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American Morning
Fate of Terri Schiavo Now in Hands of Federal Judge in Florida; 'Kamber & May'
Aired March 21, 2005 - 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. The parents of Terri Schiavo are waiting to find out if a federal judge will intervene in her case, this after Congress and the president have stepped in. We're going to take a look at that, and also the potential political fallout just ahead.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in a moment here, Sanjay's back with us on the new science of memory. We'll talk about dirty tricks your mind can play on you, something called the seven sins of memory. Some really interesting stuff, too, so we'll get to Sanjay, starting our series today there.
Meanwhile, the fate of Terri Schiavo is now in the hands of a federal judge in Florida. President Bush signing a law just about 1:30 a.m. today, sending the controversial case to the federal court system. Schiavo's 41 years old. She's the woman who suffered heart failure and severe brain damage 15 years ago, in 1990. Her parents and her husband have been arguing for years about whether or not to remove her feeding tube.
Bob Franken is live outside Pinellas Park, Florida, the hospice where Schiavo is now being cared for.
Bob, good morning there. What's the reaction so far today?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction is sort of this anxious waiting. What we have been waiting for all night did not occur, and that was an order from a federal judge to reinsert the feeding tube. That had been the hope of the attorney, David Gibbs, who represents the blood relatives of Terri Schiavo. But thus far, he has not come back with the order that he's looking for.
Now part of it is because there's going to be a stiff fight in federal court from Mike Schiavo, Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo, who has been trying for so long to, in his perception, have a merciful death for his brain-damaged wife. He says in an interview on CNN this morning that he is going to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SCHIAVO: This is what Terry wanted. This is Terri's wish, OK, it's not President Bush's wish. This is about Terri Schiavo, not the government, not President Bush, and Governor Bush. They should be ashamed of themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: These are all arguments that we've heard before. This is a bitter case, a bitter family dispute. Just going to be argued now on a different venue in the federal courts -- Bill.
HEMMER: We'll argue it here with Kamber and May in a moment, too.
Bob Franken, thanks there from Florida.
Back to the headlines. Here's Carol Costello with that now. Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, Palestinian officials are condemning an Israeli decision to build thousands of new housing units in the West Bank. Final authorization coming down just a few hours ago. It could mean more friction in the Middle East peace talks. Palestinian and Israeli officials are already deadlocked over the transfer of the broader town of Calcurum (ph). The handover was originally scheduled for today.
The auto industry marking the passage of a sports car legend. That would be John Delorean. The car maverick left General Motors in 1973 to launch the Delorean Motor Car Company in Northern Ireland. Among his fastest models, the flashy car Michael J. Fox used to jump around time in the back to the future films. He died from a stroke. He was 80 years old.
Some Catholic bishops are taking on the death penalty. A Washington cardinal will launch a major campaign next hour. It will include legal advocacy, education work and a Web site. The group says advancements in DNA testing have proven many death row inmates were wrongfully convicted.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II is marking the start of holy week with a brief, but silent appearance Sunday in a window overlooking St. Peter's Square. The 84-year-old pope waved an olive branch to tens of thousands gathered in the square. It was the first time in 26 years as pope that he was unable to say Palm Sunday mass. And that's a concern, because, as you know, he was talking a few weeks ago.
O'BRIEN: Just a few words.
COSTELLO: Just a few words, right.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
A federal judge is in the process of deciding if Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be restored. Congress passed a law earlier today, in fact, 1:00 in the morning, that made that possible.
The House recalled members from their Easter break to debate this issue on the House floor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: For 58 long hours, her mouth has been parched, and her hunger pains have been throbbing. If we do not act, she will die of thirst.
REP. TOM WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: This Congress seeks to replace and substitute our judgment, even though not a single one of us, as far as I understand, has ever diagnosed Mrs. Schiavo, nor do we have the medical expertise to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Perfect topic now for Kamber and May.
Democratic consultant Victor Kamber is down in Miami.
Vic, good morning to you there.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
HEMMER: Also former RNC communications director, Cliff May, is back in D.C. at his normal post.
Good morning to you as well, Cliff.
CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Good morning.
Michael Schiavo was on with us last hour here. He says Congress has committed here an abuse of power. How can you argue against that, if Michael Schiavo's watching now?
MAY: Well, I would say the following, all we're talking about here is that a federal court should review the case to see if Terri Schiavo's civil rights, under federal law, have been violated. There's ample precedent for that. I can't see what the problem with that should be. And I think there is a possibility that her federal civil rights have been violated.
Look, if I had a dog who became disabled and I deprived it of nutrition and water, I could be arrested. Shouldn't Terri Schiavo have that same level of rights, at least?
HEMMER: So you're asking the question about civil rights. Victor, how do you come down on that?
KAMBER: Well, I mean, there are so many outrageous things that happened here. Watching Jack earlier, his outrage probably does equal mine. I mean, Congress to intervene on a state issue, first of all, the hypocrisy of this Congress to take over and make decisions for a state and redirect the state rule, for Republicans who sanctify marriage and talk about marriage, to intervene on a family situation, a personal situation like this, is just -- for Congress to come back on a weekend, for the president to fly back from his vacation, when he wouldn't even come out for two days after the tsunami, wouldn't deal with the 9/11, wouldn't -- hasn't been to a single funeral for one of our Iraqi soldiers. I mean, there are so many outrages here.
HEMMER: Let's get back to the issue of the law, though, Cliff. Do we know at this point whether or not what Congress has done is constitutional? Are we going to see ourselves now on the treadmill of legal issues now down in Florida...
MAY: Well, again, I think there's plenty of precedent. Look what it means when he's talking about the federal court review is simply this. If the federal court attempts to see whether a civil right has been violated. If no civil right has been violated, the federal court says we're going to let stand the local court's decision. But if the civil right has been violated, in that case they can say there's reason for the federal courts to step in.
HEMMER: You say there's plenty of precedent -- where's the precedent for this?
MAY: No, no precedent for this.
HEMMER: To Cliff first, then to Victor in Miami.
MAY: Yes, there's plenty of precedent. The federal courts often step in in civil rights. Look, if we had in Florida right now a terrorist who was being deprived of water to get him to tell where a bomb was being placed, Victor would say this is an outrage, it can't happen.
KAMBER: We are talking about a woman who for 15 years has been living on these tubes. The case has gone to court, has been settled in the state courts of Florida, and we have a congressional issue that's overturned that says basically, go to the federal court and retry this case all over again.
MAY: Not retry it, look at her federal civil rights.
Victor, why would it hurt if the tube were put back in for nutrition and water and we didn't kill her this week, we killed her next week or the week after, but we had time to debate it.
KAMBER: The point is, it's not about the woman; the point is what we've done to the law in this country.
MAY: No, that's not it either, Victor. Let me tell you what it's about. What it's about are those who are proponents of a right to life, versus those who are proponents of a right to die, and that is the big political issue there.
KAMBER: We're making this woman a political football to please a few people, and the fact that the president has a brother in Florida who can go and get some attention. That's what this is about.
MAY: That's ridiculous, victor. If that's the case, it's a political football, let's not kill her and let's debate it slowly. What's the rush to get her dead?
KAMBER: Cliff, it's no rush. She has been debated fully. The family has gone to court.
MAY: The family disagrees. The husband, who has conflict of interest, wants her dead. The parents do not. The parents do not.
KAMBER: Bill, you asked the question, this will be a constitutional issue, there's no doubt about it. She may long have died before the courts finally decide it, but...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Listen, if nothing else, even though it happened at 1:30 in the morning, this issue is still red hot. At this hour and throughout the day here, and possibly for the weeks to come.
Victor, thanks down in Miami. Cliff, thanks down there in D.C. as well.
To be continued, as we say. Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, thousands of lottery players are upset with "The New York Daily News" right now. A mistake in the paper's scratch and match lottery game made them think they'd won up to $100,000.
Julie Chang of WPIX TV live for us in New York this morning.
Hey, Julie. Good morning to you. What happened here?
JULIE CHANG, WPIX TV REPORTER: They are angry. Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, everyone.
Some of these Scratch and Match players started showing up as early as 6:00 this morning, and the validation center doesn't open for another hour. Now, we've got several police officers here, barricades set up because they're expecting hundreds of angry would-be winners to show up throughout the day.
The majority of these people in line thought they won $100,000. They see this as a mistake that "The Daily news" has to pay for.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT ESPOSITO, LOTTERY "WINNER": I have a sick mother. It would have made her feel a whole lot better, you know. She has cancer problems, and this was a big blow to her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won, I am a winner, and I expect to get paid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's fair, and I want my $100,000.
CHANG: The rule of the Scratch and Match sweepstakes is to scratch 10 boxes, and if three of them match, you're a winner. Monica Bragg thought she won $100,000. So she booked a cruise worth five grand. MONICA BRAGG, LOTTERY "WINNER": We need the money. We need the money. The trip that we were taking to Disney World with my grandson, because he deserved it. He's worked hard in school, and we've had a rough time. And we were just going to splurge just a little bit.
CHANG: Erica Latalladi also thought she won 100 grand. She even booked a ticket from Orlando to New York just to claim her winnings.
ERICA LATALLADI, LOTTERY "WINNER": Me, I wanted to, you know, put a down payment on a home in Florida. Just things like that. And it was just, you know, it was a happy feeling. And now it's all, like, gone.
CHANG: Louis Cardona was also fooled. He blew $1,300, thinking he had 10 grand to spare.
LOUIS CARDONA, LOTTERY "WINNER": It dawns on you, wow, you know, free money. You know what I mean? Let's enjoy it. Let's party.
CHANG: Soon after the Saturday mistake, the "Daily News" received more than 3,000 phone calls on their game hotline. The daily blames D.L. Blair, the company which administers the game, for printing 13 instead of 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we came in here on a legitimate win, and let's say the ticket was defaced or torn, they wouldn't pay. Now it's their mistake. They have to pay.
CHANG: Players are encouraged to send in their would-be winning tickets in for a future random drawing where the Saturday's winnings will be given out. However, that may not be good enough. A majority of the people we talked to in line say they plan to take legal action.
We're live in Manhattan. I'm Julie Chang reporting for CNN. Soledad, we'll send it back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Julie. Thanks a lot.
Wow, some disappointed folks there this morning. Thanks, Julie -- Bill.
HEMMER: I love that story. Give me my 100 grand, now.
(WEATHER REPORT.)
HEMMER: In the meantime, you need yourself a big fat fan down there, don't you, Chad. Blow that stuff outta there.
MYERS: Yeah, I know. I feel bad for the people in Augusta, because it always gets blown over there.
HEMMER: True. See you later.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.
Well, pending layoffs at an American automaker. Gerri Willis is in for Andy this morning, and she's "Minding Your Business," up next.
HEMMER: Also, have you ever run into an old acquaintance and you remember everything except for one thing, like their name. Sanjay tells us why that happens in a moment here. His memory series begins today.
And as we go to break, our trivia question of the day: Studies show that a deficiency in which vitamin can affect your memory? Is it Vitamin A, B or C? The answer after a break here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Before the break, here's the question. Studies show that a deficiency in which vitamin can affect memory, is it A, B or C? The answer: B. Particularly folic acid, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 play a role in the production of important brain chemicals required for cognition and other brain functions.
A perfect topic for our resident neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Memory is a huge part of our everyday lives. But how much do we know about it? Sanjay is putting together a primetime special on memory. It comes up at the end of the week on Sunday night. Today is our first of a five-part series. Good morning, Sanjay, in Atlanta.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yeah, you know, memory is one of those things, hard to define, yet everybody knows they want more of it. They can really enrich our lives, but it turns out, they're not always accurate. You see, Bill, we're good at remembering the gist of something that happened, but the devil is in the details, as we know. Sometimes our memories let us down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter has studied the ways our memories fail us, and he's written about them in, "The Seven Sins Of Memory."
Transience.
DANIEL SCHACTER, PSYCHOLOGIST, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Memories tend to fade over time.
GUPTA: Absent-mindedness.
SCHACTER: Lapses of attention.
GUPTA: Blocking -- when a word is on the tip of your tongue.
SCHACTER: We can't get at the information at the moment that we want it.
GUPTA: Misattribution.
SCHACTER: This occurs when some form of memory is present, but it's wrong. GUPTA: Suggestibility.
SCHACTER: This occurs when we remember things that did not happen, or we remember things differently from the way that they actually happened.
GUPTA: Hindsight bias.
SCHACTER: This occurs when our present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skews or distorts our memory for past events.
GUPTA: And persistence.
SCHACTER: Persistence occurs when we have a vivid memory, often an emotionally arousing or traumatic memory that we wish we'd forget but we can't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And those, of course, the "Seven Sins of Memory." Listen, so if you lose your car keys from time to time, or your forget the name of a familiar face, maybe you're not losing your mind. Maybe you're just committing one of the seven sins of memory.
HEMMER: See, well, the first of the seven sins is transience. How do we remember better over time, Sanjay?
GUPTA: One of the most difficult, for sure. Here's the problem with most people: To actually adequately remember something, you need to encode it and actually pay attention to it. So when something is happening to you, for example, an event you want to remember later on down the road, you have to be able to pay attention. And when you're paying attention to the event, you're actually encoding in your brain, making it much more likely to remember it later on down the line. What I'm saying, simply, is that we just don't pay attention enough, Bill.
HEMMER: I got it. So five years ago, when I meet the new neurosurgeon here at CNN, and later that day, I think it's doctor, ah --
GUPTA: That's right.
HEMMER: -- doctor?
GUPTA: Yeah, exactly.
HEMMER: Thanks, Sanjay. Sunday night, by the way. Primetime special, it's called "Memory" right here on CNN. We'll check in with Sanjay on that topic throughout the week.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Jittery investors want to know what the feds are going to do with interest rates tomorrow. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" up next. She's in for Andy, she going to tell us how this could affect your mortgage rates and the housing market too. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Fed meets, expected to raise interest rates yet again. Oil prices at record levels. Gerri Willis is here, looking at the markets, which are struggling, and the Fed meeting, which is tomorrow. Good morning. She's "Minding Your Business." Andy is somewhere.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andy's on vacation.
CAFFERTY: On vacation.
WILLIS: I believe. I believe that's right. Hi, Jack, good to see you.
Yes, we're expecting a mixed opening on the stock market today. Here's why. We told you about oil prices headed higher. That's weighing on the market, as is the meeting of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday. Here's what's going on there. Expectation that the Fed will raise interest rates by a quarter point on Tuesday. That would be the seventh consecutive increase. They would raise the Fed fund's rate to 2.75 percent. So concerns about that.
The other question you got to ask yourself, with interest rates heading higher, could it hurt the housing boom? Take a look at these numbers on mortgage rates. 30 year fixed rate mortgage, according to bankrate.com, six percent. Through a threshold here. Some people surprised, but I got to tell you, interest rates can only go higher from here.
CAFFERTY: That's still pretty cheap mortgage money, though. When you look historically back at what mortgages tend to cost, six percent is reasonable.
WILLIS: Long-term average about eight percent. You bet.
And, of course, we've got news out of G.M., too, this morning, Jack. We've got some layoffs going on there, as well. The company is saying that they will cut 20 percent of their white collar work force. I think some surprises there. The "Wall Street Journal" had reported 28 percent. And listen to this. The company out this morning saying that they're using accelerated attrition tools for these head counts.
CAFFERTY: That's political speak for you're out of here, Charlie.
WILLIS: Right, exactly.
CAFFERTY: Here's the check. Beat it.
WILLIS: Absolutely.
CAFFERTY: Accelerated attrition what? WILLIS: Accelerated attrition tools, which means...
O'BRIEN: You're fired.
WILLIS: Yes. They're doing the usual thing, trying to get people to retire earlier than usual. And the big news here, of course, these companies are having such a hard time keeping up with healthcare and pension costs.
CAFFERTY: Sure. Well, but Congress doesn't have time to fool with that, as we've been discussing this morning. Gerri, thanks.
Time for "The Cafferty File." Some people chew gum to freshen their breath. In Japan, they chew gum to freshen their profile. A company called B2 Up (ph) says it's bust-up gum, when chewed three or four times a day, can help enhance the size, shape and tone of the breasts. The gum supposedly works by releasing compounds contained in an extract from the plant which mimic the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen. The gum comes in a rose flavor and will soon be sold in convenience stores in England.
O'BRIEN: Got any of that gum, Jack?
CAFFERTY: My breasts are fine. Nothing wrong with my breasts.
HEMMER: Wait until he starts blowing bubbles.
CAFFERTY: When it comes to your kid's breakfast cereal -- serious story -- the new sugar-reduced versions aren't necessarily any better than the old ones. Associated Press asked experts to review six major brands of sweetened cereals. They found that although the new versions of cereal do have less sugar, they have no significant advantages over their full sugar counterparts, much to the delight of kids everywhere. A professor at NYU says, quote, "You're supposed to think it's healthy. This is about marketing, it's not about kids' health." Unquote.
And finally, a 5-year-old girl in St. Petersburg, Florida, arrested, cuffed and tossed into a police cruiser after an outburst at school. Five years old. The students were counting jelly beans as part of a math exercise, when the little girl began acting silly. The teacher took away her jelly beans. Big mistake. Girl went off. She threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the stomach and wrote on the walls. No charges were filed. The girl went home with her mother, who is, of course, defending the child's behavior, saying that she's never going to take that kid back to that school again.
HEMEMR: Amen! Take that, huh?
O'BRIEN: Well, there's something between like giving her a time- out and putting her in a cruiser, right? I mean, cuffing a 5-year- old?
CAFFERTY: See, my parents would have sided immediately with the police and said, lock her in a holding cell and I'll get her next Tuesday.
WILLIS: And this tells us a lot right there, I think.
O'BRIEN: For a 5-year-old?
CAFFERTY: We were always told if the police ever pick you up and you get one phone call, don't call home, because what we'll do to you is far worse than what the cop will probably do to you.
O'BRIEN: Is that why you turned out the way you turned out?
CAFFERTY: I have no idea why I turned out the way I did, but I'm telling you, that was the message from my parents.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
Top stories in a moment here. Top of the hour. Also, when life becomes all too real for reality television. A boxer on the show "Contender" takes his own life. We'll talk to the show's creator -- Mark Burnett is our guest -- as to why they kept his story in the series. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired March 21, 2005 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. The parents of Terri Schiavo are waiting to find out if a federal judge will intervene in her case, this after Congress and the president have stepped in. We're going to take a look at that, and also the potential political fallout just ahead.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also in a moment here, Sanjay's back with us on the new science of memory. We'll talk about dirty tricks your mind can play on you, something called the seven sins of memory. Some really interesting stuff, too, so we'll get to Sanjay, starting our series today there.
Meanwhile, the fate of Terri Schiavo is now in the hands of a federal judge in Florida. President Bush signing a law just about 1:30 a.m. today, sending the controversial case to the federal court system. Schiavo's 41 years old. She's the woman who suffered heart failure and severe brain damage 15 years ago, in 1990. Her parents and her husband have been arguing for years about whether or not to remove her feeding tube.
Bob Franken is live outside Pinellas Park, Florida, the hospice where Schiavo is now being cared for.
Bob, good morning there. What's the reaction so far today?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction is sort of this anxious waiting. What we have been waiting for all night did not occur, and that was an order from a federal judge to reinsert the feeding tube. That had been the hope of the attorney, David Gibbs, who represents the blood relatives of Terri Schiavo. But thus far, he has not come back with the order that he's looking for.
Now part of it is because there's going to be a stiff fight in federal court from Mike Schiavo, Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo, who has been trying for so long to, in his perception, have a merciful death for his brain-damaged wife. He says in an interview on CNN this morning that he is going to fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SCHIAVO: This is what Terry wanted. This is Terri's wish, OK, it's not President Bush's wish. This is about Terri Schiavo, not the government, not President Bush, and Governor Bush. They should be ashamed of themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: These are all arguments that we've heard before. This is a bitter case, a bitter family dispute. Just going to be argued now on a different venue in the federal courts -- Bill.
HEMMER: We'll argue it here with Kamber and May in a moment, too.
Bob Franken, thanks there from Florida.
Back to the headlines. Here's Carol Costello with that now. Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, Palestinian officials are condemning an Israeli decision to build thousands of new housing units in the West Bank. Final authorization coming down just a few hours ago. It could mean more friction in the Middle East peace talks. Palestinian and Israeli officials are already deadlocked over the transfer of the broader town of Calcurum (ph). The handover was originally scheduled for today.
The auto industry marking the passage of a sports car legend. That would be John Delorean. The car maverick left General Motors in 1973 to launch the Delorean Motor Car Company in Northern Ireland. Among his fastest models, the flashy car Michael J. Fox used to jump around time in the back to the future films. He died from a stroke. He was 80 years old.
Some Catholic bishops are taking on the death penalty. A Washington cardinal will launch a major campaign next hour. It will include legal advocacy, education work and a Web site. The group says advancements in DNA testing have proven many death row inmates were wrongfully convicted.
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II is marking the start of holy week with a brief, but silent appearance Sunday in a window overlooking St. Peter's Square. The 84-year-old pope waved an olive branch to tens of thousands gathered in the square. It was the first time in 26 years as pope that he was unable to say Palm Sunday mass. And that's a concern, because, as you know, he was talking a few weeks ago.
O'BRIEN: Just a few words.
COSTELLO: Just a few words, right.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
A federal judge is in the process of deciding if Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be restored. Congress passed a law earlier today, in fact, 1:00 in the morning, that made that possible.
The House recalled members from their Easter break to debate this issue on the House floor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: For 58 long hours, her mouth has been parched, and her hunger pains have been throbbing. If we do not act, she will die of thirst.
REP. TOM WEXLER (D), FLORIDA: This Congress seeks to replace and substitute our judgment, even though not a single one of us, as far as I understand, has ever diagnosed Mrs. Schiavo, nor do we have the medical expertise to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Perfect topic now for Kamber and May.
Democratic consultant Victor Kamber is down in Miami.
Vic, good morning to you there.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.
HEMMER: Also former RNC communications director, Cliff May, is back in D.C. at his normal post.
Good morning to you as well, Cliff.
CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMM. DIR.: Good morning.
Michael Schiavo was on with us last hour here. He says Congress has committed here an abuse of power. How can you argue against that, if Michael Schiavo's watching now?
MAY: Well, I would say the following, all we're talking about here is that a federal court should review the case to see if Terri Schiavo's civil rights, under federal law, have been violated. There's ample precedent for that. I can't see what the problem with that should be. And I think there is a possibility that her federal civil rights have been violated.
Look, if I had a dog who became disabled and I deprived it of nutrition and water, I could be arrested. Shouldn't Terri Schiavo have that same level of rights, at least?
HEMMER: So you're asking the question about civil rights. Victor, how do you come down on that?
KAMBER: Well, I mean, there are so many outrageous things that happened here. Watching Jack earlier, his outrage probably does equal mine. I mean, Congress to intervene on a state issue, first of all, the hypocrisy of this Congress to take over and make decisions for a state and redirect the state rule, for Republicans who sanctify marriage and talk about marriage, to intervene on a family situation, a personal situation like this, is just -- for Congress to come back on a weekend, for the president to fly back from his vacation, when he wouldn't even come out for two days after the tsunami, wouldn't deal with the 9/11, wouldn't -- hasn't been to a single funeral for one of our Iraqi soldiers. I mean, there are so many outrages here.
HEMMER: Let's get back to the issue of the law, though, Cliff. Do we know at this point whether or not what Congress has done is constitutional? Are we going to see ourselves now on the treadmill of legal issues now down in Florida...
MAY: Well, again, I think there's plenty of precedent. Look what it means when he's talking about the federal court review is simply this. If the federal court attempts to see whether a civil right has been violated. If no civil right has been violated, the federal court says we're going to let stand the local court's decision. But if the civil right has been violated, in that case they can say there's reason for the federal courts to step in.
HEMMER: You say there's plenty of precedent -- where's the precedent for this?
MAY: No, no precedent for this.
HEMMER: To Cliff first, then to Victor in Miami.
MAY: Yes, there's plenty of precedent. The federal courts often step in in civil rights. Look, if we had in Florida right now a terrorist who was being deprived of water to get him to tell where a bomb was being placed, Victor would say this is an outrage, it can't happen.
KAMBER: We are talking about a woman who for 15 years has been living on these tubes. The case has gone to court, has been settled in the state courts of Florida, and we have a congressional issue that's overturned that says basically, go to the federal court and retry this case all over again.
MAY: Not retry it, look at her federal civil rights.
Victor, why would it hurt if the tube were put back in for nutrition and water and we didn't kill her this week, we killed her next week or the week after, but we had time to debate it.
KAMBER: The point is, it's not about the woman; the point is what we've done to the law in this country.
MAY: No, that's not it either, Victor. Let me tell you what it's about. What it's about are those who are proponents of a right to life, versus those who are proponents of a right to die, and that is the big political issue there.
KAMBER: We're making this woman a political football to please a few people, and the fact that the president has a brother in Florida who can go and get some attention. That's what this is about.
MAY: That's ridiculous, victor. If that's the case, it's a political football, let's not kill her and let's debate it slowly. What's the rush to get her dead?
KAMBER: Cliff, it's no rush. She has been debated fully. The family has gone to court.
MAY: The family disagrees. The husband, who has conflict of interest, wants her dead. The parents do not. The parents do not.
KAMBER: Bill, you asked the question, this will be a constitutional issue, there's no doubt about it. She may long have died before the courts finally decide it, but...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Listen, if nothing else, even though it happened at 1:30 in the morning, this issue is still red hot. At this hour and throughout the day here, and possibly for the weeks to come.
Victor, thanks down in Miami. Cliff, thanks down there in D.C. as well.
To be continued, as we say. Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, thousands of lottery players are upset with "The New York Daily News" right now. A mistake in the paper's scratch and match lottery game made them think they'd won up to $100,000.
Julie Chang of WPIX TV live for us in New York this morning.
Hey, Julie. Good morning to you. What happened here?
JULIE CHANG, WPIX TV REPORTER: They are angry. Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, everyone.
Some of these Scratch and Match players started showing up as early as 6:00 this morning, and the validation center doesn't open for another hour. Now, we've got several police officers here, barricades set up because they're expecting hundreds of angry would-be winners to show up throughout the day.
The majority of these people in line thought they won $100,000. They see this as a mistake that "The Daily news" has to pay for.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT ESPOSITO, LOTTERY "WINNER": I have a sick mother. It would have made her feel a whole lot better, you know. She has cancer problems, and this was a big blow to her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won, I am a winner, and I expect to get paid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's fair, and I want my $100,000.
CHANG: The rule of the Scratch and Match sweepstakes is to scratch 10 boxes, and if three of them match, you're a winner. Monica Bragg thought she won $100,000. So she booked a cruise worth five grand. MONICA BRAGG, LOTTERY "WINNER": We need the money. We need the money. The trip that we were taking to Disney World with my grandson, because he deserved it. He's worked hard in school, and we've had a rough time. And we were just going to splurge just a little bit.
CHANG: Erica Latalladi also thought she won 100 grand. She even booked a ticket from Orlando to New York just to claim her winnings.
ERICA LATALLADI, LOTTERY "WINNER": Me, I wanted to, you know, put a down payment on a home in Florida. Just things like that. And it was just, you know, it was a happy feeling. And now it's all, like, gone.
CHANG: Louis Cardona was also fooled. He blew $1,300, thinking he had 10 grand to spare.
LOUIS CARDONA, LOTTERY "WINNER": It dawns on you, wow, you know, free money. You know what I mean? Let's enjoy it. Let's party.
CHANG: Soon after the Saturday mistake, the "Daily News" received more than 3,000 phone calls on their game hotline. The daily blames D.L. Blair, the company which administers the game, for printing 13 instead of 12.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we came in here on a legitimate win, and let's say the ticket was defaced or torn, they wouldn't pay. Now it's their mistake. They have to pay.
CHANG: Players are encouraged to send in their would-be winning tickets in for a future random drawing where the Saturday's winnings will be given out. However, that may not be good enough. A majority of the people we talked to in line say they plan to take legal action.
We're live in Manhattan. I'm Julie Chang reporting for CNN. Soledad, we'll send it back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Julie. Thanks a lot.
Wow, some disappointed folks there this morning. Thanks, Julie -- Bill.
HEMMER: I love that story. Give me my 100 grand, now.
(WEATHER REPORT.)
HEMMER: In the meantime, you need yourself a big fat fan down there, don't you, Chad. Blow that stuff outta there.
MYERS: Yeah, I know. I feel bad for the people in Augusta, because it always gets blown over there.
HEMMER: True. See you later.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.
Well, pending layoffs at an American automaker. Gerri Willis is in for Andy this morning, and she's "Minding Your Business," up next.
HEMMER: Also, have you ever run into an old acquaintance and you remember everything except for one thing, like their name. Sanjay tells us why that happens in a moment here. His memory series begins today.
And as we go to break, our trivia question of the day: Studies show that a deficiency in which vitamin can affect your memory? Is it Vitamin A, B or C? The answer after a break here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Before the break, here's the question. Studies show that a deficiency in which vitamin can affect memory, is it A, B or C? The answer: B. Particularly folic acid, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 play a role in the production of important brain chemicals required for cognition and other brain functions.
A perfect topic for our resident neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Memory is a huge part of our everyday lives. But how much do we know about it? Sanjay is putting together a primetime special on memory. It comes up at the end of the week on Sunday night. Today is our first of a five-part series. Good morning, Sanjay, in Atlanta.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yeah, you know, memory is one of those things, hard to define, yet everybody knows they want more of it. They can really enrich our lives, but it turns out, they're not always accurate. You see, Bill, we're good at remembering the gist of something that happened, but the devil is in the details, as we know. Sometimes our memories let us down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter has studied the ways our memories fail us, and he's written about them in, "The Seven Sins Of Memory."
Transience.
DANIEL SCHACTER, PSYCHOLOGIST, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Memories tend to fade over time.
GUPTA: Absent-mindedness.
SCHACTER: Lapses of attention.
GUPTA: Blocking -- when a word is on the tip of your tongue.
SCHACTER: We can't get at the information at the moment that we want it.
GUPTA: Misattribution.
SCHACTER: This occurs when some form of memory is present, but it's wrong. GUPTA: Suggestibility.
SCHACTER: This occurs when we remember things that did not happen, or we remember things differently from the way that they actually happened.
GUPTA: Hindsight bias.
SCHACTER: This occurs when our present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skews or distorts our memory for past events.
GUPTA: And persistence.
SCHACTER: Persistence occurs when we have a vivid memory, often an emotionally arousing or traumatic memory that we wish we'd forget but we can't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And those, of course, the "Seven Sins of Memory." Listen, so if you lose your car keys from time to time, or your forget the name of a familiar face, maybe you're not losing your mind. Maybe you're just committing one of the seven sins of memory.
HEMMER: See, well, the first of the seven sins is transience. How do we remember better over time, Sanjay?
GUPTA: One of the most difficult, for sure. Here's the problem with most people: To actually adequately remember something, you need to encode it and actually pay attention to it. So when something is happening to you, for example, an event you want to remember later on down the road, you have to be able to pay attention. And when you're paying attention to the event, you're actually encoding in your brain, making it much more likely to remember it later on down the line. What I'm saying, simply, is that we just don't pay attention enough, Bill.
HEMMER: I got it. So five years ago, when I meet the new neurosurgeon here at CNN, and later that day, I think it's doctor, ah --
GUPTA: That's right.
HEMMER: -- doctor?
GUPTA: Yeah, exactly.
HEMMER: Thanks, Sanjay. Sunday night, by the way. Primetime special, it's called "Memory" right here on CNN. We'll check in with Sanjay on that topic throughout the week.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Jittery investors want to know what the feds are going to do with interest rates tomorrow. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" up next. She's in for Andy, she going to tell us how this could affect your mortgage rates and the housing market too. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Fed meets, expected to raise interest rates yet again. Oil prices at record levels. Gerri Willis is here, looking at the markets, which are struggling, and the Fed meeting, which is tomorrow. Good morning. She's "Minding Your Business." Andy is somewhere.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andy's on vacation.
CAFFERTY: On vacation.
WILLIS: I believe. I believe that's right. Hi, Jack, good to see you.
Yes, we're expecting a mixed opening on the stock market today. Here's why. We told you about oil prices headed higher. That's weighing on the market, as is the meeting of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday. Here's what's going on there. Expectation that the Fed will raise interest rates by a quarter point on Tuesday. That would be the seventh consecutive increase. They would raise the Fed fund's rate to 2.75 percent. So concerns about that.
The other question you got to ask yourself, with interest rates heading higher, could it hurt the housing boom? Take a look at these numbers on mortgage rates. 30 year fixed rate mortgage, according to bankrate.com, six percent. Through a threshold here. Some people surprised, but I got to tell you, interest rates can only go higher from here.
CAFFERTY: That's still pretty cheap mortgage money, though. When you look historically back at what mortgages tend to cost, six percent is reasonable.
WILLIS: Long-term average about eight percent. You bet.
And, of course, we've got news out of G.M., too, this morning, Jack. We've got some layoffs going on there, as well. The company is saying that they will cut 20 percent of their white collar work force. I think some surprises there. The "Wall Street Journal" had reported 28 percent. And listen to this. The company out this morning saying that they're using accelerated attrition tools for these head counts.
CAFFERTY: That's political speak for you're out of here, Charlie.
WILLIS: Right, exactly.
CAFFERTY: Here's the check. Beat it.
WILLIS: Absolutely.
CAFFERTY: Accelerated attrition what? WILLIS: Accelerated attrition tools, which means...
O'BRIEN: You're fired.
WILLIS: Yes. They're doing the usual thing, trying to get people to retire earlier than usual. And the big news here, of course, these companies are having such a hard time keeping up with healthcare and pension costs.
CAFFERTY: Sure. Well, but Congress doesn't have time to fool with that, as we've been discussing this morning. Gerri, thanks.
Time for "The Cafferty File." Some people chew gum to freshen their breath. In Japan, they chew gum to freshen their profile. A company called B2 Up (ph) says it's bust-up gum, when chewed three or four times a day, can help enhance the size, shape and tone of the breasts. The gum supposedly works by releasing compounds contained in an extract from the plant which mimic the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen. The gum comes in a rose flavor and will soon be sold in convenience stores in England.
O'BRIEN: Got any of that gum, Jack?
CAFFERTY: My breasts are fine. Nothing wrong with my breasts.
HEMMER: Wait until he starts blowing bubbles.
CAFFERTY: When it comes to your kid's breakfast cereal -- serious story -- the new sugar-reduced versions aren't necessarily any better than the old ones. Associated Press asked experts to review six major brands of sweetened cereals. They found that although the new versions of cereal do have less sugar, they have no significant advantages over their full sugar counterparts, much to the delight of kids everywhere. A professor at NYU says, quote, "You're supposed to think it's healthy. This is about marketing, it's not about kids' health." Unquote.
And finally, a 5-year-old girl in St. Petersburg, Florida, arrested, cuffed and tossed into a police cruiser after an outburst at school. Five years old. The students were counting jelly beans as part of a math exercise, when the little girl began acting silly. The teacher took away her jelly beans. Big mistake. Girl went off. She threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the stomach and wrote on the walls. No charges were filed. The girl went home with her mother, who is, of course, defending the child's behavior, saying that she's never going to take that kid back to that school again.
HEMEMR: Amen! Take that, huh?
O'BRIEN: Well, there's something between like giving her a time- out and putting her in a cruiser, right? I mean, cuffing a 5-year- old?
CAFFERTY: See, my parents would have sided immediately with the police and said, lock her in a holding cell and I'll get her next Tuesday.
WILLIS: And this tells us a lot right there, I think.
O'BRIEN: For a 5-year-old?
CAFFERTY: We were always told if the police ever pick you up and you get one phone call, don't call home, because what we'll do to you is far worse than what the cop will probably do to you.
O'BRIEN: Is that why you turned out the way you turned out?
CAFFERTY: I have no idea why I turned out the way I did, but I'm telling you, that was the message from my parents.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
Top stories in a moment here. Top of the hour. Also, when life becomes all too real for reality television. A boxer on the show "Contender" takes his own life. We'll talk to the show's creator -- Mark Burnett is our guest -- as to why they kept his story in the series. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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