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American Morning

Special Treatment for Patrick Kennedy?; Secretary on Defense; Gas Gauge

Aired May 05, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Congressman Patrick Kennedy crashed his car. He blames prescription drugs, not alcohol. But did he get special treatment from the cops? That story coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HAMNER, MINER'S WIFE: Can you tell the families what murdered our men? Nobody wants to respond to that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, apparently nobody does want to respond to that. And the families of the Sago Mine victims are angry. They say they want answers.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A king-sized commitment to the final frontier. We'll talk with an intrepid explorer who is pushing the envelope by lying around in bed. Now day 75.

And dog training gone awry. Television's "Dog Whisperer" is sued. A celebrity claims his pooch was seriously injured.

S. O'BRIEN: And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HELEN REDDY, SINGER (SINGING): I am woman, hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore. And I know too much...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Helen Reddy sang "I Am Woman," and lots of women said, hey, that's our anthem. Well, now she's 64 years old, she's got a new gig and a new book. We'll talk to her about her life just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Yes, I am wise, but it's wisdom -- good morning.

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: I always feel really stupid when I find myself singing that song to myself because I'm not.

S. O'BRIEN: Because you're a guy and all.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm not. Yes.

Anyway, I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us on this Friday.

Let's take a look at what's happening this morning.

The defense a Catholic priest accused of murder now under way in Toledo. The Reverend Gerald Robinson could get life if prison if he's convicted of killing a nun over Easter weekend in 1980.

S. O'BRIEN: Crowds of immigrants are expected back in the streets today. The occasion, the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo, or May 5th. We're expecting protests in Montgomery, Alabama; in Richmond, Indiana; Richmond, Virginia; and Santa Clara, California.

Less than 30 feet left until rescuers finally can reach two miners who have been trapped underground in Australia, trapped now for 10 days in a gold mine. The drilling is going on around the clock at a pace of about a foot and a half every hour. So crews should be able to reach those miners on Saturday morning, here in the U.S. time, of course.

In Texas, severe storm warnings expiring as we speak. Residents in Austin and some other parts of the state saw hail up to two inches in diameter.

And Chad, you were talking about this a little while ago. It seems like we're on a run of hail stories at the moment.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Chad.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, police say he looked intoxicated, he was even staggering. So when Congressman Patrick Kennedy crashed into a Capitol Hill, a security barricade in the wee hours of Thursday morning, why didn't he get a sobriety test? Congressman Kennedy says he was under the influence of a sleeping pill and a prescription drug for a stomach ailment that he had. Still, many wondering if the congressman got special treatment.

Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, live now from Capitol Hill with more on this story -- Dana.

BASH: Well, Miles, it's law enforcement officials who weren't on the scene but were briefed who are telling us that it was in fact the case that he appeared to be intoxicated on the scene that night after the crash. But late last night, Congressman Kennedy issued a statement saying that he had not been drinking, denying that. And, in fact, blamed two prescription drugs that he had taking, Phenergan, which he was prescribed for nausea, and also Ambien.

What he said is that he got up at about 2:45 in the morning disoriented, left his home right near the Capitol thinking that he actually had to vote. And that's when he crashed into a security barrier.

But after the accident, he says that an officer told him to park his car, and then he was driven home. Not given a sobriety test. That was -- that issue is highly controversial right now, how that was handled. In terms of the congressman, he denies that he asked for special treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PATRICK KENNEDY (D), RHODE ISLAND: I'm sorry to keep you up so late. I had a statement that's been released, and that's about all for tonight.

QUESTION: Do you think you got preferential treatment from the police?

KENNEDY: I never asked for any preferential treatment.

QUESTION: Do you think you received it, do you think?

KENNEDY: That's up for the police to decide. And I'm going to cooperate fully with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, we are told that officers on the scene were told by supervisors to actually take the congressman home, and that's why the procedure was followed the way it was -- or wasn't, I should say, followed. The police union president is going public, making clear that they are not happy with the fact that they don't think that the officers on the scene were allowed to do their job. There are two investigations now, Miles, one internally into why exactly this happened, and then also one continues into the actual accident itself, what really did happen that late night or really early in the morning yesterday morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Those pictures we just saw of Patrick Kennedy and his entourage in the media were taken late last night. It took about 20 hours for him to emerge and for that statement to come out. Why?

BASH: Well, what they say in his office -- I talked to his chief of staff about that. He says that they were simply trying to get their facts together. But you're right, we heard about this yesterday afternoon. They were huddled in his office trying to put out this statement and get their facts, they say, really all afternoon, late into the night, as you say.

And, in fact, the statement explaining that he was taking prescription drugs was the second statement. Earlier, they had just issued one saying that he was not drunk. And, in fact, I can tell you, they're still trying to clarify and even confirm the prescription drug story, explanation. We are expecting perhaps later today to see a letter written from the Capitol physician who the congressman says prescribed those drugs explaining and confirming that he actually did prescribe them.

M. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, as you just heard, the congressman, Congressman Kennedy, said he was disoriented from the effects of a sleep drug and anti-nausea medication.

Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at the CNN Center with more on that part of the story.

You're familiar with both of these drugs, Elizabeth. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Soledad. Good morning.

The congressman said that he as taking both Ambien, which is a sleeping pill, and Phenergan, for anti-nausea. He said he had gastroenteritis..

Now, many of us have heard about Ambien in the past couple of months. There have been reports of people taking this drug and then waking up in the middle of the night and sleepwalking, or sleep- eating, or there have been reports of sleep-driving. But Phenergan hasn't been in the news as much, so let's talk a little bit about some of the issues with this drug.

The drug was first approved in 1951. It's a very old drug. It's an antihistamine and also an anti-nausea drug. It can cause severe drowsiness when combined with alcohol or other drugs. That's according to the Food and Drug Administration.

So, he was taking not just one of those drugs, but both of those drugs. He said both were prescribed by the attending physician of the U.S. Congress -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning.

We're going to follow this story, of course.

Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Some major developments to tell you about out of Great Britain this morning, following a really bad beating in local elections. Prime Minister Tony Blair shaking up his cabinet in a big way. What does it mean for the U.S., and also, what does it mean for the war in Iraq?

We're going to be talking with European political editor Robin Oakley in just a few moments -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, already fighting off calls for his resignation from some retired generals, facing now another attack on another flank. He was heckled during a speech in Atlanta by some in the audience who opposed the war in Iraq, and then a former CIA analyst and a critic of the war had it out with Rumsfeld.

John Roberts with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The first volley came from a woman who brought a banner accusing Rumsfeld of war crimes. As most protesters are in a room full of administration-friendly folks, she lost her banner and was quickly let out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want to hear it.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Good for you, Sergeant York.

ROBERTS: The next attack came a short five minutes later, another woman with another banner accusing Rumsfeld of lying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You lied!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You lied that Iraq (INAUDIBLE)! You lied about everything!

ROBERTS: But this one the secretary just couldn't let go.

RUMSFELD: You know that -- that charge is frequently leveled against the president for one reason or another, and it is so wrong.

ROBERTS: In truth, Rumsfeld never said Iraq's oil would pay for the war, but his then-deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, did say it would pay for the aftermath.

PAUL WOLFOWITZ, DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.

ROBERTS: Hecklers, like the one who stood with his back to the secretary during the speech, couldn't rattle a man with Rumsfeld's steel. But in an extraordinary piece of public theater, Ray McGovern, who claimed to be a former CIA analyst, took Rumsfeld on mano-a-mano over prewar claims Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

RAY MCGOVERN, FMR. CIA ANALYST: You said you knew where they were.

RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were. And we were -- just... MCGOVERN: You said -- you said you knew where they were, near Tikrit, near Baghdad, and north, east, south and west of there. Those are your words.

RUMSFELD: My words -- my words were that...

ROBERTS: Well, we looked up what his words were, and found that an appearance on ABC's "This Week" three years ago, Rumsfeld said this...

RUMSFELD: We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

ROBERTS: With what appeared to be the facts on his side, McGovern kept going, an exchange that lasted a full two minutes and 35 seconds.

MCGOVERN: I'd just like an honest answer.

RUMSFELD: I'm giving it to you.

MCGOVERN: We're talking about lies and your allegation that there was bulletproof evidence of ties between al Qaeda and Iraq. Was that a lie or were you misled?

ROBERTS: Hold on. Did Rumsfeld ever say bulletproof? According to "The New York Times," he did, September 27, 2002 in Atlanta. And a month later, he admitted saying it. But a year after that he told the National Press Club, bulletproof? Not me.

RUMSFELD: I did not say that.

ROBERTS: But, back to the action in Atlanta.

RUMSFELD: Why do you think that the men and women in uniform every day when they came out of Kuwait and went into Iraq put on chemical weapon protective suits? Because they liked the style? They honestly believed that there were chemical weapons.

Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons on his own people previously. He had used them on his neighbor, the Iranians. And they believed he had those weapons. We believed he had those weapons.

ROBERTS: And with that, they declared an end to the face-off. But unlike the other opponents of the war, McGovern took his seat and remained quiet through the rest of the speech.

John Roberts, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: That story first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360". You can see his program at 10:00 p.m. Eastern weeknights -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" right now, a deadly shooting outside a Florida hospital to tell you about. Officials say a man shot his ex-wife and two relatives in a Fernandina Beach parking lot. He then ran to a nearby elementary school, where he shot himself. The ex-wife and her brother were killed. The sister is in serious condition this morning.

Long Island, New York, students were expecting a Coast Guard admiral to arrive. In fact, they were sort of waiting on his helicopter to land when another chopper literally fell out of the sky. The chopper landed on its side on a soccer field at the high school. On Thursday this all happened.

Two people inside the helicopter have minor injuries. There's no word yet on what exactly caused that chopper to lose power.

Nevada residents can now legally get cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. Nevada is the ninth state to allow it, even though the federal government opposes the practice. Nevada's new Web link to approve Canadian pharmacies goes online for residents today.

A group of former sex offenders are looking for a new home. They couldn't find permanent housing once they were paroled from San Quentin Prison in California. So the dozen men moved into a large trailer on the prison grounds. Well, now people living in the area are mad. They want them evicted.

And a very strange ending to a "Brokeback Mountain" lawsuit. Actor Randy Quaid sued over his role in the movie. He said he took less money for the part because "Brokeback" wasn't supposed to make any money. It was supposed to be sort of a small thing. It made $82 million just in the U.S.

Well, Quaid's now dropped that lawsuit and said he's getting a bonus from the movie studio. They say, though, we don't know anything about that.

And take a look at this amazing stunt. Wow! It is a record- setting motorcycle backflip happening over the Caesar's Palace fountains in Vegas.

Mike Metzger is the guy doing that little Evel Knievel move. You'll remember, of course, that Evel Knievel almost killed himself jumping over those fountains back in the late 1960s. The 125-foot backflip broke the 108-foot record that was set by a guy whose name was Twitch.

M. O'BRIEN: Twitch.

S. O'BRIEN: We don't know why.

M. O'BRIEN: A friend of The Edge, I guess, Twitch. Twitch.

Coming up on the program, we are checking in with a Brooklyn gas station owner we met last week. Look at those numbers. Read them and weep.

His prices have been well into the $4 range. He actually took them down a penny today. We're going to talk to him about -- he says sales are down. Imagine that.

We'll check in with him, see how his customers are reacting to all of this.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, at 25 minutes past the hour, it's great work if you can get it. We are going to meet a woman -- there she is, just lying around. Oh, yes. She's helping NASA fly astronauts to Mars by lying around and knitting and working -- and blogging. We'll explain what exactly her contributions are just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: A mattress-naut.

And at 50 past the hour, are you ready? This is the wrong song. I am woman, hear me roar.

S. O'BRIEN: You can sing it. There you go.

M. O'BRIEN: She was an icon in the '70s. Helen Reddy will join us to talk about her life, her work, and the anthem of all of womanhood.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Checking the CNN gas gauge this morning, the national average, $2.92 a gallon for regular unleaded. Just a little bit up over yesterday. A month ago it was $2.59, a year ago it was $2.21.

We'll take you back to Brooklyn, New York, now. Prices there way higher than both the national average and also the average here in New York City.

Let's get right back to David Goldsmith. He's the owner of that station.

Hey, David. Thanks for talking with us. We've been checking in with you all morning.

Let me ask you a question. Andy Serwer was telling us how the big six oil companies have finally all come out with their profits, $32 billion in profits for the first quarter alone. When you hear that number, what do you think?

DAVID GOLDSMITH, GAS STATION OWNER: Yes, $32 billion. I mean, and there's still no coherent energy policy in the United States.

I mean this is -- it's insanity. I mean, there are record profits being made. We have consumers that are getting hurt. And I don't see any way out of it. There's this "free market economy" that's really putting us, the majority of Americans and the majority of people in the world, in a bind.

S. O'BRIEN: One of the things that big oil has said in their own defense is, listen, you know, first of all, those profits, we put that back into research and development. You know, we have to have some kind of profit. That's not just, you know, cash on the table that we get to take home at the end of day.

What do you make of that argument?

GOLDSMITH: Well, I mean, I don't see it. I mean, I see there is some movement on hybrid technology, but again, that's still buying gasoline. What we really need to be working on are zero emissions cars that use other sources and fossil fuels.

And let's face it, they're in it for the money. They're showing that they're in it for the money. And I think they've got their own interests -- you know, they're taking -- they've got their own interests first before the interests of the nation and the needs of the world.

S. O'BRIEN: What is it, do you think, that's going to bring the nation's focus on what you're suggesting, maybe figuring out zero emissions vehicles, or alternative fuels, or, you know, realistically in ways that are going to be -- we'll be able to achieve relatively short term? I mean, is it $5 a gallon gas? Is it higher than that? What is it?

GOLDSMITH: Well, yes. I mean, I think that as the prices go higher, you know, the -- our attention -- the nation's attention is obviously focused more on the issue. But unfortunately, in this country, history has proven that we have a very short memory. And I think this is where there has to be a serious partnership between government and industry, you know, the public sector and the private sector, you know, to come up with a coherent policy. If we're -- if we're market-driven, we're always going to be -- we're just going to be behind -- behind the eight ball, I think.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you make of the plan to reimburse folks $100?

GOLDSMITH: I mean, I think that's ridiculous. I mean, $100 is not going make any difference.

I mean, I have people that are talking to me. They say they see their weekly gas bill go up, you know, $20, $30 a week, and their paychecks have not gone up. I mean, that's just politics.

We really need some far-reaching, you know, energy policy decisions. And we've got to move away from fossil fuel. It's not just the fact that this stuff costs a lot of money and we're running out of it, but we're also polluting the environment. And since we have to make a move anyway, we should make the smart move instead of the move that makes a few people a lot of money.

S. O'BRIEN: David Goldsmith.

Always nice to chat with you, David. Thanks for talking with us.

GOLDSMITH: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Pushing the envelope by staying under the covers. Three months in bed so that others can safely go to the moon or Mars. Alice -- you're going to meet one of the intrepid mattress-nauts in just a moment.

And later, are you ready for Helen? She is strong, strong, invincible -- invincible.

You're supposed to back me up on that.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, sorry.

M. O'BRIEN: She is woman and she is in the house. Singer Helen Reddy, back even stronger with a memoir. We'll talk to her in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It is day 75 in bed for Erin Peterson today. She is lying down so that others can safely shoot for the moon and Mars one day. T-minus 10 days and counting until she returns to the vertical configuration, as they might say in NASA.

Of course, NASA has a lot to do with this. Erin Peterson is taking part in a NASA bed rest study. This simulates spaceflight. She's in the middle of her daily suspension routine.

Erin's joining us from the Cleveland clinic.

Erin, good morning to you. How are you feeling?

ERIN PETERSON, BED REST VOLUNTEER: I'm doing pretty good.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes? I mean...

PETERSON: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... 75 days horizontal. Do you feel like at some point along the way you went through a barrier and became accustomed to being in this position?

PETERSON: Yes. After about two weeks, I got completely used to laying down all the time, and negative six degrees head down actually feels level to me now.

M. O'BRIEN: Negative six degrees -- so it's really not even horizontal. You've got your head down. So, at first it must have been difficult to get used to.

Let's -- before we get into that, let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now. You're being suspended at the same time somebody else in the experiment is actually doing exercise in the same position. The idea is to sort of isolate and figure out how good exercise can be for people in space.

So you have to kind of replicate everything but the treadmill, right?

PETERSON: Right. Right. And right now it feels weightless. I don't have to support any of my own weight. The suspension harness and everything is taking care of that.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. All right. So the rest of the time you're in bed, and you've been seeing friends and blogging and so forth, and trying to -- trying to keep from getting too bored, I guess.

PETERSON: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: But what's been the hardest -- what's been the hardest thing about it? Has it been the boredom?

PETERSON: Yes. Boredom has been the -- my biggest enemy doing this. I -- and, you know, not having a whole lot of visitors at first. And so I have a lot of volunteers that come in and visit.

And just trying to keep myself occupied, you know, knitting, Internet, graphic design, all kinds of stuff.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. You're in the home stretch now. Ten days must seem like a piece of cake at this point. You think -- you're going to make it, right?

PETERSON: Oh, yes. I'm going to make it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. No problem.

And what do you think it's going to be like? What have they told you about what it will be like in that first moment when you go vertical?

PETERSON: They said I'm going to get really dizzy and I might stumble a lot. They'll gong to have two people, one on either side of me, to support me my first steps back on Earth.

M. O'BRIEN: Good.

PETERSON: Yes, I feel pretty removed from everything. But they said that I probably will walk a little bit like I'm drunk. And the bottoms of my feet are really going to hurt.

M. O'BRIEN: I bet. I bet so.

You've been doing a great blog, and I want to tell people about it. There's a little passage I want to share with people on your blog which is kind of fun.

PETERSON: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: It says this: "One thing that I've learned this week, doing this..." -- this was early on -- "... that I've learned this week, doing this study just for the money just wouldn't be worth it. I'm glad I came into this with higher motives and long-term plans, because, wow, the money's not what's keeping me in bed that the point. It's not enough to keep me motivated through 12 weeks of bedrest."

The money was better than your job in retail and as a temp. But as you say, you're kind of an enthusiast for the space program and that made it possible to do this?

PETERSON: Yes. Yes. I'm really excited to be a part of this and doing research along people like, you know, everyone from test pilots out in California to the Nemo crew living under water for three weeks. I'm really happy to be a part of what they're doing.

M. O'BRIEN: And has all the necessary things you have to do, has that gone smoothly, like baths and bathroom, all that stuff? Has that been OK?

PETERSON: Yes. The nurses are really great. I -- they've helped me out with everything.

There was a bit of a learning curve with everything, but then again, this isn't really a standard experience. So there was a lot of experimenting at first to see what worked out.

M. O'BRIEN: Forget about modesty. One final thing, why the mask?

PETERSON: Why the hockey helmet?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Or whatever that -- that hockey helmet thing, yes.

PETERSON: Oh, it supports my head.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, OK.

PETERSON: It's actually what's keeping my head up. And it also -- you know, in case something were to get knocked into it, I wouldn't get hurt. So it's just there to make sure my head isn't just dangling down.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Erin Peterson. We wish you well in the home stretch. We'll check in with you one more time as you reach the conclusion of your mission and your return to Earth.

Thank you very much for being with us.

PETERSON: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: And check her out in her blog. It's stardustmemories is that it?

PETERSON: Stardustholiday.blogspot.com.

M. O'BRIEN: Stardustholiday.

PETERSON: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: There you go. So check out her blog. I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

There it is, stardustholiday.blogspot.com.

Thanks a lot, Erin. We'll check back with you, OK?

PETERSON: All right. Thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Bye.

PETERSON: Bye.

S. O'BRIEN: Some big legal trouble to tell you about for the guy who's the host of TV's "Dog Whisperer" show. We're going to tell you why he's getting sued over an incident at the training center.

And then later, '70s icon Helen Reddy, she's in the house. We're going to talk to her about her brand new memoir and talk about that time in her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Three days of hearings into the Sago mine disaster have ended, much as they began really, with tears, and anguish and lots of unanswered questions.

AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken is in Washington D.C. this morning.

Hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the regulators here in D.C., as well as West Virginia are going to have to sort through the lessons that they've learned from the Sago mine disaster four months ago, as well as this remarkable set of interim hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEGGY WARE COHEN, MINER'S DAUGHTER: You owe us answers and the truth, and we deserve the truth. And when you go home to your families today, think about us not going home to our families.

FRANKEN (voice-over): For three days in Buckhannon (ph), West Virginia, the victims' families, who suffered unimaginable grief in January, got to chance to demand answers.

DEBBIE HAMNER, MINER'S WIFE: Can you tell the families what murdered our men?

Nobody wants to respond to that?

FRANKEN: The mine's operator, International Coal Group, says it believes the disaster was caused by nature.

BEN HATFIELD, PRESIDENT/CEO, INTL. COAL GROUP: ICG firmly believes that lightning created the ignition.

FRANKEN: Many of the family members made it clear, they believe the cause was the company's disregard for safety.

ANN MEREDITH, MINER'S DAUGHTER: I don't believe that lightning had anything to do with it.

FRANKEN: Lightning is just a working theory, the company says.

HATFIELD: ICG never taken the position that the investigation into the Sago mine accident has been finished, or that we have made -- or that we have all the answers.

FRANKEN: While the debate went on and on, one indisputable fact on display was that the families' searing pain has not subsided.

SARA BAILER, MINER'S DAUGHTER: Why was my mother widowed at age 51, after 32 years of marriage? And why will I have to explain to my future children their grandfather is gone?

PAM CAMPBELL, MINER'S SISTER-IN-LAW: I believe it's unfortunate that it took this accident to make the coal companies listen. I think that technology is so far advanced that there was no reason for these miners to die in this explosion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: This kind of participation by the families is unprecedented in this sort of thing, but now the regulators here in D.C. And West Virginia will have to decide what changes they're going to make so they can avoid this kind of disaster an this kind of suffering, or try to, for the families again -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, Bob, what changes do the families want?

FRANKEN: Well, there've been discussions a lot about improving communications from down below, perhaps utilizing GPS technology, discussions a lot about improving the availability of oxygen, so miners who get caught in the dangerous situation down there have a better chance to survive while rescuers come, and also improving the response time for rescuers to get to the scene and get going.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. Bob, thanks.

Thirty-six minutes past the hour. And it is time to check in with Bill Bennett. His radio show is called "Bill Bennett's Morning in America." He joins with a look at some of his listeners are talking about this morning.

Hey, Bill, good morning.

BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What's the big topic today?

BENNETT: Well, it's interesting. Not Sago. A couple of comments on that, but not much, really very little on the gas prices, too. And you would think for a conservative audience that's interested in politics it would have been a kind of, you know, hit- fest on Patrick Kennedy, but not much on that either. The topic was Moussaoui. It was immigration early in the week, but Moussaoui, and the verdict and the sentence. And most of the reaction was negative -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Because people wanted to see him put to death?

BENNETT: Yes, I think that's right, but it's not so much people being bloodthirsty, I don't think it's that at all. The way that listeners put it was they felt that the sentence was a kind of equivocation, that it showed a lack of confidence, morally, if you will, that these extraneous factors, they thought -- well, the callers' extraneous factors, you know, his childhood, the fact that he was subject to a bad father and some other things really showed that it was more a therapeutic model than a moral model, and what our listeners were saying is this was this was right and wrong; this guy could have been put to death as a statement of our moral certainty.

And this raised a whole series of questions about whether we have the guts, the courage and the conviction in modern America to carry forward a war like this, and do things that maybe modern sensibility argues somewhat against.

S. O'BRIEN: A lot, as you well know, the family members say you kill him, you make him a martyr. And then others have argued, kill him, what he did was so horrible and egregious, he deserves to die. And there was sort of a split between the family members.

Your listeners, what do they make aye of that, you kill him and you make him a martyr theory?

BENNETT: They think you do it in a way that maybe makes him a martyr to some of his own supporters. But what they're saying is you kill him to make it clear that you have unequivocally condemned this man, and that he will not only be heard from no more, as the judge said yesterday, because he won't be able to talk to people, but that he will be forgotten -- we won't have people visiting him. We won't have people doing interviews with five or 10 years later. And again, the uneasiness on the part of my callers was, they said, you know, do we have the guts to do this kind of thing, to tell this guy, it's over for you, we're taking your life, and their question is, does that carry over into our conduct of the war?

Excuse me. Three and a half hours of talk, you know what it's like.

S. O'BRIEN: And I glom on for another three minutes, right?

And what's the answer when they sort of connect the dots with the big moral question, if we don't have the guts, as they're putting it, to kill the guy, do we have the guts to stick it out in Iraq? Again, sort of paraphrasing what your listeners are saying. What's the answer that they give? What's their conclusion? BENNETT: We left it as an open question. And this morning, we did some of the signs that suggest we don't. Next week we're going to talk about some of the signs that we do, but we got into a lot of philosophical, cultural issues about the state of the culture. And you know, one of the themes of my show culture is more important than politics. Our beliefs, our values finally determine our politics, so I think we'll be talking about that next week.

Pretty heavy stuff early in the morning, but it's an interesting perspective.

S. O'BRIEN: Fodder for many, many conversations. Bill Bennett of Washington, fellow of the Claremont Institute, also CNN contributor. Thanks, Bill, appreciate it.

BENNET: Thank you, Soledad. Bye-bye.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Andy, what you got?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Miles, I got a lot. Let's talk about Mexican food? Do you like it, or do you like real Mexican food? We'll tell you about the difference.

Plus, how about this one. Muslim food at an Outback Steakhouse. We'll explain, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY is coming up next. Daryn Kagan is standing by with a preview.

Hello, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you.

We're going to roll out the Friday edition of LIVE TODAY at the top of the hour.

The Neville Brothers, the first family of New Orleans music. I'll talk live with one of the singing siblings, Art Neville, his return to a shattered city and its hopes for the future.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's four-foot tall, made of styrofoam, with a little friendly smile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A well-known celebrity is kidnapped. The Doughboy's shocking ordeal. Is Betty Crocker a suspect, and will Doughboy be rescued before he gets baked? We'll have those answers to those tough questions just ahead on "LIVE TODAY." For now, back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: He counts as a celebrity?

KAGAN: Absolutely!

S. O'BRIEN: That's a story that will give you a rise.

KAGAN: Anyway, coming up this morning, we're talking to singer Helen Reddy. She's got a new book out. She's 64 years old, I think, and takes back a look at her life, and her career, and talks about some of the famous faces she met along the way. We'll talk about that in just a moment.

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S. O'BRIEN: Oh, what a voice. Oh, what a song. Welcome back to everybody. This morning's "A.M. Pop" Helen Reddy. She took the '70s by storm with her song "I Am Woman." It became really a feminist anthem. And she was the first Australian to win a Grammy, had more than a dozen top 40 hits and her own television show.

Well, now, Helen Reddy has written a memoir about the woman she is today. It's called "The Woman I Am." Joining us this morning. And you also have a CD that's being released, companion CD, released at the same time.

HELEN REDDY, "THE WOMAN I AM": Right.

S. O'BRIEN: A retrospective of all your many, many, many hits. Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

REDDY: Thank you. Nice to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: Why did you want to write your memoir?

REDDY: Well, it did not start out that way. I had no intention of ever writing an autobiography of any kind. However, my literary agent is actually the wife of a psychiatrist who refers patients to me, and we were having a conversation about very psychic things. And about a month later, she wrote me a book and said, would you be interested in doing a body, mind, spirit book, and I thought yes, that's something I would like to do.

S. O'BRIEN: You didn't read the small print that said, and your memoir?

REDDY: No, no, no. No. But I found that I couldn't write about my experiences without putting them in the context of my life and showing the growth and the change, and so it finished up a memoir.

S. O'BRIEN: Writing, I think, is always a really tough, tough process. And your life, a lot of it was very, very tough. I mean, the things that you juggled, in addition to lots of success, just really hard times, sometimes at the same time. Was it cathartic to sort of write it down in a memoir?

REDDY: It's -- well, it's amazing how much stuff comes up that you've, you know, said well, I'll think about that tomorrow, you know? So it was a chance to review my life objectively. And that was interesting.

S. O'BRIEN: You grew up the child of performers.

REDDY: Right. Both my parents were in show business.

S. O'BRIEN: And you, at a relatively young age, won a big contest, an important contest, because it's really what sent you off to America.

REDDY: It's what got me to America, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And when you get to the U.S., you think you're getting a recording contract. You have, like, no money in your pocket, a couple hundred bucks. They're like, hey, great to see you, thanks for coming, bye-bye.

REDDY: Yes, have a nice time, dear, and do give us a call and say goodbye before you go back.

S. O'BRIEN: What did you do?

REDDY: Well, I -- you know, I was here to stay and I certainly -- you know, I had my 3-year-old child with me and -- well, I think you have to read the book to find out exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, I know what you say, but...

REDDY: No, but there are a lot of experiences that I have had in my life, which I think...

S. O'BRIEN: Because many people would say a single mom with a 3- year-old, which is a, you know, a tough gig in and of itself, who then has decided to break into music in the United States with really no, you know, uncle in the business kind of thing.

REDDY: No.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, that's sort of the sign of potential for not having success. And you went ahead and succeeded. Let me talk to you a little bit about "I Am Woman."

REDDY: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Which has, you know, become certainly the feminist anthem. Did you know when you were recording it this is it, this is -- I have a hit.

REDDY: Oh, no. No, no, no. Had I had any idea the impact that the song was going to have, I would have been far too intimidated to write the lyrics.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

REDDY: Uh-huh.

S. O'BRIEN: Years later, when you divorced husband number two, it turns out -- you know, you're singing all these incredibly strong woman lyrics and yet, in your real life and your personal life, you're sort of being walked on by a lot of the guys in your life. A kind of a contradiction.

REDDY: Well, I was emotionally and verbally abused. But because it wasn't physical abuse, I didn't recognize it as abuse. It was only -- I was involved, you know, with battered women shelters and that kind of thing. And I read a questionnaire, you know, how to know if you are a battered woman. And I read the questionnaire and virtually every question applied to me. And it was only then that it really hit me that, you know, verbal and emotional abuse is still abuse...

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

REDDY: ... and can have as devastating an effect.

S. O'BRIEN: Which you've all written about in your book. It is called "The Woman I Am" about the women you are today and how you got there from your path.

REDDY: Right, right.

S. O'BRIEN: Nice to see you. Helen Reddy, thanks for talking with us.

REDDY: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Good luck with the book.

REDDY: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Short break. We're back in just a moment.

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