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American Morning

A Potential Bombshell in Scott Peterson Trial; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'

Aired September 09, 2004 - 08:30   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a potential bombshell in the Scott Peterson trial. This time the family dog figures into it, and it could be bad news for the defense. We'll talk about it coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. Another packed day of testimony in the Scott Peterson murder trial.

In a week that has focused on hair samples and DNA evidence, we'll get a report on how important that evidence is and some of the problems for the defense. Sort of complicated there.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, also in a few moments critics of comedian Bill Cosby are saying he's not qualified to judge after he made more critical comments about African-Americans and their kids. We'll ask a child psychiatrist if he agrees with the premise of the argument of Cosby. We'll get to that in a moment here.

First to the news. Daryn Kagan at CNN Center. Hey, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill good morning. We begin with some developing news. This just in. The British military helicopter has crashed in the Czech Republic.

Sources say at least six people were killed. That chopper apparently went down during a military exercise in the region. More on this developing story as details become available.

U.S. forces are restoring order in the Iraqi city of Samarra at this hour. Troops entered the city just hours ago for the first time in months.

Forces are there to regain control from insurgents and reinstate the local government.

Within the hour, Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies before the Senate about the situation in Sudan.

Powell visited the Darfur region during a stop last month. He's expected to tell lawmakers today that genocide may be taking place in the region.

Also on Capitol Hill, former boxing star Mohammed Ali will appear before a special hearing on reforms for professional boxing. Attorneys for several other boxers will also be present, including Evander Holyfield. The Energy and Commerce Committee is set to begin in about an hour. Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: All right Daryn, thanks for that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: And now to the Scott Peterson trial, where the focus has been on DNA evidence that prosecutors claim connects Peterson to his wife's murder, but there was other testimony yesterday that could prove damaging to the defense.

Dean Johnson, former San Mateo County prosecutor, is joining us from Redwood City, California this morning to talk about the developments. Dean, nice to see you once again.

What about this bombshell information about witnesses who supposedly saw Laci walking her dog? Why is this such a blow to the defense? Was it really Laci? Do we know that yet?

DEAN JOHNSON, FORMER SAN MATEO COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Well, the prosecution has proved that it has a few tricks up its sleeve. In the middle of all this DNA evidence, they bring in a witness by the name of Christopher Van Sant (ph).

Now we had heard about him earlier. He had told police that he saw a pregnant woman walking a dog near the Peterson home at about the time that Scott Peterson said Laci went for a walk.

He came in in the middle of all this DNA evidence -- sat down, gave very brief testimony and said yes, I saw a pregnant woman walking a dog but you know what? It wasn't Laci.

And that's very important. Because the defense has promised the jury that they're going to turn this into a quote, eyewitness case. They're going to say that they will produce eyewitnesses who saw Laci Peterson walking a dog.

The prosecution is now in a position to say yes, there was a pregnant woman walking a dog, but it wasn't Laci.

COLLINS: All right, interesting. Let's talk now about that hair. We've been talking now about this for a while. That was found in Scott's boat.

How are the prosecutor's trying to connect this hair to Laci's murder, and will the science actually back up the state's theory?

JOHNSON: Well, that's the big question. How are they going to connect this hair up? Just to put it in context, the hair is twisted in a pair of pliers that's found in Scott Peterson's boat.

Everyone had thought that the prosecution would say that these pliers were used to cut chicken wire that was wrapped around Laci's body before it was dumped in the bay.

Unfortunately for the prosecution, their own expert has now testified that that's not the case. Whatever was used to cut this chicken wire, it wasn't this pair of pliers. So they've established that it's probably Laci's hair in the pliers, that the pliers are Scott Peterson's pliers, but the big question remains so what?

COLLINS: Exactly. Well, we do understand that there were some words exchanged between Laci Peterson's family and Scott Peterson's family outside the courtroom. Its in the 15th week now of this case. Tensions are running high. What happened there?

JOHNSON: Well, I did not see the altercation. The story that we are told is that Scott Peterson's father, Lee Peterson and Ron Grantski, Laci Peterson's stepfather, were going down the escalator.

There'd been some discussion about fishing areas around Modesto and Lee Peterson said to Ron Grantski, well, where were you fishing that day? Ron Grantski turned around and said why don't you step outside and I'll show you where I was fishing. And there were a few other words exchanged.

And I think what this tells us is what's very understandable about the case; we are in about the 5th month of this case; both families are adamantly committed to their side of the case. And tensions are running high and the tension is beginning to wear on these families, as you would expect.

COLLINS: No question about it. Dean Johnson from Redwood City, California this morning for us. Dean thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Bill Cosby has taken some African-American parents to task lately for failing their children in his words. The entertainer was at it again yesterday, telling parents to, quote, hang up their cell phones and dial into their kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER/ACTIVIST: If your parent's come and sit in the classroom, or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone and you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systemic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: And Cosby's recent remarks before yesterday caused a seismic stir in the black community. Child psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint with us now from Watertown, Massachusetts here to talk about it and doctor, welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

I guess at the outset -- you are a friend of Bill Cosby's, worked with him in the past, how would you categorize your relationship with the comedian?

DR. ALVIN POUSSAINT, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: With Bill or with the community? HEMMER: With Bill.

POUSSAINT: With Bill. Well, I worked very closely with him. I -- he is a friend of mine. I talk to him frequently, and I continue to work with him on many different projects in the media, television and the movies.

So I talk to him frequently. I know what his feelings and opinions are because he's expressed many of these opinions to me over the years.

Just now he's becoming very public about it because I think he's very concerned about a deteriorating situation in the black community. The black high school drop out rate cumulatively is over 50 percent in many of the urban areas, so we're losing a lot of black youth who are not getting an education.

He doesn't feel there's enough parent involvement. We have a large percentage of black males, in particular, in jail. There's two million people in jail and about close to one million of those people are black. Most of them black males.

Many of the -- the young men in jail, particularly for violent crimes, close to 80 percent of them have been victims of child abuse and neglect.

Now these problems just don't effect the black community, but sometimes they concentrated in the black community because we have higher rates of poverty, discrimination, racial profiling and so on. But I think Cosby is right in saying parents have to be involved, parents have to support education. They can't give up on their youth; they have to be there for them.

And this also means teachers and other adults in the community that our children need mentors and I think many of them are angry because they do feel abandoned by adults or they do feel mistreated by adults and even by their parents. So I think Cosby is on to something that's very, very critical and important.

HEMMER: You mentioned angry. Your word. Just a second ago. Here is what Bill Cosby talked about -- about the anger he senses, too. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: And those of us on this panel who have come from way back it's a different world and you hear anger, you hear a great deal of anger from these children and nobody is really listening. Nobody knows where the anger comes from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Doctor, how do you interpret those comments? And back to your original point, too, about parents failing. Why is it that way in the African-American community?

POUSSAINT: Well, it's not -- it's not just the African-American community, but the African-American community has more than its share.

I think it's because often the adults understand the importance of parenting and don't give it their energy and need help sometimes.

Even parent education, how to be a good parent, and it starts when the child is born. I mean, supporting education -- you have to read to your children, you have to love you children and you can't, you can't neglect or abuse your children. It's very, very basic and I think that's what he's speaking to.

If you -- if children are abused and neglected, many of them grow up to feel angry and you can see a lot of that anger, often, as Cosby points out, in a lot of the angry rap music. Where the black rappers are talking very angrily about their women calling them derogatory names, talking about violence and using violence on people.

Those are all expressions of anger. The anger has to come from somewhere, and I think it comes because they are angry at how many of them were treated in their own community, sometimes by parents, some times by other adults, but sometimes by their peers in the community.

And you see still see a lot of gang warfare in the black community with black youth pitted against other black youth, so you have a disastrous situation here with close to one-half of the homicides in America each year are committed by young black men, mostly against black victims.

So, I think that the crisis that's present that Cosby is talking about is something that we have to give our attention to, and I think educational schools, I think the major civil rights organizations has to put this very high on their agenda, as Cosby indicates.

HEMMER: Thank you, doctor. Wish we had more time. Perhaps again.

Alvin Poussaint in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thank you. Heidi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, Alan Greenspan, why he thinks retirees could help bail out the government. He was talking yesterday.

Also ahead, in his 50's, former President Bill Clinton knew when to get his heart checked out, but when is the right time for you?

We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Bill Clinton is now out of intensive care, still resting, though. Recuperating from his quadruple bypass operation.

He may stay in the hospital four or five more days. The former president's condition putting the spotlight on heart disease. That's where we start again today with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, back in Atlanta and Sanjay, good morning to you with some advice today on how to stay heart healthy.

When is the right time to have blood pressure, cholesterol, all the heart related tests done and completed?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good question. A lot of people focused on that, especially this week with the story of former President Clinton.

First of all, blood pressure exams -- that's something that just about will be a routine part of any doctor's exam. Even for children. There's also the cholesterol numbers that we talked about so much.

Notice a lipid profile. That's a term you're going to hear doctor's use. And usually starting at about age 20. That's when doctors are going to start checking that.

Now if you're otherwise healthy, if it's a normal exam, then about every five years after that. If you have a significant family history then starting at about age 35 you're going to start having it checked every one to two years or so.

The goal obviously Bill is to try and keep your blood pressure down and also to try and keep your bad cholesterol -- that's the LDL -- keep those numbers down as well.

HEMMER: Sanjay what about EKG? What about the stress test?

GUPTA: Yes, well, you know, it's interesting. Let's look at it this way. If you're a 35-year-old man, for example, who is otherwise healthy but has a family history -- if you go to the doctor, they're going to order a series of tests.

They're going to get your blood pressure; they're also going to check your waistline. Looking for something known as metabolic syndrome, that's associated with obesity.

They're going to check your cholesterol. Probably recommend exercise and diet.

Now if you're 45 years old and you have a strong family history, but your cholesterol is also bumped over the last 10 years, you'll get the blood pressure, the lipids the waistline, also aggressive diet and exercise and perhaps medication known as a statin medication, which is a cholesterol-lowering medication.

And Bill, this is where they may start to order tests like EKG. An EKG test, for example, just measures the electrical conduction in your heart. Gives people a sense of how hard is your heart working at any given time.

There's also something know as a stress test. You see somebody doing it there. They're standing on a treadmill doing exercise. That is where they're going to basically find out how the heart reacts under stress. So those are two exams at that point that may be beneficial as well, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, listen, well, I'll look forward to your piece in "TIME" magazine next week.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HEMMER: You got it together yet?

GUPTA: It's all done, yes.

HEMMER: All right, excellent. Thank you, Sanjay. A lot of attention going with the news of Bill Clinton last week. All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Kids who grow up breathing polluted air may suffer for it as adults. Researchers watched children in the Los Angeles area for eight years.

They found kids who come from more heavily polluted areas were more likely to have lower lung capacity and higher risk of illness and premature death.

Still to come this morning, a sort of call to duty for retirees. Why Alan Greenspan thinks they could help out in a time of financial need. We're "Minding Your Business" here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Alan Greenspan's latest suggestion for retirees may be easier said than done. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business," but it's not the greatest news for seniors.

GERRI WILLIS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not at all. Of course, a lot of people are already looking for second careers, right?

But what Alan Greenspan is saying, hey, look. The government probably can't afford all of its Medicare, all of this Social Security that we're going to have to pay out over the years.

Maybe we were over promising and could under deliver -- it's probably a good thing that Greenspan isn't elected to his position because I can't imagine this is incredibly popular.

COLLINS: So what's going to happen? People are going to have to work until how late in life?

WILLIS: Well, God knows, right? I think the thing that we're seeing right now is a lot of people are looking for second careers already and not just because they need money, but also because they want to work longer. We're healthier longer.

A lot of people looking for jobs. If you are looking for a job, some of the things you can do get the best leads.

You know if you've been out of the work force your leads your contacts may be stale so check out some of these Web sites. Seniorhelpwanted.com, seniorjobbank.com, seniors.gov -- they're great places to go. Find senior-friendly companies -- there are a ton of them out there, because employers are starting to find that they need seniors now.

They need the experience; they don't have enough people out there to fill the jobs that they have so they're really looking at seniors with extended flexible schedules, things like that. And finally if you're worried about losing your benefits because you're working, social security, if you're already retired, don't worry about it, particularly if you're 65 or over, you won't lose your benefits. You could lose some if you're between 62 and 65 so check it out; AARP.gov is a great place to go for some information.

COLLINS: That's what I was just going to ask you about. That -- it always seems a little complicated there.

HEMMER: Thank you Gerri.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

HEMMER: You know -- yes.

TOURE, POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: You know what's a good company for seniors? The Oakland Raiders? Right? Warren Sapp, Jerry Rice, Rich Gannon.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: They're all going west, aren't they?

TOURE: Hello, baby.

HEMMER: What's up?

TOURE: So the language a society uses tells us a lot about what that society is and how they see themselves, right? Think of how Eskimos have more than 20 or 100 words for the word snow and...

WILLIS: Really?

TOURE: It's especially true that the slang created by a certain sub-culture tells us what they dream of being -- think of how hip-hop has so many words for money like cream and jetter (ph) and duckets (ph) and loochie (ph) and on and on.

Well there's a new little book that I'm in love with called "The Future Dictionary of America," with entries by a slew of great writers like Colson Whitehead, Jon Franzen, Rick Moody and the entries propose lingual innovations that will never come to fruition.

But in these short, creative definitions you get little mini stories and proposals for new language that should be and a vision of how the future perhaps should be. Let's look at a couple:

Caninedate: a dog who runs for elected office. COLLINS: Of course it is.

TOURE: Non-America is the world outside of the United States, and the writer talks about how in 2000 there's a survey of how 13 percent of Americans weren't really aware that there is a non-America and 85 percent of those found it on a map just by luck.

Errogance is a feeling of smug superiority over those who do not share one's own erroneous or misguided convictions.

Haute coulter: rabidly extreme viewpoints dressed up as fashionable patriotism. A little knock on our friend Ann Coulter, perhaps?

And this is one of my favorites. The no "there" there kid: an honorific position, they picked one sixth grader who monitors significant press conferences -- he goes, he sits next to the leader -- and whenever the leader doesn't actually answer the reporter's questions he dings the bell.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: I kind of like that.

COLLINS: That should happen all the time at press conferences.

HEMMER: C-Span 24 hours a day, right?

TOURE: Exactly.

HEMMER: That's the book there?

TOURE: That's the book. It's great fun. Definitely check it out.

HEMMER: And what's the other words for cash? Duckets?

TOURE: Duckets, cream, loochie.

COLLINS: God, I'm so out of it.

TOURE: You know, bling is not money exactly but you know the whole sense of it. I mean, you know. It's all about money.

HEMMER: I like it. Thank you Toure.

TOURE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Get a break here. In a moment when we come back here, for weeks John Kerry's military record dominated headlines and now President Bush's guard duty getting renewed scrutiny. We will tell you why. Top of the hour in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired September 9, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a potential bombshell in the Scott Peterson trial. This time the family dog figures into it, and it could be bad news for the defense. We'll talk about it coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. Another packed day of testimony in the Scott Peterson murder trial.

In a week that has focused on hair samples and DNA evidence, we'll get a report on how important that evidence is and some of the problems for the defense. Sort of complicated there.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, also in a few moments critics of comedian Bill Cosby are saying he's not qualified to judge after he made more critical comments about African-Americans and their kids. We'll ask a child psychiatrist if he agrees with the premise of the argument of Cosby. We'll get to that in a moment here.

First to the news. Daryn Kagan at CNN Center. Hey, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bill good morning. We begin with some developing news. This just in. The British military helicopter has crashed in the Czech Republic.

Sources say at least six people were killed. That chopper apparently went down during a military exercise in the region. More on this developing story as details become available.

U.S. forces are restoring order in the Iraqi city of Samarra at this hour. Troops entered the city just hours ago for the first time in months.

Forces are there to regain control from insurgents and reinstate the local government.

Within the hour, Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies before the Senate about the situation in Sudan.

Powell visited the Darfur region during a stop last month. He's expected to tell lawmakers today that genocide may be taking place in the region.

Also on Capitol Hill, former boxing star Mohammed Ali will appear before a special hearing on reforms for professional boxing. Attorneys for several other boxers will also be present, including Evander Holyfield. The Energy and Commerce Committee is set to begin in about an hour. Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: All right Daryn, thanks for that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: And now to the Scott Peterson trial, where the focus has been on DNA evidence that prosecutors claim connects Peterson to his wife's murder, but there was other testimony yesterday that could prove damaging to the defense.

Dean Johnson, former San Mateo County prosecutor, is joining us from Redwood City, California this morning to talk about the developments. Dean, nice to see you once again.

What about this bombshell information about witnesses who supposedly saw Laci walking her dog? Why is this such a blow to the defense? Was it really Laci? Do we know that yet?

DEAN JOHNSON, FORMER SAN MATEO COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Well, the prosecution has proved that it has a few tricks up its sleeve. In the middle of all this DNA evidence, they bring in a witness by the name of Christopher Van Sant (ph).

Now we had heard about him earlier. He had told police that he saw a pregnant woman walking a dog near the Peterson home at about the time that Scott Peterson said Laci went for a walk.

He came in in the middle of all this DNA evidence -- sat down, gave very brief testimony and said yes, I saw a pregnant woman walking a dog but you know what? It wasn't Laci.

And that's very important. Because the defense has promised the jury that they're going to turn this into a quote, eyewitness case. They're going to say that they will produce eyewitnesses who saw Laci Peterson walking a dog.

The prosecution is now in a position to say yes, there was a pregnant woman walking a dog, but it wasn't Laci.

COLLINS: All right, interesting. Let's talk now about that hair. We've been talking now about this for a while. That was found in Scott's boat.

How are the prosecutor's trying to connect this hair to Laci's murder, and will the science actually back up the state's theory?

JOHNSON: Well, that's the big question. How are they going to connect this hair up? Just to put it in context, the hair is twisted in a pair of pliers that's found in Scott Peterson's boat.

Everyone had thought that the prosecution would say that these pliers were used to cut chicken wire that was wrapped around Laci's body before it was dumped in the bay.

Unfortunately for the prosecution, their own expert has now testified that that's not the case. Whatever was used to cut this chicken wire, it wasn't this pair of pliers. So they've established that it's probably Laci's hair in the pliers, that the pliers are Scott Peterson's pliers, but the big question remains so what?

COLLINS: Exactly. Well, we do understand that there were some words exchanged between Laci Peterson's family and Scott Peterson's family outside the courtroom. Its in the 15th week now of this case. Tensions are running high. What happened there?

JOHNSON: Well, I did not see the altercation. The story that we are told is that Scott Peterson's father, Lee Peterson and Ron Grantski, Laci Peterson's stepfather, were going down the escalator.

There'd been some discussion about fishing areas around Modesto and Lee Peterson said to Ron Grantski, well, where were you fishing that day? Ron Grantski turned around and said why don't you step outside and I'll show you where I was fishing. And there were a few other words exchanged.

And I think what this tells us is what's very understandable about the case; we are in about the 5th month of this case; both families are adamantly committed to their side of the case. And tensions are running high and the tension is beginning to wear on these families, as you would expect.

COLLINS: No question about it. Dean Johnson from Redwood City, California this morning for us. Dean thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

HEMMER: Bill Cosby has taken some African-American parents to task lately for failing their children in his words. The entertainer was at it again yesterday, telling parents to, quote, hang up their cell phones and dial into their kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER/ACTIVIST: If your parent's come and sit in the classroom, or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone and you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systemic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: And Cosby's recent remarks before yesterday caused a seismic stir in the black community. Child psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint with us now from Watertown, Massachusetts here to talk about it and doctor, welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.

I guess at the outset -- you are a friend of Bill Cosby's, worked with him in the past, how would you categorize your relationship with the comedian?

DR. ALVIN POUSSAINT, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: With Bill or with the community? HEMMER: With Bill.

POUSSAINT: With Bill. Well, I worked very closely with him. I -- he is a friend of mine. I talk to him frequently, and I continue to work with him on many different projects in the media, television and the movies.

So I talk to him frequently. I know what his feelings and opinions are because he's expressed many of these opinions to me over the years.

Just now he's becoming very public about it because I think he's very concerned about a deteriorating situation in the black community. The black high school drop out rate cumulatively is over 50 percent in many of the urban areas, so we're losing a lot of black youth who are not getting an education.

He doesn't feel there's enough parent involvement. We have a large percentage of black males, in particular, in jail. There's two million people in jail and about close to one million of those people are black. Most of them black males.

Many of the -- the young men in jail, particularly for violent crimes, close to 80 percent of them have been victims of child abuse and neglect.

Now these problems just don't effect the black community, but sometimes they concentrated in the black community because we have higher rates of poverty, discrimination, racial profiling and so on. But I think Cosby is right in saying parents have to be involved, parents have to support education. They can't give up on their youth; they have to be there for them.

And this also means teachers and other adults in the community that our children need mentors and I think many of them are angry because they do feel abandoned by adults or they do feel mistreated by adults and even by their parents. So I think Cosby is on to something that's very, very critical and important.

HEMMER: You mentioned angry. Your word. Just a second ago. Here is what Bill Cosby talked about -- about the anger he senses, too. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: And those of us on this panel who have come from way back it's a different world and you hear anger, you hear a great deal of anger from these children and nobody is really listening. Nobody knows where the anger comes from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Doctor, how do you interpret those comments? And back to your original point, too, about parents failing. Why is it that way in the African-American community?

POUSSAINT: Well, it's not -- it's not just the African-American community, but the African-American community has more than its share.

I think it's because often the adults understand the importance of parenting and don't give it their energy and need help sometimes.

Even parent education, how to be a good parent, and it starts when the child is born. I mean, supporting education -- you have to read to your children, you have to love you children and you can't, you can't neglect or abuse your children. It's very, very basic and I think that's what he's speaking to.

If you -- if children are abused and neglected, many of them grow up to feel angry and you can see a lot of that anger, often, as Cosby points out, in a lot of the angry rap music. Where the black rappers are talking very angrily about their women calling them derogatory names, talking about violence and using violence on people.

Those are all expressions of anger. The anger has to come from somewhere, and I think it comes because they are angry at how many of them were treated in their own community, sometimes by parents, some times by other adults, but sometimes by their peers in the community.

And you see still see a lot of gang warfare in the black community with black youth pitted against other black youth, so you have a disastrous situation here with close to one-half of the homicides in America each year are committed by young black men, mostly against black victims.

So, I think that the crisis that's present that Cosby is talking about is something that we have to give our attention to, and I think educational schools, I think the major civil rights organizations has to put this very high on their agenda, as Cosby indicates.

HEMMER: Thank you, doctor. Wish we had more time. Perhaps again.

Alvin Poussaint in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thank you. Heidi.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, Alan Greenspan, why he thinks retirees could help bail out the government. He was talking yesterday.

Also ahead, in his 50's, former President Bill Clinton knew when to get his heart checked out, but when is the right time for you?

We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Bill Clinton is now out of intensive care, still resting, though. Recuperating from his quadruple bypass operation.

He may stay in the hospital four or five more days. The former president's condition putting the spotlight on heart disease. That's where we start again today with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, back in Atlanta and Sanjay, good morning to you with some advice today on how to stay heart healthy.

When is the right time to have blood pressure, cholesterol, all the heart related tests done and completed?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good question. A lot of people focused on that, especially this week with the story of former President Clinton.

First of all, blood pressure exams -- that's something that just about will be a routine part of any doctor's exam. Even for children. There's also the cholesterol numbers that we talked about so much.

Notice a lipid profile. That's a term you're going to hear doctor's use. And usually starting at about age 20. That's when doctors are going to start checking that.

Now if you're otherwise healthy, if it's a normal exam, then about every five years after that. If you have a significant family history then starting at about age 35 you're going to start having it checked every one to two years or so.

The goal obviously Bill is to try and keep your blood pressure down and also to try and keep your bad cholesterol -- that's the LDL -- keep those numbers down as well.

HEMMER: Sanjay what about EKG? What about the stress test?

GUPTA: Yes, well, you know, it's interesting. Let's look at it this way. If you're a 35-year-old man, for example, who is otherwise healthy but has a family history -- if you go to the doctor, they're going to order a series of tests.

They're going to get your blood pressure; they're also going to check your waistline. Looking for something known as metabolic syndrome, that's associated with obesity.

They're going to check your cholesterol. Probably recommend exercise and diet.

Now if you're 45 years old and you have a strong family history, but your cholesterol is also bumped over the last 10 years, you'll get the blood pressure, the lipids the waistline, also aggressive diet and exercise and perhaps medication known as a statin medication, which is a cholesterol-lowering medication.

And Bill, this is where they may start to order tests like EKG. An EKG test, for example, just measures the electrical conduction in your heart. Gives people a sense of how hard is your heart working at any given time.

There's also something know as a stress test. You see somebody doing it there. They're standing on a treadmill doing exercise. That is where they're going to basically find out how the heart reacts under stress. So those are two exams at that point that may be beneficial as well, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, listen, well, I'll look forward to your piece in "TIME" magazine next week.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HEMMER: You got it together yet?

GUPTA: It's all done, yes.

HEMMER: All right, excellent. Thank you, Sanjay. A lot of attention going with the news of Bill Clinton last week. All right -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Kids who grow up breathing polluted air may suffer for it as adults. Researchers watched children in the Los Angeles area for eight years.

They found kids who come from more heavily polluted areas were more likely to have lower lung capacity and higher risk of illness and premature death.

Still to come this morning, a sort of call to duty for retirees. Why Alan Greenspan thinks they could help out in a time of financial need. We're "Minding Your Business" here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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COLLINS: Alan Greenspan's latest suggestion for retirees may be easier said than done. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business," but it's not the greatest news for seniors.

GERRI WILLIS, FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not at all. Of course, a lot of people are already looking for second careers, right?

But what Alan Greenspan is saying, hey, look. The government probably can't afford all of its Medicare, all of this Social Security that we're going to have to pay out over the years.

Maybe we were over promising and could under deliver -- it's probably a good thing that Greenspan isn't elected to his position because I can't imagine this is incredibly popular.

COLLINS: So what's going to happen? People are going to have to work until how late in life?

WILLIS: Well, God knows, right? I think the thing that we're seeing right now is a lot of people are looking for second careers already and not just because they need money, but also because they want to work longer. We're healthier longer.

A lot of people looking for jobs. If you are looking for a job, some of the things you can do get the best leads.

You know if you've been out of the work force your leads your contacts may be stale so check out some of these Web sites. Seniorhelpwanted.com, seniorjobbank.com, seniors.gov -- they're great places to go. Find senior-friendly companies -- there are a ton of them out there, because employers are starting to find that they need seniors now.

They need the experience; they don't have enough people out there to fill the jobs that they have so they're really looking at seniors with extended flexible schedules, things like that. And finally if you're worried about losing your benefits because you're working, social security, if you're already retired, don't worry about it, particularly if you're 65 or over, you won't lose your benefits. You could lose some if you're between 62 and 65 so check it out; AARP.gov is a great place to go for some information.

COLLINS: That's what I was just going to ask you about. That -- it always seems a little complicated there.

HEMMER: Thank you Gerri.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

HEMMER: You know -- yes.

TOURE, POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: You know what's a good company for seniors? The Oakland Raiders? Right? Warren Sapp, Jerry Rice, Rich Gannon.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: They're all going west, aren't they?

TOURE: Hello, baby.

HEMMER: What's up?

TOURE: So the language a society uses tells us a lot about what that society is and how they see themselves, right? Think of how Eskimos have more than 20 or 100 words for the word snow and...

WILLIS: Really?

TOURE: It's especially true that the slang created by a certain sub-culture tells us what they dream of being -- think of how hip-hop has so many words for money like cream and jetter (ph) and duckets (ph) and loochie (ph) and on and on.

Well there's a new little book that I'm in love with called "The Future Dictionary of America," with entries by a slew of great writers like Colson Whitehead, Jon Franzen, Rick Moody and the entries propose lingual innovations that will never come to fruition.

But in these short, creative definitions you get little mini stories and proposals for new language that should be and a vision of how the future perhaps should be. Let's look at a couple:

Caninedate: a dog who runs for elected office. COLLINS: Of course it is.

TOURE: Non-America is the world outside of the United States, and the writer talks about how in 2000 there's a survey of how 13 percent of Americans weren't really aware that there is a non-America and 85 percent of those found it on a map just by luck.

Errogance is a feeling of smug superiority over those who do not share one's own erroneous or misguided convictions.

Haute coulter: rabidly extreme viewpoints dressed up as fashionable patriotism. A little knock on our friend Ann Coulter, perhaps?

And this is one of my favorites. The no "there" there kid: an honorific position, they picked one sixth grader who monitors significant press conferences -- he goes, he sits next to the leader -- and whenever the leader doesn't actually answer the reporter's questions he dings the bell.

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: I kind of like that.

COLLINS: That should happen all the time at press conferences.

HEMMER: C-Span 24 hours a day, right?

TOURE: Exactly.

HEMMER: That's the book there?

TOURE: That's the book. It's great fun. Definitely check it out.

HEMMER: And what's the other words for cash? Duckets?

TOURE: Duckets, cream, loochie.

COLLINS: God, I'm so out of it.

TOURE: You know, bling is not money exactly but you know the whole sense of it. I mean, you know. It's all about money.

HEMMER: I like it. Thank you Toure.

TOURE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Get a break here. In a moment when we come back here, for weeks John Kerry's military record dominated headlines and now President Bush's guard duty getting renewed scrutiny. We will tell you why. Top of the hour in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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