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American Morning

Lesson in Bomb-Making?; A Daughter's Story; Interview With Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee

Aired February 17, 2005 - 07:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Good to have you along with us today. Good morning again to you, by the way.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And likewise.

HEMMER: You learn a lot in school, don't you?

O'BRIEN: Many things.

HEMMER: At least that's the idea anyway.

O'BRIEN: But not that.

HEMMER: Yes. Students in one Florida high school say they learned how to make a bomb. Their chemistry teacher is now accused of breaking the law with an inappropriate lesson. We'll talk to a detective investigating that case and also what the teacher has to say about all this in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also, on a much different note, so many difficulties are facing military families. One of the most delicate, though, is a clash of ideology. What happens when some family members serve in the war while others oppose it at home? We're going to meet one family and see what it took for them to work out their differences.

HEMMER: A very interesting discussion there, too. Heidi Collins back with us as well. To the headlines now.

Good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And good morning once again to you, everybody.

"Now in the News" this morning.

Sources say President Bush could nominate a national intelligence director as early as today. The new position was created as part of the intelligence reform bill the president signed into law in December. The new director will be responsible for making sure agencies like the CIA and the FBI share information. No word yet on who the president is considering for the position.

More testimony is expected this morning from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who says terrorists are getting ready for another attack on the United States. In about two and a half hours, Secretary Rumsfeld is set to appear before the House Armed Services Committee to defend the Pentagon's $419 billion budget. In addition to Rumsfeld, other top officials came out yesterday saying terror groups may be planning new violence.

Final results from Iraq's landmark election expected to be certified in the next half-hour. We're waiting a news conference in Baghdad. A deadline to file complaints against the unofficial results expired yesterday. Much more on this story, though, throughout the show today.

In health news, word of a possible milestone in the race to create a vaccine for cancer. Researchers at the University of California say they have made progress in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. They say an experimental vaccine trains the immune system to fight tumors longer and extends the survival rate. But experts caution more research is need. We often hear that when new studies come out.

HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi.

O'BRIEN: That would be good news though.

COLLINS: Yes, it sure would.

HEMMER: There's a chemistry teacher in Florida, Orlando, Florida, in fact, on Monday, arrested after students claimed he taught them how to make and detonate bombs in class. The teacher, David Pieski, says it was all just a science project.

Well, a detective may find a different deal. From Orlando, Detective Kelly Boaz is investigating that matter. He's also a certified bomb technician.

Good morning, Detective, and thanks for your time here.

DET. KELLY BOAZ, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Sure.

HEMMER: I want to take you back to January. You find some sort of explosion at a golf club. About a month later you're called to a nearby home. What did you find in that home, detective?

BOAZ: On that particular call we got called out for some acid bombs, but both incidents were so close together that we started to put two and two together. The deputies that were already on the scene and I started saying, wait a minute, this might have something to do with the explosion that we had a month prior.

And then when we were talking with parents and some of the chemicals that she observed her son using really raised some red flags. And that's how it all began, how we started to put it together.

HEMMER: So then this student connected to the chemistry teacher in what way?

BOAZ: Well, he is a student of the chemistry teacher. And he advised that, hey, I'm just doing a chemistry project. Let me show you a videotape that I made, and let me show you how I did it.

HEMMER: And how did he explain the materials bringing them into the classroom? And was any of that illegal, Detective?

BOAZ: The materials that were in the classroom the teacher was not supposed to have by the school board. Some of the materials that were used we don't like to give out to the public, let alone to juveniles. And when you're mixing those two, it does make an explosive. So that's what caught our attention right away.

HEMMER: We want to look at this videotape again, because, you mentioned, he took it and showed it to you. On the screen for our viewers, you can watch this here. And what did the teacher say about whether or not he thought anything was being done wrong in his classroom?

BOAZ: He didn't think anything was being done wrong. He just thought it was a chemistry project. And we explained to him our Florida state statutes a destructive device and also what an explosive is under our Florida state statutes. But he just thought that he was doing a chemistry explosion.

He also advised that, hey, you know, people in the movies do this type of thing and whatnot. But I advised him, yes, you're right, but they're not -- those people are regulated. They're licensed. They're trained. And they're not 16 years old.

HEMMER: By the way, we tried to contact the teacher. We haven't gotten a comment from him or an attorney representing him at this point. We'll continue to work that. What did the school say? Why did they not know this was happening in the classroom?

BOAZ: The school board has been a tremendous asset in this investigation, and it's really been a pleasure working with them. They had told Mr. Pieski several times not to have any of these materials in his classroom. They had warned him on several occasions. But he didn't heed those warnings, and he continued to basically do his own thing, which caused him to get in trouble and lead us to him eventually. But the school board in itself has been a tremendous help in this investigation.

HEMMER: Yes, bottom line, Detective, how dangerous do you think these materials and the lessons could be, based on your experience?

BOAZ: It could kill you. And like I told the student, I said, would that device that you make, would you blow it up here in your house? He goes, no, absolutely not. I would be destroyed. I go, there's your answer.

HEMMER: The teacher's bail was set at $1,000. We'll watch it. Kelly Boaz down there in Orlando, Florida, the detective working that story. Thanks -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A young woman in Boston is facing a tough time. She's got to balance her opposition to war with respect for her mother's service in Iraq. CNN's Dan Lothian reports on this young woman's dilemma knowing that a loved one is in harm's way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSE GONZALES, DAUGHTER OF NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE SOLDIER: It's hard.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rose Gonzalez digs out photos of her mother, Migdalia Cortez (ph)...

GONZALES: I know I have them up here.

LOTHIAN: ... a sergeant in the Army National Guard, now providing base security in Iraq. It's an emotional journey through one family's conflict with war.

GONZALES: It's every day. You know, it's a waiting game. When will I hear from her? Has something happened to her? Just the other day, hearing that a roadside bomb kills three National Guard people, and that's all it says. And you're thinking, oh, my god. My mother isn't even listed on here. Se said it was somewhere near the city.

LOTHIAN: Gonzales keeps a map of Iraq on the wall of her home near Boston, a reminder of where her mother is and where she doesn't want her and other soldiers to be.

GONZALES: Bring the troops home. That's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see the military taken out of there.

LOTHIAN: At a recent anti-war rally in Boston, Gonzales, with one child and another on the way, joined other military families and some veterans in an emotional protest.

GONZALES: I'm going to be 30 this year, but I still need my mother and my children need their grandmother.

LOTHIAN: More tears as she read an e-mail from her mother.

GONZALES: I'm the front Humvee vehicle driver. I will be driving with an M16 out of the window in my arms. I hope I make everybody proud.

LOTHIAN: Cortez (ph), who was deployed for a year and a half, is proud to serve her country. Her daughter, who stays in touch by e- mail, stands equally tall in her opposition to war. But don't call her unpatriotic.

GONZALES: The rhetoric that you can't support the soldiers and be anti-war is false. And I feel like that's my experience. I feel like I can support her and I can support the soldiers without supporting the war.

LOTHIAN: Gonzales believes that in post-election Iraq, all of the military responsibilities should shift away from the U.S., allowing troops like her mother to come home. GONZALES: It's not like she's on some vacation. She's at war every day, and that makes every day seem like a year.

LOTHIAN: Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Responding to questions on Capitol Hill, yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that bringing U.S. troops home depends how quickly the insurgency can be subdued, perhaps within less than a year and a half -- Bill.

HEMMER: There is a new battle for Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease after a biopsy on enlarged lymph nodes under his arm. Doctors say the 75-year-old Pennsylvania Republican has an excellent chance of being cured with chemotherapy during the next six months.

And Specter said this about it: "I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents, and I'm going to beat this, too" -- end quote.

He's 75, plays squash every day. And we wish him well -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes, he's a tough guy. Certainly we do.

Let's take you now to Colorado where two children who were playing outdoors got a pretty big surprise. They found a bag full of cash in their subdivision east of Boulder, as much as $80,000. Police spent hours trying to separate the wet and moldy currency. They say it might have actually been there for months. Officials are speculating that the money might have been used in a drug deal.

Weather now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: From NASA, new images of Saturn's intriguing moon, Titan. The photos are from the Cassini spacecraft, making its fourth fly-by of Titan this week alone. NASA hopes the pictures might show the spot on Titan's surface where the spacecraft dropped a probe about a month ago. Scientists are especially interested in Titan's atmosphere, because it seems to resemble that of Earth about four billion years ago. How they know that from four billion years ago, I do not know.

O'BRIEN: We have no idea.

HEMMER: That's why they're the scientists.

O'BRIEN: Yes, they know.

HEMMER: Right.

O'BRIEN: The key prosecution witness in a massive fraud scandal admits to lying. Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

HEMMER: Also, Spike Lee's newest project takes him to the small screen for "Miracle's Boys." He and his wife took an unusual step to ensure realism on that show, and we'll talk about it this morning here as we continue on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Well, the price of indecency is likely to go higher. House lawmakers yesterday cited the 2004 Super Bowl incident as the watershed event that led to overwhelming support of new legislation.

If the bill goes through, here's the deal: The FCC's maximum fine for broadcasters will go up from $32,500 to $500,000 per violation. Fines could be issued without first giving a warning. And that bill requires that for an individual to be fined, the violation must be -- quote -- "willful and intentional." The handful of reps who oppose raising the fines complained of censorship. It works both ways.

Back to Jack, a similar topic now.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: They're tightening the screws on us everywhere, aren't they, huh? Man!

The government is going to take up its first big obscenity case. They don't have enough to do, right? There's not enough stuff going on that they've got to worry about all of this stuff, too.

A U.S. district court judge threw out an indictment against a California pornography company called Extreme Associates, Inc., saying that prosecutors overstepped their bounds. The Justice Department wants the indictment reinstated, arguing the ruling undermines obscenity laws.

The new attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, says selling or distributing obscene materials does not fall within First Amendment protections.

The question is: Are federal laws banning obscenity unconstitutional? The answers so far are as follows.

Jerry in Georgia writes: "According to current interpretations of the First Amendment to the Constitution, burning of the American flag in a public forum is permissible. When then should other obscenities not be tolerated?

"The Constitution was never intended to be the strong arm of morality," writes Doug in New Jersey. "But given the states' difficulty in keeping Internet pornography out of the reach of minors, I think federal laws should prevail on Internet obscenity."

Paul in Pennsylvania: "The U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson had the misfortune of saying, I can't define obscenity but I know it when I see it. Banning an activity or thing that can't be defined doesn't seem to make a lot of sense." D.W. in Crescent City: "I would think so, on the basis that obscenity is in the eye of the beholder. So local community standards should take precedence over federal standards."

And Jerry in Des Moines writes: "I'm sorry, Jack. I cannot rise to the occasion to answer your question. Today, I am in mourning, because the -- the -- I can hardly do this -- the hockey season has been canceled. I will try to pull myself together and respond to your question tomorrow."

That's all right, Jerry. You can take the day off.

HEMMER: I was surprised you showed up today.

CAFFERTY: Huh?

HEMMER: You were wearing black yesterday...

CAFFERTY: I show up every day.

HEMMER: ... in a deep state of mourning. Well, you showed a lot of guts.

CAFFERTY: Being here gives meaning and definition to my life. I find it necessary to participate in this program on a daily basis in order to give my existence some definition.

HEMMER: Spoken with such sincerity.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) off the couch. It's scaring me right at this moment. So, we're going to move on.

CAFFERTY: While they're at it, they should cancel all the rest of the hockey seasons, not just this one, but all the ones that may follow.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That may happen.

O'BRIEN: Again, we're going to move on.

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, guys. Bernie Ebbers' attorneys go on the offensive and also there is some possibly damaging evidence in another financial scandal. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

SERWER: Good morning, Soledad.

It's the most wonderful tactic in cross-examination, isn't it, when you say to a witness, so you lied about this stuff, but now you're not lying? So explain this to the jury. This is what happened yesterday to Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer -- excuse me -- of WorldCom being examined by Bernie Ebbers' attorney. He got him to acknowledge that he lied to the board of directors at WorldCom, and he short of sheepishly said, yes, I wasn't telling the truth. And then Reid Winegarten (ph), the attorney, said, so you lied your head off. You lied your head off. And the judge had to tell him to kind of calm down.

But it continued this way for the day. And then he got him to acknowledge more drug use, use of marijuana and cocaine as recently as 2001. So not a good day for Scott Sullivan. And I think it really helps Bernie Ebbers' case out.

Moving on to the HealthSouth trial, which is my favorite trial, Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth. William Owens, you remember his chief financial officer, he's the guy who was wearing the wire. And interesting thing happened there yesterday.

Owens told Scrushy his wife was worried about Owens going to prison for signing phony financial statements. And then the prosecutor said, did the CEO look surprised when you said "phony financial statements?" And the CFO said, no, not at all. It's just something we talked about all the time.

O'BRIEN: It didn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SERWER: So that's kind of damning stuff for old Mr. Scrushy down there, I would think.

O'BRIEN: Yes, one would think. All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Coming up, Spike Lee and his wife tackle a popular and inspiring book for their next project. They're going to tell us how they made sure that "Miracle's Boys" was true to life. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Director Spike Lee is aiming at a younger audience. He and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, are helping to bring a TV series to the N, the nighttime network for teens. The story, "Miracle's Boys," is about three orphan brothers who are trying to keep their family together in Harlem, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I see he went to a lot of trouble to throw this party for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I say I wanted a party?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you didn't say you wanted a party, Charlie. But you ain't said nothing since mommy died. I mean, what's up with that? We called you, we wrote, and we came to see you even to drag your lazy butt out. So I want to know right now on this stoop what's up? (END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee, are joining us this morning. Nice to see you, guys. Thanks for coming in to talk to us about this.

SPIKE LEE, PRODUCER, "MIRACLE'S BOYS": Glad to be here.

TONYA LEWIS LEE, PRODUCER, "MIRACLE'S BOYS": Thanks for having us.

O'BRIEN: This is based on a book by the same name, "Miracle's Boys." Why did you decide to bring it to life?

T. LEE: We haven't seen young black men on television in this way. So I think we are all very excited to bring such a strong story to the screen and to our teens.

O'BRIEN: People loved the book, I mean, especially teenagers loved the book. But is this true to the book? I mean, completely true? Or did I take a little artistic license, as they say?

T. LEE: We took a little license. I mean, we had a wonderful writer by the name of Kevin Arcidi (ph) who came on for us.

S. LEE: They softened it up.

T. LEE: We softened it up. Well, yes, we drew from who they were. You know, we grabbed their essence and let them, you know, go into different situations.

O'BRIEN: I read that you had. like, a team of young men from Harlem.

T. LEE: Men and women.

O'BRIEN: Oh, girls were in that, too?

T. LEE: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Who were sort of...

S. LEE: An advisory board.

O'BRIEN: Who were sort of helping, the advisory board. What kind of things did they advise on? And what would they say?

T. LEE: Yes.

S. LEE: Language.

T. LEE: Language, customs, you know...

O'BRIEN: So things that just didn't sound true.

T. LEE: Yes, it's been a long time since we were teenagers. O'BRIEN: Oh, come on.

T. LEE: You hate to really admit that, but it's been a long time. And they do things differently. You know, we used to actually date. You know, a guy would call me up and ask me out for a date and he'd pick me up in his car. And teens don't really do it like that anymore.

O'BRIEN: What was the goal of doing it? It's a six-part series over time. And we talk about young men. But they're really 20 and under, you know, the brothers.

T. LEE: Right.

O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about their story, and then also what your goal was in telling their story.

S. LEE: Well, I think for me it's a wonderful book. I'd like to say again it's by Jacqueline Woodson. And it shows this family trying to stay intact at a time when so many families of color -- black and Hispanic -- are torn apart. And what the forces are against them. And a lot of times I think the social service people, their job is to break up, especially black families. So this is like they're trying to keep together. And both parents are dead. You know, they're orphans. So they've got through everything. They've got to keep the family together.

O'BRIEN: And each segment chronicles sort of a particular struggle that they're going through. What was it like to direct the young actors? Because usually you sort of appeal to an older audience. Is it easier, less drama, more drama?

S. LEE: No, no, these guys, I mean, when you have really young kids like I did in "Crooklyn," that's a headache. But these guys are seasoned. I mean, they're young but they're not rookies. So a great cast, great cast.

O'BRIEN: It looks like it's wonderful.

T. LEE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming in and talking to us about it. We appreciate it.

T. LEE: Thank you so much for having us.

S. LEE: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: "Miracle's Boys" premiers in three one-hour installments tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday nights at 9:00 Eastern on the N, the nighttime network for teens.

HEMMER: Good stuff.

O'BRIEN: Yes. HEMMER: Top stories in a moment here. Also, any moment we expect to learn the final results of Iraq's historic election. Live to Baghdad when that happens as we continue top of the hour here. First, a break on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired February 17, 2005 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Good to have you along with us today. Good morning again to you, by the way.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And likewise.

HEMMER: You learn a lot in school, don't you?

O'BRIEN: Many things.

HEMMER: At least that's the idea anyway.

O'BRIEN: But not that.

HEMMER: Yes. Students in one Florida high school say they learned how to make a bomb. Their chemistry teacher is now accused of breaking the law with an inappropriate lesson. We'll talk to a detective investigating that case and also what the teacher has to say about all this in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also, on a much different note, so many difficulties are facing military families. One of the most delicate, though, is a clash of ideology. What happens when some family members serve in the war while others oppose it at home? We're going to meet one family and see what it took for them to work out their differences.

HEMMER: A very interesting discussion there, too. Heidi Collins back with us as well. To the headlines now.

Good morning.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And good morning once again to you, everybody.

"Now in the News" this morning.

Sources say President Bush could nominate a national intelligence director as early as today. The new position was created as part of the intelligence reform bill the president signed into law in December. The new director will be responsible for making sure agencies like the CIA and the FBI share information. No word yet on who the president is considering for the position.

More testimony is expected this morning from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who says terrorists are getting ready for another attack on the United States. In about two and a half hours, Secretary Rumsfeld is set to appear before the House Armed Services Committee to defend the Pentagon's $419 billion budget. In addition to Rumsfeld, other top officials came out yesterday saying terror groups may be planning new violence.

Final results from Iraq's landmark election expected to be certified in the next half-hour. We're waiting a news conference in Baghdad. A deadline to file complaints against the unofficial results expired yesterday. Much more on this story, though, throughout the show today.

In health news, word of a possible milestone in the race to create a vaccine for cancer. Researchers at the University of California say they have made progress in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. They say an experimental vaccine trains the immune system to fight tumors longer and extends the survival rate. But experts caution more research is need. We often hear that when new studies come out.

HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi.

O'BRIEN: That would be good news though.

COLLINS: Yes, it sure would.

HEMMER: There's a chemistry teacher in Florida, Orlando, Florida, in fact, on Monday, arrested after students claimed he taught them how to make and detonate bombs in class. The teacher, David Pieski, says it was all just a science project.

Well, a detective may find a different deal. From Orlando, Detective Kelly Boaz is investigating that matter. He's also a certified bomb technician.

Good morning, Detective, and thanks for your time here.

DET. KELLY BOAZ, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Sure.

HEMMER: I want to take you back to January. You find some sort of explosion at a golf club. About a month later you're called to a nearby home. What did you find in that home, detective?

BOAZ: On that particular call we got called out for some acid bombs, but both incidents were so close together that we started to put two and two together. The deputies that were already on the scene and I started saying, wait a minute, this might have something to do with the explosion that we had a month prior.

And then when we were talking with parents and some of the chemicals that she observed her son using really raised some red flags. And that's how it all began, how we started to put it together.

HEMMER: So then this student connected to the chemistry teacher in what way?

BOAZ: Well, he is a student of the chemistry teacher. And he advised that, hey, I'm just doing a chemistry project. Let me show you a videotape that I made, and let me show you how I did it.

HEMMER: And how did he explain the materials bringing them into the classroom? And was any of that illegal, Detective?

BOAZ: The materials that were in the classroom the teacher was not supposed to have by the school board. Some of the materials that were used we don't like to give out to the public, let alone to juveniles. And when you're mixing those two, it does make an explosive. So that's what caught our attention right away.

HEMMER: We want to look at this videotape again, because, you mentioned, he took it and showed it to you. On the screen for our viewers, you can watch this here. And what did the teacher say about whether or not he thought anything was being done wrong in his classroom?

BOAZ: He didn't think anything was being done wrong. He just thought it was a chemistry project. And we explained to him our Florida state statutes a destructive device and also what an explosive is under our Florida state statutes. But he just thought that he was doing a chemistry explosion.

He also advised that, hey, you know, people in the movies do this type of thing and whatnot. But I advised him, yes, you're right, but they're not -- those people are regulated. They're licensed. They're trained. And they're not 16 years old.

HEMMER: By the way, we tried to contact the teacher. We haven't gotten a comment from him or an attorney representing him at this point. We'll continue to work that. What did the school say? Why did they not know this was happening in the classroom?

BOAZ: The school board has been a tremendous asset in this investigation, and it's really been a pleasure working with them. They had told Mr. Pieski several times not to have any of these materials in his classroom. They had warned him on several occasions. But he didn't heed those warnings, and he continued to basically do his own thing, which caused him to get in trouble and lead us to him eventually. But the school board in itself has been a tremendous help in this investigation.

HEMMER: Yes, bottom line, Detective, how dangerous do you think these materials and the lessons could be, based on your experience?

BOAZ: It could kill you. And like I told the student, I said, would that device that you make, would you blow it up here in your house? He goes, no, absolutely not. I would be destroyed. I go, there's your answer.

HEMMER: The teacher's bail was set at $1,000. We'll watch it. Kelly Boaz down there in Orlando, Florida, the detective working that story. Thanks -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A young woman in Boston is facing a tough time. She's got to balance her opposition to war with respect for her mother's service in Iraq. CNN's Dan Lothian reports on this young woman's dilemma knowing that a loved one is in harm's way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSE GONZALES, DAUGHTER OF NATIONAL GUARD SERVICE SOLDIER: It's hard.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rose Gonzalez digs out photos of her mother, Migdalia Cortez (ph)...

GONZALES: I know I have them up here.

LOTHIAN: ... a sergeant in the Army National Guard, now providing base security in Iraq. It's an emotional journey through one family's conflict with war.

GONZALES: It's every day. You know, it's a waiting game. When will I hear from her? Has something happened to her? Just the other day, hearing that a roadside bomb kills three National Guard people, and that's all it says. And you're thinking, oh, my god. My mother isn't even listed on here. Se said it was somewhere near the city.

LOTHIAN: Gonzales keeps a map of Iraq on the wall of her home near Boston, a reminder of where her mother is and where she doesn't want her and other soldiers to be.

GONZALES: Bring the troops home. That's what I'd like to see. I'd like to see the military taken out of there.

LOTHIAN: At a recent anti-war rally in Boston, Gonzales, with one child and another on the way, joined other military families and some veterans in an emotional protest.

GONZALES: I'm going to be 30 this year, but I still need my mother and my children need their grandmother.

LOTHIAN: More tears as she read an e-mail from her mother.

GONZALES: I'm the front Humvee vehicle driver. I will be driving with an M16 out of the window in my arms. I hope I make everybody proud.

LOTHIAN: Cortez (ph), who was deployed for a year and a half, is proud to serve her country. Her daughter, who stays in touch by e- mail, stands equally tall in her opposition to war. But don't call her unpatriotic.

GONZALES: The rhetoric that you can't support the soldiers and be anti-war is false. And I feel like that's my experience. I feel like I can support her and I can support the soldiers without supporting the war.

LOTHIAN: Gonzales believes that in post-election Iraq, all of the military responsibilities should shift away from the U.S., allowing troops like her mother to come home. GONZALES: It's not like she's on some vacation. She's at war every day, and that makes every day seem like a year.

LOTHIAN: Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Responding to questions on Capitol Hill, yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that bringing U.S. troops home depends how quickly the insurgency can be subdued, perhaps within less than a year and a half -- Bill.

HEMMER: There is a new battle for Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease after a biopsy on enlarged lymph nodes under his arm. Doctors say the 75-year-old Pennsylvania Republican has an excellent chance of being cured with chemotherapy during the next six months.

And Specter said this about it: "I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents, and I'm going to beat this, too" -- end quote.

He's 75, plays squash every day. And we wish him well -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes, he's a tough guy. Certainly we do.

Let's take you now to Colorado where two children who were playing outdoors got a pretty big surprise. They found a bag full of cash in their subdivision east of Boulder, as much as $80,000. Police spent hours trying to separate the wet and moldy currency. They say it might have actually been there for months. Officials are speculating that the money might have been used in a drug deal.

Weather now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: From NASA, new images of Saturn's intriguing moon, Titan. The photos are from the Cassini spacecraft, making its fourth fly-by of Titan this week alone. NASA hopes the pictures might show the spot on Titan's surface where the spacecraft dropped a probe about a month ago. Scientists are especially interested in Titan's atmosphere, because it seems to resemble that of Earth about four billion years ago. How they know that from four billion years ago, I do not know.

O'BRIEN: We have no idea.

HEMMER: That's why they're the scientists.

O'BRIEN: Yes, they know.

HEMMER: Right.

O'BRIEN: The key prosecution witness in a massive fraud scandal admits to lying. Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

HEMMER: Also, Spike Lee's newest project takes him to the small screen for "Miracle's Boys." He and his wife took an unusual step to ensure realism on that show, and we'll talk about it this morning here as we continue on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Well, the price of indecency is likely to go higher. House lawmakers yesterday cited the 2004 Super Bowl incident as the watershed event that led to overwhelming support of new legislation.

If the bill goes through, here's the deal: The FCC's maximum fine for broadcasters will go up from $32,500 to $500,000 per violation. Fines could be issued without first giving a warning. And that bill requires that for an individual to be fined, the violation must be -- quote -- "willful and intentional." The handful of reps who oppose raising the fines complained of censorship. It works both ways.

Back to Jack, a similar topic now.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: They're tightening the screws on us everywhere, aren't they, huh? Man!

The government is going to take up its first big obscenity case. They don't have enough to do, right? There's not enough stuff going on that they've got to worry about all of this stuff, too.

A U.S. district court judge threw out an indictment against a California pornography company called Extreme Associates, Inc., saying that prosecutors overstepped their bounds. The Justice Department wants the indictment reinstated, arguing the ruling undermines obscenity laws.

The new attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, says selling or distributing obscene materials does not fall within First Amendment protections.

The question is: Are federal laws banning obscenity unconstitutional? The answers so far are as follows.

Jerry in Georgia writes: "According to current interpretations of the First Amendment to the Constitution, burning of the American flag in a public forum is permissible. When then should other obscenities not be tolerated?

"The Constitution was never intended to be the strong arm of morality," writes Doug in New Jersey. "But given the states' difficulty in keeping Internet pornography out of the reach of minors, I think federal laws should prevail on Internet obscenity."

Paul in Pennsylvania: "The U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson had the misfortune of saying, I can't define obscenity but I know it when I see it. Banning an activity or thing that can't be defined doesn't seem to make a lot of sense." D.W. in Crescent City: "I would think so, on the basis that obscenity is in the eye of the beholder. So local community standards should take precedence over federal standards."

And Jerry in Des Moines writes: "I'm sorry, Jack. I cannot rise to the occasion to answer your question. Today, I am in mourning, because the -- the -- I can hardly do this -- the hockey season has been canceled. I will try to pull myself together and respond to your question tomorrow."

That's all right, Jerry. You can take the day off.

HEMMER: I was surprised you showed up today.

CAFFERTY: Huh?

HEMMER: You were wearing black yesterday...

CAFFERTY: I show up every day.

HEMMER: ... in a deep state of mourning. Well, you showed a lot of guts.

CAFFERTY: Being here gives meaning and definition to my life. I find it necessary to participate in this program on a daily basis in order to give my existence some definition.

HEMMER: Spoken with such sincerity.

O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) off the couch. It's scaring me right at this moment. So, we're going to move on.

CAFFERTY: While they're at it, they should cancel all the rest of the hockey seasons, not just this one, but all the ones that may follow.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That may happen.

O'BRIEN: Again, we're going to move on.

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, guys. Bernie Ebbers' attorneys go on the offensive and also there is some possibly damaging evidence in another financial scandal. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

SERWER: Good morning, Soledad.

It's the most wonderful tactic in cross-examination, isn't it, when you say to a witness, so you lied about this stuff, but now you're not lying? So explain this to the jury. This is what happened yesterday to Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer -- excuse me -- of WorldCom being examined by Bernie Ebbers' attorney. He got him to acknowledge that he lied to the board of directors at WorldCom, and he short of sheepishly said, yes, I wasn't telling the truth. And then Reid Winegarten (ph), the attorney, said, so you lied your head off. You lied your head off. And the judge had to tell him to kind of calm down.

But it continued this way for the day. And then he got him to acknowledge more drug use, use of marijuana and cocaine as recently as 2001. So not a good day for Scott Sullivan. And I think it really helps Bernie Ebbers' case out.

Moving on to the HealthSouth trial, which is my favorite trial, Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth. William Owens, you remember his chief financial officer, he's the guy who was wearing the wire. And interesting thing happened there yesterday.

Owens told Scrushy his wife was worried about Owens going to prison for signing phony financial statements. And then the prosecutor said, did the CEO look surprised when you said "phony financial statements?" And the CFO said, no, not at all. It's just something we talked about all the time.

O'BRIEN: It didn't (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SERWER: So that's kind of damning stuff for old Mr. Scrushy down there, I would think.

O'BRIEN: Yes, one would think. All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Coming up, Spike Lee and his wife tackle a popular and inspiring book for their next project. They're going to tell us how they made sure that "Miracle's Boys" was true to life. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Director Spike Lee is aiming at a younger audience. He and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, are helping to bring a TV series to the N, the nighttime network for teens. The story, "Miracle's Boys," is about three orphan brothers who are trying to keep their family together in Harlem, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I see he went to a lot of trouble to throw this party for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I say I wanted a party?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you didn't say you wanted a party, Charlie. But you ain't said nothing since mommy died. I mean, what's up with that? We called you, we wrote, and we came to see you even to drag your lazy butt out. So I want to know right now on this stoop what's up? (END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee, are joining us this morning. Nice to see you, guys. Thanks for coming in to talk to us about this.

SPIKE LEE, PRODUCER, "MIRACLE'S BOYS": Glad to be here.

TONYA LEWIS LEE, PRODUCER, "MIRACLE'S BOYS": Thanks for having us.

O'BRIEN: This is based on a book by the same name, "Miracle's Boys." Why did you decide to bring it to life?

T. LEE: We haven't seen young black men on television in this way. So I think we are all very excited to bring such a strong story to the screen and to our teens.

O'BRIEN: People loved the book, I mean, especially teenagers loved the book. But is this true to the book? I mean, completely true? Or did I take a little artistic license, as they say?

T. LEE: We took a little license. I mean, we had a wonderful writer by the name of Kevin Arcidi (ph) who came on for us.

S. LEE: They softened it up.

T. LEE: We softened it up. Well, yes, we drew from who they were. You know, we grabbed their essence and let them, you know, go into different situations.

O'BRIEN: I read that you had. like, a team of young men from Harlem.

T. LEE: Men and women.

O'BRIEN: Oh, girls were in that, too?

T. LEE: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: Who were sort of...

S. LEE: An advisory board.

O'BRIEN: Who were sort of helping, the advisory board. What kind of things did they advise on? And what would they say?

T. LEE: Yes.

S. LEE: Language.

T. LEE: Language, customs, you know...

O'BRIEN: So things that just didn't sound true.

T. LEE: Yes, it's been a long time since we were teenagers. O'BRIEN: Oh, come on.

T. LEE: You hate to really admit that, but it's been a long time. And they do things differently. You know, we used to actually date. You know, a guy would call me up and ask me out for a date and he'd pick me up in his car. And teens don't really do it like that anymore.

O'BRIEN: What was the goal of doing it? It's a six-part series over time. And we talk about young men. But they're really 20 and under, you know, the brothers.

T. LEE: Right.

O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about their story, and then also what your goal was in telling their story.

S. LEE: Well, I think for me it's a wonderful book. I'd like to say again it's by Jacqueline Woodson. And it shows this family trying to stay intact at a time when so many families of color -- black and Hispanic -- are torn apart. And what the forces are against them. And a lot of times I think the social service people, their job is to break up, especially black families. So this is like they're trying to keep together. And both parents are dead. You know, they're orphans. So they've got through everything. They've got to keep the family together.

O'BRIEN: And each segment chronicles sort of a particular struggle that they're going through. What was it like to direct the young actors? Because usually you sort of appeal to an older audience. Is it easier, less drama, more drama?

S. LEE: No, no, these guys, I mean, when you have really young kids like I did in "Crooklyn," that's a headache. But these guys are seasoned. I mean, they're young but they're not rookies. So a great cast, great cast.

O'BRIEN: It looks like it's wonderful.

T. LEE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming in and talking to us about it. We appreciate it.

T. LEE: Thank you so much for having us.

S. LEE: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: "Miracle's Boys" premiers in three one-hour installments tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday nights at 9:00 Eastern on the N, the nighttime network for teens.

HEMMER: Good stuff.

O'BRIEN: Yes. HEMMER: Top stories in a moment here. Also, any moment we expect to learn the final results of Iraq's historic election. Live to Baghdad when that happens as we continue top of the hour here. First, a break on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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