most part, a business function.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: All right. You know McDonald's rents out rooms for parties? Much better rate than that.

Anyway, that is just some of what the jurors saw today. That is just the G-rated stuff. The judge in the case ordered the most salacious parts of the tapes edited out.

So what wasn't shown? We turn to Court TV anchor Lisa Bloom.

All right, Lisa. How bad was it?

LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Yes, I noticed how you set up this piece. So I'm the one to talk about the giant ice sculpture of Michelangelo's "David" with vodka coming out of his most famous body part. A giant cake in the shape of a female body with sparklers coming out of her breasts. Erotic dancing. I'm going to remember this, Anderson, the next time I come on.

COOPER: And I guess Tyco paid for part of it. And he's saying it was a business expense.

BLOOM: Well, Tyco paid for half, and half of the guests were employees. He's going to say this was the nature of the corporate culture.

COOPER: Employees, by the way, including the personal chef and personal trainer at Tyco. Tyco needed a personal trainer?

BLOOM: Well, he's going to say this is part of the corporate culture, that there were lavish parties, that there were lavish personal expenses. It's up to the jury to decide whether or not that's, in fact, the case.

COOPER: The defense said they didn't want this whole tape being played. They called it prejudicial? Is it?

BLOOM: Well, look, if he was on trial for bad taste he would probably be convicted. That's why...

COOPER: And bad dancing.

BLOOM: And -- well, and bad dancing. That's right.

But he's not. He's on trial for larceny and conspiracy. Very serious charges. The prosecution wants to make him look bad. I think they've succeeded by getting this videotape into evidence.

COOPER: Well, also, a person who testified today, a former mistress of his who he lavished a lot of jewelry on.

BLOOM: Well, she was an events planner. But look that...

COOPER: Events planner, mistress. It's such a fine line.

BLOOM: Well that affair happened in the '80s. She retained employment well after that time. She planned this party. You know, I don't necessarily think there was anything wrong with that.

COOPER: All right. There you go. But he was lavishing a lot of jewels on people. The question is, Who paid for it?

BLOOM: A lot of jewels, including his current wife.

COOPER: All right. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.

BLOOM: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, you probably saw the dramatic pictures. And how quickly -- there we are -- how quickly we forget. An update on a gripping story from a year ago. The Haitian orphan who wanted to make a new life here.

Also tonight, Kobe Bryant's Shaq attack. Find out why the Lakers star is on the offensive against his own teammate.

And a little later, a weeklong series, "Broken Vows." Infidelity in America. The question -- is monogamy a manmade myth?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We got new video in from the California wildfires. We're getting in pictures, local L.A. television news truck catching fire at the rim forest fire. There it is. Just telling you in advance, no one was injured in the van. They were able to get out of it in time. No one was injured here. But just an example of how quickly these fires are moving. This crew was out covering the fires. All of a sudden, their van filled in smoke.

This picture is a plume of smoke over Southern California. This is a live picture. The first we've gotten a look the at. It gives you a sense how big this plume of smoke, these plumes of smoke are. How high they are going. It would almost be beautiful if you didn't realize how much suffering and pain is happening underneath those clouds. That is from the rim forest fire. Unbelievable images.

Well, time for "How Quickly We Forget," our chance to update a story that grabbed our attention at one time only to fade from view. Tonight we remember the unforgettable image of a young Haitian boy a year ago. His daring struggle to begin a new life in the U.S., an orphan whose fate this is limbo. Here is CNN's John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A child handed down to waiting arms. Dozens overboard, wading and swimming in a rush to freedom. That was one year ago. 200 Haitians in a wooden boat made it to the shallows off Miami. Among them, Ernesto Joseph, who is less free today than when he left his homeland. Joseph is living here in a hotel room under house arrest, waiting for the U.S. Government to decide whether to deport him.

CHERYL LITTLE, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Ernesto case is the classic example of the extent to which our government is going in order to keep Haitians out.

ZARRELLA: A judge granted Joseph asylum based on orphan status. But he was kept at this adult detention center while the government appealed. In June he was finally released to his uncle's custody. But on October 2nd he had to turn himself back in, after an appeals court ruled orphan status did not make him eligible for asylum.

ADELPHIN PIERRE, JOSEPH'S UNCLE: They already take his picture and do his paperwork for the deportation.

ZARRELLA: The boy's attorneys have submitted official birth records to the government showing he's 16. Immigration officials say they are reviewing the information. Joseph's attorneys are hoping the government will now allow them to take the boys case to a state juvenile court. There he can pursue U.S. Residency under a special provision for unaccompanied abandoned minors.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, "How Quickly We Forget."

Still to come this evening, broken vows. Our series on infidelity. A look question on whether humans are hard wired to cheat.

And a little bit later on the "Nth Degree" and the story of the richest lunch ladies in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: That's our "Buzz" question. You've got a bit of time to respond. I want taking you again live to California, showing you a live picture. This is the Stevenson Ranch fire. A cruiser in the area, people milling around. People have been asked to evacuate. They were given some 15 minutes to do so. There is the reporter stepping into the shot. The fire is basically up on the mountain. The situation has improved somewhat we are told. We're following this story closely and we'll bring you updates that we can. The fire in that area has not reached the houses, we are just being told. So, that's a little bit of good news in this difficult day.

We continue with "Broken Vows" infidelity in America. Tonight, we are looking at monogamy. Are we fighting human nature when we pick one mate or is monogamy natural?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With this ring.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With this ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do thee wed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do thee wed.

COOPER (voice-over): It's what we're taught from childhood to believe in, choosing one partner for life. But is monogamy natural? Sure, penguins are known to be monogamous. But most mammals aren't. Of 4,000 known species, the vast majority don't couple up forever. Male gorillas have harems of females, so do baboons. And female chimps our closes genetic relatives copulate hundreds of times with different partners for each pregnancy. Some anthropologists believe human ancestors settled for monogamy about 3.5 million years ago. The reason, survival through co-dependence. Females needed the men to hunt and protect while they raised kid. The men needed someone to raise the children while they hunted. This survival coupling slowly evolved into the exclusive relationship, marriage. Despite estimates that as many as one in five people will have an affair at least once in their lifetime, most modern couples still say monogamy is something they strive for.

For example, a University of Chicago survey found 83 percent of adults said they only had one partner or none in the past year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's natural. I think it's a choice that we make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think once you've made the decision to partner with a spouse, then I think it is natural to be with them forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be natural, despite urges. Then again, you're always going to have urges.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we're joined now by noted anthropologist Helen Fisher of Rutgers University. She's currently writing a book on the emotions of mating, including lust, attraction and attachment. For now, talking about monogamy, though. You say there's this sort of dual desires, a desire for monogamy, yet at the same time a desire to spread your seed, if you will.

HELEN FISHER, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Yes, that's the human pickle. I think we've evolved the brain circuitry for attachment, and millions of years ago, men needed women, women needed men, and we formed -- we acquired the brain circuitry to fall in love and form a pair bond. But people cheat. I've looked in 40 cultures, and everywhere around the world where people have the opportunity, a certain number of them will cheat on the relationship.

COOPER: In all cultures across the world? Doesn't matter where you are?

FISHER: Yes. No anthropologist has ever found a culture where it did not occur. Now, in some societies it occurs a great deal more than others.

Americans, in fact, cheat a little bit less regularly than a lot of people in the world, because we don't have enough time. And we have a tremendous amount to lose.

But in the last study of Americans, apparently something like 25 percent of men cheated and 15 percent of women. And that's probably low. I mean, probably a lot of them were lying.

COOPER: But you know, some people are going to say, look, this is like a guy's excuse, saying look I'm hard wired to cheat, it's a Darwin thing, there's nothing I can do. That's not the case?

FISHER: No, it's not the case. Because I mean, this is the part of the brain that makes us human, it's called the prefrontal cortex. And with that part of the brain that evolved during human evolution, we make decisions about what we do in our lives. We lie in bed at night and you say, gee, I feel a deep attachment to my longtime partner, and I feel mad romantic love for somebody else, and then you decide what you're going to do about it. You can say no to adultery.

COOPER: So will power, it's basically will power, or religious belief, or whatever it is that keep us...

FISHER: I would guess that some people have a harder time than others, though. I mean, divorce runs in families. I wouldn't be surprised if adultery runs in families. And probably the brain circuitry for some people makes them a little bit more prone to it than others.

COOPER: I've read that you think there is such a thing as serial monogamy, and that perhaps that is sort of the more natural situation human beings are compelled to be in.

FISHER: Right.

COOPER: Serial monogamy, what does that mean?

FISHER: It's a series of pair-bonded relationships. For example, we all know people who have been married for four years and had one child, and then they divorce and then they remarry again and they have another child. And during the course of their lives, they may have several relationships and marry only two or three people. But it's a series of pair-bonded relationships. And millions of years ago, that was probably adaptive, to form a pair bond, have a child, and then after the child is out of infancy, pick a new partner and create more genetic variety in your young. Leaving the human animal with this tremendous desire to pair up, a tendency to be restless in long relationships, and also having the roving eye.

COOPER: In the cultures that you've looked at around the world, really, I think you said some 40 cultures, do non-monogamous relationships work?

FISHER: Adultery does not work in a marriage. Even in societies where a man is permitted to have several wives, and has four wives, the wives are jealous of each other. Sometimes they'll even poison each other's babies. So, you know, we're an animal that's built to form a pair bond, and we're built to cheat, and then we all decide, each one of us, how we're going to handle this. And some people have a relatively easy time and very long, stable marriages, and other people have two unstable marriages and then in the mid-life, find stability. If you really want a good marriage, pick the right person.

COOPER: All right. Good advice. Helen Fisher, it was really fascinating. Thanks very much, I look forward to your new book.

All right. Our special series, "Broken Vows: Infidelity in America," continues all this week. Tomorrow, the constant temptations athletes face and the wives who are expected to endure their cheating, often in public. We're going to meet one of them.

On Thursday, to catch a cheat, a how-to on spotting infidelity. Tips from an expert. And on Friday, surviving infidelity. How some couples have gone past the betrayal. It is possible.

Coming up next, "The Nth Degree." Something nice. Lunch ladies finish first. But first, today's buzz. Are we hard wired to cheat? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. Still got a couple of minutes. The results, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: All right, time for the buzz. We asked you, are we hard wired to cheat? Fifty-four percent said yes; 46 percent no. Certainly not a scientific poll. Just interesting viewer buzz.

Well, now to some of your instant feedback. Tracy from Baltimore had this to say: "In my opinion, it doesn't matter whether we're hard wired to cheat or not. Cheating may be understandable to some, but it is never excusable. Just my opinion." And we appreciate it. Send us your instant feedback, anytime day or night. Log on to cnn.com/360. I'll try to respond to as many as I can in person.

Let's take a look at "The Nth Degree." Anytime. And here we go.

Finally tonight, sweet justice to "The Nth Degree." Do nice guys always finish last? Maybe not. Look at what's happened to former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski who's charged with spending the 1990s wallowing in decadence. As we showed you earlier, he's accused of throwing parties like this one that would make a Roman emperor blush. Dropping bling-bling on his ladies, buying an umbrella stand for a cool $15,000. He says the board OK'ayed his big spending ways, but prosecutors say the opulence was on the stockholders' dime.

And this is how the lunch ladies of Holdingford, Minnesota spent the 1990s, take a look. Serving up lunch for kids day after day, and putting one quarter from each paycheck toward Powerball tickets.

So, do nice guys always finish last? Well, today the former Tyco chief is facing corruption charges. And the lunch ladies, there they are, of Holdingford, well, hit the jackpot with a Powerball ticket worth more than $95 million. We call them the lucky lunch ladies. They call themselves the Happy Huskers, after their school's mascot. They claimed their prize after serving lunch as usual, which many of them say they'll continue to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to work around tomorrow's menu, because we don't know what shape we're going to be in tomorrow morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Will they go out and buy a $15,000 umbrella stand? Why not? We know they at least have earned it.

That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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