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American Morning

Rite of Passage; Judging Alito; Iran's Nuclear Restart

Aired January 10, 2006 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes! New Year resolution time.

S. O'BRIEN: New Year, new you.

M. O'BRIEN: So we want you to play along with us on this. I'm definitely going to try to exercise a little more and do a few things. But we're going to profile one pair. We're doing it in pairs this year. A lobbyist and his assistant, they...

S. O'BRIEN: They are politically on different sides of the spectrum.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: But they are hopeful that they can come together and have some success.

M. O'BRIEN: Some sort of comedy can be arranged through all of this. But they do like -- they do share a love for ribs, candy. And after she runs, she has a butt.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: It's among the issues they want to work on.

S. O'BRIEN: All that is going to change after Sanjay gets his hands on them.

M. O'BRIEN: So I think the butt is out for '06. Anyway, we will check in with them in just a little bit.

Meantime, millions of Muslim pilgrims gathering in western Saudi Arabia to take part in what is known as the Hajj. The yearly ritual is among the most sacred in the religion, the fifth of the five pillars of Islam. The pilgrimage centers around Mecca and Mt. Arafat near the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad, Islam's holiest city.

Hala Gorani has more from Mecca.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Today is the culmination of the Hajj. This, the day when pilgrims in waves come back from the stoning of the Devil ritual in Mina to Mecca to perform another series of rights. This is when they are officially released from their state of Ihram. They can take off the white unstitched cloth that symbolizes spiritual purity.

Pilgrims are also required to cut a lock of their hair. Some men choose to completely shave their heads. This is a sign of rebirth. A sheep is also slaughtered on behalf of pilgrims. This is to symbolize Abraham's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Now today is Eid. This is one of the most important religious celebrations on the Muslim calendar. People buy new clothes, children get gifts and money and relatives make family visits. The stoning of the Devil ritual continues for another two days, so the risk of stampedes and accidents remains high.

Hala Gorani, CNN, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as we say, the holiest place in all of Islam. Let's take a Google earth tour. It's a city of 1.2 million people and it is home to the Sacred Mosque, which is, of course, what is the focus of the Hajj. As we said, Muhammad, who is the final prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in the year 571. Non- Muslims are not permitted to enter the city of Mecca. That's any time of the year, particularly this time of the year during the Hajj.

Now what we have focused in on here is the Sacred Mosque. And you've seen the pictures in the past. It is called the Towaf (ph) where it consists of circling this thing which is called a Ka'bah. And they circle it four times at a hurried pace in this direction and then they go back around counterclockwise in a more leisurely pace.

There are other rituals which are associated with the Hajj. They walk seven times back and forth in the hills of Soffa (ph) and Marwa (ph). And oftentimes, as part of these pilgrimages, they go to Medina as well.

It is the duty of every able-bodied Muslim, who has a means, to once in a lifetime go to the Hajj, perform this pilgrimage. As we say, the fifth of the five pillars of Islam going on right now, actually culminating right now in Mecca.

Let's get some headlines in. Carol Costello in.

Good morning -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That was fascinating. Thanks for that, Miles.

And good morning to all of you.

San Francisco police are chasing down leads in a bomb scare at a Starbucks coffee shop. Police say an explosive device was found in the bathroom on Monday. They say if it had detonated, it would have caused some damage. The shop was evacuated. No one was hurt. Starbucks says the store has not gotten any threats.

Turkey now battling to contain a deadly Bird Flu outbreak. This morning health officials confirmed a new case, bringing the total to at least 15. Three people already died there last week. These are the first deadly cases of the virus outside of Asia.

In Utah, a robbery gone awry and a gutsy sales clerk. I know more about this now, so let's look at it. This is surveillance, and you see the robber coming into this check cashing place. He tackles the woman behind the counter before she can react and push the panic button. He orders her to open the safe, which she does, and he takes the money out. He has a toy gun, but she doesn't know that. And then he tries to force her into the back room and he's going to try to duct tape her mouth you see.

All the time she is telling him she is married, she has children, take the money, take my car, take my wallet, take anything, just leave. You see he is trying to duct tape her hands behind her back. She does not let him do that. All of a sudden her cell phone rings. It is her husband. And that distracts the robber and then he just sort of leaves.

The other -- I guess the cool thing about this is that this woman recognizes the robber, because he had been in the check cashing store earlier to apply for a loan. They had a picture on file and police managed to arrest him.

But what a story -- Chad!

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It looked like that camera was moving.

COSTELLO: It was an amazing surveillance camera, wasn't it? But it was all done by surveillance camera.

MYERS: But somebody was moving that camera, it seemed, or else they were just zooming in that shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a motion -- motion detector.

COSTELLO: It was a motion -- well it could have been a motion detector.

MYERS: I guess.

COSTELLO: I don't know.

MYERS: OK. All right.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: It's still bizarre that somebody didn't run out there and help her if they were actually running the camera. Let me see what is going on here. I don't know. I guess that's not how it happened.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Chad.

Samuel Alito won't get a breakfast pep talk from the president this morning, but we assume he is eating well. He will need the energy today as he faces a verbal gauntlet from the Senate Judiciary Committee. What sorts of land mines await the Supreme Court nominee today and who has buried them?

Senator Ted Kennedy clearly has some zingers ready. The Massachusetts Democrat and Judiciary Committee veteran joining us from Capitol Hill.

Senator, good to have you with us.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA), JUDICIARY CMTE.: Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Listening to your statement yesterday, it sounded like you had made up your mind about Samuel Alito. Have you?

KENNEDY: No, I haven't; but it's an uphill climb I think for this nomination. Judge Alito said yesterday that he had no agenda. And I think that's really going to be the area that members of the Judiciary Committee are going to question him.

I've had an opportunity to review the 15 years of his holdings. And I don't think one can read that without recognizing a certain hostility for individual rights, a welcoming for powerful and a special interest and a real overwhelming willingness to accept the power of the federal government and state and local governments in making judgments when they've exceeded their authority. So we'll have an opportunity to get into that.

I think this is very important, because we are seeing at a time when we have the chief executive really overreaching in terms of his power. And we're going to need to make sure we're going to have someone on the Supreme Court that is going to stand up to an executive when he is overreaching power, the way that Sandra Day O'Connor did in the most recent time, the Hamdi case, and the way that Justice Jackson did in the Youngstown case back at the time of Harry Truman during the Korean War.

When we're having spying on individuals, when we're having eavesdropping on Americans, when we are having opening of the mail of Americans, when we're finding that the federal government is snooping into medical records, library records, Americans are going to want to know if we have an executive that is exceeding their authority and whether we have a Supreme Court justice that is strong enough and to be able to stand up to that.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator, let's listen to Judge Alito yesterday, briefly. He just says he's a man who is a man of the law. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: A judge can't have any agenda. A judge can't have any preferred outcome in any particular case. And a judge certainly doesn't have a client. The judge's only obligation, and it's a solemn obligation, is to the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Can't you take that at face value or does he have to say more?

KENNEDY: No.

M. O'BRIEN: What does he need to say to convince you that he means that?

KENNEDY: Those are good words. And he said words very similar to that some 15 years ago. I chaired his hearings for the circuit court when he was promoted to the circuit court and he used words very similar to those. So I think it's fair to look at what his record is over the last 15 years to see whether he's lived up to that. And I think in reviewing the record that you will find out that he has been sided with special and powerful interests.

You know the real issue in question for people that are watching your program is whether the average person would get a fair shake, whether the average person would get a fair shake. And when you have the review of his records, not just of myself and other members of the Judiciary Committee, but when you have, for example, the night rider (ph) newspaper chain, when you have had the Yale Alito law group (ph) look at his dissents, because that's really where you find out his values, you find out that in about 85 percent of the time he sides with the powerful interests against the average person, against the working person, the family that needs equal justice. And that is a matter of concern. He'll have a chance to talk about that today during the questioning.

M. O'BRIEN: Well what is your first question going to be?

KENNEDY: Well, you'll -- watch CNN and you'll get a chance to see about that. I'm going to get into his deferential view on executive power today. I'm going to get into some of the cases that he seemed to bend over backwards to rationalize to find a way to exceed to the executive power. I'm going to ask about his views about his swearing to a unitary presidency, which I think most children, most members of the Congress, probably don't know an awful lot about.

This is sort of a super, super presidency that has super, super powers that he is committed himself to. That's kind of something that is rather bizarre, I believe. And we're going to ask him to try and explain that. We've got someone that believes in something that even our founding fathers didn't really write much about and we want to hear him out on some of these issues.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator Ted Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts,... KENNEDY: Thanks very much.

M. O'BRIEN: ... we will be watching it...

KENNEDY: Good.

M. O'BRIEN: ... on CNN, of course.

Live coverage of the hearings coming up 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. That's when Wolf Blitzer will join us with his "SITUATION ROOM" team. Live coverage all throughout the day for you. Stay with us -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well Iran has sort of thrown down the gauntlet, broken the seals on its nuclear facilities, resuming the nuclear program in fact. Several European capitals expressing grave concern.

Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour joins us on the phone. She is in Tehran this morning.

Christiane, let's talk a little bit about the timing here.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, good morning.

I'm not sure that timing is anything other than the final realization of what the new Iranian president has said. He's been saying ever since he was elected that Iran has the right to continue with its nuclear research and nuclear program. They say it's just for nuclear power. Well, of course, the West fears that it could be used to develop a nuclear weapon.

The new Iranian President, Ahmadinejad, has rejected this idea of a voluntary moratorium, which Iran has had in effect over the last two years when President Khatami, the reformist president, was in power, and they negotiated that with the three European countries, Britain, France and Germany. And now he says, no, enough of that, we want to continue.

The question is are they going to be able to continue with impunity or are they going to find themselves referred to the U.N. Security Council and have punitive measures such as sanctions or other such things imposed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: No immediate threats of punishment from the West yet.

Christiane Amanpour joining us from Tehran by phone this morning.

Christiane, thank you.

Andy's "Minding Your Business" is just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

What do you have for us this morning?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Soledad, yesterday the Dow smashed through 11,000. Where will stocks go today?

Plus, what is GM doing to avert its deep financial troubles?

Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Takes you back to the station wagon when you were 16, right, with that song?

S. O'BRIEN: Rod Stewart, 61, new baby!

SERWER: No "Mandolin Wind."

S. O'BRIEN: Man.

M. O'BRIEN: And was that a -- that's a fairly recent picture, too. He looks great.

S. O'BRIEN: Looks good.

SERWER: Yes, 61.

S. O'BRIEN: Clean living!

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's it!

SERWER: Yes, sort of.

S. O'BRIEN: It's always good when you can make the crew laugh, right?

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about the vaunted heights at which the market now sits.

SERWER: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: We put it there.

SERWER: You're talking about -- yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Stop already.

SERWER: Miles did it all by himself.

Dow 11,000, yes, it finally happened again yesterday. The Dow smashing through that milestone after waiting for quite a while. Actually what's...

M. O'BRIEN: Milestone. See, they call it a milestone!

SERWER: June 7 a mile -- it has to be you then. June 7, 2001 was the last time we were above 11,000. And I think we have this magic chart that -- here we go. This is from yesterday, actually. Here is the magic chart.

M. O'BRIEN: Here we go.

SERWER: And the last time we were over 11,000 was in June of 2001. The big loss there was after 9/11, the first day of trading after 9/11, that's September 17, 2001. My first day on AMERICAN MORNING with Paula and Lou Dobbs at that point, Lou Dobbs on the floor of the Exchange. October 9th was the lowest close. And then yesterday, you can see here, we're getting over 11,000. The all-time record 11,722 in January of 2000.

One of the components moving the Dow northward yesterday surprisingly perhaps is GM. Stock was up almost 8 percent yesterday, an upgrade by analysts, and also the company executives repeatedly saying, no, we're not going to file for bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, financier Kirk Kerkorian, who owns $1.4 billion of the shares, one of his advisors today is going to give a big speech, according to the Detroit newspapers, in which he will say that the company should cut its dividend, saying they don't have enough money to afford $1.1 billion to pay out to investors. Of course this does no good to Mr. Kerkorian. I guess it shows he has a long-term investment program.

And finally, GM actually...

M. O'BRIEN: Is he...

SERWER: Sorry.

M. O'BRIEN: Is he still big at Chrysler, too? Does he still have a lot of Chrysler...

SERWER: No, no more. That was his previous foray.

M. O'BRIEN: Fine. No.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: But right now GM is actually doing what it should be doing and that is making cool cars. Want to show you just a quick peek at something that came out yesterday at the Detroit auto show. This is a new Camaro, vrmm, vrmm, that looks like the '69 Camaro, 400 horsepower, 6-speed. Now the only problem here is they planned to run this thing, roll this thing out. Actually, they're not even sure they are going to do it. And if they do it, it's going to come out in '09. That's too far away!

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of late.

SERWER: I mean they have got problems. Why not say '07? Do everything they can to make a hot car and get it out there now because that's what's going to really solve problems.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a cute car.

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It looks like you have got to be very short to sit in it, though.

SERWER: I bet you could slide in it.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: You sit low and lots of legroom.

M. O'BRIEN: You have to sit low.

SERWER: Yes. It's a low rider.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a Camaro, come on, you know!

SERWER: Yes. It's cool.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a prescription for change in our "New You Resolution." What's it going to take to get our lobbyist and his assistant on the road to a healthy lifestyle? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome to day two of our "New You Resolution." This year's theme is the power of pairs.

M. O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now to introduce us to our first featured pair, Frank Purcell and his assistant, Donna Brighthaupt.

FRANK PURCELL, NEW YOU PARTICIPANT: Brighthaupt, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: Did I do it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: From the nation's capital. They are a dynamic duo. They are co-workers as well. These lobbyists got together to lobby us to be on the "New You Resolution."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Donna Brighthaupt nominated herself, along with her boss, Frank Purcell, for the "New You Resolution," we couldn't resist their story.

DONNA BRIGHTHAUPT, NEW YOU PARTICIPANT: You called and I was in shock. I said I got to ask my boss first. So I just didn't think that you all read the e-mails.

GUPTA: This lobbyist and his assistant from the nation's capital are far apart politically.

BRIGHTHAUPT: And we're not hoping that people out there in CNN land aren't like I hope the Democrat wins or I hope the Republican wins.

GUPTA: But they are working toward a common goal, a healthy new you.

PURCELL: Both of us share appreciation for fine food and food that sometimes isn't so fine but really tasty anyway! Baked chicken, fried chicken, curried chicken, catfish, fried catfish.

GUPTA: When we visited, Frank was pondering why walks to the office candy machine don't count as a workout.

PURCELL: Because if you keep walking, you will probably burn them off.

GUPTA: They both attend school, Frank for his masters and Donna for her undergraduate degree, all on top of a full time job and family life, which leaves little time for their workouts.

PURCELL: Drag myself up all those hills, you know, I need to lose some weight.

BRIGHTHAUPT: Hey, cutie.

GUPTA: And Donna revealed one more vice, her post workout reward.

BRIGHTHAUPT: My smoky treat.

GUPTA: But Donna is unsure about quitting smoking as part of her new you plan.

BRIGHTHAUPT: Stop smoking! That's the new you!

GUPTA: Out with the old, in with the new, new you that is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Well I like it! You guys got a lot to work on. This is pretty good. This is a good couple. Now let's talk with Frank first because...

M. O'BRIEN: We say that with love, though, when we say you have a lot to work on, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Lots of love. Well we wouldn't want to have you on if you didn't have a lot to work on. And you clearly have a sweet tooth and you clearly have a fried food tooth and you clearly liked all of the other things that are bad for you.

PURCELL: I have got teeth, what can I say?

S. O'BRIEN: But then of course you have all those dinners, because you're a lobbyist.

PURCELL: Right. S. O'BRIEN: You have got to wine and dine people. Is that going to be the trickiest part, you know not eating these meals that are kind of part of your job?

PURCELL: For me it is going to be the trickiest part, because I have simply got to make choices about those things which are going to be good for me for my long-term goals. I want to be there for my kids. I want to be able to be strong for my hopes for the MS bike rides, for the Multiple Sclerosis Society that I do, and to be strong and effective at my job. I have got to get better health habits to get rid of the habits that have accumulated over time.

S. O'BRIEN: How many kids do you have and how old are they?

PURCELL: I have two sons, and Ian (ph) is 11 and Ryan (ph) turns 10 next week.

S. O'BRIEN: Good. So you'll be a good role model for them. I like this.

PURCELL: Well they are actually better role models for me. They've been saying that dad is getting big and soft and they know that that gets on my nerves!

M. O'BRIEN: That hurts, doesn't it?

PURCELL: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Donna, you have children, too, right?

BRIGHTHAUPT: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And what age are they?

BRIGHTHAUPT: Two girls, 13 and 8.

M. O'BRIEN: And do they get on you about the smoking? They must, right?

BRIGHTHAUPT: Yes, they do. But I give them the eye and they back off. Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: We know who is in charge in the household. But this is going to be a tough one to kick, isn't it?

BRIGHTHAUPT: Yes, it is. It is. I think that's tougher than the toning up and the small 10 pounds. But the last 10 pounds to lose, that's always the toughest. So I didn't want to concentrate on that, at least until after I graduated, but I know I must soon.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

GUPTA: Today is day one of your eight-week new resolution. We hope that we developed some plans that are going to last a lifetime. But we already spoke with both of your family doctors to get you ready for the new you. And here is your plan to get on the road to wellness.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Get ready, Donna, we have the formula for a new you!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One sixty-seven.

BRIGHTHAUPT: Well how much do you do for clothes?

GUPTA: Lose 20 pounds, eat healthier and increase cardio and stop smoking.

DR. RUSSELL ROTHENBERG, INTERNIST: If you feel more stress off of cigarettes, there are alternatives that will be better than smoking a cigarette.

GUPTA: Frank lobbied his doctor to create a prescription as well.

DR. IRVING HWANG, INTERNIST: The goal I'd like you to shoot for is 184 pounds. I know it's a lot of weight to lose...

PURCELL: All right.

HWANG: ... overall.

PURCELL: Yes.

HWANG: But it's going to be slow and it's going to be steady.

GUPTA: Lose 75 pounds, fit in cardio three to five days a week, lower cholesterol from 229 to below 200.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Wow.

PURCELL: All right.

GUPTA: Lobbyists, best of luck. It's going to be an interesting eight weeks. Everyone is going to be rooting for you, cheering for you.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm excited for you, because you know once someone puts a camera on you, you will be surprised how fast you are going to change your habits and then they'll stick. This is all good. We had a couple of years of experience doing this now, right?

GUPTA: That's right. Research (ph) we have 100 percent success during the eight weeks now.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

PURCELL: Right.

GUPTA: Tomorrow we are going to meet the Rampollas (ph). They are a military family in Wyoming. Pedro (ph) just finished his tour in Iraq and his wife, Denise (ph), says the "New You Resolution" is their next mission. Their prescription for success comes to you tomorrow. And of course you can follow along at cnn.com/new you. Lots of fun.

S. O'BRIEN: You know the problem is of course you see people eating all that bad food, it looks so good, doesn't it?

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: No more for you guys starting today!

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks you guys. We look forward to following your progress.

A short break and we're back in just a moment.

M. O'BRIEN: We're going to order some fries right now!

S. O'BRIEN: No, we're not.

M. O'BRIEN: No, we're not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, I'm Miles O'Brien.

In just 30 minutes, a major test begins for Judge Samuel Alito, senators expected to hit him with some tough questions in a marathon Supreme Court confirmation hearing. We're live in Washington.

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