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American Morning
Video Controversy; Road to Recovery; Deadly Plane Skid; Behind the 'Wardrobe'
Aired December 09, 2005 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That is CNN's Chris Huntington has been out there a little too long this morning and...
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: My goodness, he's frozen!
O'BRIEN: Call the medics.
COSTELLO: That was such a good one, Miles. I love that.
No, this snowman was actually built by our crew out in Secaucus.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Chris Huntington one of them, of course. Rick (ph), Michael (ph), Robert (ph) and Brian (ph) built this thing. And I don't know who is missing their scarf this morning, but isn't that cute?
O'BRIEN: Very, very nicely done, guys. We appreciate that.
Of course weather is a big story today. Bitter cold, blinding snow and a mess for morning commuters.
Bonnie Schneider is here with the latest for us.
Bonnie, good morning.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Hey, I was just looking at that 6 degrees in St. Louis.
SCHNEIDER: That's not going to warm up.
COSTELLO: Yes, God bless them out there!
Thank you, Bonnie. We'll get back to you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
COSTELLO: Let's check the headlines with Kelly Wallace.
Good morning -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, Carol, and hello to all of you.
We start with an accused major war criminal. He is in custody now and could be handed over to The Hague later today. Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina was indicted for war crimes in former Yugoslavia's Serbian region back in 1995. Well, authorities nabbed him Thursday in Spain's Canary Islands as he was eating dinner at a luxury resort. This video just coming in to CNN that you see there now. And NATO secretary general calling the arrest -- quote -- "good news for the world."
The situation in Sudan's Darfur region is becoming worse for aid workers. A senior U.N. humanitarian official says -- quote -- "we are very lucky that none of our staff has been killed so far." In addition, a U.N. mission report says it seems that 2004 cease-fire seems to be forgotten by all parties, saying banditry, looting and intertribal fighting continues. More than two million people have been displaced by that conflict.
News about President Bush now, he is leaving a cold and snowy Washington for cold and snowy Minnesota, of all places. The president will attend a Republican fund-raiser in Minneapolis today. It is expected he will speak about the war in Iraq. But his next major speech on the war, according to the White House, scheduled for Monday.
And here's a name you most likely heard over the past two years, Valerie Plame. Well today is her last day at the CIA. Friends say she wants to spend more time with her family. But one former co- worker said she didn't have much of a career left after her undercover identity was blown back in 2003.
Meanwhile, a new reporter being questioned in the leak investigation. She's "TIME" magazine's Viveca Novak, no relation to Bob Novak, the first reporter to include Plame's name in an article. Viveca Novak has been asked to testify about conversations she had with Karl Rove's attorney back in 2004. That case continues to be more complicated and more interesting by the day -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, the plot is always thickening.
WALLACE: It is.
COSTELLO: Thank you -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Sure.
COSTELLO: Let's get right to the videotape, shall we? Stupid, immature, humor or a fireable offense, those are two sides of the argument over these controversial videos made by a few San Francisco police officers. More than a dozen of them are suspended for taking part in supposed parodies about traffic and homeless people.
Joining us live from San Francisco to talk about the tapes is City Supervisor Fiona Ma.
Good morning.
FIONA MA, S.F. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Good morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So what should happen to these police officers?
MA: Well, currently these 20 officers are on suspension, pending review by the San Francisco Police Commission, and their fates are in their hands at this moment.
COSTELLO: We've heard that criminal charges might arise out of this. Does that stem from the fact they used company vehicles to make the videos or were on company time?
MA: Exactly. And so right now we have the city attorney and also the district attorney's office looking into the videos.
COSTELLO: Let's take a look at some of the images from these videos. You have a lot of scantily dressed women and officers ogling them and things like that.
In fact, the officer that put this tape together, Officer Andrew Cohen, was on Paula Zahn's show last night. He was talking to Heidi Collins, and he defended himself.
Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER ANDREW COHEN, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE: You have to put this in context. The video was done as a humor video for a Christmas party and as a roast, period. Taken out of context, anything goes.
I regret putting it on the Web site for the few moments that I did, for the reasons that I did. It was never intended to get out and never did get out. It got out because Chief Fong made it get out. And now she's tainted the department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So there you go, he is saying the chief wants to, I don't know, make herself appear larger, better to the community by bringing this up now when he says this was all meant as a joke, it was never meant to be seen by the public, so lighten up, everyone.
MA: Well, I'm a big supporter of our men and women in uniform who are out there every day working hard to protect us. However, as men and women in uniform, they are sworn to uphold the law and are held to a higher standard of conduct. And the officers who actively participated in this video displayed a poor lack of judgment and insensitivity that we come to expect from our professional police department.
And when it comes to issues of racism, sexism or offenses against other ethnicity and minorities, we need to practice zero tolerance and nip this in the bud as soon as possible, especially here in San Francisco where we welcome and celebrate our diversity.
COSTELLO: OK, something else that Officer Cohen said, and there is an image of a black homeless person being run over by a police officer. It's depicted in these videos. Officer Cohen says people are going to pull a race card because this is what they want to do. This is what makes for good controversy. And frankly, this is what boosts the ratings for our chief and our mayor and our city leaders. So he's not only saying the chief wants to do this to improve her standing in the community, but maybe you do, too.
MA: We, again, we really need to practice zero tolerance when it comes to acts that are sexist, are racist, are obviously offensive to others. And we have learned from the past that we need to nip this in the bud as soon as possible.
We had a recent incident, and we had many apologies, many community meetings and the wounds were starting to heal, and it's just unfortunate.
COSTELLO: And by that you're talking about the 49ers tape? They made kind of a similar tape using similar humor. And the public relations person put that together, and he since has left the organization.
MA: Exactly. And you know it's like history repeating itself. And we need to nip this kind of behavior as soon as possible.
COSTELLO: Fiona Ma, from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
MA: Thank you. Thank you, Carol.
O'BRIEN: Tulane University is ready to reopen next month. Some changes are in store. More than 200 faculty members are losing their jobs. And as for students, push is on to make sure they know it's time to come home.
CNN's Dan Lothian reports from New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fall semester was just getting under way at Tulane University when Hurricane Katrina sent 13,000 students packing.
SCOTT COWEN, PRESIDENT, TULANE UNIVERSITY: It's been a surreal experience ever since the storm itself. I mean we're going through something that no other university or city has ever gone through before, so there is no book, there is no script, so everything is challenging and daunting itself.
LOTHIAN: With much of the campus under three feet of water, President Scott Cowen's job description quickly changed from the front office to the floodwaters. He rolled up his pants, joined in the rescue effort and later helped in the cleanup.
COWEN: There are other parishes which you don't hear about.
LOTHIAN: Now Cowen is on the road. This stop, Boston University, where 320 of his students were taken in temporarily. He is selling the rebirth of Tulane and New Orleans and allaying fears as coeds prepare to return.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like what happened to our belongings and are they OK and when will we be able to get them?
COWEN: We moved the stuff out. We'll move it right back. It will be right back in your same room.
LOTHIAN (on camera): In fact, university administrators are making an extra effort to reach out to their students who are now scattered all across the country, trying to let them know that the school is open for business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on back and be part of the revival.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Tulane even created this five-minute video, trying to reassure students, telling them that there are no environmental issues or excessive damage that should keep them away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An international restoration company became engaged (ph) after the storm and began cleaning up.
RICHARD WHITESIDE, TULANE UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS: The campus is open. It's clean. It's presentable. And we're ready to go.
LOTHIAN: Most of the 13,000 students are expected to return to campus next month, despite concerns about Katrina's ugly scar.
MELISSA TAYLOR, TULANE STUDENT: I do have a few anxieties, to be honest. I realize the city and the university are changing as we speak.
RANDY HAFTS, TULANE STUDENT: I don't know where I'm going to really be when I head back down there.
LOTHIAN: Because of that uncertainly, some students who have fallen in love with their host schools say they want to stay put. But administrators who opened their arms after the storm are making it clear, there will be no free passes.
BOB BROWN, PRESIDENT, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: They had to apply for admission in the spring cycle and their applications are in the pool. We made no -- we told the Tulane students we'd give them no special dispensation.
LOTHIAN: Tulane ready for homecoming after an unscheduled semester break.
Dan Lothian, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Once again our top story today, a Southwest Airlines 737 skidding off the runway, Chicago Midway. One boy was killed in a car that was passing by. This is an executive of that airline making a statement to reporters out of Dallas. Let's listen.
GARY KELLY, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: ... in the morning (ph), 6:00 a.m. Central Time. The majority of the 13 injured have been treated and released from local hospitals. We are still collecting and verifying injury reports. But at this time, we have three individuals who are still receiving treatment at local hospitals. We're seeking complete medical information on every injury and will likely have updates for you later on.
We will do everything in our power, of course, to provide information and comfort to those who have been affected. It is still too early for me and inappropriate for Southwest to speculate as to a cause before the National Transportation Safety Board can complete a thorough investigation.
Southwest Airlines employees are in the process of contacting the families of the passengers and crew members, as well as those affected on the ground. A team of 94 trained Southwest employees arrived in Chicago at 3:25 a.m. and are working closely with the NTSB and the FAA as they perform their investigations.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737 700 model, tail number N- 471. Southwest took delivery of this new aircraft in July of 2004. The aircraft was released from a routine maintenance check at our Phoenix maintenance facility on December the 7th. There were no indications that the aircraft was experiencing any type of maintenance problems.
O'BRIEN: We've been listening to Gary Kelly. He is the CEO of Southwest Airlines, Vice Chairman as well, as he gives some background. We're going to keep listening to it, but we're going to press on to other matters.
COSTELLO: Yes, because he is really not going to say any vital information, information that we don't already know,...
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
COSTELLO: ... because the investigation is ongoing. But if he does say anything, of course we will pass it along to you.
O'BRIEN: We'll let you know.
COSTELLO: Let's get to Andy now. He has a tease of what is coming up next.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Carol, we're going to shift gears a little bit and ask where would Jesus shop? Some people saying that maybe not at Wal-Mart.
COSTELLO: Come on!
SERWER: That's what a group is suggesting right now.
COSTELLO: Come on!
O'BRIEN: Manger.com, I don't know.
SERWER: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Yes, check it out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's a great weekend to go to the movies. It's warm in there. The fantasy epic, the "Chronicles of Narnia" is opening nationwide, so there's something good to see, too. The critics love it. It's already a huge hit in churches across the country.
CNN's Sibila Vargas looks behind the wardrobe at why that is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been more than a half century since C.S. Lewis penned "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Now his children's tale has come to life on the big screen in the "Chronicles of Narnia."
ANDREW ADAMSON, DIRECTOR: I always wanted to make a movie of the book. I enjoyed the book when I was 8 years old, purely as an adventure, but I know other people got other things out of it.
VARGAS: The movie tells a story where four children enter a magical land and fight evil with the help of a regal lion named Aslan. To some audiences, the story is less about "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" and more about the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.
PROF. BRYAN STONE, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: Well, I think a lot of children who read the book probably wouldn't even pick up on the Christian allegory, but I think as an adult it's pretty hard to miss.
VARGAS: Special screenings, like this one in a Florida church, are explaining how C.S. Lewis wrote Christian themes throughout his story.
LARRY THOMPSON, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH: How many of you remember the name of the lion? What is its name? Aslan. Now, in the movie, who does Aslan represent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus.
THOMPSON: That's right.
STONE: There is a lion who is the son of the emperor across the sea who takes the sins of the boy on himself, dies for them. He is resurrected and saves the day. A Christ figure here with the allegory of the atonement from Christian theology.
VARGAS: Almost 100 million copies later, the books have developed strong Christian followings.
STONE: I was in the school of theology library this last week and noticed that a whole journal was devoted to how to preach Narnia. VARGAS: That kind of passion is what Disney hopes will fill theaters like last year's "Passion of the Christ," which has grossed more than $600 million worldwide. It's a delicate marketing balancing act that Disney hopes to get right.
STONE: I think this is a win/win situation for Disney, in a way, because you can appeal to a Christian audience because of the Christian allegory here. At the same time, you can have a pretty large-scale epic fantasy, good versus evil, nice family film at Christmastime.
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Entertainment News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: The movie theaters are going to be packed this weekend, because...
O'BRIEN: Today.
COSTELLO: Today.
O'BRIEN: Are you kidding?
SERWER: Snow day, right.
COSTELLO: Well that's true.
O'BRIEN: The O'Brien kids will be watching Aslan, I suspect.
SERWER: Yes, pack them right on into the movie theaters.
O'BRIEN: Got to keep them busy. Got to keep them busy.
SERWER: And it's going to do big business, this movie. And also, it's probably going to be a boon to Christian stores, because they are going to be marketing all kinds of figurines and books and other types of toys from this movie. As Sibila mentioned in her package, it is a Christian-theme movie, although you can't really tell. And I never really knew it was a Christian-theme movie until it became known as a Christian-theme movie, I guess, so.
COSTELLO: There you go!
SERWER: This is true. It was subtle. Lost on me, apparently.
O'BRIEN: And you aren't "lion," if you know what I mean?
SERWER: Aslan. Thank you. Yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Aslan is a metaphor. The lion is a metaphor for Jesus Christ. And apparently so Christians are going to be doing some marketing at these stores with products and figurines. Another interesting story about Wal-Mart and Christian themes and images. An anti-Wal-Mart Web site called Wake Up Wal-Mart is going to be -- has produced a TV commercial which suggests that people of faith should not shop at Wal-Mart. It uses language and imagery from the political right to attack an institution, a retailer that has often been associated with the political right.
Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our faith teaches us, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If these are our values, then ask yourself, should people of faith shop at Wal-Mart this holiday season? When Wal-Mart repeatedly broke child labor laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: So this whole thing of should people of faith shop at Wal-Mart, I mean it really is sort of turning the whole discussion and conversation on its head. It looks like an ad, one of those church ads you see sometimes. I mean, very interesting.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: This is playing on television somewhere? They're...
SERWER: Yes, it's a television ad.
O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE).
SERWER: And you know it's powerful stuff. And it'll be interesting to see how Wal-Mart responds to that. They may choose not to respond at all, which would probably be the best thing to do.
O'BRIEN: I would take the high road on that.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: It's like a bunch of economic mullahs you know going after them and demanding some kind of a boycott or something.
SERWER: Right, I mean they are suggesting...
O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: They are suggesting the company exploits workers and doesn't treat people well and that's an unchristian-like way of doing business. So, therefore, if you have faith, you shouldn't shop there. It's kind of a lot of things put together.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Thanks -- Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome. O'BRIEN: Coming up later today, a little Christmas music to lighten your mood. AM Pop will run down a must have album list for your holiday party that you're planning right now. Of course, this is one of the classics. I love its melody.
COSTELLO: I love that.
SERWER: Yes, Vince Guaraldi. That's right.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We want you to check out our Web site this morning, CNN.com, for the latest on this morning's top stories, including that, of course the Midway plane crash in Chicago at the Midway Airport, I should say. In fact, we just heard from the CEO of Southwest Airlines who didn't really give us any new information about why this plane skidded from the runway and then slid down the street.
Another popular story on CNN.com right now, this, of course, the winter storm. It is walloping. There you see our Web site. It is walloping parts of the northeast now. And I know that all of you in the Midwest have suffered through it, but now it is our turn. And take a look at how beautiful it looks outside. It's just nasty to drive in. It's nasty to walk in. It's nasty to be out in.
The other most popular story on CNN.com has to do with Pop Tarts. Apparently Kellogg's is making a healthier Pop Tart. They want to take all of those nasty trans fats out of them. I was looking at the back of this. Do you know how many calories that Pop Tarts have in them? Come on, take a guess, how many?
O'BRIEN: About a million.
COSTELLO: About a million.
O'BRIEN: I don't know, a lot, right? I mean a tremendous amount of calories.
COSTELLO: Four hundred calories.
O'BRIEN: Per bite?
COSTELLO: No, for two Pop Tarts, 400 calories.
O'BRIEN: That's a lot. Yes.
COSTELLO: So, but they say that they're going to -- I should bring them with me so we could split them because that's only 200 calories each.
O'BRIEN: That's a good way to do it, yes.
COSTELLO: But anyway, Kellogg's is going to take the trans fat out and make them healthier. O'BRIEN: They are going to take the trans fat out?
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And they'll taste like cardboard after that, won't they?
COSTELLO: Probably so.
O'BRIEN: Is that how the health works, put fewer calories.
You have got an interesting interview coming up?
COSTELLO: Interesting interview, a man in prison 24 years, DNA proves him innocent. He gets out of prison. His name is Robert Clark. Big smile on his face. Great guy. Didn't even have a record before he was convicted of this rape that he did not commit. And we're going to talk to him and his attorney.
O'BRIEN: How do you -- you know you -- of course there is a smile associated with this, but there's got to be a tremendous amount of anger and bitterness that goes along with this as well.
All these DNA cases, it's interesting. Obviously in this case the death penalty would have applied. But this is what has taken so much steam out of the death penalty in this country, because time and again we find innocent people behind bars for years and years. The injustice of it is hard to take, and we're free.
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Now imagine what he is thinking. I'll be very interested to hear what his attitude is.
COSTELLO: Well we're going to find out.
O'BRIEN: You have to have a forward-thinking attitude, I think.
COSTELLO: He is a positive person. He's pretty amazing.
O'BRIEN: You've got to be. All right, we'll do that in just a little bit.
Coming up, we will also take you back out to Chicago live, the scene of last night's plane crash. The jet skidded right off the runway, as you can see there. And we'll have the latest for you on what is the beginning of an investigation. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Good morning, I'm Miles O'Brien.
A developing story this morning out of Chicago, what caused this plane to skid off a runway and into traffic? The investigation is under way. We'll take you live to the scene. COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad this morning.
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