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American Morning
Terror Arrest; Celebrity Blog; '90-Second Pop'
Aired May 09, 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, on a Monday. That's the way to start your week right there, blue skies.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it looks nice, Central Park. The trees are green.
HEMMER: It's 72 degrees.
O'BRIEN: It's going to be spring one day.
HEMMER: Keep it coming. Some day.
A lot to talk about this morning with regard to Iraq. Insurgents lashing out again this weekend, targeting Iraqi police as well as American forces. We'll look at the American response today with a major new offensive, too, in the western part of Iraq, and also talk about this key arrest and whether or not that could help take the teeth out of the insurgency. Barbara Starr is spending -- standing by, rather, in a moment there.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the woman who is behind a new Web site called the Huffington Post. She's going to join us. That would be that lady right there, Arianna Huffington. Her Web site is bringing together a slew of bloggers, celebrities as well. We're going to talk to her about what her hopes are for this Web site.
First, let's get a check on the headlines, though, with Carol Costello.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to both of you. Good morning to all of you.
"Now in the News."
President Bush is wrapping up his visit to Moscow. The president is in Russia to mark 60 years since the end of World War II. He stood alongside the Russian president during a huge military parade in Moscow's Red Square earlier today. President Bush stressed that despite differences, there is a lot that Russia and the United States can do together.
Authorities in Ohio say they will retry the man suspected behind a string of Columbus-area highway shootings. The judge declared a mistrial after jurors could not agree whether Charles McCoy, Jr. was insane at the time of the shootings. One person was killed during that rampage.
A police shootout in the Los Angeles area caught on tape. You can hear the gunshots there. A suspect tries to get away, but sheriff's deputies open fire. The suspect was hit multiple times. He remains in stable condition, amazingly enough. He's facing a number of charges. No need to say that. One of the sheriff's deputies was struck by a stray bullet. He's said to be OK. Police were in the area investigating a shooting. They say there have been a series of shootings in recent weeks in this particular area.
A pastor of a small Baptist church in North Carolina is locked in a bitter battle with some members of his congregation. They say he tried to expel them for not supporting the Republican Party. The pastor called the incident "a misunderstanding" and tried to welcome the group back, but at least one person says there are still hurt feelings. We will hear from both sides in the next hour. And that is sure to be a heated discussion.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
Back to Iraq now, near the Syrian border in the western part of the country, coalition forces that were engaged in fierce fighting with insurgents. U.S.-led troops launched the offensive in the western Anbar province, where foreign fighters are said to be hiding out. Reports say about 75 militants have been killed so far. Also in Baghdad, at least four were killed when a suicide car bomb detonated at a police checkpoint there. And over the weekend, the U.S. death toll in the Iraqi war topped 1,600.
Meanwhile, the U.S. may have made a significant arrest in this fight against the insurgency. To the Pentagon and Barbara Starr now, who has the story from there.
Barbara -- what do you have?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Well, one new statistic, the number of car bombs in Iraq doubled in April over the post-election lull back in February.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice over): U.S. officials now have revealed that last week they captured the man who planned several bomb attacks that hit Baghdad April 29, part of a wave of rising violence. There is hope the arrest will bring them closer to getting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist leader responsible for months of attacks.
The U.S. military estimates nearly 300 Iraqi civilians and security forces have been killed in the last 10 days. But senior officials insist their information is getting better, each arrest now giving them more intelligence and more tips about Zarqawi.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: That intelligence allows you to plan future operations, which, after conducting those operations, also give you more intelligence. It's a virtual cycle that has permitted us of late to take down a significant part of the Zarqawi network.
STARR: The latest arrest? Mohammed Humsa al-Zubaydi (ph) is described by the U.S. as a prominent figure in the Zarqawi organization. Also captured in his home, letters, notes and sketches planning the assassination of a prominent Iraqi government official. The U.S. is not saying the name of that official.
The U.S. military clearly is ratcheting up its own information offensive. A new chart detailing Zarqawi's associates. Killed, wanted, and captured. And a U.S. military press release with the extraordinary statement that Zarqawi's captured driver told U.S. interrogators that Zarqawi became hysterical, Zarqawi did not know where he was on February 20 when he came close to being captured.
The military has said detainee interrogation statements are classified intelligence. So why now? One military officer told CNN, we want to show people he is not 10 feet tall. Another said, it's an effort to influence Iraqis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
But Bill, as you say, even today the violence continues in Iraq.
HEMMER: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, how about this? Kind of like being a fly on the wall at a Hollywood dinner party. Today, Arianna Huffington is launching what promises to be, she says, one of the highest-profile blogs yet. It's called thehuffingtonpost.com, where movie stars, musicians and other top personalities get to sound off on the news of the day.
Arianna Huffington joins us this morning.
Nice to see you.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, COLUMNIST: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: You've got a column. You've on TV. Why did you need to do a blog?
HUFFINGTON: Well, this is actually the combination of the two best things happening on the Internet: news and blogging. And we've brought together about 350 people. If you go to huffingtonpost.com right now, you'll see, for example, Ellen Degeneris and David Mammoth and Mike Nichols and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her husband, Brad Hall blogging.
And then, on the right-hand side of thehuffingtonpost.com, we have breaking news. Like, we are breaking news today with this embargoed book that shows that Saudi Arabian oil fields are rigged with radioactive dirty bombs. So if there is any invasion or any domestic unrest, they can actually blackmail the West to support them. So it's going to be this combination of these two elements that has made the Internet the most exciting thing happening.
O'BRIEN: You mentioned the 350 bloggers and some of the celebrities who are involved. Why do they want to be blogging? I mean, they've got to be pretty busy. Are they going to be just blogging one time for you?
HUFFINGTON: Well, no. They will blog whenever the spirit moves them. That's what is so great about it. They don't have to give up their day jobs. But whenever they have a thought, whenever they want to say something, they can just go online to have their password and blog about it.
O'BRIEN: Do you contact them? Or did they say, oh, Arianna, hey, I want to be one of your bloggers?
HUFFINGTON: I invited them. Everybody has been invited to participate. The public can go to the news wire and comment on anything that's happening. So it's going to be interactive, and it's going to be 24/7. We want people to be clicking on the refresh button and getting new blogs and new news. And that's the idea.
O'BRIEN: A lot of other competitors, obviously, are out there. How that do you sort of think that you can beat everybody else by your blogs?
HUFFINGTON: Oh, that's not at all our intention.
O'BRIEN: No.
HUFFINGTON: I love the blogosphere (ph). I love what's happening online. What I wanted to do is to bring some of the great voices, creative minds into the conversation. And we also have Drudge's right-hand man for 10 years, Andrew Brightbach (ph), who has joined us and he's producing the site. And he's going to be part of this really small but great team that's making this happen.
O'BRIEN: Is the goal to be controversial? I know you have Maggie Gyllenhaal on. And, as you well know, she had some sort of sound bite length comments about 9/11 that she spoke about very briefly. Is there a sense that she, along with other the celebrities, want to expand and explain their position? That they don't feel like they get enough time?
HUFFINGTON: You know, what is great is that they obviously get time, but the advantage here is that they're going to be unfiltered. It's going to be their voice, unedited, uncensored, whatever they want to say.
O'BRIEN: No PR representatives?
HUFFINGTON: Absolutely not. Just their voices.
O'BRIEN: Honing their message?
HUFFINGTON: Exactly. Just their voices. And they can write about anything. They can write about politics or they can write about cooking or they can write about their children. Right now, for example, this morning, you have a funny, really, hilarious piece by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall called blogging, about how gay marriage is destroying their happy marriage. Or you have Ellen Degeneris drawing attention to the fact that we are slaughtering horses and taking the meat and selling it for dog food. Or you have David Mammoth, the playwright, writing about can we trust the old media, can we trust the new media? So, there is a bit of everything there. And you don't know when you go back what you're going to find.
O'BRIEN: Today is the first day. We'll see how it's received. Arianna Huffington, nice to see you, as always.
HUFFINGTON: Great to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, thanks.
A check of the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, two of the biggest names in online trading are talking merger. Andy tells us what it could mean for investors as he minds your business just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, if you can't beat them, join them, huh? Paula Abdul poking fun at herself Saturday night on "SNL." Would it put an end to that "Idol" controversy, though? "90-Second Pop" back in a moment here with the original cast members.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's merger Monday. A multibillion-dollar deal might be in the works, one that could join two rival online brokerage firms. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Who are we talking about, Andy?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We're talking about E-Trade and Ameritrade. Remember, Soledad, back in 2000 there were at least a half-a-dozen of these online brokers. And everyone was going to be trading online ad nauseam. What happened, of course, is the stock markets flagged, and companies like Merrill Lynch started getting into the business as well. So, we've been seeing a lot of consolidation.
Now, published reports are saying that E-Trade wants to buy Ameritrade for about $5.5 billion. Charles Schwab, another giant in the business, and also TD Waterhouse, which apparently is also involved in the negotiations here. E-Trade is not commenting. You can see here the vitals on the two companies.
Let's talk about the markets last week. The third week in a row that the stock markets were up. You can see that the Dow was up over 152 points. Well, you can't see it, but I'll tell you that. On a percentage basis, up 1.5 percent, but it was 152 points.
This morning a big deal also percolating on Wall Street. Duke Power is buying Synergy, another utility, about a $9 billion deal. And Bill Hemmer can tell you that Synergy runs the old Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company. Southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, the part of the world.
HEMMER: Duke is out of Indiana, I think, right, Indianapolis maybe?
SERWER: Duke, I think North Carolina, right?
HEMMER: North Carolina?
SERWER: Duke Power.
HEMMER: The Blue Devils.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
HEMMER: See you later.
SERWER: We'll see.
HEMMER: Back to Jack. Here's the "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A majority of our high school students spend less than three hours a week on homework. Three hours a week. And still get good grades. A study out today by the University of Indiana, 55 percent of students devote no more than three hours a week to class participation -- or preparation, I should say. Sixty-five percent of these kids get a's or b's. That's wrong.
Eighty percent of these students say they plan to attend college. Research shows that many of these kids are not prepared for college- level work. And when they show up on campus, the first thing they have to do is give them remedial classes in things like English and basic math.
The question is this: Should high school students be made to work harder? Here's some of the mail we're getting.
Steve in Florida writes: "While high school students should be made to work harder" -- hello?
O'BRIEN: There we go.
CAFFERTY: "While high school students should be made to work harder, the only way to motivate a large percentage of the student populous is to require a high school diploma and English literacy at grade level before allowing them to work or have a driver's license."
That would motivate them.
O'BRIEN: That's an interesting idea.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That would flat out motivate them.
SERWER: Yes, it would.
CAFFERTY: But, I mean, the parents would scream bloody murder. What do you mean? My kid can't have a license? I got him a new BMW for his birthday. Nonsense.
Imran in Texas: "No, I'm a high school student and I work hard enough, thank you."
Kent State University, unsigned: "If teachers were better, yes. Most teachers think working harder means assigning more. However, high school should adopt the philosophy that college has: assign focused projects to broaden the students' understanding of a topic beyond what is covered in the classroom."
O'BRIEN: That's a good idea, too.
CAFFERTY: That would be homework. Stuff that's not covered in the classroom that would be homework.
SERWER: Sure, yes.
CAFFERTY: Richard in Florida: "Why? Their future jobs are being exported at alarming rates. Their future includes flipping burgers or bagging groceries."
And Greg in Nova Scotia writes: "You can't make teenagers do anything. The best you can do is encourage and help, and this doesn't mean leaving a note or calling from the golf course. Remember when you helped the girls with their homework, Jack? That's a lost art, indeed."
O'BRIEN: Wasn't there a while back where they were doing lots of stories on kids having too much homework? Do you remember? It was not that long ago.
SERWER: Yes, there were.
HEMMER: Overscheduled.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: Volleyball, softball, football, basketball.
O'BRIEN: No, but it wasn't the schedule. It was the homework, too.
SERWER: It's just too many hours of work.
O'BRIEN: Well, it seems like that we've come around.
CAFFERTY: Well, this is a national study.
SERWER: Right.
CAFFERTY: And if it averages three hours a week, that isn't too much.
O'BRIEN: That's pretty sad. All right, Jack, thanks.
Still ahead this morning, it's first for "The Apprentice." The final two contestants are both women. The 90-second poppers are going to tell us just who has got the edge. That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A very special day here at AMERICAN MORNING. The original cast of "90-Second Pop" is back in all their glory. Well, Toure is here, but Toure is always here.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Toure is always here.
HEMMER: Good morning.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: I'm old hat.
HEMMER: Sarah Bernard from "New York" magazine is in the house.
BERNARD: Thank you, Billy.
HEMMER: Here's Andy Borowitz now, borowitzreport.com. Andy is here also. This is like original Coca-Cola.
BERNARD: I know.
HEMMER: My gosh!
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Or the original cast of "Friends."
HEMMER: OK, that's it.
BOROWITZ: Or like when Haja Googoo (ph) gets together.
BERNARD: That's what it feels like.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
HEMMER: Paula Abdul was on "SNL"...
BERNARD: Yes, she was.
HEMMER: ... Saturday night, trying to do a little bit of, I guess, some damage control. Watch how it opened up on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA ABDUL, SINGER: All right, great sketch, you guys. I just have three notes. Chris, great impression, but you need to wear a push-up T-shirt. Keenan, you need about 14 more "dawgs." And, Amy...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ABDUL: ... you need to perfect the clap more a little more...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
ABDUL: ... and be a lot more sexier so that contestants will be willing to sleep with you and be willing to admit, we're live from New York. It's Saturday night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: All right, that was Saturday night and now it's Monday morning.
BERNARD: I think she said more sexier, by the way.
HEMMER: Yes?
BOROWITZ: She barely got through that coherently.
BERNARD: It sounded good. I know.
HEMMER: Did it work?
BERNARD: I don't think so. You know, "Saturday Night Live" obviously has become the place for disgraced celebrities to redeem themselves. Paris Hilton went on "Weekend Update," as we remember, after her sex tape, and Janet Jackson went on, and even Monica Lewinsky went on it way back in the day.
But the difference was, with them, their scandals were over. It was already just an embarrassing thing that they had to kind of work over.
HEMMER: This is still going on and on.
BERNARD: This is still going on. We don't know yet if she's going to be fired. We don't know what's going to happen with all of the...
TOURE: What are you talking about? She's not going to be fired.
BERNARD: She might be fired.
TOURE: She's not going to be fired. She didn't sleep with the boy. She's not going to be fired. Nothing is going to happen.
HEMMER: Do you think she is going to write ABC a...
BERNARD: I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for them to revive the show and get a new judge.
TOURE: They cannot get rid of Paula Abdul.
BERNARD: Why not?
TOURE: They can't get rid of Simon. They can't get rid of Paula. Those -- you can't get rid of those original pieces that made the show what it is.
BERNARD: I like that sentiment, though.
HEMMER: (INAUDIBLE), Andy.
BOROWITZ: Pat O'Brien, though, is going to feel like such an idiot. He's saying to himself, I had to sit opposite Dr. Phil for an entire hour. She's in and out in five seconds.
BERNARD: Yes.
HEMMER: I'm thinking Paula Abdul is going to write ABC a note of thank you anyway for all of the PR last week.
BERNARD: But we should have...
HEMMER: Next topic -- I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm sorry.
BERNARD: Well, that's all right. I've got to learn to hurry up.
HEMMER: Get back into the 90-second thing. Come on.
"The Apprentice" is actually still on television. Did we know that?
TOURE: It is. It is. If you're watching the show, we do know that they're stretching the end out a little bit, although the finale is only going to be one hour instead of last time it was...
BERNARD: Three?
TOURE: ... three, I think, or four...
BERNARD: Five?
TOURE: ... whatever. It was like a Discovery special. Hannah is going to win, strike a blow for street smarts as opposed to the...
BERNARD: Book smarts.
TOURE: ... book smarts, Ivy League crowd over here, partly because Kendra has a personality problem.
HEMMER: Right.
TOURE: And Tana is really good. But neither of them are particularly impressive at all.
HEMMER: So we're down to two women, right?
TOURE: Yes.
HEMMER: No more men?
TOURE: No more men.
BOROWITZ: Here's the deal. It's like all of the women on the Trump shows, none of them ever have real names. Have you noticed that? It's like Tana, Kendra. It's like Pokemon characters.
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: But don't you think that honestly -- I mean, remember last year we were all talking about Kelly? Where is Kelly? The whole point is it's just Donald. It really is Donald.
TOURE: Wait, wait. You still see Bill. Bill returns, he comes back to the show, he does a little press.
HEMMER: He's getting all kinds of mileage out of that thing.
TOURE: Kelly has, like, gone into, like, witness protection.
BOROWITZ: I've lost sleep over the whole Kelly thing.
BERNARD: You feel bad?
BOROWITZ: I do feel bad.
HEMMER: One more topic here. E! Online...
BOROWITZ: Yes.
HEMMER: ... that wonderful credible source E! Online, is now reporting that what Jennifer Garner...
BOROWITZ: J Garner is prego (ph). That is true.
HEMMER: She's pregnant.
BOROWITZ: She is pregnant. That's what E! Online is reporting. I saw this picture of her.
HEMMER: Yes?
BOROWITZ: She is looking a little marsupial, if I may say. She's got a little bit of a pouch down there.
HEMMER: Did you just get that?
BOROWITZ: Here, I think this is like...
BERNARD: You should see Soledad's face right now.
BOROWITZ: I know. I'm on thin ice. But I want to say, I think that she is pregnant, because right after this picture came out...
O'BRIEN: Marsupial!
BOROWITZ: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Right after this picture came out, Kevin Federline denied responsibility.
BERNARD: Come on.
HEMMER: So, you know it's got to be true, right?
TOURE: I think that being pregnant looks sexy, but that's just me. Whatever.
BOROWITZ: I just mean she's got a little something going on.
HEMMER: You know, coming off of Mother's Day weekend, Andy.
BERNARD: Exactly.
BOROWITZ: I'm sorry.
BERNARD: Just as we were having a nice rest from Ben Affleck, this has to break.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: But, like, J. Lo wants a baby, but Garner gets one. Like...
BERNARD: It's the injustice.
TOURE: ... you're in the wrong place.
HEMMER: Hey, Sarah, welcome back.
BERNARD: Thanks, Billy.
HEMMER: Let's have a group hug, all right?
BERNARD: All right.
BOROWITZ: Great.
HEMMER: It's good to see all three of you on a Monday.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, first of all, pregnant women are not marsupial. An on-air correction to that little mistake.
Also coming up in just a moment, the real-life science behind some of television's biggest hit shows. We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" for an up-close look at underwater "CSI." It's part of a special CNN series, "Anatomy of Murder." That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired May 9, 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, on a Monday. That's the way to start your week right there, blue skies.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it looks nice, Central Park. The trees are green.
HEMMER: It's 72 degrees.
O'BRIEN: It's going to be spring one day.
HEMMER: Keep it coming. Some day.
A lot to talk about this morning with regard to Iraq. Insurgents lashing out again this weekend, targeting Iraqi police as well as American forces. We'll look at the American response today with a major new offensive, too, in the western part of Iraq, and also talk about this key arrest and whether or not that could help take the teeth out of the insurgency. Barbara Starr is spending -- standing by, rather, in a moment there.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, the woman who is behind a new Web site called the Huffington Post. She's going to join us. That would be that lady right there, Arianna Huffington. Her Web site is bringing together a slew of bloggers, celebrities as well. We're going to talk to her about what her hopes are for this Web site.
First, let's get a check on the headlines, though, with Carol Costello.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to both of you. Good morning to all of you.
"Now in the News."
President Bush is wrapping up his visit to Moscow. The president is in Russia to mark 60 years since the end of World War II. He stood alongside the Russian president during a huge military parade in Moscow's Red Square earlier today. President Bush stressed that despite differences, there is a lot that Russia and the United States can do together.
Authorities in Ohio say they will retry the man suspected behind a string of Columbus-area highway shootings. The judge declared a mistrial after jurors could not agree whether Charles McCoy, Jr. was insane at the time of the shootings. One person was killed during that rampage.
A police shootout in the Los Angeles area caught on tape. You can hear the gunshots there. A suspect tries to get away, but sheriff's deputies open fire. The suspect was hit multiple times. He remains in stable condition, amazingly enough. He's facing a number of charges. No need to say that. One of the sheriff's deputies was struck by a stray bullet. He's said to be OK. Police were in the area investigating a shooting. They say there have been a series of shootings in recent weeks in this particular area.
A pastor of a small Baptist church in North Carolina is locked in a bitter battle with some members of his congregation. They say he tried to expel them for not supporting the Republican Party. The pastor called the incident "a misunderstanding" and tried to welcome the group back, but at least one person says there are still hurt feelings. We will hear from both sides in the next hour. And that is sure to be a heated discussion.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
Back to Iraq now, near the Syrian border in the western part of the country, coalition forces that were engaged in fierce fighting with insurgents. U.S.-led troops launched the offensive in the western Anbar province, where foreign fighters are said to be hiding out. Reports say about 75 militants have been killed so far. Also in Baghdad, at least four were killed when a suicide car bomb detonated at a police checkpoint there. And over the weekend, the U.S. death toll in the Iraqi war topped 1,600.
Meanwhile, the U.S. may have made a significant arrest in this fight against the insurgency. To the Pentagon and Barbara Starr now, who has the story from there.
Barbara -- what do you have?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Well, one new statistic, the number of car bombs in Iraq doubled in April over the post-election lull back in February.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice over): U.S. officials now have revealed that last week they captured the man who planned several bomb attacks that hit Baghdad April 29, part of a wave of rising violence. There is hope the arrest will bring them closer to getting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born terrorist leader responsible for months of attacks.
The U.S. military estimates nearly 300 Iraqi civilians and security forces have been killed in the last 10 days. But senior officials insist their information is getting better, each arrest now giving them more intelligence and more tips about Zarqawi.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: That intelligence allows you to plan future operations, which, after conducting those operations, also give you more intelligence. It's a virtual cycle that has permitted us of late to take down a significant part of the Zarqawi network.
STARR: The latest arrest? Mohammed Humsa al-Zubaydi (ph) is described by the U.S. as a prominent figure in the Zarqawi organization. Also captured in his home, letters, notes and sketches planning the assassination of a prominent Iraqi government official. The U.S. is not saying the name of that official.
The U.S. military clearly is ratcheting up its own information offensive. A new chart detailing Zarqawi's associates. Killed, wanted, and captured. And a U.S. military press release with the extraordinary statement that Zarqawi's captured driver told U.S. interrogators that Zarqawi became hysterical, Zarqawi did not know where he was on February 20 when he came close to being captured.
The military has said detainee interrogation statements are classified intelligence. So why now? One military officer told CNN, we want to show people he is not 10 feet tall. Another said, it's an effort to influence Iraqis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
But Bill, as you say, even today the violence continues in Iraq.
HEMMER: Barbara Starr from the Pentagon -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, how about this? Kind of like being a fly on the wall at a Hollywood dinner party. Today, Arianna Huffington is launching what promises to be, she says, one of the highest-profile blogs yet. It's called thehuffingtonpost.com, where movie stars, musicians and other top personalities get to sound off on the news of the day.
Arianna Huffington joins us this morning.
Nice to see you.
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, COLUMNIST: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: You've got a column. You've on TV. Why did you need to do a blog?
HUFFINGTON: Well, this is actually the combination of the two best things happening on the Internet: news and blogging. And we've brought together about 350 people. If you go to huffingtonpost.com right now, you'll see, for example, Ellen Degeneris and David Mammoth and Mike Nichols and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her husband, Brad Hall blogging.
And then, on the right-hand side of thehuffingtonpost.com, we have breaking news. Like, we are breaking news today with this embargoed book that shows that Saudi Arabian oil fields are rigged with radioactive dirty bombs. So if there is any invasion or any domestic unrest, they can actually blackmail the West to support them. So it's going to be this combination of these two elements that has made the Internet the most exciting thing happening.
O'BRIEN: You mentioned the 350 bloggers and some of the celebrities who are involved. Why do they want to be blogging? I mean, they've got to be pretty busy. Are they going to be just blogging one time for you?
HUFFINGTON: Well, no. They will blog whenever the spirit moves them. That's what is so great about it. They don't have to give up their day jobs. But whenever they have a thought, whenever they want to say something, they can just go online to have their password and blog about it.
O'BRIEN: Do you contact them? Or did they say, oh, Arianna, hey, I want to be one of your bloggers?
HUFFINGTON: I invited them. Everybody has been invited to participate. The public can go to the news wire and comment on anything that's happening. So it's going to be interactive, and it's going to be 24/7. We want people to be clicking on the refresh button and getting new blogs and new news. And that's the idea.
O'BRIEN: A lot of other competitors, obviously, are out there. How that do you sort of think that you can beat everybody else by your blogs?
HUFFINGTON: Oh, that's not at all our intention.
O'BRIEN: No.
HUFFINGTON: I love the blogosphere (ph). I love what's happening online. What I wanted to do is to bring some of the great voices, creative minds into the conversation. And we also have Drudge's right-hand man for 10 years, Andrew Brightbach (ph), who has joined us and he's producing the site. And he's going to be part of this really small but great team that's making this happen.
O'BRIEN: Is the goal to be controversial? I know you have Maggie Gyllenhaal on. And, as you well know, she had some sort of sound bite length comments about 9/11 that she spoke about very briefly. Is there a sense that she, along with other the celebrities, want to expand and explain their position? That they don't feel like they get enough time?
HUFFINGTON: You know, what is great is that they obviously get time, but the advantage here is that they're going to be unfiltered. It's going to be their voice, unedited, uncensored, whatever they want to say.
O'BRIEN: No PR representatives?
HUFFINGTON: Absolutely not. Just their voices.
O'BRIEN: Honing their message?
HUFFINGTON: Exactly. Just their voices. And they can write about anything. They can write about politics or they can write about cooking or they can write about their children. Right now, for example, this morning, you have a funny, really, hilarious piece by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall called blogging, about how gay marriage is destroying their happy marriage. Or you have Ellen Degeneris drawing attention to the fact that we are slaughtering horses and taking the meat and selling it for dog food. Or you have David Mammoth, the playwright, writing about can we trust the old media, can we trust the new media? So, there is a bit of everything there. And you don't know when you go back what you're going to find.
O'BRIEN: Today is the first day. We'll see how it's received. Arianna Huffington, nice to see you, as always.
HUFFINGTON: Great to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, thanks.
A check of the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, two of the biggest names in online trading are talking merger. Andy tells us what it could mean for investors as he minds your business just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, if you can't beat them, join them, huh? Paula Abdul poking fun at herself Saturday night on "SNL." Would it put an end to that "Idol" controversy, though? "90-Second Pop" back in a moment here with the original cast members.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's merger Monday. A multibillion-dollar deal might be in the works, one that could join two rival online brokerage firms. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Who are we talking about, Andy?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We're talking about E-Trade and Ameritrade. Remember, Soledad, back in 2000 there were at least a half-a-dozen of these online brokers. And everyone was going to be trading online ad nauseam. What happened, of course, is the stock markets flagged, and companies like Merrill Lynch started getting into the business as well. So, we've been seeing a lot of consolidation.
Now, published reports are saying that E-Trade wants to buy Ameritrade for about $5.5 billion. Charles Schwab, another giant in the business, and also TD Waterhouse, which apparently is also involved in the negotiations here. E-Trade is not commenting. You can see here the vitals on the two companies.
Let's talk about the markets last week. The third week in a row that the stock markets were up. You can see that the Dow was up over 152 points. Well, you can't see it, but I'll tell you that. On a percentage basis, up 1.5 percent, but it was 152 points.
This morning a big deal also percolating on Wall Street. Duke Power is buying Synergy, another utility, about a $9 billion deal. And Bill Hemmer can tell you that Synergy runs the old Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company. Southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, the part of the world.
HEMMER: Duke is out of Indiana, I think, right, Indianapolis maybe?
SERWER: Duke, I think North Carolina, right?
HEMMER: North Carolina?
SERWER: Duke Power.
HEMMER: The Blue Devils.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
HEMMER: See you later.
SERWER: We'll see.
HEMMER: Back to Jack. Here's the "Question of the Day."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A majority of our high school students spend less than three hours a week on homework. Three hours a week. And still get good grades. A study out today by the University of Indiana, 55 percent of students devote no more than three hours a week to class participation -- or preparation, I should say. Sixty-five percent of these kids get a's or b's. That's wrong.
Eighty percent of these students say they plan to attend college. Research shows that many of these kids are not prepared for college- level work. And when they show up on campus, the first thing they have to do is give them remedial classes in things like English and basic math.
The question is this: Should high school students be made to work harder? Here's some of the mail we're getting.
Steve in Florida writes: "While high school students should be made to work harder" -- hello?
O'BRIEN: There we go.
CAFFERTY: "While high school students should be made to work harder, the only way to motivate a large percentage of the student populous is to require a high school diploma and English literacy at grade level before allowing them to work or have a driver's license."
That would motivate them.
O'BRIEN: That's an interesting idea.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: That would flat out motivate them.
SERWER: Yes, it would.
CAFFERTY: But, I mean, the parents would scream bloody murder. What do you mean? My kid can't have a license? I got him a new BMW for his birthday. Nonsense.
Imran in Texas: "No, I'm a high school student and I work hard enough, thank you."
Kent State University, unsigned: "If teachers were better, yes. Most teachers think working harder means assigning more. However, high school should adopt the philosophy that college has: assign focused projects to broaden the students' understanding of a topic beyond what is covered in the classroom."
O'BRIEN: That's a good idea, too.
CAFFERTY: That would be homework. Stuff that's not covered in the classroom that would be homework.
SERWER: Sure, yes.
CAFFERTY: Richard in Florida: "Why? Their future jobs are being exported at alarming rates. Their future includes flipping burgers or bagging groceries."
And Greg in Nova Scotia writes: "You can't make teenagers do anything. The best you can do is encourage and help, and this doesn't mean leaving a note or calling from the golf course. Remember when you helped the girls with their homework, Jack? That's a lost art, indeed."
O'BRIEN: Wasn't there a while back where they were doing lots of stories on kids having too much homework? Do you remember? It was not that long ago.
SERWER: Yes, there were.
HEMMER: Overscheduled.
SERWER: Right.
HEMMER: Volleyball, softball, football, basketball.
O'BRIEN: No, but it wasn't the schedule. It was the homework, too.
SERWER: It's just too many hours of work.
O'BRIEN: Well, it seems like that we've come around.
CAFFERTY: Well, this is a national study.
SERWER: Right.
CAFFERTY: And if it averages three hours a week, that isn't too much.
O'BRIEN: That's pretty sad. All right, Jack, thanks.
Still ahead this morning, it's first for "The Apprentice." The final two contestants are both women. The 90-second poppers are going to tell us just who has got the edge. That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: A very special day here at AMERICAN MORNING. The original cast of "90-Second Pop" is back in all their glory. Well, Toure is here, but Toure is always here.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Toure is always here.
HEMMER: Good morning.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: I'm old hat.
HEMMER: Sarah Bernard from "New York" magazine is in the house.
BERNARD: Thank you, Billy.
HEMMER: Here's Andy Borowitz now, borowitzreport.com. Andy is here also. This is like original Coca-Cola.
BERNARD: I know.
HEMMER: My gosh!
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Or the original cast of "Friends."
HEMMER: OK, that's it.
BOROWITZ: Or like when Haja Googoo (ph) gets together.
BERNARD: That's what it feels like.
BOROWITZ: Yes.
HEMMER: Paula Abdul was on "SNL"...
BERNARD: Yes, she was.
HEMMER: ... Saturday night, trying to do a little bit of, I guess, some damage control. Watch how it opened up on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA ABDUL, SINGER: All right, great sketch, you guys. I just have three notes. Chris, great impression, but you need to wear a push-up T-shirt. Keenan, you need about 14 more "dawgs." And, Amy...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ABDUL: ... you need to perfect the clap more a little more...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
ABDUL: ... and be a lot more sexier so that contestants will be willing to sleep with you and be willing to admit, we're live from New York. It's Saturday night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: All right, that was Saturday night and now it's Monday morning.
BERNARD: I think she said more sexier, by the way.
HEMMER: Yes?
BOROWITZ: She barely got through that coherently.
BERNARD: It sounded good. I know.
HEMMER: Did it work?
BERNARD: I don't think so. You know, "Saturday Night Live" obviously has become the place for disgraced celebrities to redeem themselves. Paris Hilton went on "Weekend Update," as we remember, after her sex tape, and Janet Jackson went on, and even Monica Lewinsky went on it way back in the day.
But the difference was, with them, their scandals were over. It was already just an embarrassing thing that they had to kind of work over.
HEMMER: This is still going on and on.
BERNARD: This is still going on. We don't know yet if she's going to be fired. We don't know what's going to happen with all of the...
TOURE: What are you talking about? She's not going to be fired.
BERNARD: She might be fired.
TOURE: She's not going to be fired. She didn't sleep with the boy. She's not going to be fired. Nothing is going to happen.
HEMMER: Do you think she is going to write ABC a...
BERNARD: I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for them to revive the show and get a new judge.
TOURE: They cannot get rid of Paula Abdul.
BERNARD: Why not?
TOURE: They can't get rid of Simon. They can't get rid of Paula. Those -- you can't get rid of those original pieces that made the show what it is.
BERNARD: I like that sentiment, though.
HEMMER: (INAUDIBLE), Andy.
BOROWITZ: Pat O'Brien, though, is going to feel like such an idiot. He's saying to himself, I had to sit opposite Dr. Phil for an entire hour. She's in and out in five seconds.
BERNARD: Yes.
HEMMER: I'm thinking Paula Abdul is going to write ABC a note of thank you anyway for all of the PR last week.
BERNARD: But we should have...
HEMMER: Next topic -- I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm sorry.
BERNARD: Well, that's all right. I've got to learn to hurry up.
HEMMER: Get back into the 90-second thing. Come on.
"The Apprentice" is actually still on television. Did we know that?
TOURE: It is. It is. If you're watching the show, we do know that they're stretching the end out a little bit, although the finale is only going to be one hour instead of last time it was...
BERNARD: Three?
TOURE: ... three, I think, or four...
BERNARD: Five?
TOURE: ... whatever. It was like a Discovery special. Hannah is going to win, strike a blow for street smarts as opposed to the...
BERNARD: Book smarts.
TOURE: ... book smarts, Ivy League crowd over here, partly because Kendra has a personality problem.
HEMMER: Right.
TOURE: And Tana is really good. But neither of them are particularly impressive at all.
HEMMER: So we're down to two women, right?
TOURE: Yes.
HEMMER: No more men?
TOURE: No more men.
BOROWITZ: Here's the deal. It's like all of the women on the Trump shows, none of them ever have real names. Have you noticed that? It's like Tana, Kendra. It's like Pokemon characters.
(CROSSTALK)
BERNARD: But don't you think that honestly -- I mean, remember last year we were all talking about Kelly? Where is Kelly? The whole point is it's just Donald. It really is Donald.
TOURE: Wait, wait. You still see Bill. Bill returns, he comes back to the show, he does a little press.
HEMMER: He's getting all kinds of mileage out of that thing.
TOURE: Kelly has, like, gone into, like, witness protection.
BOROWITZ: I've lost sleep over the whole Kelly thing.
BERNARD: You feel bad?
BOROWITZ: I do feel bad.
HEMMER: One more topic here. E! Online...
BOROWITZ: Yes.
HEMMER: ... that wonderful credible source E! Online, is now reporting that what Jennifer Garner...
BOROWITZ: J Garner is prego (ph). That is true.
HEMMER: She's pregnant.
BOROWITZ: She is pregnant. That's what E! Online is reporting. I saw this picture of her.
HEMMER: Yes?
BOROWITZ: She is looking a little marsupial, if I may say. She's got a little bit of a pouch down there.
HEMMER: Did you just get that?
BOROWITZ: Here, I think this is like...
BERNARD: You should see Soledad's face right now.
BOROWITZ: I know. I'm on thin ice. But I want to say, I think that she is pregnant, because right after this picture came out...
O'BRIEN: Marsupial!
BOROWITZ: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Right after this picture came out, Kevin Federline denied responsibility.
BERNARD: Come on.
HEMMER: So, you know it's got to be true, right?
TOURE: I think that being pregnant looks sexy, but that's just me. Whatever.
BOROWITZ: I just mean she's got a little something going on.
HEMMER: You know, coming off of Mother's Day weekend, Andy.
BERNARD: Exactly.
BOROWITZ: I'm sorry.
BERNARD: Just as we were having a nice rest from Ben Affleck, this has to break.
BOROWITZ: Right.
TOURE: But, like, J. Lo wants a baby, but Garner gets one. Like...
BERNARD: It's the injustice.
TOURE: ... you're in the wrong place.
HEMMER: Hey, Sarah, welcome back.
BERNARD: Thanks, Billy.
HEMMER: Let's have a group hug, all right?
BERNARD: All right.
BOROWITZ: Great.
HEMMER: It's good to see all three of you on a Monday.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, first of all, pregnant women are not marsupial. An on-air correction to that little mistake.
Also coming up in just a moment, the real-life science behind some of television's biggest hit shows. We are "Paging Dr. Gupta" for an up-close look at underwater "CSI." It's part of a special CNN series, "Anatomy of Murder." That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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