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Girl Raped on Videotape is Safe; Diplomatic Pressure Building Amid Military Crackdown
Aired September 29, 2007 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Saturday, September 29th and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon. T.J. is off today.
Straight ahead this hour, a little girl raped on videotape is now safe, but the search for her molester heats up. We're live with the very latest.
NGUYEN: Also, fighting for freedom. There is new hope this morning for peace in Myanmar following a violent week of clashes.
LEMON: Plus, he was a dish washer and an illegal immigrant. Pedro earned thousands of dollars, but was sent home penniless. Well, we've had a huge response to this story and we're uncovering America straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: But first, horrendous and sickening, words can't describe this case of child abuse. This morning the search is on for the suspect that you see there on the screen. Police say Chester Stiles taped himself sexually brutalizing a 3-year-old girl. That child is now 7-years-old and has now located. CNN's Kara Finnstrom is on the story from the Las Vegas area and she joins us live. I think the big question right now for folks hearing that the little girl has been found, how is she doing? And did her parents know about the abuse?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, detectives say she is doing well. They found her safe, they found her safe, they found her with her mother. Her mother says that she was not aware of this abuse.
All of this will be part of an ongoing investigation because that's a question a lot of people have had, were weren't there any warning signs and why didn't family members notice?
But because this is a child and because she has her rights to her -- to have her identity protected, a lot of this we will never know. But detectives do assure us that there will be a long, ongoing investigation into how she's doing.
Now as far as the actual person that they are seeking, the attacker in this case, we do have the sheriff - Sheriff Tony DeMeo who's just joining us now live. We appreciate you coming in. To give us an update on this, you identified first a person of interest, that person now your suspect, Chester Stiles. Tell us what you can about this man.
ANTHONY DEMEO, SHERIFF, NYE COUNTY: Well Chester Stiles has a warrant - open warrant from Las Vegas metro. There's also a federal warrant from the FBI for lewd acts with a minor under the age of 14. We understand those acts took place with a young child at the age of 6.
He has contact with metropolitan police department now. He has an arrest history with him, criminal history with them. We are confidence that Las Vegas metro, they have a criminal apprehension team along with other tips that we're receiving and phoning into Las Vegas metro, tips that they're receiving from sources thankfully being publicized by the media that will enable us to bring him into custody very quickly, we hope.
FINNSTROM: Now here in Nye County, you're also looking for Darren Tuck this morning. This is the man that initially turned this videotape in to police. Tell us a little bit about why you're looking for him and why you want to talk with him.
DEMEO: Well, there has been a charge filed. We also have a probation, a violation, which we're seeking him on that. That would incarcerate him in detention.
Then the D.A.'s office announced yesterday they're going to charge with him at least one part of our case. They're still looking at the other part of the case. And he has fled. We don't believe he's in Nye County any longer.
We're sending our reach to other jurisdictions and Mr. Tuck is still a viable suspect. We're still looking for any linkage he has with Stiles or any other person that may be involved in this videotape that we found, that we have in our possession.
FINNSTROM: All right, thank you so much. So Betty, again the investigation and the focus this morning really turning to finding this suspect in this attack.
NGUYEN: All right, we'll stay on top of this story, as will you. Thank you for that report, we appreciate it, Kara.
And the search for Chester Stiles. In the next hour, our Fredricka Whitfield will be talking live with Ed Miller. He's covering this story for "America's Most Wanted."
LEMON: Another shocking crime, this one in rural Texas. A teenager is in custody this morning accused in the hanging death of a 6-year-old girl. Police say DNA from a state crime database is a possible match to 19-year-old Shaun Arender. Hanna Mack's mother discovered her daughter's body hanging inside the family's garage three weeks ago. An autopsy confirms the first grader was sexually assaulted. Arender lives just a mile away, but relatives say the family doesn't know the suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the time, walking up and down our street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't know him, seen him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know him, I've seen him. No, no.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Police focused on the mother's boyfriend as their primary suspect. He remains jailed on child pornography champs. One other footnote to this. The "Dallas Morning News" says Shaun Arender has a long rap sheet and spent time in a state facility for young people with serious mental problems.
NGUYEN: Overseas now, diplomatic pressure is building as a military crackdown intensifies in the secretive Asian nation of Myanmar formerly known as Burma. Troops today are out in full force keeping protestors off the streets as a key U.N. envoy arrives.
CNN's John Vause is reporting the situation from neighboring Thailand and he joins us now from Bangkok. Talk to me a little bit, if you would, about the meetings that this envoy will be taking in country and how important that is to restoring some peace in the area.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Betty, the short answer is we really don't know what meetings will happen between the U.N. envoy and the opposition leader. We don't know yet whether or not Ibrahim Gambari will in fact be able to see Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro- democracy leader who has been under house arrest for so many years.
We know that he will be meeting with several members of this military government. At the very least, he'll be able to express the world's outrage of what is taking place in Myanmar over the last eight days, eight, nine days with the cold killing of so many protestors by the military when they've opened fire into the crowd.
So at least the world's message will be delivered to this military government. Now whether or not they actually take any notice or care is another question altogether, Betty.
NGUYEN: The reason why we're not getting a lot of information is because CNN and most media organizations are banned from this country, one of the most secretive on earth. But speaking of that information that we are able to get out of the country, the video, the image, i- reports that we're getting -- what are the conditions like for those trying to tell those stories to the outside world? It has to be very difficult for them to try to at least get this video out, let alone the risk they took to gather these images?
VAUSE: Well, first of all, physically it's very difficult for them to gather these photographs, to gather these videos and then to try and upload it onto some kind of server, to actually get them to us here at CNN or to get it onto these dissident Web sites around the world.
Now for example in Myanmar, there's only two Internet service providers, both of them controlled by the state. If you have an unregistered modem in Myanmar, you can go to jail. In the country of 50 million people, there's only one or two percent penetration of cell phone usage, so you can imagine just how difficult it is for these people to say nothing of the risk.
If they get caught taking these images, if they get caught sending the pictures and the videos out of the country, they will go to jail. They will be punished for what they are doing.
What happened on Friday, we think, we believe, we were told that the government in fact severed the Internet connection to the outside world.
What has happened today, it appears that Internet connection has been partially restored. And so there are a few more images that are making it out of the Myanmar, many of them show troops on the streets - they've also been showing some peaceful scenes as well.
Some of those images have been making their way to the i-Report section of CNN. Of course we're not telling anybody the names of those people who have been sending us those images simply to protect them from any repercussions inside Myanmar, Betty.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, and these images have been so priceless in telling the story of what is happening there inside Myanmar. John Vause joining us live from Bangkok today. Thank you, John.
LEMON: Here are some additional facts on Myanmar. Slightly smaller than Texas, Myanmar is located in southeastern Asia, bordering India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos. Originally a British colony, the country gained independence in 1948. Myanmar is home to more than 47 million people, 89 percent of them are Buddhist. The country was first called Burma. Since 1989, military authorities have referred to their country as Myanmar, although the U.S. government and many expatriots still use the name Burma.
NGUYEN: Let's shift a little bit now and talk about an Afghan army bus bombed in Kabul. Government officials report at least 27 dead, nearly 30 wounded. Most of them, soldiers. No one has claimed responsibility. Afghan President Hamid Karzai calls the attack an act of extreme cowardice.
LEMON: Hours after that attack, the Afghan president said he's willing to meet Taliban leaders for peace talks. The "Associated Press" reports Hamid Karzai is also offering to give the militants a position in his government. It's a proposal he made frequently in recent weeks, but a Taliban spokesman says foreign troops must first leave the country, a demand the president is not willing to meet.
NGUYEN: In Washington, a battle on whether to expand a federal health care program for children. President Bush vows a veto, saying the expansion covers people who don't need it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I also appreciate the way this bill handles our disagreements over the state children's health insurance program. Congressional leaders have put forward an irresponsible plan that would dramatically expand this program beyond its original intent and they know I will veto it. But it is good that they kept the program running while they tried to work out a more responsible approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well the Democrats response coming from a 12-year-old who has benefited from children's health care program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAEME FROST, BALTIMORE, MD: I don't know why President Bush wants to stop kids who really need help from getting CHIP. All I know is I have some really good doctors. They took great care of me when I was sick and I was glad I could see them because of the children's health program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I've got a question for you, what day is it?
NGUYEN: Supposed to be fall.
LEMON: It's supposed to be fall. You know, kind of just starting. Looks a lot like winter in some places this morning. We'll show you where.
NGUYEN: And an amazing story of survival. A woman is trapped in her car for more than a week. Find out how she was rescued.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, here's a sign of the time. Snow on Oregon's Mt. Hood. Those kids--oh, that could leave a mark. The cascades are looking at one to three inches of snow above 4,500 feet. Not quite enough to bring out skiers, a gentle reminder that summer is.
NGUYEN: A goner. You know, I love snowball fights when the snow is nice and wet, you know, not when it's that packed dry stuff.
LEMON: I love snowball fights when you can fly back to the sunshine. That's the only kind I like.
NGUYEN: So that looks like the wet stuff there, Bonnie. I'm no expert but they're getting quite a bit of snow.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Now we're going show you a remarkable story of survival, eight days without food and water. A woman survives after her car crashes into a steep ravine in Washington state.
Chris Daniels of our Seattle affiliate KING tracks her recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LISA MCINTYRE, HARBORVIEW MEDICAL CENTER: Well certainly people can live without food for a number of weeks. The fact that she's young and otherwise healthy helped in you know getting her to here.
CHRIS DANIELS, KING CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doctors at Harborview Medical Center say Tanya Rider is in critical and improving condition, but she still suffered severe effect from the a week without food and water, namely her kidneys.
MCINTYRE: Dehydration as well as the fact that she had muscle that was not -- that was dead basically -- when muscle dies, it breaks down and has toxic byproducts that clog up the kidney and cause kidney failure.
TOM RIDER, HUSBAND: I asked God to keep her safe or keep her with you. He had to have been with her for eight days with no food and water.
DANIELS: Tom Rider is relieved by the news. He had driven highway 169 for days looking for his wife and was getting questioned by authorities about her disappearance when he was told she was found.
RIDER: Detective comes in with this. This is the cell tower coverage that found her. This from the little cell phone beep saved her life.
DANIELS: That cell phone hit called a ping tracked Tanya's Honda Element to the wooden ravine off highway 169. Rider wonders why police didn't do it earlier.
DEP. RODNEY CHINNICK, KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT: We saw bank activity which we believed could only be caused based on information received by Tanya Rider. So that didn't stop us investigating but left us with a false impression that this was a voluntary missing person's case.
DANIELS: But Tom Rider says police focused too much attention on him instead of finding his wife and wonders if it would have made a difference in her condition at this hour.
RIDER: She's basically still fighting for her life. It's not over. But I cannot believe that God got her through eight days to die here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: What if someone with a computer could pull the power cord for most of the country? That threat is real. What the being done about it.
NGUYEN: And he earned $59,000, but the U.S. government took it all away. Find out why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Terrorists don't have to use bombs to attack us. They can cripple our economy and disrupt our lives with the click of a mouse. Here's CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is an electric generator. It is vital because it is the kind that power companies use to bring electricity to your home. It shudders and shakes, then goes up in smoke, destroyed just as effectively as if with a smuggled bomb. But all it took was a computer, some patient work and the click of a mouse.
ROBERT JAMISON, HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT: What's new here is that through a cyber attack you can actually get in and cause physical damage to equipment. That's the new piece of this.
MESERVE: This previously classified video of a test cyber attack on a power plant control system has sent shock waves through the federal government and the power industry.
Could a large scale simultaneous cyber attack knock out power to a huge part of the country for months? The nightmare scenario, at first, it would be inconvenient. Lights out, businesses shut. No teller machines, no gas pumps. By day three, stores would be out of food, emergency generators out of gas. After 10 days with no hope of power being restored, people want to evacuate but where to? With what fuel? And with no emergency services, medicine, heating or air conditioning, lives could be lost.
Listen to what economist Scott Borg projects if such a nightmare scenario played out with a loss of power to a third of the country for three months.
SCOTT BORG, U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT: It's equivalent to 30 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once. It's greater economic damage than any modern economy has ever suffered.
MESERVE: Even the Great Depression.
BORG: It's greater than the Great Depression.
MESERVE: The potential damage is so severe, the Department of Homeland Security asked CNN not to divulge certain details about the government experiment. Dubbed Aurora, the test was conducted last march at the Idaho national lab.
We can say that the research involved hacking into a replica of a power plant's control system. Researchers changed the operating cycle of the generator, sending it out of control until it self-destructed.
Since the test, the Department of Homeland Security has been working feverishly to thwart such an attack. Can you say right now that this vulnerability has been eliminated?
JAMISON: No, I can't say it's been eliminated, but I can say that a lot of risk has been taken off the table.
MESERVE: But the job of protecting power plants has been hard because control systems that open and close valves and switches and governor the load are increasingly connected to the Internet for efficiency reasons, making them vulnerable.
Joe Weiss is an expert on power plant control systems and has been sounding the alarm for five years. So the same systems we're using here are being used in Iran, Pakistan.
JOE WEISS, APPLIED CONTROL SOLUTIONS: Very possibly.
MESERVE: Which means people there know how to run them.
WEISS: Absolutely.
MESERVE: They know how to bring them down.
WEISS: Absolutely. They have the same training, the same passwords.
MESERVE: And security experts say it would be virtually impossible to figure out who attacked. In 2002, the current director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell and former CIA director James Woolsey were among more than 50 computer and security experts who begged President Bush for a massive cyber defense program it avoid a national disaster. Five years later, there is no such program.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get on this and get on it quickly.
MESERVE: Keeping them honest, we looked at how much is being spent on cyber security. Across the federal government, it is projected there will be a slight increase next year. But homeland security cyber security budget is projected to decrease, with only $12 million budgeted for protecting control systems.
DHS points out that its own research uncovered the power plant vulnerability and action it is taking within industry is reducing the risk. But the question remains can the U.S. close the cyber security holes before the hackers find them? Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That was an eye opening story right there.
And check this out. The monks of Myanmar are using nonviolent tactics to take on a repressive government. So how has this strategy worked in other cases around the world?
LEMON: And Republicans in Congress are calling for a change in America's strategy for Iraq. How are the Democrats reacting?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here's a look at what's happening right now. The search is on for this man, Chester Stiles. Nevada police say he videotaped himself sexually brutalizing a 3-year-old girl. That child has been located with her mother. She's now 7-years-old and said to be OK. Troops protesting there on the streets of Myanmar today as a key U.N. envoy arrives in the nation once known as Burma. The U.N. official is trying to find a peaceful resolution to clashes between the military and pro-democracy activists.
LEMON: Myanmar's monks are charting a collision course with the country's military rulers. Their demonstrations are part of a tradition in Asia and one that has worked in America, too -- the pacifist revolution. Here's CNN's Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHTERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shaved head, maroon robes, bare feet and sandals, hardly protection against government troops in body armor firing automatic weapons.
But that's just the point. The strongest weapon Myanmar's Buddhist monks have is nonviolence. 80 to 90 percent of Myanmar's people are Buddhists, a nonviolent religion that stresses meditation.
Monks are highly revered and have a history of political activism, spearheading pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and in the anti-colonial struggle against Great Britain in the early 20th century.
Asia has a long history of nonviolent movement. India's Mahatma Gandhi, bone thin, clad in a loin cloth helped free the Indian people from British rule by fasting and peaceful civil disobedience.
The Chinese students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 stopping a line of tanks by simply standing there. The Philippines, 1986: People Power demonstrations guided by a Catholic cardinal overthrow the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos.
PROTESTORS (singing): We shall overcome.
DOUGHERTY: And almost half a century ago in the United States, the Reverend Martin Luther King wages his battle for civil rights for blacks by rejecting violence. In America's South, in the Indian countryside, on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar, supporters of nonviolence have used mass marches, civil disobedience, sit-ins, picketing, fasting, even dying for a cause. Do they win? Sometimes. Victory won by nonviolence can take years, the only ammunition, as Martin Luther King said, is faith that justice will prevail.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Some Republicans tie trying to find a way out of the war in Iraq have come forward with a compromise, but there is a catch. The timeline for U.S. troops to come home would not kick in until President Bush was on his way out of office.
CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new Republican effort to force a change in Iraq strategy requires the president to change the mission from combat to support operations with the goal of completing that transition in 15 months, after next year's election.
The proposal was crafted by Ohio Republican George Voinovich and has the backing of three GOP senators who face war-weary voters at the polls next year. It comes after months of soul-searching by increasingly frustrated Republicans like Elizabeth Dole looking to satisfy demands back home for a withdrawal plan.
SEN. ELIZABETH DOLE (R), NORTH CAROLINA: We must seek common ground based on a set of shared principles. A growing number of our fellow Americans oppose a long-term U.S. military commitment.
BASH: Senator Voinovich met numerous times with Democrat Carl Levin, hoping to finally find an Iraq compromise that could pass the Senate. But Democratic leaders dismissed out of hand the idea of waiting 15 months.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I don't support it at all.
BASH (on camera): How come?
REID: Well, it doesn't do anything. It has the goal the election. That's very courageous.
BASH (voice-over): Some in Harry Reid's own party warn that kind of scorn for a GOP compromise idea will only hurt Democrats, in power for nine months, without changing Iraq policy.
REP. NEIL ABERCROMBIE (D), HAWAII: We have the majority now. People expect results. In order to get results, we have to reach out to the other side. That's the only way it's going to happen. People will give us credit for that.
BASH: Democrat Neil Abercrombie says Democratic leaders dug in on Iraq should learn from their strategy on children's health. By compromising with Republicans, Democrats won overwhelming bipartisan votes in the Senate and House, and put the president on the defensive.
(on camera): We asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid if he learned any lesson in the success he had in negotiating with Republicans on children's health care, without missing a beat, he replied, "get a new president," and left it there.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: For years he worked hard in America, but when he tried to go home, U.S. authorities took all the money he had saved.
NGUYEN: Yes. We're going to have Pedro's story just ahead as part of our coverage "Uncovering America."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. An important recall to tell you about. More than a dozen people in eight states are sick and bad meat, well, it may be to blame. Almost 22 million pounds of meat from the Topps Meat company are being recalled because of possible con damnation with E. coli. The company is based in New Jersey but their products are found at grocery stores throughout the U.S. So make sure you check your refrigerator, there's a long list of meat products that fall under the recall. And you can see the entire list on company's Web site. It's toppsmeat.com.
NGUYEN: He came to America to build a better life, but the U.S. government says this immigrant did it the wrong way.
LEMON: And you know what? Now he's paying quite literally. Here's CNN's John Zarrella in our ongoing CNN series "Uncovering America."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): These are the people Pedro Zapeta says needed his help when he came to America illegally looking for work, his elderly mother and sisters, living in this tiny house behind a cornfield in the mountains of Guatemala. Now the money he made to buy land and build a new life for them is gone.
CANDELAIRA ZAPETA, SISTER OF PEDRO ZAPETA (through translator): My brother is very humble. We feel so badly for him. He has gone through so much work and poverty and lose it all.
ZARRELLA: Thirteen years ago, Pedro crossed the border here in Brownsville, Texas. He made his way to Stuart, Florida, where a friend took him in.
For the next 11 years, he worked as a dishwasher, most of the time making no more than $5.50 an hour. He rode a bicycle to his jobs. He saved every nickel he could, and he hid the money, all cash, in the apartment he shared with three others.
Two years ago, Zapeta decided to go home to Guatemala. He was tired, in his duffel bag, $59,000 in cash, his entire American savings. But, as Pedro's bag went through security at Fort Lauderdale Airport, screeners spotted the money. U.S. Customs was called, the cash seized. Pedro had broken the law. He had not filled out the required document declaring he was leaving the country with more than $10,000 in cash.
PEDRO ZAPETA, MONEY SEIZED BY U.S. (through translator): Truthfully, I didn't know I had to declare the money. There was nothing bad about that money.
ZARRELLA: We first told Pedro's story last March, so did other news organizations, since then nearly $10,000 in donations has poured in. At one point, federal prosecutors offered Pedro a deal. Leave with the donations plus $10,000 from the original cash seized. He said no, he wanted it all. After two years, the government is still holding every penny of Pedro's $59,000. We've tried getting answers multiple times from officials to explain what seems like excessively harsh punishment.
(on camera): Voice mail. I'll leave a message.
(voice-over): We did not hear back from the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case. Through his court clerk, the judge who presided said he appreciated the opportunity to comment, but would continue his policy of not talking with the media.
Congressman Tim Mahoney, who represents the district where Pedro lives, respectfully declined to comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami told us they will not comment while the case is on appeal.
Under an agreement with Immigration, Pedro must leave the United States by the end of January, more than likely without any of the money he earned. He knows he was wrong, he didn't pay taxes, he was here illegally. But Pedro believes in all of this, he is the noble figure.
P. ZAPETA (through translator): They should be ashamed. They are poorer than me.
ZARRELLA: The punishment, he says, does not fit the crime.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: You know what? CNN's "Uncovering America" series, part of Hispanic Heritage Month here.
NGUYEN: Yes, our Josh Levs is here to show you how you can get surprising information about a huge segment of the U.S. population. Not only is it surprising, but it is very interesting and telling.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. And it's very telling about our times, too. You know, as I was mentioning on time earlier today, too often these days when we hear about the Hispanic population in America, it's in two categories, two contexts, you've either got the fight for Hispanic or Latino votes, or you've got the fight over immigration.
But if you want to really understand either of those things and a lot about America you've got to look back behind that. So I'm going to show you right now something brand new that's up on cnn.com today. I'm going to Clark Kent here again. Let's take a look at this. This has just been unveiled. "Uncovering America: The Hispanic Experience."
There's a lot of information here that traces you through even surprising things what Latino means versus what Hispanic means. It doesn't mean what you think it means. This is one of my favorite features. It's called "Timeline." It takes you back into the 1800s and it shows in kind of a photo Cliff Notes version way some of the highlights of the Hispanic experience in America.
And I'm just going to scroll through quickly. So you can see it comes all the way up to today. You're going to learn a lot about your friends, your neighbors, your own family in some cases. And one more thing I want to point out here. You know, these days, cnn.com is not just about getting you information, it's about receiving information from you that we then take a look at and share with the world.
Your stories and your photos via I-Report. People are sending us their photos, their videos, their own stories that describe in their own words how -- what their experience as Hispanics in America has been and the changes that they've seen over the decades, adorable little kids there now, about 50 years old. And you can send in your photos -- your videos via this I-Report system as well.
We obviously are going to keep taking a look at everything that shows up here at cnn.com desk. We want to keep sharing stories with you, stories, videos, everything you want to share with us that helps tell the stories of Hispanics in America and also of other minority groups as well, this "Uncovering America" series is a year-long effort by CNN to look really closely and in-depth at different minority groups in America.
And Betty, Don, I'm telling you, it's great information up there.
LEMON: Yes.
NGUYEN: Absolutely it is. We'll be logging on and seeing some of those stories as people tell them. Thank you.
LEMON: We'll also be continuing our series here on CNN so throughout this month, Hispanic history month.
NGUYEN: OK. So how is the chow, soldier? How's that food?
LEMON: Well, some military chefs are serving up more than just heated MREs. It's the ultimate "Iron Chef" contest. We have a live report.
NGUYEN: But before we go to break, want to take a crack at our CNN News Quiz? Do you think you got what it takes? Well, here's a question from the new citizenship test: How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have? Do you think you know? The answer on the other side of the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We're back now with the answer to our CNN News Quiz. A question comes from the new citizenship test. How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have?
NGUYEN: Don, you got it right.
LEMON: I got it right. Well, I said 26 or 27. It is 27.
NGUYEN: Well, our staff is getting it right though, that's something we're going to be asking. Army chow might not have the best reputation, but some military chefs are trying to change that image. Right now, they're battling it out in a cooking competition and our Gary Nurenberg has got a primo assignment today live in Washington with the slice, dice and sizzle.
I wish I were there.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll try serve it up now, we're outside the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., where they have closed off the streets for the military culinary competition. Thirteen teams competing all day long, five at a time. Three different rounds.
This is a team from the secretary of the navy's executive dining room working on lobster and looks like some pretty fancy knife work at this time. Pretty serious competition, though, it will be judged with a number of criteria throughout the day.
Did you know the secretary of defense has his own dining room staff? There he is, a staff sergeant working on the competition today. His name is Nolan Caniff (ph).
Staff Sergeant, what are you working on? How's it going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we're making a lobster fillet (ph). A butter-poached (ph) lobster, and a mushroom-stuffed chicken breast.
NURENBERG: How much pressure is there here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty good. There's a lot of competition out here today. Everybody has a -- pretty on their cues (ph) today. So it's good.
NURENBERG: Any surprises when you opened the box of things to deal with? Yes. We didn't know what we were getting. We opened it up and found chicken and lobster. So you got to do what you got to do I guess.
NURENBERG: Staff Sergeant, thank you very much, good luck with the competition today.
We talked about the box, that is a box that is delivered, it is sealed, the teams get to open it up all at the same time, they don't know what's inside. And frankly, there was a little worry about what they were going to have to deal with.
We talked to one Air Force staff sergeant, Master Sergeant Keith Smith (ph), and he had some concerns about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MST. SGT. KEITH SMITH, U.S. AIR FORCE: I think if I got like sea urchin or something like that, which is the spiny -- you know you have to crack the top off and dig the insides out, I think that would be kind of crazy, but I think we could probably pull something out. But yes, there's some weird ingredients out there. But the biggest -- the hardest thing is just finding out what your protein is and then just going from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NURENBERG: He said, you know, what you have got to do is you've got to find out what the meat is go from there. No sea urchins today. We wanted to give you a taste of what the first round was like. It finished a few minutes ago through the eyes of photojournalist Doug Schoen (ph).
NGUYEN: That looks fantastic. You know, the funny thing though, Gary, I'll just say this, I've never seen someone so disappointed in getting lobster. I mean, usually people are excited when they get a lobster. But we'll see how that competition plays out. Gary Nurenberg, thank you so much. And try not too eat too much while you're out there, would you?
LEMON: Yes. We're all the way down here in Atlanta, the least he could do is send us some down, I think overnight.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm never disappointed in lobster.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: I didn't mean to jump in on your conversation but since you said lobster. Good to see you guys.
NGUYEN: You've got a lot of good stuff coming up today.
WHITFIELD: We do indeed. Lots of follow-ups too for a lot of the stories that you guys have been following all morning long. Coming up in the noon hour, you know about the strange story of this little girl who was molested in this videotape. So many mysteries surround her. Who is she?
Now we know apparently who her family is but questions remain about how in the world she was in this situation. And who are these suspects that law enforcement is looking for right now? We've got a reporter who is with "America's Most Wanted" television show to give us an idea of some of the questions that I just posed that actually might be answered. And he's going to reveal a little bit more about this. Very confusing and perplexing situation.
Meantime, we're going to take a few steps in another direction. Does this look familiar to you guys? Don, I want to say, you've got to know this because you are Mr. Internet king.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I've seen that. I've seen that.
WHITFIELD: OK. Betty, you and I are in the same camp.
LEMON: He goes places around the world and then he does that.
WHITFIELD: Exactly. And he has become quite the phenom and actually turned it into a business now. So he goes to all these places. He has got some interesting tales about sponsorship now and goodwill efforts. We're going to be talking with Matt Harding. OK. So he's not a great dancer, it's more like a jig.
NGUYEN: It looks like he's running in place.
WHITFIELD: Yes. He kind of is. Maybe it's like hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. Anyway, strange stuff, but it has become fascinating.
LEMON: There is proof. If you build a road, they will come.
WHITFIELD: Hey, America, it's all about enterprising.
LEMON: There you go. I'm sitting in the middle of you two. So they used to be unmentionables.
NGUYEN: What you talking about, Don?
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Well, nowadays you see bras on the street. You won't see any of ours though. We've come a long way, ladies, since the days of the corset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, look at that, you wouldn't think that that bra would hold you but it jolly well does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: The bra turns 100. And we are celebrating.
LEMON: That's an old bra. Don't turn red with embarrassment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, you can flaunt it if you got it, in a bikini, that is, but in a brassiere? Aren't those supposed to be private?
LEMON: I thought I said "bra-za-ree," I'm glad you said it.
NGUYEN: Get out of here.
LEMON: For a full public -- a public full figure, American women-- that got me all flustered.
NGUYEN: It does.
LEMON: Spend $5 billion a year on bras, reason enough to celebrate a century of...
NGUYEN: Support.
LEMON: Support. Here's CNN's Mallika Kapur.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hundred years old and it's still holding up. The word brassiere first appeared in fashion bible Vogue a century ago. Back then it looked something like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tie two silk handkerchiefs together with ribbon and cord.
KAPUR: (INAUDIBLE) by New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob a few years later, though things like it go back hundreds of years.
PENNY GRYLLS, FILMMAKER: Through the history of the bra, and the way that it changed -- and the bra changed you can look at the history of women.
KAPUR: Bust flatteners were popular in the postwar 1920s. Feminine ones in the '50s. In the '60s, feminists trashed bras, sometimes a symbol of conformity.
Underwear became outer wear when Madonna wore this in the early '90s. But its Wonderbra that really changed the way women and men think about bras.
GRYLLS: I think the line is, "if you care about the shape you're in," and then it went, "so does he." So does he. And it's really kind of cheesy, like early 1970s Wonderbra ads. And I think that that was when they started to -- people started -- it was an aspiration associated with the bra rather than something that did a job.
KAPUR: June Kenton has been in the bra business for more than 40 years. She is the queen's corsetiere.
JUNE KENTON, RIGBY & PELLER: Corsetry (ph) was very, very heavy. It was -- as I say, it had no stretch in it. It was uncomfortable. And I just think that it has liberated women to be looking absolutely amazing. I mean, look at that. You would think that that bra would hold you, but it jolly well does.
KAPUR: Pretty enough, but it's isn't the world's best-selling bra. Know which one it is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wonderbra.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Victoria's Secret?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wonderbra.
KAPUR: No, everybody in the business says it's the Doreen
JANE FENLON-SMITH, TRIUMPH INTERNATIONAL: It just gives the most amazing shape, even if you don't have the best-shaped bust. Last year we sold over 1 million Doreens. But worldwide it's a very large figure. (INAUDIBLE)
KAPUR: Here's one secret we can share. Doreen turns 40 this year. Happy birthday, Doreen. And...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday bra.
KAPUR: Mallika Kapur, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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