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American Morning
General Motors Workers Continue Strike; President Bush Will Give a Speech at the United Nations; Is Facebook Safe for Your Children?
Aired September 25, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: ... the first time in a generation. What it could mean for your paychecks and retirement.
Plus, Bill O'Reilly in the news.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: It was exactly the same even though it's run by blacks. There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I want more iced tea.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHETRY: Hear the rest of the tape that has him taking heat this morning.
Plus, CNN exclusive...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We receive about 100 calls a day and about five percent of those are in fact positive matches, that is people who are, in fact, on the (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Inside the FBI secret terror screening center. What happens when potential terrorists are spotted and how many are really out there on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome. It is Tuesday, September 25. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Roberts. Thanks very much for joining us. The negotiators for G.M. and the United Auto Workers are expected to resume contract talks this morning. It is the first nationwide auto strike against General Motors since 1970.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to do what we need to do to get where we need to get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I figured they would have had at all worked out, would of had it settled by this time. I didn't think there was that many hang-ups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Seventy-three thousand UAW members at some 80 G.M. facilities are on the picket line for a second day today. It is a fight over job security and retiree health benefits.
Our Ali Velshi is live at G.M.'s tower trained plant. That's in Warren, Michigan. Good morning to you, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Here is what the local newspapers are saying about it. "The Detroit News" says "Off a cliff". UAW felt pushed over the edge. And "The Free Press" says strike, how long can it last?
These are the big questions being asked by some of these picketers over my shoulder here. At this plant there are about 850 people on strike and there are picketers at all of the entrances. Here is what happens. These strikes are taking place, these picketers are all over the country at about 80 plants in various parts of the country and even though the two issues are these health benefit plans and job security, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger and we just heard again this morning that he has said the health benefit plan both sides understand the value of it.
The issue here is job security. They want assurances from General Motors that there are going to keep their jobs. Take a look at how the jobs have been lost at General Motors over the course of the last several years. In 1994, there were a quarter million unionized employees, a quarter million UAW employees all the way down to 73,000 who are on strike today.
If you add up the employees at Ford and Chrysler you still only get up to 180,000, so they want, the UAW wants G.M. to say they're going to hold job steady. They're going to invest in American plants and not ship cheaper jobs off to other places including Canada and Mexico. John, we'll stay on the story and follow the negotiations that are going to resume shortly.
ROBERTS: Ali, have you talked to any of the individual members? How long are they willing to stay out?
VELSHI: They were not prepared for this strike. They were telling us that they did not think they were going to have to walk off the job. They were surprised when they got the instruction that they should walk off the job at 11:00 yesterday morning and they are not looking forward to a long strike. They're all saying the same thing, this isn't good for anybody.
ROBERTS: Yes, 200 bucks a week doesn't go very far either.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: We want to know what you think. Do you think that you will have enough money saved for retirement? Go to our Web page, cast your vote at CNN.com/AM right now. Only 27 percent of you say yes you will have enough money at retirement. Seventy-three percent say no. That's pretty disturbing. Kiran?
CHETRY: Well also new this morning. Some possible new charges against former NFL quarterback Michael Vick. A Virginia prosecutor today is expecting to seek dog fighting indictments. Vick already faces one to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. He could face five more years for each count if convicted of animal cruelty in the state of Virginia.
The sheriff in Jena, Louisiana sheriff now stepping up patrols after a Web site showed what it says were the addresses and phone numbers of the suspects known as the Jena 6. The teens accused of beating a white classmate. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco saying that harassing families, quote, "will not be tolerated".
It could be decision day in the trial of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs pictured there. Jurors now say they are closer to reaching a verdict after the judge told them to go back and keep talking. Jeffs is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry and have sex with her 19-year-old cousin. If convicted Jeffs could spend the rest of his life in prison -- John.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, a chance at unity literally up in flames in Iraq. The country says a suicide bomber killed 24 people and injured dozens in an event that was dubbed to reconciliation meeting between Sunni and Shiite militia leaders. The interior ministry says it happened when the bomber detonated a suicide belt inside a mosque in the city of Baquba during a daily breaking of the Ramadan fast. Dead include the city's police chief and the provincial commander of police operations.
Iran has released the last of four detained Iranian-Americans. Peace activist Ali Shakeri is out on $110,000 bail and free to leave the country. He's been in jail for four months, accused of stirring up revolution.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived at the United Nations in just the past couple of minutes. He is going to speak before the General Assembly today, a day after making news at Columbia University. Columbia's president introduced Iran's president and questioned his statements about 9/11, the holocaust, and Iran's treatment of homosexuals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE BOLINGER, PRESIDENT, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Mr. President, you exhibit all of the signs of a petty and cruel dictator.
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country.
(LAUGHTER)
AHMADINEJAD: We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ahmadinejad called many of President Lee Bollinger's comments, quote, "insults".
President Bush is expected to arrive at the United Nations any moment now. He will speak to world leaders in about an hour and a half, talking about ending poverty, hunger, disease and tyranny at the same podium where he once called for the invasion of Iraq and where he said that the U.N. was on the brink of irrelevancy.
CNN senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is live at the United Nations and I guess the task for President Bush this week, Richard, is to gain more support for this third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. What are his chances of doing that?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: I didn't hear you, John. What, sanctions on Iran? Yes, on Iran he is definitely going to be pushing for that but he won't be doing so as publicly as before. He is likely to actually take on Myanmar. President Bush has just entered the U.N. You see him there talking to people upon entering and he'll go up and he will meet with the General Assembly president of the secretary-general. Yes, Iran, but as a White House spokesman said the speech is not about Iran. He is going to talk about freedom again around the world, liberation from fear and tyranny, more broad- brush themes.
ROBERTS: You know, Richard, we were talking with Zain Verjee a little while ago, suggesting that you know the president is already looking for -- there -- meeting Ban Ki-moon, the new secretary-general of the United Nations -- the president is already looking for strength in numbers in terms of trying to put the screws to Iran, but if he can't get an agreement at the United Nations Security Council might some of the individual members like the United States, like Britain, like France which is now much more on the same page as the United States, start to go for maybe their own sanctions either as a group or individually against Iran?
ROTH: Well they could. They have their own now. They've had trouble even implementing what they've agreed to, technology to crack down financially on Iran banks and other companies. So, sometimes it sounds great to talk tough, but a lot of these sanctions never get truly enforced. They've been trying to step-by-step approach, the carrot and stick to bring China and Russia along.
They still have a long way to go though and obviously what has happened on the ground in Iraq does not help the U.S. case here at the U.N., whether the Iranian president's remarks at Columbia and what he might say here, how defiant for the third year in a row that may help the U.S. position as some in the White House feel.
ROBERTS: Right. All right. Richard Roth for us at the U.N. again. Just setting the scene here for you. President Bush talking with the secretary-general at the United Nations accompanied by Condoleezza Rice and Zalmay Khalilzad, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations there at the very right-hand side of your screen. President Bush speaking at 9:45 a.m. Eastern. CNN and CNN.com of course will have live coverage of the president's address, so be sure to keep it right here -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well one of America's closest allies has a new leader today. Japan's lower House of Parliament elected Yasuo Fukuda as the new prime minister. He is the first son of a prime minister to also serve. He is also expected to extend Japan's naval mission as part of the U.S. led mission in Afghanistan.
The FBI investigating the transfer of significant amounts of information from Department of Homeland Security computers to Chinese language Web sites. Congressional investigators say the company hired to protect the H.S. computers then tried to hide that cyber attack. DHS says it doesn't know what is missing but that it at all came from an unclassified network. The investigators did not name that security firm.
Will the Hillary Clinton's camp stop a magazine from publishing a negative story about her? According to the Web site Politico.com "GQ" magazine was all set to go with an article about infighting in the Clinton campaign, but when the campaign found out aides reportedly gave editors at "GQ" an ultimatum, kill the story or lose access to Bill Clinton for an upcoming cover piece. Politico says "GQ" caved. The writer of the article has refused to comment other than to say his story isn't running.
ROBERTS: Well they can always run it after they get access to Bill Clinton.
Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new that we're following this morning.
Is Facebook safe for your children? New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been setting up sting operations to find out. AMERICAN MORNING Alina Cho has got more on that from our National Update desk.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.
It was, indeed, a sting operation, an undercover one. New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, had investigators pose as 12 to 14- year-old girls and what his office found was that in many instances they were contacted by sexual predators. Now investigators also found there is widespread pornographic and obscene content on the site and Facebook's response to complaints is slow, sporadic and inconsistent.
Now in one instance, an investigator posing as a 14-year-old girl received a message from a 24-year-old man asking, quote, "Do you have any nude pics?" Well the investigator filed a complaint but the 24- year-old's profile is still on the site. CNN has contacted Facebook. We have yet to hear back from them but in a statement to "The New York Times" the company said it is taking the allegations seriously and, quote, "as our service continues to grow so does our responsibility to users." Now New York, we should mentions is not the first state to go after social networking sites. All 50 states have called on sites like Facebook and the larger MySpace to improve safety standards. Cuomo said quote, "Facebook has the right to operate any time a Web site it deems fit", but he went on to say it does not have the right to represent that its site is safe, John, when such statements are not accurate. So some strong words from the attorney general. We'll have to wait to see how Facebook responds.
ROBERTS: Yes, it will be interesting to see too where this investigation goes as well, because things like this are a huge concern to parents.
CHO: That's right.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho at our National Update desk for us this morning. Alina thanks. We'll see you soon.
Jacqui Jeras is in for Rob Marciano today, tracking extreme weather and a new tropical storm, but thankfully it doesn't look like this was is going to be much of a threat to anybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: All right. Jacqui, thanks very much for the update. We'll see you again soon -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well hospitals facing a double whammy. A shortage of blood and fewer people to donate so they are trying to find new and creative ways to recruit new donors.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is in Atlanta to show us how. A lot of people, hey, if you're ravel raffling off an iPod, sure I'll come donate some blood.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Right. That could be a reason to donate blood. And blood bank folks say they need every reason for people to donate blood. They are concerned that the pool is getting smaller. One study showed that the pool of donors is actually 60 percent smaller than had previously been thought. Well what is going on? What is the problem?
Well one problem appears to be that gen-exers (ph) just aren't that into giving blood. It is just not something that's on their list of things to do. They are not as into it as say the baby boomers and so there are concerns about that. And there are also concerns. Here is another one that many people might not have thought of, body piercing.
Body piercing, of course, is very hot among today's young people and if you do body piercing, they will automatically tell you, you have to wait one year after you do the piercing and blood bank experts know that when you tell someone to wait a year, often, they never come back -- Kiran.
CHETRY: So it looks like some of these municipalities are trying to do creative things, one was raffling away tickets to I think a rock concert and some were giving out iPods. Is that the incentive to get people to donate or is it something that sort of have you to want to do and actually go out of your way to do on a regular basis?
COHEN: Well what they're trying to do is they are trying to give incentives for people to go out of their way because you do. You have to go out of your way to give blood, so they are raffling off iPods. They are going to Facebook and to MySpace and trying to get people that way, so they are trying all of those things. They have lowered the age in some places from 17 to 16. They hope that that also gives them more places, more people to choose from.
And here is something interesting. They're now getting a little bit more lenient about tattoos. As long as you've had the tattoo done in a place that was licensed by the state, some places now say come on in, we'll take your blood.
CHETRY: That is interesting, so they are loosening things up a little bit. It's also interesting that people may not know that donated blood really has a shelf life of a little bit over a month, a month and a half, and so they are always constantly looking for new sources of blood but is there something else on the horizon that could take its place?
COHEN: A lot of people have a lot of hope in fake blood. That is sort of the new thing that people are hoping works and then you don't have to worry so much about recruiting all of these people. There is one product out there called polyheem (ph). The reason why it is not widely used is that there are some concerns that it could cause kidney or blood pressure issues. So some people say it's really not quite there yet.
CHETRY: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: President Bush, Iran's president, Ahmadinejad and leaders from more than 100 other countries have descended on one city, New York City. Up next meet the man who is helping to keep them and the rest of the city safe.
We'll be right back on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Certainly going to be a busy day at the United Nations today. There you see some of the pictures being taken. That is of course our President Bush, as well as the new head of the United Nations right now, Ban Ki-moon shaking hands there. The president is getting ready to speak in about an hour and 30 minutes. Right now he is going to be addressing the United Nations at 9:45 this morning.
And a bit later, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he is going to do the same this afternoon. Add to that you have leaders from hundreds of countries. They're in town dealing with street closures, gridlock and of course heightened security. Well it is certainly a huge challenge for the New York Police Department. Ray Kelly is commissioner of the NYPD and he joins me now to talk more about it.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Good to be with you, Kiran.
CHETRY: You know I mean just -- of course, Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran's visit alone, has generated a lot of publicity, a lot of controversy as well. What is it costing in terms of police and overtime and all of the logistics that have to go into making sure that he is protected?
KELLY: Well it takes several thousand police officers. Obviously we work closely with the Secret Service. It will cost several million dollars. We calculate that as we go along. There are pop-up demonstrations. There are unforeseen events but it is a heavy lift for us, no question about it.
CHETRY: And do you get reimbursed or eventually from the federal government?
KELLY: We get reimbursed somewhat. We get about half of the cost that the city incurs for the United Nations being here. There are a lot of missions here. For instance, there are 106 heads of state here now. We provide security with the Secret Service. That is an expensive proposition. We always have a bit of an issue with the State Department, but we get back about half of our costs.
CHETRY: And for someone like Ahmadinejad are you talking about because he is controversial and because there could be more questions about security, is it a different type of detail than just some of the other dignitaries visiting the U.N.?
KELLY: Sure. We have to make a judgment on each individual protecting -- obviously, in conjunction with the Secret Service, they have primary responsibility for protecting the heads of state but we augment them with literally thousands of police officers.
CHETRY: There was a lot of controversy, a lot of people outraged that he wanted to pay a visit to ground zero. He said even though his request was denied he was going to attempt to do that. Is that possible without the blessing of the police department?
KELLY: Well, we believe that's not going to happen. We think for security reasons and for public safety reasons it's just wise that he not go there and I think that's been pretty much accepted.
CHETRY: We have some video right now of just the various big events that you guys have to take care of, notwithstanding the United Nations meetings, but also the Republican National Convention that was happening recently, the preparations for New Years Eve, which we still can't figure out how the heck it is all cleaned up three hours later, not a single drop of confetti...
(CROSSTALK) CHETRY: Yes, on the ground. Do all of those huge events that you guys have to prep for and protect people for take away from the daily police work of keeping the nation's largest city safe?
KELLY: Well over time, obviously, it's a factor. We bring officers in who are not scheduled to work but I can tell you as far as crime is concerned it's down 27 percent in New York City since September 11th. We're down 26 percent and homicides this year we're down 18 percent in homicides so these are record low figures for us. This will be a record low year for us.
CHETRY: It is interesting because as you say it's a record low for New York City, however the latest FBI stat show that nationwide violent crime is actually up. Are there any working theories for that in your opinion?
KELLY: Well I think gang violence is an issue in other major cities. We've had some of it here. We've been very fortunate to use a program called Operation Impact, kind of hot spot policing where we take large numbers of police officers and put them in areas where we see a spike in violence or shootings, that sort of thing and it's worked very well for us. It averages about a 30 percent reduction in those areas and it takes crime down throughout the city. So we're going to continue to do that. It's working.
CHETRY: Very interesting. Commissioner Kelly, always great to see you. Thanks for being with us.
KELLY: Good to see you Kiran.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: A warning to iPhone hackers and your quick hits. Apple says that users who made unauthorized changes to their iPhones may find that their phones no longer work after the company's next software update. Apple says it is not purposely trying to disable hack iPhones.
Lock and load. It is time to finish the fight. The long awaited Halo 3 video games hit store shelves today. Dozens of fans already picked up their copies in special midnight releases across the country. This is the third installment of Microsoft's popular game series. The first two Halo games sold 15 million copies at around 60 bucks a piece.
And it is back to the bargaining table today for General Motors and its striking union. Ali Velshi is live with the latest for us when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A story coming up that you can't miss. This is a CNN exclusive actually. Our own Kelli Arena with answering some questions -- how do you end up on the terror watch list? How do you get yourself off if you're on there erroneously? ROBERTS: Exactly. You know there was a story of one fellow who was on the watch list and he used to have to cross into Canada a lot. And every time he would cross the border they would literally just up one side and down the other examine him. And he would call ahead to say hey look, I'm coming and he was on the terror watch list apparently for no reason but it just goes to show you some list -- it's like getting on the book list, right? You know you just can't get off. Same thing with the terror watch list for some people. We'll have that story exclusively when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back and thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It is Tuesday, the 25th of September and a big day in New York. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: That's right because a lot of people are at the U.N. this morning. I'm Kiran Chetry. Thanks for being with us.
ROBERTS: And new this morning, President Bush arrived at the United Nations just a few minutes ago. He is going to speak a little more than an hour from now. His speech not expected to focus on Iran but the White House says it will be about fighting for freedom and fighting against poverty. However, Iran's president, after -- he is expected to address the General Assembly later on today. The U.S. though will be putting on a big push this week to rally support for another round of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program.
And there is a new tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean we're keeping an eye on for you this morning. It's Tropical Storm Karen, the 12th named storm of the season. Karen, about 1,500 miles from land. Expected though to strengthen over the next 24 hours. Our Jacqui Jeras is keeping an eye on that for us from the CNN Weather Center.
Meanwhile, families reaching a settlement with a nursing home in the deadly Hurricane Katrina bus inferno. It killed 23 elderly patients as they fled Hurricane Katrina two years and two days ago. Terms of the deal are not being released. Victims and their families last year reached a separate settlement with the bus company and travel brokers for $11 million.
And negotiators for GM and the UAW trying to end the first nationwide auto strike since 1976. 73,000 union members are on strike. It's the second day now at some 80 General Motors facilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON GETTELFINGER, UAW PRESIDENT: This is nothing that we wanted. Nobody wins in a strike. But there comes a point in time where somebody can push you off a cliff and that is exactly what happened here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Ali Velshi is live at GM's Power Train plant in Warren, Michigan, this morning for the latest. Hi, Ali.
VELSHI: Good morning, Kiran.
And that was Ron Gettelfinger, the president of the UAW talking about being pushed off a cliff and that is exactly what is on the top of "The Detroit News." This is a very interesting situation because as you mentioned, the last nationwide strike was against Ford in 1976 and the last strike against GM nationwide was in 1970. This is an entirely different generation of people and the expectations of what the auto industry gives its unionized members have changed.
Now, the way the world has changed since then is that the major competitors, Honda and Toyota, Toyota specifically which is about to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest automaker -- they don't have unionized work forces in the United States and what they don't have are all those workers who have retired from the days when General Motors was such a big company also. Look back to 1994, we had 250,000 workers back in 1994 and that has been dwindling every year to the point that there are 73,000 workers who have walked off the job with General Motors now and there are another 100,000 unionized workers at Ford and Chrysler combined.
So, this industry has really become much smaller and does this union have what it takes to actually get GM to make concessions it needs? And that's what everybody is watching very closely. Because this situation mirrors that of so many other workers in the United States who are fundamentally concerned about their job security and retirement -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi live for us in Warren, Michigan. Thanks so much.
By the way, we want to know what you think about the situation, especially as it comes to retirement. Do you think you've saved enough? Go to our Web page and cast your vote, CNN.com/am. Here's a look right now. Only 26 percent of you think you do have enough saved for retirement and 74 percent saying no.
ROBERTS: You know, as the morning goes on and more people vote, those numbers are skewing more toward the direction of people haven't saved enough for retirement. Troubling circumstance in this country.
His chances of an NFL comeback may be reduced to zero with a prosecutor expected to file state animal cruelty charges against Michael Vick today. The Atlanta Falcons' quarterback could face 40 more years in prison if he's convicted.
AMERICAN MORNING legal contributor Sunny Hostin is here with more. Sunny, how do these potential state charges differ from what he is facing at the federal level?
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: They are different. At federal level, he was facing federal conspiracy charges and he pled guilty.
ROBERTS: And this was related to the funding of the operations? HOSTIN: Exactly. And now we're looking at animal cruelty and dog fighting in the state of Virginia. The state investigation from all accounts has been going on for quite sometime with less resources than the federal government. It took the federal government six weeks to indict but now with the state government having access to the plea documents and to his statements, admitting guilt is a much easier case for them now.
ROBERTS: Do you would think that they got a pretty good case to make there in Suri (ph) county because you would think if there was a fairly good case to be made, that feds would have made that.
HOSTIN: Well, you know the state jurisdiction is different from the federal jurisdiction. In this state, a prosecutor said this happened in my county and in my town and our people, you know, want some justice here for the state and that is exactly what he is going to do.
ROBERTS: Obviously, there was a difference in degree in terms of the crime committed but we saw the same thing with Timothy McVeigh facing federal and state charges on the same incident.
HOSTIN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: In terms of sentencing would this all kind of lump in together, would it be concurrent, would it be consecutive?
HOSTIN: It is likely to be consecutive, meaning he will serve the state prison term after the federal prison term. I actually thought it was unusual that this wasn't part of his plea negotiations, but apparently it wasn't and it's not going to be concurrent. It's likely to be consecutive so he's not only looking now at maybe a year or more in federal prison, he is looking at up to 40 years in state prison.
ROBERTS: What's the reality that he will get 40 years? It's a number of different counts. He has admitted in having a part in killing six to eight dogs.
HOSTIN: Six to eight dogs, five years per count and now we're talking about 30 to 40 years. He's going to have to take a plea in this case and my guess is we're looking at again, one to two years in state pretty much.
ROBERTS: Maybe three years total still in prison? That's still a long time and it's going to do a lot to his NFL career.
HOSTIN: It's going to perhaps end his NFL career.
ROBERTS: What about Larry Craig? He has a hearing before a judge tomorrow on his petition to reverse his guilty pleas?
HOSTIN: Yes.
ROBERTS: Any kind of hope of doing that? HOSTIN: You know, I read the motion and it looks like it does have some teeth. He says it would be a manifest in justice not to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and he also says I did not voluntarily enter into this plea. I don't know that that is going to persuade a judge. But it does have -- has some legal teeth.
ROBERTS: All right. Sunny Hostin, good to see you. Thanks very much. We'll see where Larry Craig goes and see what happens to Michael Vick. AMERICAN will be back right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a hundred calls a day and about 65 percent of those are, in fact, positive matches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The first-ever look inside the FBI's terrorist screening center. Who makes the terror watch list? Who doesn't? And does it really work to keep us safe? Next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The FBI's watch list is a key tool in keeping terrorist from entering the U.S. at our borders and airports. And for the first time ever, the FBI is giving CNN exclusive access behind the scenes of the terrorist screening center. Kelli Arena got inside. She's at Reagan International Airport now, Reagan National Airport with more. Good morning to you, Kelli. Congratulations, first of all, on getting this exclusive. That's a real coup for you.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, John. You know, when -- you know we've all heard, especially reports about people being getting stopped for extra screening. Well, some of those people are actually on the government's list of known or suspected terrorists. And so when one of those people walk into an airport like this, officials here put in a call immediately to that top secret screening center.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: If the war on terror has brain this is it, the FBI's terrorist screening center. CNN is the first network to ever get a camera inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The principal function that's going on here is receiving calls from the field.
ARENA: Who's calling? Border patrol agents, cops, airport security officials, anyone who comes across an individual trying to get into the country or already here and raising suspicion. Names and other information are checked against a master list of terror connections and this goes on 24/7.
LEONARD BOYLE, TERROR CENTER DIR.: We receive about a hundred calls a day and about 65 percent of those are, in fact, positive matches. That is people who are, in fact, on the watch list.
ARENA: It doesn't mean they're apprehended. Some are if they're believed to pose an immediate threat but most are let go.
BOYLE: The fact that a person is on the watch list does not necessarily mean that he won't get into the country. What is means is that the border protection agent is aware of that and can drill down deeper and get more information about that person.
ARENA: Boyle disclosed for the first time that there are roughly 300,000 people on the list, about 15,000 of them U.S. citizens. But he admits it still isn't 100 percent accurate and critics are losing patience.
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We have known or suspected terrorists and information about them falling between the cracks and you can have instances where innocent people who shouldn't be in the system getting caught up in all of this bureaucratic rules and procedures.
ARENA: A justice department audit this month discovered that 20 known or suspected terrorists were not accurately listed. It also found 38 percent of the records examined contained errors or inconsistencies.
BOYLE: We have to find ways to make sure that the information is accurate and consistent and we're working right now to try to develop a better process to do that.
ARENA: He doesn't have much of a choice. As we've repeatedly heard, just one mistake can cost lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Now, what you just saw, most people who work in government have never even seen, I mean, I basically had a sign over my first-born kid to get in the place. Even the address, John, of the terrorist screening center is classified.
ROBERTS: Amazing report. Kelli Arena for us this morning from Reagan National. Kelli, thanks.
CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away now. Heidi Collins, at the CNN Center, with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, John.
That's right. Car talk on the NEWSROOM run down. GM and the UAW in new contract negotiations this morning. 73,000 auto workers on strike. Will tell you all about that.
Also, live to the United Nations next hour. President Bush set to discuss broad themes like freedom, poverty and terror.
And 50 years ago today, the Little Rock Nine entered school under armed escort. Bill Clinton leads ceremonies today. And my conversation with one of the Little Rock Nine students. It's fascinating. Breaking news when it happens. NEWSROOM at the top of the hour, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: And it always seems to happen, too. Heidi, thanks very much.
What killed Anna Nicole Smith's son? Your "Quick Hits" now. After more than a year, the inquest into the death of Daniel Smith is set to start in the Bahamas. As many as 35 witnesses are expected to testify, including Anna Nicole's lawyer and companion, Howard K. Stern. An autopsy found drugs in Daniel Smith's body when he died in the Bahamas in September of last year.
Mike Tyson is pleading guilty to drug and DUI charges. The former heavyweight champ could end up in a tent the jail run by the sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County, the famous Joe Arpio, notorious for being just as tough as Iron Mike when it comes to crime. Tyson was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona last December when he was pulled over for driving erratically and police found cocaine in his pocket.
CHETRY: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Are they the worst drivers in the country?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That guy, did he just curse at us? Here we go. Here is someone going down the wrong way of one way traffic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: One man becomes so outraged he starts a web site to document careless drivers. What city is it? And are the postings really working? Find out ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's a new twist on road rage. Catching bad drivers in the act and posing it all on a web site for people to look at. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is on the streets of L.A. for us with more. Superimposed behind you, we have a shot of the taxi cabs with the brake lights on swirling around Columbus Circle this morning. Is it worse in one city than another, Chris?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My vote would have gone to New Yorkers but you know, one of your own, Kiran. A New Yorker came out here a couple of years ago and he got so fed up, saw drivers eating soup in the car, reading the newspaper, and just generally driving around like everybody else on the road was just an obstacle to their destination.
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LAWRENCE (voice-over): They've been called rude and even reckless. L.A. drivers are just as liable to forget you're there and flip you off. MICHAEL SHEN, BLOGGER: That guy, did he just curse at us?
LAWRENCE: It was enough to drive this transplanted New Yorker crazy.
SHEN: And it's not about L.A. bashing. I like L.A.
LAWRENCE: But not its roads. So Michael Shen created a web site where he could vent. He takes pictures of people he considers bad drivers and posts his rants on a blog.
SHEN: Oh, here we go. Here is someone going down wrong way of one way traffic. So I'm like cheese! OK, this is a one way road. I took his photo. And I let him pass.
LAWRENCE: Shen has seen drivers speed up to keep cars from merging into their lane.
SHEN: If they are safely signaling and there is plenty of room you should not be accelerating and blocking them.
LAWRENCE: His personal favorite? The car trying to beat the light and ends up stuck in the middle of an intersection.
SHEN: I mean, there's just on -- do not block!
LAWRENCE (on camera): Come on, L.A. is an easy target. But are we really that bad?
(voice-over): Well, yes and no. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, you're almost twice as likely to be killed in a car crash in L.A. as in New York City. San Francisco, Chicago, and Philly all have lower rates, too. But L.A. is safer than San Diego, Houston, Detroit and Dallas. Somehow, that doesn't register with a frustrated folks who post on Shen's Web site.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The driver attempted to back up out of the middle of the intersection, but then she to stop to avoid hitting cars that were navigating around her idiotic (EXPLETIVE DELETED) from behind.
LAWRENCE: Bloggers say these roads are home to an infinite number of idiots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just valet parked my car and when I looked up and saw the mini van in the photo accelerate and rear end the SUV in front of him. Get these, both were stopped at a red light.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Yes, the stories go on and on. Drivers without any lights on in the middle of the night. Other drivers trying to make a left turn from the right-hand lane. But you know what? There's a lot of good L.A. drivers out there because they're the ones who have to complain about the bad ones -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And so is this a Web site just almost a little bit cathartic way to vent or do the authorities check this out as well?
LAWRENCE: I don't know if the authorities do or not. He said he started it because he felt like he was going to kill somebody out there on the road. He just got so frustrated with the way people were driving. He said this way, I can just release all my anger and apparently with all of the people blogging and posting their own pictures on there, there's a lot of people that feel the exact same way he does.
CHETRY: All right. Sounds good. Chris Lawrence, thanks for bringing us that interesting story -- John.
ROBERTS: Just 10 minutes to the top of the hour. A quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
COLLINS: President Bush at the United Nations. His address live.
New round of contract talks today. GM and the UAW try to end a strike.
More dogfighting charges possible against NFL quarterback Michael Vick. A Virginia grand jury will consider an indictment today.
And the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine. Former President Clinton leads ceremonies this morning. "NEWSROOM" top of the hour, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Time for another CNN hero. People making a difference in their community. Today, a world renowned makeup artist helping women in Afghanistan build futures for themselves by selling hand-sewn scarves. His name is Matin Maulawizada.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Explain everything to me everything you want to explain.
MATIN MAULAWIZADA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: Great. Afghanistan offered me a lot and I wanted to bring a little something back. It's a tiny project. But I wanted to really make sure to bring something. Afghan women have survived years of war and years of suppression. Still, they do, and they prevail. So to me, the strength of Afghan women are just remarkable and I wanted to work with them.
We, in particular, rely on the mercy of their families, so they have to become servants to them. And I want to change that, one person at a time, if I could.
My entire point was to make sure that widows and women would be able to proudly work and be proud of their work and work outside the house. And provide wealth for their families. It's just amazing. It sells itself, really. They read and write to a equivalent of a fourth grade now. Mentally, they're prepared to go to work. They know how to take measurements, they know how to write measurements. Once they learn enough, they will basically be business women. And look at the embroidery on this. I'm hoping that I would send them to courses that they could actually manage a business, grow a business. My whole dream is for them to basically have the confidence to see beautiful objects that they're making and know that people are enjoying and appreciating them. They are doing the work and all I am offering is basically an opportunity for them to show us what they have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: To see the scarf designs or to nominate a hero of your own, visit our web site at cnn.com/heroes. AMERICAN MORNING is back in a moment.
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CHETRY: This is not your typical pile-on at the chief's game. There is a guy who ran out onto the field. He was tackled by none other than the mascot. KC's mascot jumping on the pile. He's pretty proud of himself. He actually did a little dance afterwards as well. There he is showing off his strength. Another slow-mo shot.
ROBERTS: KC Wolf to the rescue.
CHETRY: Yes. The guy was cuffed and was carried off and didn't get to even see his team win their first game of the year. 13-10 over the Vikings. It's OK. It's early in the season, buddy.
ROBERTS: Suggestion, stay away from the beer!
CHETRY: Too many nachos.
Also, a post-game press conference turned into a tirade for the Oklahoma State University Football Coach Mike Gundy. Yes. He got pretty upset when a column in a local paper questioned the attitude of his quarterback, Bobby Reed. He said it's OK to criticize player's on-field performance but not a player's character.
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MIKE GUNDY, OKLAHOMA STATE FOOTBALL COACH: You want to go after an athlete, one of my athletes; you go after one that doesn't do the right things. You don't downgrade him because he does everything right and may not play as well on Saturday and you let us make that decision! That's why I don't read the newspaper! Because it's garbage! And the editor that let it come out is garbage! Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! That's all I got to say. It makes me want to puke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Gundy didn't back off his statements on Monday but said that he had wished that he'd written his thoughts down so he that he wouldn't have used the word "ain't" so much when he was describing his outrage.
A rare white koala under close watch at an Australian hospital. Take a look at how cute this is. Doctors say that he is suffering from blindness caused by a Chlamydia infection. The koala underwent surgery and was given antibiotics to restore his sight and his health. And he looks like he is doing all right now.
CHETRY: We have a new addition to the AMERICAN MORNING " family. We want to show you real quick -- this is an adorable shot of Ella Grace Maine (ph), she is the new baby daughter of Doug who works on our show and his wife Shannon. Let show a cute shot. There she is. Born yesterday weighing in a healthy 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Congratulations to them. She is adorable.
ROBERTS: Fantastic. A life of misery ahead of you. I'm just kidding. I'm the father of a daughter, I don't know. So, you're the mother of a daughter.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: And thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: And see you at the CNN "NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins starts right now.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris has a day off.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Tuesday morning, September 25th. Here is what on the rundown - strike day two. General Motors and the Auto Workers Union expected back at the table this morning.
President Bush at the United Nations this hour. His address coming up live right here in the NEWSROOM.
And the Joe Cool address at sea off Florida. Where is the crew, though? The FBI wants to know. CSI Miami is in the NEWSROOM.
On strike and a lot on the line this morning. Negotiations expected to resume today between General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union. 73,000 workers off the job. The first nationwide auto worker strike in some 30 years. Operations shut down at 80 plants.
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