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CNN Live Sunday
Mom's Show Kids That Skating Isn't Just For Them; President Bush Snubs NAACP; Homeland Security Creates Contingency Plan For Election Day
Aired July 11, 2004 - 18:00 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin. CNN LIVE SUNDAY is just ahead. But first a quick look at what's happening now in the news. Homeland Security asks the Justice Department whether it's legal to postpone the election if there's a terrorist attack. It could be done with emergency powers. More on this story later in the hour.
The 9/11 Commission may finish its final report before the end of the week. We know what the bipartisan panel thinks will prevent another 9/11 attack.
And the 15th International AIDS Conference is under way in Bangkok. The conference is focusing on getting life-saving drugs to millions of people. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Bangkok. We're going to keep you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Hello, I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN live Sunday. In the next hour, invasion of privacy or public service. Your friends, neighbors, enemies can find out which presidential candidate you donated to and how much. They just have to log on to the computer.
Also, Tony Hawk, move over. There's a new breed of borders breaking it up at the local skate parks.
But first, imagine for a moment it's November 2, It's the day you expect to go to the polls and cast your ballot in the national elections. But what if terrorists try to disrupt the Democratic process. One possibility under consideration is delaying election day. CNN's Tom Foreman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If a terrorist attack came in the final days of the campaign or on election day itself, could the voting be postponed? That question is being raised by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and taken up by Homeland Security and the Justice Department, too.
GRACIA HILLMAN, U.S. ELECTION ASSIST. COMM.: I think that we've been lucky so far that nothing has ever occurred to disrupt the presidential election, but that doesn't mean that something couldn't happen. And we believe prudent planning is the thing that should be done. FOREMAN: These government officials are mindful of the Spanish train attack, which killed nearly 200 people. Three days later, Spain's prime minister, who supported the war in Iraq, was voted out. Now officials say intelligence suggests something like that could happen here.
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Al Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process.
FOREMAN: The political fallout from such an attack is wildly uncertain. After 9/11, support for President Bush rose.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can hear you.
FOREMAN: It is also unclear whether the election can be moved. Homeland Security says, "It would take an act of Congress to amend the Constitution, possibly amendments to 50 state constitutions."
And maybe changes to "voting rules in thousands of counties and towns."
(on camera): In other words, federal officials see the possibility of delaying the election as very remote. And some lawmakers are calling it a pure doomsday scenario.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), NEW YORK: It'd be a terrible mistake, a terrible mistake.
FOREMAN: Others believe developing a plan may be wise if it sends a message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter what happens, no matter what terrorists do to our country, democracy's going to go on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Yet in the end, even those who support a plan for delaying the election say it's something they want to have and never have to use -- Carol.
LIN: Tom, realistically, is this likely to happen? I mean, what are the chances?
FOREMAN: It is not likely to happen. All of them say that. But they say, having such a plan is not a bad idea anyway, because we've never been hit by a major hurricane or a giant power outage or a computer failure on election day, but it could happen. And everybody says both parties need a fair election if one of those events came along at any time and it messed up election day. You have to have some kind of plan. Right now, we don't. That's what they're working on.
LIN: There you go. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
We're going to get more details about the plan from "Newsweek's" Michael Isakoff. He's going to join us a little later in the show.
But right now, the fallout continues over a hard-hitting Senate report on pre-war intelligence failures. The members of Congress who have come out so far say Congress would not have authorized the Iraq war if they had really known how the CIA came to its conclusions. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Had they known then what they know now, even some Republicans say Congress probably would not have given the president the green light for war.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), CHMN. INTEL. CMTE.: The weapons of mass destruction and posing an imminent threat to our national security, that would not have been part of the debate. And I'm not sure the votes would have been there to take that kind of military action.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax or VX nerve gas or some day a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally.
BASH: In pushing Congress to authorize war, Mr. Bush zeroed in on Iraqi WMD and potential dangers in a post 9/11 world.
Democrats questioned whether the intelligence analysis was so wrong because it was rushed to fit a White House time table for war. And they accuse the president of exaggerating the information he had.
ROCKEFELLER: They weren't paying attention to the intelligence they were getting and going beyond it to try to convince the American people that war was the way to go.
BUSH: The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.
BASH: The White House flatly denies misusing intelligence. Aides saying Mr. Bush will continue to defend the war that has come to define his presidency, one a majority of Americans now think was not worth fighting.
The key question now, how to fix a broken intelligence system, an issue sure to get even more intense when the September 11 Commission wraps up its report, which a spokesman tells CNN could now happen as early as this week.
Republicans and Democrats want the president to accelerate intelligence reform. Some saying he should fill the vacancy at the top of the CIA sooner rather than later.
ROBERTS: It'll have to be an extraordinary nominee. If that's the case, we will go full time into the hearings to get him or her confirmed.
BASH: White House aides say an announcement could come as soon as this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: The president travels to a government facility in Tennessee Monday, where nuclear material from Libya now sits. Whether or not Saddam Hussein has WMDs, the president will credit military the fact the Moammar Gadhafi gave up his to U.S. military action in Iraq -- Carol.
LIN: Dana, why has the 9/11 commission is in such a hurry to move the time table up to release the report?
BASH: Well, the 9/11 commission, Carol, expires on July 26. And what they're hoping is to finish it up and to actually put it out to the public by the 22nd. So, just about 4 days earlier. The official reason is so that members of Congress who actually created this commission can see the results before they go out.
But they're also very mindful of the fact that July 26 is the start of the Democratic Convention and a big part of what they want to do when they put uot this report is to have a media blitz to talk up the recommendations for reforming the intelligence community and the legal community -- and the law enforcement community, I should say. And that is perhaps another reason why they want to move it up just a tad.
LIN: And likely, the American public will be seeing it in local book stores too.
BASH: That's right.
LIN: Thanks, Dana.
Invitation declined: President Bush says, thanks, but no thanks to the NAACP's offer to speak at its annual convention. Yes, the president said no to the country's largest civil rights organization. Allison Harmalin from CNN affiliate WPHL reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON HARMALIN, WPHL-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amidst the photo-ops, applause, networking and entertainment, there's an undercurrent of controversy at 95-annual convention of the NAACP.
JOHN STREET, PHILIDELPHIA PENSYVANNIA MAYOR: I think it's very unfortunate that President Bush chose to ignore this convention.
QUISY MFUME, NAACP PRESIDENT: I've written and written and written, requesting a meeting or an opportunity to talk about pertinent issues. We've written, inviting him to come and address us and we've gotten no response. It's been absolute silence.
HARMALIN: For the fourth year in a row, President Bush has declined the NAACP's invitation to address the group. In spite of 30 visits to battleground state of Pennsylvania, the president turned down this visit, citing scheduling problems.
MFUME: I think the larger picture is in an election that's going to be as close as this one, no party can afford slippage or to write off an entire group of voters, because you may not agree with them on one issue or another.
HARMALIN: But the president has said his issues are with the NAACP's leadership.
Quote, "I will describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent. You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me."
But at years-largest gathering of African-American community leaders, Philadelphia's mayor believes the president's absence sends a message that will be heard around the country.
STREET: People here will go back to their respective cities. And the president will have to answer for -- answer the question, why didn't you come to the NAACP convention?
HARMALIN: And while George Bush got just 9 percent of the black vote back in November 2000, many here feel this is a slight that will further reduce those numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a lot of the things I don't agree with what he's doing. So. And this is something he should be a part of.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For him not to take time out of his schedule. That to me, that shows me what kind of president he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one vote that he may have gotten black -- from the black community, he's not going to get now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Our thanks to Allison Harmalin for that report.
We'll have much more on this subject later in the show. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, will join us live to talk about how saying no to the invite is playing out politically.
The latest deadline passed four hours ago and we still don't know what's happened to a Filipino hostage. The Philippines government is refusing to meet demands of the militants holding Angelo De La Cruz and say they will not withdraw their troops early.
Our Maria Ressa reports on why De La Cruz went to Iraq and what he hoped to do for his family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-six-year old Angelo De La Cruz took a job as a driver in Iraq, so he could send money home to his wife and eight children. Contract workers like him are the Philippine's top dollar earner. Nearly one in 10 of the country's 80 million people work overseas; at least 4,000 of them in Iraq. On Thursday, De La Cruz was kidnapped by Islamic militants, who threatened to behead him if the Philippines did not pull its 50 soldiers and police out of Iraq. His wife's appeal for his life strikes a deep cord in the Philippines, where Catholics and Muslims united in calling for his release.
ARCENIA DE LA CRUZ, HOSTAGE WIFE (through translator): I appeal to our Muslim brothers around the world. Please help us, don't hurt my husband. Have pity on our children.
(CHEERING)
RESSA: On Saturday, it seems her prayers were answered. The family celebrated, after his wife said President Gloria Arroyo had assured her that De La Cruz was safe. But it soon became clear he had not been freed. A fax, allegedly written by the kidnappers, was sent to al Jazeera. It set a new demand that the Philippines pull out troops within 10 days, and demanded a response by Sunday. The Philippine cabinet met for more than five hours before it rejected the demand.
DELIA ALBERT, FORIGN AFFAIRS SECRETARY: We reiterate our plan to return our humanitarian contingent, as scheduled on 20, August 2004.
RESSA (on camera): The government says it will fly De La Cruz's wife and brother to Iraq, at the family's request. Cabinet members say they decided not to speak to the press to minimize any further confusion. Meantime, the Philippino team in Iraq says it's doing all it can to work for De La Cruz' safe release.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: There is a glimmer of hope for two other hostages in Iraq. Bulgaria's foreign minister says two Bulgarian truck drivers are alive, even though a deadline set by the militants holding them has expired.
Video of the 2 men was broadcast on al-Jazeera television on Thursday. The militants threatened to behead the Bulgarians within 24 hours if the U.S. did not release all of its prisoners.
And two U.S. soldiers were killed when their convoy hit a roadside bomb near the city of Samarra. Three others were wounded in that explosion.
And another roadside bomb took the lives of a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi citizen near Mosul. One U.S. soldier was injured.
More than 1,000 coalition troops have died since the start of the Iraq war.
Well, it's the start of a big week aimed at raising awareness about AIDS, and HIV. And making sure drugs are available to those who need them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main purpose of the study is to look at different ways of monitoring people when they're taking these drugs. To try to find out if perhaps we can get away with using less laboratory tests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Up next, the international support to fight the global epidemic.
Plus, they're lining up for a new type of cruise. They're the new nontraditional family. We're going to explain how Rosie O'Donnell is leading the way.
And later, find out how some moms are trading in their minivan wheels for a new set of wheels.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Israel tops our news from around the world. Keep building: that is the order from a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon despite a non-binding world court opinion. The prime minister made the decision after the International Court of Justice says Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and should be torn down.
A deadly shark attack in Australia. A search is under way for two great white sharks that killed a surfer. One shark knocked Brad Smith off his board while the other chomped down on him near Greasetown (ph). Both sharks are believed to be great whites.
And funeral in Moscow for Paul Klebnikov. He was the editor of the Russian edition of "Forbes" magazine who was shot and killed outside the magazine's offices yesterday. Russia's prosecutor general says he's taking personal control of the investigation.
At this year's international AIDS conference in Bangkok, the theme is access to care for all. The good news is that AIDS drugs work, but most of the millions of people in developing countries who need the medicine cannot afford it. CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports from the conference.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the 15th International AIDS Conference kicks off, there are protests and there are warnings.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: AIDS is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself.
GUPTA: The reality of that threat has devastated Sub Saharan African. 25 million are infected. 20 million have already died. Wandera Samson's wife was one of them, leaving this Ugandan father to care for his three young daughters alone, while caring for his own HIV.
WANDERA SAMSON, WIFE DIED OF AIDS: I was supposed to die because I have no money to buy those drugs.
GUPTA: He is only alive today because he's part of a U.S. government sponsored trial to get the powerful AIDS cocktail available in the U.S. to the most remote parts of Africa.
PETER SOLBERG, DR., CDC CLINIC, UGANDA: The main purpose of the study is to look at different ways of monitoring people when they're taking these drugs, try to find out whether we can perhaps get away with using less laboratory tests.
GUPTA: For now, Wandera gets the drugs for free at least until the trial is done. But he's concerned how he will afford them in the future.
Most clinics, such as this one in the Ugandan capital Kampala, make their patients pay for the medicine.
PETER MUGYENYI, JCRC DIRECTOR: It is our belief that free is not sustainable. You cannot have a program that is based on free things.
GUPTA: And the price tag on the drugs that keep patients like Jennifer Arem alive is high, about $30 every month. She only makes $33.
JENNIFER AREM, JCRC PATIENT: Whatever little money you get, you have to save it in order not to break the medicine sequence.
GUPTA: And that is a theme we're going to hear a lot this week as the AIDS Conference gets under way: how to get the drugs for even cheaper, so that more patients may get access to care. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Bangkok.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Up next, a snub fest between President Bush and the NAACP: How could it impact the November election? Bill Schneider joins us with insight.
And later, what's in a name. We'll ask the man who owns this Web site and explain how it could help him to earn some big bucks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: President Bush not only declined to speak at the NAACP Convention, you might say he insulted the nation's largest civil rights group. CNN's center political analyst Bill Schneider is here to talk more about the fallout from this. Bill, the first president since Warren G. Harding to refuse to speak at the convention.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he refused to speak at the convention, but he also, in the view of many African-Americans insulted them. What the president said, to be precise was, I would describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent. You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me.
Now, even if what the president said is factually correct, it is a mistake to return the insult. Perhaps the president believes he could separate the leadership of the NAACP from African-American voters, but that's going to be very difficult. It's one of the oldest and most respected civil liberties organization. And I think a lot of African-American voters are going to feel, as they would say, dissed.
LIN: But the NAACP has been pretty harsh with President Bush. And only 8 percent turned out to vote for him. So, is is he really losing anything here?
SCHNEIDER: You know, he got a tiny minority of the vote. But they can turn out in large numbers. They did in Florida. And nearly turned that state over to Al Gore. This is not consistent with the outreach program that he said he wanted to engage in as president: reaching out to minorities, Hispanics, African-Americans who gave him respectable amounts of support when he was Governor of Texas.
I think this is consistent with the other -- the radio speech he gave this weekend, where he defended his call for constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It's reaching out to his political base, not to people who don't agree with them.
LIN: So do you think President Bush is going to be able to at least capitalize in some way on this divisive tactic?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, I don't think so. I think it's a problem for him. When he was elected in 2000, he promised he would be a uniter, not a divider after the divisive experience under President Clinton. And now the country is more divided than ever before.
I think these comments about the NAACP, his endorsement of a gay -- anti-gay marriage amendment, which I should point out the president plays absolutely no role in signing anything. He doesn't play a role in amending the constitution. But he endorsed that amendment.
I think a lot of people are going to say he's trying to divide the electorate to his advantage. That has worked for the Republicans in 1994, when they took over Congress and in 2002, but those were mid- term elections. It's hard to see how a base rallying strategy will work with the high turnout you get in a presidential year.
LIN: Well, let's talk about another Bush campaign strategy going after the Democratic ticket. John Edwards: there was a piece in the New York Times today, talking about how sometimes good looks can play for you. But really, often against you.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, of course, I wouldn't say we elect presidential candidates based on looks, the comment was famously made about the Republican candidate in 1948, Thomas Dewy, that he looked like he fell off a wedding cake. Which was a way of saying he was stiff.
John Kennedy was good looking. People who watched him debate Richard Nixon may have responded to that. But I think, in particular, it was Kennedy's youth and vigor and dynamism that appealed to voters after 8 years of Dwight Eisenhower.
You are quite right, youth and good looks can be a problem. It was a problem for Dan Quayle, because a lot of people said well he's young and good looking, but perhaps he's not very serious. And some people are making the same kind of statement about John Edwards. In fact, Senator Kerry said, our ticket has better hair than their ticket.
That's not an issue I feel qualified to comment on, except perhaps to say that grass doesn't grow on a busy street.
LIN: Yes, but at least Rush Limbaugh is not calling you a brat girl like he is John Edwards.
SCHNEIDER: Right.
LIN: All right. Thanks, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
LIN: Coming up on "CNN SUNDAY NIGHT," do good looks help or hurt the race for the White House. I'm going to be talking with 2 guests who have their fingers on the pulse of American pop culture. That's on "CNN SUNDAY NIGHT,' 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
Still to come in CNN LIVE SUNDAY. It happens the first Tuesday of November every four years. But don't mark your calendar yet. Is this year's election subject to change?
Plus, it doesn't look that impressive, but this Web site could be worth millions. I'm going to be talking to the owner, and find out why he isn't quite ready to log off.
It's a hobby for all ages, and some mothers prove that it just gets better with time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: I'm Carol Lin. More of CNN LIVE SUNDAY in just a moment, but first a quick look at what's happening in the news. A promise not to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's top security official said today that his country will abide by international agreements on nuclear, biological and chemical programs.
The 9/11 commission could finish its final report this week. If it does, it could release its report early and before the Democratic Convention begins. The report looks at the attacks and ways to prevent future terrorism.
John Kerry's choice of Senator John Edwards as his running mate appears to be pulling in some big political contributions. The Kerry campaign says it raised more than $3 million over the Internet in the first three days after Edwards was named last week.
Reporting to a federal lockup in Houston. Tomorrow Lea Fastow starts a one-year sentence for her part in the Enron scandal. She was convicted of signing a bogus tax return to help her husband and her -- to hide illegal or ill-gotten income. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years.
An al Qaeda attacked to disrupt the Democratic process? Well it happened in Madrid, but could it happen here. It is a big concern to homeland security officials. So much so, that they are considering a plan that would allow the postponement of the elections if there's an attack.
Michael Isakoff is an investigative correspondent with "Newsweek" magazine in Washington. He's been following what it would take to postpone election day and writes an article about that.
Michael, when homeland security went to the Justice Department to ask if there was a plan, how legal this would be, was it with alarming concern or simply prudent planning purposes?
MICHAEL ISAKOFF, NEWSWEEK: It certainly was with concern. Whether alarming or not, it is another question. But certainly there is what many of them call alarming intelligence, credible intelligence that al Qaeda and/or its affiliates may be planning an attack to disrupt the election process. In fact, Secretary of Homeland Security Ridge said as much in last week's terror warning, where he specifically spoke to intelligence pointing to this.
Certainly the Madrid bombing did embolden al Qaeda. There's many indications of that. And led people to conclude that al Qaeda would seek to do duplicate such an attack, perhaps in the United States, perhaps in the election process.
Now, the question is, what happens if that happens. You may remember September 11 itself took place on a primary day in New York. There was a Democratic primary at the time. The state board of elections canceled the primary under the circumstances.
What we report about in "Newsweek" this week is the chairman of a new body, it's called the Federal Election Assistance Commission, has raised this issue with Homeland Security and pointed out that there is no entity that is currently empowered to cancel or postpone an election in the event of a catastrophic attack.
And I think this did strike a cord with Homeland Security officials. They began considering this. And last week, as we report, they asked the justice's department of legal counsel to review what legal steps might be needed.
LIN: And is it specifically only if there is a catastrophic attack, or are there caveats, for example, a specific threat in polling booths? ISAKOFF: Well, yes. Nobody has gotten that far down the road on that. There is contingency planning, or at least discussions about planning going on in homeland security on this very issue.
But look, any -- even hint, discussion, mentioning of postponing an election is no doubt going to stir up a thousand conspiracy theories and alarm a lot of people.
LIN: Mike, how long to postpone? I mean, a month? A year? Imagine there's an election day -- if September 11 actually happened on November 2nd. How long would it take before the country would be prepared to hold an election for president?
ISAKOFF: Well, clearly that would entirely depend on what the nature of the attack is and how big and what flowed from that. But -- and all these, as I say, are such insuperable questions, that it may be there could be nothing could be done.
But Homeland Security, you know, does contingency planning for lots of catastrophic scenarios. They've talked before also about threats to the political conventions, and other big sporting events in the United States. It would be only natural, I suppose, that they would want to think about contingency planning in this. But as I say, it would almost certainly have to be in the event of a truly catastrophic attack. Mere intelligence, I don't think would get to first base.
LIN: There you go. Michael, thank you very much. "Newsweek" magazine.
ISAKOFF: Thank you.
LIN: Well, before you contribute money to a political candidate, would it bother you to know that anybody with access to the Internet may be able to track your donation. It could happen. CNN's Alina Cho explains how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Easy as typing in your name. In this case, Patty Kennedy finds her address and her record of her $1, 250 donation to Joseph Lieberman on the Web site fundraise.org. Political contribution, part of the public record.
(on camera): You like Kerry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. I like Kerry. I don't think he's perfected.
CHO: Kennedy traditionally votes Democratic. Also gave money to Wesley Clark.
PATTY KENNEDY, CONSULTANT: I don't mind letting people know where I stand politically, and who I've contributed to. I'm happy to talk about it.
CHO: What about celebrities? Jerry Seinfeld may not publicize it, but he gave $2,000 each to Kerry and Clark.
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: Why do people always say that, I hate everybody. Why would I like him?
CHO: There's the $2,000 to Dennis Kucinich, courtesy of Matt Damon. Then there's Donald Trump.
He's covering all his bases. John Kerry, George Bush. There you go.
JONAH FERETTI, FUNDRACE.ORG FOUNDER: Check out your neighbors and check out your coworkers and boss and see who they're giving to. It's something that's the kind of thing people will do.
CHO (on camera): Fund Race was created to get people politically involved. It has blossomed into a voyeuristic thrill, getting more than 200,000 hits a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can keep track of everybody. It's good for the media.
CHO (voice-over): At this internet cafe...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that's anybody else's business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't think there's expectation of privacy when you do that kind of thing.
CHO: Privacy experts say blame it on the Internet.
STEWART BAKER, PRIVACY EXPERT: Most of us are used to the idea that we're in control of who we tell about our political views. But those days are over.
CHO (on camera): Well, your money's out there.
KENNEDY: My money's there. I put my money where my mouth was.
CHO: Right.
KENNEDY: Let's hope it counts.
CHO (voice-over): Whether the information is public or not.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE0
LIN: Another Web site is also getting a lot of attention. It's kerry-edwards.com. But you won't find any pictures of the Democratic presidential candidate and his running mate. The online address belongs to Kerry Edwards, an Indianapolis bail bondsman. There he is. He joins us live now. Hi, Kerry.
KERRY EDWARDS, BAIL BONDSMAN: Hello, how are you doing.
LIN: I don't suppose your middle name is John?
EDWARDS: No.
LIN: No such luck there. All right.
EDWARDS: But my wife's name is Elizabeth.
LIN: Oh, I cannot believe this coincidence. How much do you think this Web site is worth? Because you've been offered a lot of money for it.
EDWARDS: Yes, I have. And I've actually been contacted by a couple of international companies who were interested in buying it. But I have no confirmed offers at the moment.
LIN: How much money have you been hearing?
EDWARDS: My largest confirmed offer was $150,000. And I've been told by a couple of other professional people that deal in domain brokering that it's worth much more than that.
LIN: Much more, how much more? $200,000? $300,000?
EDWARDS: Yeah.
LIN: Seriously?
EDWARDS: Yes.
LIN: $500, 000?
EDWARDS: I'm not really the person to ask, because I'm not really schooled in how they work. How they track, you know.
LIN: Well, who's contacted you specifically? You mentioned a couple of businesspeople. What about anybody from the campaigns?
EDWARDS: Tuesday morning I was contacted by the John Kerry campaign. And I spoke to their lead counsel. And they just decided to decline on the Web site at this time.
LIN: Now, this was your Web site -- it was just a family notion, right, to get pictures of a toddler out?
EDWARDS: Right. I just -- back in, I think it was 2002, I decided to register it, just for me and my son. My son's name is Kerry Edwards as well. And I would just put pictures of him on it, and e-mail my mom, tell her to go look at it. That's pretty much about it.
LIN: So when John Edwards was announced, what was your reaction?
EDWARDS: I was asleep, and then I got the phone call from the lead counsel. And I said, oh, boy.
LIN: Yeah. So when are you going to put their minds to rest? What are you going to do with this Web site?
EDWARDS: I think I'm going to -- I hope to wrap it up pretty soon. I was faxed a couple of offers last night. But I've not been able to get back in contact with those people to confirm who they are, or if they're legitimate offers. So maybe by Tuesday morning, I hope to get it done.
LIN: Now, you voted for President Clinton, right?
EDWARDS: Yeah. In '96, I believe.
LIN: OK, registered Democrat at the time. Why not help out the party again?
EDWARDS: How do you mean?
LIN: Sell it to the Kerry people for whatever they're willing to pay for it.
EDWARDS: For whatever they're willing to pay for it?
LIN: Yeah.
EDWARDS: I don't think they're willing to pay what it's actually worth, and I'm not in the financial position to just give away money. So if they were willing to pay what the Web site's worth, that's great, I'll give it to them.
LIN: Now, let's find something -- when we log on now, we see pictures of missing kids. What's that about?
EDWARDS: I was contacted by a man yesterday, he e-mailed me, and he was looking for his children and asked me if I would put that link up. And I was more than happy to do that.
LIN: Knowing that it would get a lot of hits?
EDWARDS: Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully, he will be able to find his children.
LIN: How many hits in the last week have you gotten on the Web site?
EDWARDS: I had not actually checked the total since yesterday. But since Tuesday morning, I believe like at noon, through maybe yesterday morning, it was like 200,000.
LIN: Wow! All right. I'm sure they're surprised at what they see. We'll see what happens.
Kerry Edwards, our regards to your wife Elizabeth. And let us know what happens with the Web site, will you?
EDWARDS: Thanks, Carol.
LIN: Thanks much. KerryEdwards.com. LIN: Elsewhere across America, in Boca Raton, Florida, the first target in a series of deadly 2001 anthrax attacks is getting a final fumigation. A company co-founded by former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani has begun decontaminating the building that housed a supermarket tabloid. The firm plans to move its headquarters into the space.
The California Highway Patrol says there were no serious injuries when a private plane made a forced landing on an interstate highway and hit a van yesterday. The Arizona pilot faces charges of flying while intoxicated.
The inaugural gay and lesiban family cruise, organized by media celeb, Rosie O'Donnell's company is under way. The Norwegian Don left New York today with some 2,100 passengers onboard.
Gay rights activists are urging Atlanta's mayor to take a stand on a bias case. It pits a prestigious southern golf club against the city's nondiscrimination ordinance. Our Betty Nguyen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA GEORGIA: I regret that Georgia is one of the few states that has not put on the books that anti- discrimination law.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over0: With that attitude looming in the Georgia legislature, the fight for gay rights moves to the back nine on atlanta's Druid Hills Golf Club. And the next play in the hands of Mayor Shirley Franklin.
FRANKLIN: As a matter of fact, Georgia is one of the few states that will have on the ballot in November an amendment, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
NGUYEN: At issue, the private group's practice of granting full privileges to wives and husbands, but not to gay companions. They have to pay the same $50,000 entrance fee as their partners.
DR. LEE KEYSER, LESBIAN MEMBER OF GOLF CLUB: That continues to put us in a second-class citizenship over there at that club. And we're not talking about in the future, we're talking about in the moment.
NGUYEN: These members Dr. Lee Keyser and attorney Randy New both have gay partners. The pair filed a complaint with the city of Atlanta's human relations commission and won which means the mayor must now decide whether to take legal action. And that's where city ordinances come into play.
(on camera): The ordinance gives the mayor the authority to strip one of the south's most prestigious golf clubs of its city permits, including its liquor license. Now this case went to mediation, both sides failed to find a common ground.
RANDY NEW, GAY MEMBER OF GOLF CLUB: This is a case where we're either treated equally or we're not. And that's a hard case to mediate. And I suggest the second mediation can't solve that problem any better than the first one did. And the mayor's going to have to make a decision.
NGUYEN: Golf club officials refuse to go on camera, but the Druid Hills general manager issued this statement. It says, "the club hopes to continue the mediation process."
Mayor Franklin has said little publicly about the case until now.
FRANKLIN: I don't have any hesitation in standing up for the rights for gays. None at all. I want to do it in a way that advances the cause as opposed to in a way that's going to cause us to be in a protracted lawsuit that we might lose.
NGUYEN: All sides believe this is a case that almost certainly will end up in the courts.
KEYSER: We are not going silently into this night.
NGUYEN: The only question is how far will it go.
FRANKLIN: We are reviewing the constitutionality of that ordinance. As it was passed, and adopted prior to my election. And we are looking for the options that I might have that can withstand the federal test.
NGUYEN: Betty Nguyen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Up next, how one woman is using her personal loss to ease the pain for grieving military families.
Plus, he wanted out. Looks like he's getting out. Shaquille O'Neal says adios to the Lakers. We're going to tell you where he's headed.
And move over, kids, the mothers are showing how skateboarding is really done.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Sixteen sailors may some day proudly show their grandchildren what the U.S. Navy bestowed on them today. In a ceremony at the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Station, the See Bees received purple hearts for their injuries suffered April 30 in Iraq. The honorees are all from Naval Construction Battalion 14. The purple heart is the world's oldest military decoration in present use.
Just this week the death total for multinational forces in Iraq topped 1,000. Many of the victims grieving friends and family, don't know about counseling. One woman is on a crusade to help them out. That woman is Marilyn Peterson, founder of Operation Stephen's Touch. She joins me live from Dallas, Texas. Marilyn, your story, it's pretty touching. You, yourself, dealt with a tremendous loss ten years ago when you lost your husband from complications of agent orange. He was a Vietnam vet?
MARILYN PETERSON, FOUNDER OPERATION STEPHEN'S TOUCH: That's correct. He was a Vietnam Veteran.
LIN: And you got this idea -- explain what this operation is. Exactly how does it work?
PETERSON: Operation Stephen's Touch is a caring, listening to the grieving family members of the military. It's provided and available to spouses, parents, adult children and siblings of those who have died as a result of military service. The caring and listening is provided by a Stephen minister...
LIN: Which is an existing organization, the Stephen Ministers.
PETERSON: Stephen Ministry, Operation Stephen's Touch is new. The Stephen's Ministries have been around since the 1970s, and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. And it's found in over 9,000 churches, 100 different denominations across the United States.
LIN: So, essentially, counselors in almost every city available?
PETERSON: They're not counselors, they're trained, compassionate and caring listeners.
LIN: And how is that different?
PETERSON: Counselors have much more training than the compassionate, caring listener. The Stephen Ministers have had about 50 hours of training. And they're job is just to listen, they're not clinicians, but they listen and give the compassionate caring.
LIN: And how do the military families reach you?
PETERSON: We have a Web site and a toll-free number. It's 888- 40-TOUCH. They can call that number, or contact us through the Web site. And then we'll ask them for their name, their phone number and their zip code and a volunteer will contact them back. And they will tell them how the process works. And it will probably take a week to get a Stephen Minister for them.
LIN: But Carolyn, I'm wondering, just from your own personal experience, why did you think there was this need? Most people turn to their family, their friends.
PETERSON: I've been a Stephens Minister for three years. And I worked with a lady who had -- her husband had died a year ago. And I could see what a benefit it was to have someone who wasn't a family member, or wasn't a friend that you could talk to confidentially, because a family member or friend may think you should get better right away and not let you go through the entire grief process.
LIN: Right. They don't want to witness what really happens in bereavement, which takes a long time.
PETERSON: And the person is worried about what they think. Because they're also probably grieving too.
LIN: Right. Right.
Do you think you would have benefited from this during your experience ten years ago when you lost your husband?
PETERSON: I think I would have benefited from it, too. Just to have someone to talk to. Because a lot of times you have things racing over and over in your head that you can't get out unless you're able to talk to someone about it.
LIN: All right. Well, Marilyn, good luck with the project. I know it's very new. A few people have contacted you. We'll follow up when the story grows. As the story grows.
PETERSON: Thank you.
LIN: Thanks, Marilyn.
PETERSON: OK.
LIN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal could be trading jerseys and heading to Florida. The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly agreed in principle to trade O'Neal to the Miami Heat. In place of the big center, the Lakers will receive forwards Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, Center Brian Grant and a future first-round draft pick. A deal can't become official until Wednesday when a league-wide moratorium on trades expires.
And American Lance Armstrong remains in sixth place overall in the Tour de France. Norway's bicyclist won today's 8th stage of the race with a last-minute burst of speed. The competitors rest tomorrow before tackling the mountains of Southern France.
After a rousing rendition of the National Anthem, President Bush watched the second game of the fourth season of tee ball get under way on the south lawn. Two challenger league teams had some big league help with the game. Jim Abbot (ph), Dave Dervecky (ph) and Cal Ripken, jr., served as coaches and commissioner. Challenger League teams consist of players mental or physical disabilities.
Skateboarding is usually associated with young people, but a group of California women is adding a different twist to the sport proving age really is just a number. CNN's Donna Tetrault picks it up from here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONNA TETRAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The look of skateboarding isn't what it used to be, girls are carving and doing ollies just like the boys. But these are, well, mature girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've always been kind of obsessed with skateboarding.
TETRAULT: This woman is leading a revolution: skateboarding moms. She's written a book, she's set up a Web site, and now women as far away as New Zealand are visiting it, and rolling into her world.
BARBARA ODANAKA, SKATEBOARDING MOM: When we step on these planks of wood, it's like total freedom. And I'm just ten all over again.
TETRAULT (on camera): When Barbara Odanaka is climbing the walls at home she says she would rather be crawling the walls at a skate park. And she's not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each trick, each thing that you accomplish just makes you feel so good for the rest of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Skateboarding is absolutely my favorite sport.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's usually a 12-year-old boy who's trying to show me how to do it, just do this.
TETRAULT (voice-over): And while some women shop for shoes, Odanaka and her friends spend thousands on skateboarding equipment.
ODANAKA: This is my latest toy. It's great finding a big long hill. And you carve it just like you would be carving snow.
TETRAULT: They show off their moves, bringing the next generation along.
ODANAKA: I'm no Tony Hawk. I'm a mom. So I do have to be a little careful. But ultimately I'd like to be a mom who can do things that Tony Hawk does on a skateboard.
TETRAULT: It's off to try the gymbo and avoid the asphalt hankie. Donna Tetrault for CNN, Laguna.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," CNN takes an in-depth look at one of the most beloved and controversial families, the Kennedys.
At 8:00, "CNN PRESENTS: Fountain of Youth," a look at the cutting edge medical procedures to keep people looking young.
At 9:00 Eastern on LARRY KING WEEKEND, convicted serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer's parents, reveal why they have kept their now notorious last name.
And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern. When it comes to picking a president, do good looks really matter? We're going to address the issue. The hour's headlines when I come back. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 11, 2004 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin. CNN LIVE SUNDAY is just ahead. But first a quick look at what's happening now in the news. Homeland Security asks the Justice Department whether it's legal to postpone the election if there's a terrorist attack. It could be done with emergency powers. More on this story later in the hour.
The 9/11 Commission may finish its final report before the end of the week. We know what the bipartisan panel thinks will prevent another 9/11 attack.
And the 15th International AIDS Conference is under way in Bangkok. The conference is focusing on getting life-saving drugs to millions of people. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Bangkok. We're going to keep you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Hello, I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN live Sunday. In the next hour, invasion of privacy or public service. Your friends, neighbors, enemies can find out which presidential candidate you donated to and how much. They just have to log on to the computer.
Also, Tony Hawk, move over. There's a new breed of borders breaking it up at the local skate parks.
But first, imagine for a moment it's November 2, It's the day you expect to go to the polls and cast your ballot in the national elections. But what if terrorists try to disrupt the Democratic process. One possibility under consideration is delaying election day. CNN's Tom Foreman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If a terrorist attack came in the final days of the campaign or on election day itself, could the voting be postponed? That question is being raised by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and taken up by Homeland Security and the Justice Department, too.
GRACIA HILLMAN, U.S. ELECTION ASSIST. COMM.: I think that we've been lucky so far that nothing has ever occurred to disrupt the presidential election, but that doesn't mean that something couldn't happen. And we believe prudent planning is the thing that should be done. FOREMAN: These government officials are mindful of the Spanish train attack, which killed nearly 200 people. Three days later, Spain's prime minister, who supported the war in Iraq, was voted out. Now officials say intelligence suggests something like that could happen here.
TOM RIDGE, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Al Qaeda is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process.
FOREMAN: The political fallout from such an attack is wildly uncertain. After 9/11, support for President Bush rose.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can hear you.
FOREMAN: It is also unclear whether the election can be moved. Homeland Security says, "It would take an act of Congress to amend the Constitution, possibly amendments to 50 state constitutions."
And maybe changes to "voting rules in thousands of counties and towns."
(on camera): In other words, federal officials see the possibility of delaying the election as very remote. And some lawmakers are calling it a pure doomsday scenario.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), NEW YORK: It'd be a terrible mistake, a terrible mistake.
FOREMAN: Others believe developing a plan may be wise if it sends a message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter what happens, no matter what terrorists do to our country, democracy's going to go on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: Yet in the end, even those who support a plan for delaying the election say it's something they want to have and never have to use -- Carol.
LIN: Tom, realistically, is this likely to happen? I mean, what are the chances?
FOREMAN: It is not likely to happen. All of them say that. But they say, having such a plan is not a bad idea anyway, because we've never been hit by a major hurricane or a giant power outage or a computer failure on election day, but it could happen. And everybody says both parties need a fair election if one of those events came along at any time and it messed up election day. You have to have some kind of plan. Right now, we don't. That's what they're working on.
LIN: There you go. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
We're going to get more details about the plan from "Newsweek's" Michael Isakoff. He's going to join us a little later in the show.
But right now, the fallout continues over a hard-hitting Senate report on pre-war intelligence failures. The members of Congress who have come out so far say Congress would not have authorized the Iraq war if they had really known how the CIA came to its conclusions. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Had they known then what they know now, even some Republicans say Congress probably would not have given the president the green light for war.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R), CHMN. INTEL. CMTE.: The weapons of mass destruction and posing an imminent threat to our national security, that would not have been part of the debate. And I'm not sure the votes would have been there to take that kind of military action.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Each passing day could be the one on which the Iraqi regime gives anthrax or VX nerve gas or some day a nuclear weapon to a terrorist ally.
BASH: In pushing Congress to authorize war, Mr. Bush zeroed in on Iraqi WMD and potential dangers in a post 9/11 world.
Democrats questioned whether the intelligence analysis was so wrong because it was rushed to fit a White House time table for war. And they accuse the president of exaggerating the information he had.
ROCKEFELLER: They weren't paying attention to the intelligence they were getting and going beyond it to try to convince the American people that war was the way to go.
BUSH: The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.
BASH: The White House flatly denies misusing intelligence. Aides saying Mr. Bush will continue to defend the war that has come to define his presidency, one a majority of Americans now think was not worth fighting.
The key question now, how to fix a broken intelligence system, an issue sure to get even more intense when the September 11 Commission wraps up its report, which a spokesman tells CNN could now happen as early as this week.
Republicans and Democrats want the president to accelerate intelligence reform. Some saying he should fill the vacancy at the top of the CIA sooner rather than later.
ROBERTS: It'll have to be an extraordinary nominee. If that's the case, we will go full time into the hearings to get him or her confirmed.
BASH: White House aides say an announcement could come as soon as this week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: The president travels to a government facility in Tennessee Monday, where nuclear material from Libya now sits. Whether or not Saddam Hussein has WMDs, the president will credit military the fact the Moammar Gadhafi gave up his to U.S. military action in Iraq -- Carol.
LIN: Dana, why has the 9/11 commission is in such a hurry to move the time table up to release the report?
BASH: Well, the 9/11 commission, Carol, expires on July 26. And what they're hoping is to finish it up and to actually put it out to the public by the 22nd. So, just about 4 days earlier. The official reason is so that members of Congress who actually created this commission can see the results before they go out.
But they're also very mindful of the fact that July 26 is the start of the Democratic Convention and a big part of what they want to do when they put uot this report is to have a media blitz to talk up the recommendations for reforming the intelligence community and the legal community -- and the law enforcement community, I should say. And that is perhaps another reason why they want to move it up just a tad.
LIN: And likely, the American public will be seeing it in local book stores too.
BASH: That's right.
LIN: Thanks, Dana.
Invitation declined: President Bush says, thanks, but no thanks to the NAACP's offer to speak at its annual convention. Yes, the president said no to the country's largest civil rights organization. Allison Harmalin from CNN affiliate WPHL reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON HARMALIN, WPHL-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amidst the photo-ops, applause, networking and entertainment, there's an undercurrent of controversy at 95-annual convention of the NAACP.
JOHN STREET, PHILIDELPHIA PENSYVANNIA MAYOR: I think it's very unfortunate that President Bush chose to ignore this convention.
QUISY MFUME, NAACP PRESIDENT: I've written and written and written, requesting a meeting or an opportunity to talk about pertinent issues. We've written, inviting him to come and address us and we've gotten no response. It's been absolute silence.
HARMALIN: For the fourth year in a row, President Bush has declined the NAACP's invitation to address the group. In spite of 30 visits to battleground state of Pennsylvania, the president turned down this visit, citing scheduling problems.
MFUME: I think the larger picture is in an election that's going to be as close as this one, no party can afford slippage or to write off an entire group of voters, because you may not agree with them on one issue or another.
HARMALIN: But the president has said his issues are with the NAACP's leadership.
Quote, "I will describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent. You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me."
But at years-largest gathering of African-American community leaders, Philadelphia's mayor believes the president's absence sends a message that will be heard around the country.
STREET: People here will go back to their respective cities. And the president will have to answer for -- answer the question, why didn't you come to the NAACP convention?
HARMALIN: And while George Bush got just 9 percent of the black vote back in November 2000, many here feel this is a slight that will further reduce those numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a lot of the things I don't agree with what he's doing. So. And this is something he should be a part of.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For him not to take time out of his schedule. That to me, that shows me what kind of president he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one vote that he may have gotten black -- from the black community, he's not going to get now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Our thanks to Allison Harmalin for that report.
We'll have much more on this subject later in the show. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, will join us live to talk about how saying no to the invite is playing out politically.
The latest deadline passed four hours ago and we still don't know what's happened to a Filipino hostage. The Philippines government is refusing to meet demands of the militants holding Angelo De La Cruz and say they will not withdraw their troops early.
Our Maria Ressa reports on why De La Cruz went to Iraq and what he hoped to do for his family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-six-year old Angelo De La Cruz took a job as a driver in Iraq, so he could send money home to his wife and eight children. Contract workers like him are the Philippine's top dollar earner. Nearly one in 10 of the country's 80 million people work overseas; at least 4,000 of them in Iraq. On Thursday, De La Cruz was kidnapped by Islamic militants, who threatened to behead him if the Philippines did not pull its 50 soldiers and police out of Iraq. His wife's appeal for his life strikes a deep cord in the Philippines, where Catholics and Muslims united in calling for his release.
ARCENIA DE LA CRUZ, HOSTAGE WIFE (through translator): I appeal to our Muslim brothers around the world. Please help us, don't hurt my husband. Have pity on our children.
(CHEERING)
RESSA: On Saturday, it seems her prayers were answered. The family celebrated, after his wife said President Gloria Arroyo had assured her that De La Cruz was safe. But it soon became clear he had not been freed. A fax, allegedly written by the kidnappers, was sent to al Jazeera. It set a new demand that the Philippines pull out troops within 10 days, and demanded a response by Sunday. The Philippine cabinet met for more than five hours before it rejected the demand.
DELIA ALBERT, FORIGN AFFAIRS SECRETARY: We reiterate our plan to return our humanitarian contingent, as scheduled on 20, August 2004.
RESSA (on camera): The government says it will fly De La Cruz's wife and brother to Iraq, at the family's request. Cabinet members say they decided not to speak to the press to minimize any further confusion. Meantime, the Philippino team in Iraq says it's doing all it can to work for De La Cruz' safe release.
Maria Ressa, CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: There is a glimmer of hope for two other hostages in Iraq. Bulgaria's foreign minister says two Bulgarian truck drivers are alive, even though a deadline set by the militants holding them has expired.
Video of the 2 men was broadcast on al-Jazeera television on Thursday. The militants threatened to behead the Bulgarians within 24 hours if the U.S. did not release all of its prisoners.
And two U.S. soldiers were killed when their convoy hit a roadside bomb near the city of Samarra. Three others were wounded in that explosion.
And another roadside bomb took the lives of a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi citizen near Mosul. One U.S. soldier was injured.
More than 1,000 coalition troops have died since the start of the Iraq war.
Well, it's the start of a big week aimed at raising awareness about AIDS, and HIV. And making sure drugs are available to those who need them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main purpose of the study is to look at different ways of monitoring people when they're taking these drugs. To try to find out if perhaps we can get away with using less laboratory tests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Up next, the international support to fight the global epidemic.
Plus, they're lining up for a new type of cruise. They're the new nontraditional family. We're going to explain how Rosie O'Donnell is leading the way.
And later, find out how some moms are trading in their minivan wheels for a new set of wheels.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Israel tops our news from around the world. Keep building: that is the order from a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon despite a non-binding world court opinion. The prime minister made the decision after the International Court of Justice says Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and should be torn down.
A deadly shark attack in Australia. A search is under way for two great white sharks that killed a surfer. One shark knocked Brad Smith off his board while the other chomped down on him near Greasetown (ph). Both sharks are believed to be great whites.
And funeral in Moscow for Paul Klebnikov. He was the editor of the Russian edition of "Forbes" magazine who was shot and killed outside the magazine's offices yesterday. Russia's prosecutor general says he's taking personal control of the investigation.
At this year's international AIDS conference in Bangkok, the theme is access to care for all. The good news is that AIDS drugs work, but most of the millions of people in developing countries who need the medicine cannot afford it. CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports from the conference.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the 15th International AIDS Conference kicks off, there are protests and there are warnings.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: AIDS is far more than a health crisis. It is a threat to development itself.
GUPTA: The reality of that threat has devastated Sub Saharan African. 25 million are infected. 20 million have already died. Wandera Samson's wife was one of them, leaving this Ugandan father to care for his three young daughters alone, while caring for his own HIV.
WANDERA SAMSON, WIFE DIED OF AIDS: I was supposed to die because I have no money to buy those drugs.
GUPTA: He is only alive today because he's part of a U.S. government sponsored trial to get the powerful AIDS cocktail available in the U.S. to the most remote parts of Africa.
PETER SOLBERG, DR., CDC CLINIC, UGANDA: The main purpose of the study is to look at different ways of monitoring people when they're taking these drugs, try to find out whether we can perhaps get away with using less laboratory tests.
GUPTA: For now, Wandera gets the drugs for free at least until the trial is done. But he's concerned how he will afford them in the future.
Most clinics, such as this one in the Ugandan capital Kampala, make their patients pay for the medicine.
PETER MUGYENYI, JCRC DIRECTOR: It is our belief that free is not sustainable. You cannot have a program that is based on free things.
GUPTA: And the price tag on the drugs that keep patients like Jennifer Arem alive is high, about $30 every month. She only makes $33.
JENNIFER AREM, JCRC PATIENT: Whatever little money you get, you have to save it in order not to break the medicine sequence.
GUPTA: And that is a theme we're going to hear a lot this week as the AIDS Conference gets under way: how to get the drugs for even cheaper, so that more patients may get access to care. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Bangkok.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Up next, a snub fest between President Bush and the NAACP: How could it impact the November election? Bill Schneider joins us with insight.
And later, what's in a name. We'll ask the man who owns this Web site and explain how it could help him to earn some big bucks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: President Bush not only declined to speak at the NAACP Convention, you might say he insulted the nation's largest civil rights group. CNN's center political analyst Bill Schneider is here to talk more about the fallout from this. Bill, the first president since Warren G. Harding to refuse to speak at the convention.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he refused to speak at the convention, but he also, in the view of many African-Americans insulted them. What the president said, to be precise was, I would describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent. You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me.
Now, even if what the president said is factually correct, it is a mistake to return the insult. Perhaps the president believes he could separate the leadership of the NAACP from African-American voters, but that's going to be very difficult. It's one of the oldest and most respected civil liberties organization. And I think a lot of African-American voters are going to feel, as they would say, dissed.
LIN: But the NAACP has been pretty harsh with President Bush. And only 8 percent turned out to vote for him. So, is is he really losing anything here?
SCHNEIDER: You know, he got a tiny minority of the vote. But they can turn out in large numbers. They did in Florida. And nearly turned that state over to Al Gore. This is not consistent with the outreach program that he said he wanted to engage in as president: reaching out to minorities, Hispanics, African-Americans who gave him respectable amounts of support when he was Governor of Texas.
I think this is consistent with the other -- the radio speech he gave this weekend, where he defended his call for constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It's reaching out to his political base, not to people who don't agree with them.
LIN: So do you think President Bush is going to be able to at least capitalize in some way on this divisive tactic?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, I don't think so. I think it's a problem for him. When he was elected in 2000, he promised he would be a uniter, not a divider after the divisive experience under President Clinton. And now the country is more divided than ever before.
I think these comments about the NAACP, his endorsement of a gay -- anti-gay marriage amendment, which I should point out the president plays absolutely no role in signing anything. He doesn't play a role in amending the constitution. But he endorsed that amendment.
I think a lot of people are going to say he's trying to divide the electorate to his advantage. That has worked for the Republicans in 1994, when they took over Congress and in 2002, but those were mid- term elections. It's hard to see how a base rallying strategy will work with the high turnout you get in a presidential year.
LIN: Well, let's talk about another Bush campaign strategy going after the Democratic ticket. John Edwards: there was a piece in the New York Times today, talking about how sometimes good looks can play for you. But really, often against you.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, of course, I wouldn't say we elect presidential candidates based on looks, the comment was famously made about the Republican candidate in 1948, Thomas Dewy, that he looked like he fell off a wedding cake. Which was a way of saying he was stiff.
John Kennedy was good looking. People who watched him debate Richard Nixon may have responded to that. But I think, in particular, it was Kennedy's youth and vigor and dynamism that appealed to voters after 8 years of Dwight Eisenhower.
You are quite right, youth and good looks can be a problem. It was a problem for Dan Quayle, because a lot of people said well he's young and good looking, but perhaps he's not very serious. And some people are making the same kind of statement about John Edwards. In fact, Senator Kerry said, our ticket has better hair than their ticket.
That's not an issue I feel qualified to comment on, except perhaps to say that grass doesn't grow on a busy street.
LIN: Yes, but at least Rush Limbaugh is not calling you a brat girl like he is John Edwards.
SCHNEIDER: Right.
LIN: All right. Thanks, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
LIN: Coming up on "CNN SUNDAY NIGHT," do good looks help or hurt the race for the White House. I'm going to be talking with 2 guests who have their fingers on the pulse of American pop culture. That's on "CNN SUNDAY NIGHT,' 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.
Still to come in CNN LIVE SUNDAY. It happens the first Tuesday of November every four years. But don't mark your calendar yet. Is this year's election subject to change?
Plus, it doesn't look that impressive, but this Web site could be worth millions. I'm going to be talking to the owner, and find out why he isn't quite ready to log off.
It's a hobby for all ages, and some mothers prove that it just gets better with time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: I'm Carol Lin. More of CNN LIVE SUNDAY in just a moment, but first a quick look at what's happening in the news. A promise not to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's top security official said today that his country will abide by international agreements on nuclear, biological and chemical programs.
The 9/11 commission could finish its final report this week. If it does, it could release its report early and before the Democratic Convention begins. The report looks at the attacks and ways to prevent future terrorism.
John Kerry's choice of Senator John Edwards as his running mate appears to be pulling in some big political contributions. The Kerry campaign says it raised more than $3 million over the Internet in the first three days after Edwards was named last week.
Reporting to a federal lockup in Houston. Tomorrow Lea Fastow starts a one-year sentence for her part in the Enron scandal. She was convicted of signing a bogus tax return to help her husband and her -- to hide illegal or ill-gotten income. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years.
An al Qaeda attacked to disrupt the Democratic process? Well it happened in Madrid, but could it happen here. It is a big concern to homeland security officials. So much so, that they are considering a plan that would allow the postponement of the elections if there's an attack.
Michael Isakoff is an investigative correspondent with "Newsweek" magazine in Washington. He's been following what it would take to postpone election day and writes an article about that.
Michael, when homeland security went to the Justice Department to ask if there was a plan, how legal this would be, was it with alarming concern or simply prudent planning purposes?
MICHAEL ISAKOFF, NEWSWEEK: It certainly was with concern. Whether alarming or not, it is another question. But certainly there is what many of them call alarming intelligence, credible intelligence that al Qaeda and/or its affiliates may be planning an attack to disrupt the election process. In fact, Secretary of Homeland Security Ridge said as much in last week's terror warning, where he specifically spoke to intelligence pointing to this.
Certainly the Madrid bombing did embolden al Qaeda. There's many indications of that. And led people to conclude that al Qaeda would seek to do duplicate such an attack, perhaps in the United States, perhaps in the election process.
Now, the question is, what happens if that happens. You may remember September 11 itself took place on a primary day in New York. There was a Democratic primary at the time. The state board of elections canceled the primary under the circumstances.
What we report about in "Newsweek" this week is the chairman of a new body, it's called the Federal Election Assistance Commission, has raised this issue with Homeland Security and pointed out that there is no entity that is currently empowered to cancel or postpone an election in the event of a catastrophic attack.
And I think this did strike a cord with Homeland Security officials. They began considering this. And last week, as we report, they asked the justice's department of legal counsel to review what legal steps might be needed.
LIN: And is it specifically only if there is a catastrophic attack, or are there caveats, for example, a specific threat in polling booths? ISAKOFF: Well, yes. Nobody has gotten that far down the road on that. There is contingency planning, or at least discussions about planning going on in homeland security on this very issue.
But look, any -- even hint, discussion, mentioning of postponing an election is no doubt going to stir up a thousand conspiracy theories and alarm a lot of people.
LIN: Mike, how long to postpone? I mean, a month? A year? Imagine there's an election day -- if September 11 actually happened on November 2nd. How long would it take before the country would be prepared to hold an election for president?
ISAKOFF: Well, clearly that would entirely depend on what the nature of the attack is and how big and what flowed from that. But -- and all these, as I say, are such insuperable questions, that it may be there could be nothing could be done.
But Homeland Security, you know, does contingency planning for lots of catastrophic scenarios. They've talked before also about threats to the political conventions, and other big sporting events in the United States. It would be only natural, I suppose, that they would want to think about contingency planning in this. But as I say, it would almost certainly have to be in the event of a truly catastrophic attack. Mere intelligence, I don't think would get to first base.
LIN: There you go. Michael, thank you very much. "Newsweek" magazine.
ISAKOFF: Thank you.
LIN: Well, before you contribute money to a political candidate, would it bother you to know that anybody with access to the Internet may be able to track your donation. It could happen. CNN's Alina Cho explains how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Easy as typing in your name. In this case, Patty Kennedy finds her address and her record of her $1, 250 donation to Joseph Lieberman on the Web site fundraise.org. Political contribution, part of the public record.
(on camera): You like Kerry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. I like Kerry. I don't think he's perfected.
CHO: Kennedy traditionally votes Democratic. Also gave money to Wesley Clark.
PATTY KENNEDY, CONSULTANT: I don't mind letting people know where I stand politically, and who I've contributed to. I'm happy to talk about it.
CHO: What about celebrities? Jerry Seinfeld may not publicize it, but he gave $2,000 each to Kerry and Clark.
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: Why do people always say that, I hate everybody. Why would I like him?
CHO: There's the $2,000 to Dennis Kucinich, courtesy of Matt Damon. Then there's Donald Trump.
He's covering all his bases. John Kerry, George Bush. There you go.
JONAH FERETTI, FUNDRACE.ORG FOUNDER: Check out your neighbors and check out your coworkers and boss and see who they're giving to. It's something that's the kind of thing people will do.
CHO (on camera): Fund Race was created to get people politically involved. It has blossomed into a voyeuristic thrill, getting more than 200,000 hits a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can keep track of everybody. It's good for the media.
CHO (voice-over): At this internet cafe...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that's anybody else's business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don't think there's expectation of privacy when you do that kind of thing.
CHO: Privacy experts say blame it on the Internet.
STEWART BAKER, PRIVACY EXPERT: Most of us are used to the idea that we're in control of who we tell about our political views. But those days are over.
CHO (on camera): Well, your money's out there.
KENNEDY: My money's there. I put my money where my mouth was.
CHO: Right.
KENNEDY: Let's hope it counts.
CHO (voice-over): Whether the information is public or not.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE0
LIN: Another Web site is also getting a lot of attention. It's kerry-edwards.com. But you won't find any pictures of the Democratic presidential candidate and his running mate. The online address belongs to Kerry Edwards, an Indianapolis bail bondsman. There he is. He joins us live now. Hi, Kerry.
KERRY EDWARDS, BAIL BONDSMAN: Hello, how are you doing.
LIN: I don't suppose your middle name is John?
EDWARDS: No.
LIN: No such luck there. All right.
EDWARDS: But my wife's name is Elizabeth.
LIN: Oh, I cannot believe this coincidence. How much do you think this Web site is worth? Because you've been offered a lot of money for it.
EDWARDS: Yes, I have. And I've actually been contacted by a couple of international companies who were interested in buying it. But I have no confirmed offers at the moment.
LIN: How much money have you been hearing?
EDWARDS: My largest confirmed offer was $150,000. And I've been told by a couple of other professional people that deal in domain brokering that it's worth much more than that.
LIN: Much more, how much more? $200,000? $300,000?
EDWARDS: Yeah.
LIN: Seriously?
EDWARDS: Yes.
LIN: $500, 000?
EDWARDS: I'm not really the person to ask, because I'm not really schooled in how they work. How they track, you know.
LIN: Well, who's contacted you specifically? You mentioned a couple of businesspeople. What about anybody from the campaigns?
EDWARDS: Tuesday morning I was contacted by the John Kerry campaign. And I spoke to their lead counsel. And they just decided to decline on the Web site at this time.
LIN: Now, this was your Web site -- it was just a family notion, right, to get pictures of a toddler out?
EDWARDS: Right. I just -- back in, I think it was 2002, I decided to register it, just for me and my son. My son's name is Kerry Edwards as well. And I would just put pictures of him on it, and e-mail my mom, tell her to go look at it. That's pretty much about it.
LIN: So when John Edwards was announced, what was your reaction?
EDWARDS: I was asleep, and then I got the phone call from the lead counsel. And I said, oh, boy.
LIN: Yeah. So when are you going to put their minds to rest? What are you going to do with this Web site?
EDWARDS: I think I'm going to -- I hope to wrap it up pretty soon. I was faxed a couple of offers last night. But I've not been able to get back in contact with those people to confirm who they are, or if they're legitimate offers. So maybe by Tuesday morning, I hope to get it done.
LIN: Now, you voted for President Clinton, right?
EDWARDS: Yeah. In '96, I believe.
LIN: OK, registered Democrat at the time. Why not help out the party again?
EDWARDS: How do you mean?
LIN: Sell it to the Kerry people for whatever they're willing to pay for it.
EDWARDS: For whatever they're willing to pay for it?
LIN: Yeah.
EDWARDS: I don't think they're willing to pay what it's actually worth, and I'm not in the financial position to just give away money. So if they were willing to pay what the Web site's worth, that's great, I'll give it to them.
LIN: Now, let's find something -- when we log on now, we see pictures of missing kids. What's that about?
EDWARDS: I was contacted by a man yesterday, he e-mailed me, and he was looking for his children and asked me if I would put that link up. And I was more than happy to do that.
LIN: Knowing that it would get a lot of hits?
EDWARDS: Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully, he will be able to find his children.
LIN: How many hits in the last week have you gotten on the Web site?
EDWARDS: I had not actually checked the total since yesterday. But since Tuesday morning, I believe like at noon, through maybe yesterday morning, it was like 200,000.
LIN: Wow! All right. I'm sure they're surprised at what they see. We'll see what happens.
Kerry Edwards, our regards to your wife Elizabeth. And let us know what happens with the Web site, will you?
EDWARDS: Thanks, Carol.
LIN: Thanks much. KerryEdwards.com. LIN: Elsewhere across America, in Boca Raton, Florida, the first target in a series of deadly 2001 anthrax attacks is getting a final fumigation. A company co-founded by former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani has begun decontaminating the building that housed a supermarket tabloid. The firm plans to move its headquarters into the space.
The California Highway Patrol says there were no serious injuries when a private plane made a forced landing on an interstate highway and hit a van yesterday. The Arizona pilot faces charges of flying while intoxicated.
The inaugural gay and lesiban family cruise, organized by media celeb, Rosie O'Donnell's company is under way. The Norwegian Don left New York today with some 2,100 passengers onboard.
Gay rights activists are urging Atlanta's mayor to take a stand on a bias case. It pits a prestigious southern golf club against the city's nondiscrimination ordinance. Our Betty Nguyen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA GEORGIA: I regret that Georgia is one of the few states that has not put on the books that anti- discrimination law.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over0: With that attitude looming in the Georgia legislature, the fight for gay rights moves to the back nine on atlanta's Druid Hills Golf Club. And the next play in the hands of Mayor Shirley Franklin.
FRANKLIN: As a matter of fact, Georgia is one of the few states that will have on the ballot in November an amendment, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
NGUYEN: At issue, the private group's practice of granting full privileges to wives and husbands, but not to gay companions. They have to pay the same $50,000 entrance fee as their partners.
DR. LEE KEYSER, LESBIAN MEMBER OF GOLF CLUB: That continues to put us in a second-class citizenship over there at that club. And we're not talking about in the future, we're talking about in the moment.
NGUYEN: These members Dr. Lee Keyser and attorney Randy New both have gay partners. The pair filed a complaint with the city of Atlanta's human relations commission and won which means the mayor must now decide whether to take legal action. And that's where city ordinances come into play.
(on camera): The ordinance gives the mayor the authority to strip one of the south's most prestigious golf clubs of its city permits, including its liquor license. Now this case went to mediation, both sides failed to find a common ground.
RANDY NEW, GAY MEMBER OF GOLF CLUB: This is a case where we're either treated equally or we're not. And that's a hard case to mediate. And I suggest the second mediation can't solve that problem any better than the first one did. And the mayor's going to have to make a decision.
NGUYEN: Golf club officials refuse to go on camera, but the Druid Hills general manager issued this statement. It says, "the club hopes to continue the mediation process."
Mayor Franklin has said little publicly about the case until now.
FRANKLIN: I don't have any hesitation in standing up for the rights for gays. None at all. I want to do it in a way that advances the cause as opposed to in a way that's going to cause us to be in a protracted lawsuit that we might lose.
NGUYEN: All sides believe this is a case that almost certainly will end up in the courts.
KEYSER: We are not going silently into this night.
NGUYEN: The only question is how far will it go.
FRANKLIN: We are reviewing the constitutionality of that ordinance. As it was passed, and adopted prior to my election. And we are looking for the options that I might have that can withstand the federal test.
NGUYEN: Betty Nguyen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Up next, how one woman is using her personal loss to ease the pain for grieving military families.
Plus, he wanted out. Looks like he's getting out. Shaquille O'Neal says adios to the Lakers. We're going to tell you where he's headed.
And move over, kids, the mothers are showing how skateboarding is really done.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Sixteen sailors may some day proudly show their grandchildren what the U.S. Navy bestowed on them today. In a ceremony at the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Station, the See Bees received purple hearts for their injuries suffered April 30 in Iraq. The honorees are all from Naval Construction Battalion 14. The purple heart is the world's oldest military decoration in present use.
Just this week the death total for multinational forces in Iraq topped 1,000. Many of the victims grieving friends and family, don't know about counseling. One woman is on a crusade to help them out. That woman is Marilyn Peterson, founder of Operation Stephen's Touch. She joins me live from Dallas, Texas. Marilyn, your story, it's pretty touching. You, yourself, dealt with a tremendous loss ten years ago when you lost your husband from complications of agent orange. He was a Vietnam vet?
MARILYN PETERSON, FOUNDER OPERATION STEPHEN'S TOUCH: That's correct. He was a Vietnam Veteran.
LIN: And you got this idea -- explain what this operation is. Exactly how does it work?
PETERSON: Operation Stephen's Touch is a caring, listening to the grieving family members of the military. It's provided and available to spouses, parents, adult children and siblings of those who have died as a result of military service. The caring and listening is provided by a Stephen minister...
LIN: Which is an existing organization, the Stephen Ministers.
PETERSON: Stephen Ministry, Operation Stephen's Touch is new. The Stephen's Ministries have been around since the 1970s, and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. And it's found in over 9,000 churches, 100 different denominations across the United States.
LIN: So, essentially, counselors in almost every city available?
PETERSON: They're not counselors, they're trained, compassionate and caring listeners.
LIN: And how is that different?
PETERSON: Counselors have much more training than the compassionate, caring listener. The Stephen Ministers have had about 50 hours of training. And they're job is just to listen, they're not clinicians, but they listen and give the compassionate caring.
LIN: And how do the military families reach you?
PETERSON: We have a Web site and a toll-free number. It's 888- 40-TOUCH. They can call that number, or contact us through the Web site. And then we'll ask them for their name, their phone number and their zip code and a volunteer will contact them back. And they will tell them how the process works. And it will probably take a week to get a Stephen Minister for them.
LIN: But Carolyn, I'm wondering, just from your own personal experience, why did you think there was this need? Most people turn to their family, their friends.
PETERSON: I've been a Stephens Minister for three years. And I worked with a lady who had -- her husband had died a year ago. And I could see what a benefit it was to have someone who wasn't a family member, or wasn't a friend that you could talk to confidentially, because a family member or friend may think you should get better right away and not let you go through the entire grief process.
LIN: Right. They don't want to witness what really happens in bereavement, which takes a long time.
PETERSON: And the person is worried about what they think. Because they're also probably grieving too.
LIN: Right. Right.
Do you think you would have benefited from this during your experience ten years ago when you lost your husband?
PETERSON: I think I would have benefited from it, too. Just to have someone to talk to. Because a lot of times you have things racing over and over in your head that you can't get out unless you're able to talk to someone about it.
LIN: All right. Well, Marilyn, good luck with the project. I know it's very new. A few people have contacted you. We'll follow up when the story grows. As the story grows.
PETERSON: Thank you.
LIN: Thanks, Marilyn.
PETERSON: OK.
LIN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal could be trading jerseys and heading to Florida. The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly agreed in principle to trade O'Neal to the Miami Heat. In place of the big center, the Lakers will receive forwards Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, Center Brian Grant and a future first-round draft pick. A deal can't become official until Wednesday when a league-wide moratorium on trades expires.
And American Lance Armstrong remains in sixth place overall in the Tour de France. Norway's bicyclist won today's 8th stage of the race with a last-minute burst of speed. The competitors rest tomorrow before tackling the mountains of Southern France.
After a rousing rendition of the National Anthem, President Bush watched the second game of the fourth season of tee ball get under way on the south lawn. Two challenger league teams had some big league help with the game. Jim Abbot (ph), Dave Dervecky (ph) and Cal Ripken, jr., served as coaches and commissioner. Challenger League teams consist of players mental or physical disabilities.
Skateboarding is usually associated with young people, but a group of California women is adding a different twist to the sport proving age really is just a number. CNN's Donna Tetrault picks it up from here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONNA TETRAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The look of skateboarding isn't what it used to be, girls are carving and doing ollies just like the boys. But these are, well, mature girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've always been kind of obsessed with skateboarding.
TETRAULT: This woman is leading a revolution: skateboarding moms. She's written a book, she's set up a Web site, and now women as far away as New Zealand are visiting it, and rolling into her world.
BARBARA ODANAKA, SKATEBOARDING MOM: When we step on these planks of wood, it's like total freedom. And I'm just ten all over again.
TETRAULT (on camera): When Barbara Odanaka is climbing the walls at home she says she would rather be crawling the walls at a skate park. And she's not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each trick, each thing that you accomplish just makes you feel so good for the rest of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Skateboarding is absolutely my favorite sport.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's usually a 12-year-old boy who's trying to show me how to do it, just do this.
TETRAULT (voice-over): And while some women shop for shoes, Odanaka and her friends spend thousands on skateboarding equipment.
ODANAKA: This is my latest toy. It's great finding a big long hill. And you carve it just like you would be carving snow.
TETRAULT: They show off their moves, bringing the next generation along.
ODANAKA: I'm no Tony Hawk. I'm a mom. So I do have to be a little careful. But ultimately I'd like to be a mom who can do things that Tony Hawk does on a skateboard.
TETRAULT: It's off to try the gymbo and avoid the asphalt hankie. Donna Tetrault for CNN, Laguna.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: That's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS," CNN takes an in-depth look at one of the most beloved and controversial families, the Kennedys.
At 8:00, "CNN PRESENTS: Fountain of Youth," a look at the cutting edge medical procedures to keep people looking young.
At 9:00 Eastern on LARRY KING WEEKEND, convicted serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer's parents, reveal why they have kept their now notorious last name.
And I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern. When it comes to picking a president, do good looks really matter? We're going to address the issue. The hour's headlines when I come back. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
