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Democrats Prepare For Presidential Debate in Philadelphia; President Bush Nominates New Veterans Affairs Secretary

Aired October 30, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: What you say can and will be used against you, unless you work for Blackwater and took part in that allegedly unprovoked rampage last month in Baghdad.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Now the U.S. State Department is under fire for so-called limited immunity agreements with Blackwater contractors. We will get the Pentagon's take from our Jamie McIntyre this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

More on that F-18 fighter jet that was coming out of Oceana Naval Air Station Headed to Virginia Beach. We reported that a practice bomb had fell off the F-18. What I can tell you, it was a Mark 76, an inert practice bomb, make sure we make -- press that point, an inert practice bomb. No explosives inside this practice bomb. It's about 25 pounds of metal and a shotgun shell, so it gives enough for a spotting charge, a little white smoke when it is dropped. So no harm to anybody.

But needless to say, folks that saw that practice bomb fall off that jet got a little worried. We found out about it. And indeed, we were able to confirm it was an inert practice bomb, Mark 76. The jet was flying out of Oceana Naval Air Station. That fake -- or that inert practice bomb fell into an industrial area, a warehouse actually in Virginia Beach. That's the latest on this. We wanted to bring it to you.

LEMON: It is a new gray area involving Blackwater. Some of the security contractor's guards are accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians. Iraq can't legally prosecuted and it's unclear whether U.S. law applies. Now add to the mix some sort of immunity deal extended by State Department investigators.

So, what's the view from the Pentagon?

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, joins us now with the latest -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, there has been a high-level meeting between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the future control of contractors in Iraq in the wake of that Blackwater controversy, the incident there.

And, according to the Pentagon, there has been a general understanding that there will be a new agreement under which the U.S. military will have increased control over contractors in Iraq, although not necessarily a single entity in charge of all contracting matters.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell today said that there were three key points that were addressed. One was standard rules for the use of force for both contractors working for the Defense Department and the Department of State. In addition, there would be the U.S. military would have the final say over the movement of contractors, and they would all have to be coordinated through the U.S. military.

And, finally, there would be a standardization of training and procedures, with the U.S. military given more visibility over the training of contractors, not just for the Pentagon, the Pentagon, but also for the State Department.

Here is how Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell explained how it might work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: The secretary believes that so long as there is somebody ultimately who coordinates all the movements and has visibility of all the movements of armed contractors in Iraq, that that could suffice in terms of giving the commanders the knowledge of what is going on in the battle space, so they aren't blindsided by contractors running in and out their battle space and potentially causing problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, one gray area that remains is, if the contractors do not abide by these new stricter guidelines, who is going to hold them accountable? Now, the Pentagon says it would hold its own contractors accountable. The State Department would have to hold its contractors accountable.

And that comes in the wake of this controversy about whether the Blackwater employees involved in this controversial incident were given grants of immunity. What people say here is that they are not supposed to be given any immunity, but it appears that when they signed statements, they signed statements saying that they agreed that they would give the information so long as none of it was used against them in a criminal court of law. And that has opened up a whole 'nother can of worms -- Don.

LEMON: OK, Jamie.

We have been following this developing news and reporting on this F-18 device that accidentally fell in Virginia Beach. What are you and your producers at the Pentagon hearing, if anything, about this?

MCINTYRE: Well, my producer Mike Mount (ph) is actually the one who found out about this in the first place, how an F-18 took off with a practice warhead, a dummy bomb, and it accidentally released in an area where it fell, apparently, we are told, in a warehouse where it did not cause any damage or injuries.

It is a practice bomb. It's inert, doesn't have explosives. But, still, obviously, something like this falls on your head, it could kill you and it can cause some severe property damage. But at this point they are investigating how this could happen.

It was a training exercise, routine flight. Somehow, there was a release, an unauthorized release of this practice munition. And, believe me, that means somebody at the Oceana Naval Station is going to be having a really bad day.

LEMON: Oh, right on, on that. Thank you very much, Jamie McIntyre.

PHILLIPS: The face and voice of accountability for a wounded department, that's what President Bush wants James Peake to be. He's nominated the decorated military veteran to be the next secretary of veterans affairs.

The department has been backlogged with wounded troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. And many people have complained that they are not getting benefits in a timely manner. A special panel has recommended major reforms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES PEAKE, VETERAN AFFAIRS SECRETARY NOMINEE: Well, it is a high honor, indeed. I do understand that, though it is an honor, this is not an honorary position. And there is a lot of work to be done as we move forward on implementing the Dole-Shalala commission recommendations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, critics question whether Peake is the right man for the job, especially after allegations of shoddy treatment at the nation's premier Army hospital. We are talking about Walter Reed. Peake is a former Army surgeon general.

LEMON: South Floridians are keeping their eyes on the surf. It is kicking off, as Tropical Storm Noel, as it churns through the Caribbean.

Reporter Rosh Lowe of CNN affiliate WSVN has a really good angle. And he joins us from Miami Beach -- Rosh.

ROSH LOWE, WSVN REPORTER: All right. Let me give you the tour of South Beach right now. Over my shoulder, you can see the rough surf here.

The word of the day is windy in South Florida. And you know it has been a quiet tropical storm season so far. But the day before Halloween, we could have a Halloween hurricane off of South Florida's coast.

And we will go to some of the video that we shot earlier today. Up and down Miami Beach, you can take a look at the seas out there. We spoke with several tourists who say that they were not deterred. They still wanted to get in some beach time. But even those tourists say, you know what, after a while, we want to leave.

Now, forecasters are saying the winds could top about 39 miles per hour in South Florida. And we saw last year that, with those types of winds, it could lead to some power outages, power lines down. Already officials are warning people starting tonight and really going into tomorrow and then tomorrow night not to venture out to the beach, that, if you live down here in the South Florida area, you have loose things outside of your house, get those things in your home.

They are also warning boaters that you look at that, that these seas are too rough to get on your boats and to tie up your boats. So, we will bring it back out here live to South Beach. South Florida is preparing for this tropical storm to be off of our coast.

And, as we all know, with tropical storms and with hurricanes, they don't travel in a straight line. So, everyone is well aware that this tropical storm could even turn into a minimal hurricane there a little bit to the West and then South Florida would be right in the path.

We are live in South Beach, Rosh Lowe -- back to you.

LEMON: All right, Rosh Lowe from CNN affiliate WSVN, we certainly appreciate that report, sir.

And a deadly rainmaker weakens, but keeps turning in the Caribbean. We are talking about Noel, Chad Myers, right? That's it.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really, it is a Halloween storm named Noel that looks like Noel. Isn't that kind of odd that it could be Christmas and Halloween all at the same time?

LEMON: Is this the first Noel -- or Noel -- of the hurricane?

MYERS: You know, I don't remember another Noel. So either we didn't get there six years ago -- they change the names if they retire one, obviously. There will never be another Andrew.

Otherwise, they just recycle the names every six years. But either we didn't get to N last six years ago or 12 years ago. I just don't remember it ever being there. So, anyway, it is still churning. It is still over Cuba. I know it looks like it is over the Turks and Caicos. And it looks like, oh, no, look out. It's really going to get going. But the center is actually still over land. Kind of deceptive how the satellite makes it looks, just because all the convection is over the water.

Forecast still is to miss Florida. But I'm worried about that left side right there. Look how close that gets, 60, 70 miles per hour right there along Miami Beach. And some now -- some of the computer models are taking it into Florida, not missing it by all that much.

And, so, we could actually see at least some of these models turn a little bit farther to the West. If it does get a little -- even if it doesn't touch, there's still going to be some waterspouts come onshore, still going to be heavy rain. And you are still going to get winds 40 to 50 miles per hour.

And we're seeing winds right now of 40 in some spots, gusts at least, and also this wind is blowing the water over the sandbars and on to the shore and then these rip currents come right off from those sandbars and you really can get yourself in trouble.

There are some pretty decent wind gusts right there. That's Nassau, 33, Melbourne Beach at 29. That looks like Indialantic Beach as well somewhere around 30 miles per hour.

The rest of the country is pretty good. There's a lot of sunshine through the Plains, a little bit of light snow up across Colorado. This is the only thing we have to worry about. And if you are living in South Florida, Central Florida, all the way up to Savannah, I know the forecast isn't for it to get to you. But I'm not convinced. Just pay attention to it because as we go through the week, really, not the end of week, it will be gone by Friday. But it will be very, very close, close enough that you need to pay attention -- Don.

LEMON: Pay attention. You heard it from the weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: You're welcome.

LEMON: Thank you, sir.

MYERS: Sure.

LEMON: When the weather becomes the news, count on CNN to bring it to you first. If you see severe weather happening in your area, please send us an I-Report. Go to CNN.com and click on I-Report or type ireport@CNN.com right into your cell phone and share your photos or your video.

PHILLIPS: House Number One Scotland Street home to a tragedy, an address that witnesses will never forget.

Now, for the fist time we are hearing 911 calls from people who saw this North Carolina beach house go up in flames early Sunday morning, killing seven college students from South Carolina, calls like this one filled with confusion and frustration.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: Brunswick County 911. What is your emergency?

CALLER: Yes, I'm looking for the address, Scotland Street. Let me see if I can help these people.

DISPATCHER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you get the fire department here?

DISPATCHER: Sure.

What's the address, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. Scotland Street. They will see it.

DISPATCHER: Where is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ocean Isle Beach.

DISPATCHER: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

DISPATCHER: Oh, no, wait a minute. I need something better than that. I'm not familiar with the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'm looking for an address.

DISPATCHER: OK.

What's wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A house fire.

DISPATCHER: Oh, I didn't know that, sir. You didn't tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be Unit 1, Ocean Isle Beach. House Number One Scotland Street.

DISPATCHER: Scotland?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Is anybody there, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people here.

DISPATCHER: Could you ask anybody if they can give me an address?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trapped in the house, lady.

DISPATCHER: I know, sir. I mean you're telling me.

But how can I send somebody if I don't know where to go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I told you, the address is Number One Scotland Street, Ocean Isle Beach. (END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the names of the victims have not been officially released. But we have been able to confirm some of them through family and friends.

Sophomore Allison Walden was 19, A premed major. Her dad in Ohio says she was always cheerful, positive, and had a good future in front of her, as did 19-year-old freshman Cassidy Pendley. She was in high school. She attended an academic program for the best and brightest students. She was also junior homecoming queen. One of the victims was 19-year-old South Carolina freshman Cassidy Pendley. That's her on the left. Again, her best friend, Melyssa Cramer, next to her.

Melyssa remembered her friend in a series of I-Reports to CNN. She says Cassidy's heart and her smile filled people with happiness. She says Cassidy made an imprint on her heart forever. Melyssa ended her I-Report with the words: "I love you and miss you. You will always be my best friend."

Thank you, Melyssa, for your I-Report. And we are very sorry for your loss.

LEMON: Designed to intimidate and terrorize, a symbol of racism and oppression. Why are so many nooses showing up around the country? Well, CNN investigates. And you will get a preview straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And two months and counting down to the start of primary season and the Democrats have another chance to jockey for position. Our Candy Crowley handicaps tonight's debate in Philly.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Three Sixteen Eastern time right now. Here's three of the stories we are working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Bush nominated James Peake to be veterans affairs secretary, but critics question whether the former Army surgeon general is the right man for the job, especially after allegations of shoddy conditions at Walter Reed, the nation's premier Army hospital.

An initial report on this deadly North Carolina beach house fire could come this week. Still no word on what caused it. Seven college students from neighboring South Carolina died.

A tropical storm watch could be posted for parts of Florida later today, as Noel gets closer. The tropical storm could pass close to the state in the next few days. It is now dumping heavy rain on parts of Cuba and the Bahamas.

LEMON: Well, Democrats drop in on Philadelphia, but brotherly and sisterly love may be in short supply there. With presidential primary voting now set to start January 3 in Iowa, the time to stand out is right now.

CNN's Candy Crowley joins us to preview tonight's debate.

Candy, what do we expect to hear tonight? I would imagine more Hillary bashing by Barack Obama, John Edwards, or something we haven't heard before?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what's interesting is, it really depends on your definition of bashing.

Here's here's what Barack Obama in particular and also John Edwards want to do. They want to say, listen, there is a difference between Hillary Clinton and me. Here's where we differ.

And they need to do that without somehow looking like they are bashing her, because the problem is that even the Democrats who are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, the majority of them like her. They think she would be a good leader. They think she has good policies. So, you are talking to a Democratic audience here, so, the first thing you want do is show the differences.

But the second thing you want to do is make sure that you don't look like you are beating up on her.

LEMON: Right. Absolutely.

So, how do you think she is going to respond to this, I mean, because she's no -- let's put it this way. She is no lightweight, right?

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: She isn't. And she will be above the fray: We are all just Democrats here. We have much more in common than we have differences.

It is not that she won't respond, because she will. They feel very strongly that when there is a charge about one of her positions, that she will respond to that. But you will not see her sort of getting into an angry exchange here. She has been very good at this. We talked a lot about the laugh, but the fact of the matter is that she has a way of kind of smiling when she is being criticized and then saying, well, here's the deal and sort of doing that.

But she needs to stay above the fray and dare we say look presidential.

LEMON: Yes. And probably that's some really good advice for her. What is it? Take the high ride road, especially if you want to keep that comfortable lead, I would imagine.

And she does have a comfortable lead nationally.

CROWLEY: Absolutely.

LEMON: But, in Iowa, this is quite a different story, right?

CROWLEY: Yes. It absolutely is.

You know, and we have seen a couple of polls over the past two days, one yesterday from the university of Iowa that showed it basically a dead heat, one today from American Research Group that shows Hillary Clinton with about a 10-point lead over Barack Obama, a couple of cautionary notes about this.

What we do know and what seems to be coming out from all of these polls, regardless of the specifics, is that it is a close race in Iowa, that if there is a time to begin to stop Hillary Clinton, the best chance right now is in Iowa. What we also know is in the past there have been plenty of polls leading up to the Iowa caucuses. And history is sort of full of polls where you see that the front-runner in November is not who wins in January.

We only have to look back to the Democratic caucus the last go- around. When Howard Dean was polling first, John Kerry, who eventually won, was polling third. So, snapshot of today, not really indicative of what is going to happen in January.

LEMON: OK, back in the '90s -- I think it was '92 -- when Bill Clinton went on "The Arsenio Hall Show," the saxophone thing helped him. Do you think this, what we are going to show now, this little dancing from Barack Obama would help him at all in the polls?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: What do you think, Candy?

CROWLEY: You know, here's what I have to say about that.

First of all, I don't think I will critique his dancing, as I didn't critique Bill Clinton's saxophone playing. I will say that what's interesting here is the venue. This is Ellen DeGeneres. What's the audience here?

LEMON: Yes.

CROWLEY: Women. Who are the people that vote in greater numbers and greater percentages? Women. Who currently has the advantage among women? Hillary Clinton.

LEMON: Right.

CROWLEY: So, there's a reason to be on in show. There is a reason to be viewer-friendly.

LEMON: Yes. Oh, he's so cute, he's real, right, for women. That's kind of the thing.

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: Absolutely.

LEMON: Absolutely.

CROWLEY: Yes.

LEMON: All right, Candy Crowley, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

CROWLEY: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: You can see all the day's political news any time of day or night at CNNpolitics.com., CNNpolitics.com. Get behind-the-scenes details from the best political team on television -- that's Candy Crowley and others -- and the best political team online as well.

PHILLIPS: Rolling down the streets of Boston after rolling over the Colorado Rockies. Red Sox on parade. You know why -- straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Well, the Green Monster at Fenway Park -- I'm not going to hate -- I'm not going to hate -- to the great concrete of Boston City Hall, hordes of Red Sox fans cheering their hometown heroes' second World Series in four years.

The Sox rolling through the heart of the hub today for a victory parade through confetti showers and accompanied by live music. Spotted along the route, lots of brooms, a reference to Boston's four- game sweep of the Colorado Rockies. The road to glory was not all that rocky after all. Congratulations to them.

PHILLIPS: Eighty-six years World Series drought, until 2004. Double wham comeback.

LEMON: The Cubbies would have been great there, too.

PHILLIPS: Oh, he's got to get started with it.

LEMON: I know. I'm sorry. No, I can't hate. They were winners. Congratulations.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: All right. Video you just have to see. Don't give it away. No, no. Oh -- probably again and again and again. Trampled by the team, a cheerleader caught in the wrong place at the wrong time -- ahead in the NEWSROOM. Oh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: New concerns about toxic toys. "Consumer Reports" says that many toys still in the stores test positive for lead. Among them, a red plastic blood pressure cuff made in China, part of a Fisher- Price medical kit. The company is owned by Mattel. "Consumer Reports" wants a federal investigation. The magazine says it also found lead in Dishware Jewelry, vinyl backpacks and other children's products.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are pushing new toy and consumer safety legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This really breaks my heart with -- because with five grandsons, I have Thomas the Train practically set up across the country. But some of the Thomas the Train toys -- not all, but some -- are dangerous to the health of our children. And I say some -- not all, but some -- why should it be up to the moms and dads to be able to figure that out?

Is it too much to expect the government to live up to its responsibility to protect our children?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Democratic leaders say they plan to push their proposals in the coming weeks.

The headlines -- the massive recall of lead-laced toys from China. But that's only one source of possible deadly lead poisoning facing children across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Lead based paint on houses -- not toys -- is the major source of exposure for lead in kids in the U.S. Despite the banning of lead-based paints for use in housing in 1978, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an estimated 310,000 children under the age of six have dangerous elevated levels of lead in their blood. Banning lead in house paint and eliminating leaded gas have gone far in reducing the serious problem. Over the past 30 years or so, the percentage of children with high levels of lead in their blood has fallen sharply, from 88 percent in the '70s to a little over 1.5 percent in 2005.

But lead poisoning is still a threat. Doing something as simple as opening and closing windows and homes built before 1978 can expose a child to lead paint dust. Like a phantom enemy, lead is invisible to the naked eye and has no smell. Also, because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it usually goes unrecognized, but the damage caused by lead is staggering.

The CDC says lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, comas, even death.

A simple blood test, says the CDC, can prevent a lifetime spoiled by the irreversible damage caused by lead poisoning.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON: There's been a lot of news today surrounding the Consumer Products Safety Commission. A lack of resources hindering the government agency that's supposed to keep unsafe products, from toys to lawn mowers, off the store shelves.

And CNN's Randi Kaye is "Keeping Them Honest" tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360".

She joins us now with a -- from New York with a preview of that -- hi, Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Don.

I can tell you that there is a lot to talk about tonight. We are focusing on a product called Stand 'n Seal. And that actually was recalled back in 2005. It's a spray-on tile grout that used to be sold at Home Depot, recalled back in August of that year. But after the company that made the product, Roanoke, told the Safety Commission the new formula was safer, the Safety Commission agreed to put it back on store shelves.

Now, here is a clip from tonight's story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "OUT IN THE OPEN")

DR. WALTER FRIEDEL: By the time I made it from my bedroom to the kitchen, I was down on one knee. I was so short of breath, I couldn't catch my breath.

KAYE (voice-over): A hazardous chemical in Stand 'n Seal had severely damaged 30 percent of Dr. Friedel's lungs. He was hospitalized in intensive care for four days with chemical pneumonia. He needed an oxygen tank for four months and still uses an inhaler. If only this do-it-yourself had known when had bought Stand 'n Seal two years ago that it had already been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

(on camera): Did you have any idea when you bought this product that it had made dozens of people sick and killed two people?

FRIEDEL: I had no knowledge whatsoever.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KAYE: Now, we confirmed the Safety Commission started an investigation in June of 2005 into this product, but didn't actually recall it until August 2005 -- two months later. And just last week, we called the Consumer Products Safety Commission to ask whether or not this product was safe, because even though it's been taken off store shelves, people may still have it.

Well, you won't believe what they told us. You'll hear that conversation tonight on "ANDERSON COOPER 360". LEMON: OK. So we've been talking about money and a whole bunch of different -- employees, not enough employees.

Why is the CPSC struggling, Randi?

KAYE: Well, the Safety Commission is short-staffed, as you mentioned; terribly under-funded -- 400 employees monitoring 15,000 products. And these products, as you know, are coming in from all over the world. There are just 15 inspectors, actually, to cover 300 ports and inspect all that stuff.

Plus, there is just one full-time toy inspector, which I find incredibly hard to believe with all those cases of lead toys out there.

Plus, our experts tell us that the lab equipment the Safety Commission uses to perform its tests is completely outdated.

LEMON: And some of that stuff they deny today, but who knows?

Today, though, we've been reporting -- and we had a guest who said the same thing -- that the commission's acting chairwoman has refused the idea of increasing the agency's authority, doubling its budget or even increasing staff.

Why is that, Randi?

KAYE: Well, we're talking about Chairwoman Nancy Nord. In fact, she sent a letter to lawmakers yesterday. The Senate committee was set to vote on this legislation today. And Nord urged lawmakers to reject these measures that were supposed to help the Safety Commission. Apparently her opposition to improving the agency is right in line with the deregulatory approach of the Bush administration. But this legislation would double the agency's budget to $141 million, increase staff by 20 percent. It would also increase fines for manufacturers to a max of $100 million from just $1.8 million now.

Nord says it just isn't practical. She actually thinks that the companies would be so concerned about every step that they're taking, that they would actually overwhelm the Safety Commission with phone calls that she says it's just not staffed to handle.

So she has offered a much more modest proposal, suggesting the penalties should be more in the range of $10 million for companies.

But still, Don, lots of critics find it hard to believe that she'd lawmakers not to approve these measures when the Safety Commission is in such dire straights.

LEMON: OK.

And you can also get more information on Randi Kaye's story at CNN.com. She wrote an article.

Randi Kaye, we look forward to your report tonight.

KAYE: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: She's "Keeping Them Honest," 10:00 p.m. Eastern, "A.C. 360," only here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: The noose has long been tied to violence and racism in this country. As a weapon, it killed untold members of innocent people. As a symbol, it spreads fear and hatred -- even today.

This week, it's the subject of my new CNN investigative report. And I want to warn you, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(VIDEO CLIP OF PROTEST)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Just hours after 20,000 protesters marched against what they saw as racial injustice in Jena, police in nearby Alexandria stopped two teenagers in this red pickup truck. Hanging from the back, two yellow nylon ropes -- each with a hangman's noose.

In quick succession, more incidents. At the beginning of October, two kids hung a noose at a South Carolina high school. And five days later, a noose was found on the door of a black professor's office at New York's Columbia University.

MADONNA CONSTANTINE, PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Hanging a noose on my door wreaks of cowardice and fear on many, many levels.

It's directed toward me individually, but I think, also, the community has been affected by it -- white students, students of color.

PHILLIPS: Since Jena, the noose has been displayed in a dozen cities around the country, placed deliberately for one reason -- to instill fear.

MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: At the end of the day, whatever you may know about the Klan or race relations in America, the noose means one thing -- it means death by hanging.

PHILLIPS: Mark Potok is a director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate crimes and hate groups.

POTOK: I'm not talking about people who are in the Klan or in a neo-Nazi group or who are waving Confederate flags or, in fact, participate in the noose incidents.

I'm talking about a much broader swath of the white American public, largely Southern, who I think are very angry about Jena and what they see as a misportrayal of what happened in Jena.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can watch my entire in depth special investigative report on "The Noose: An American Nightmare," Thursday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

LEMON: Absolutely.

And why would they demolish a dam to a river and flood farmland?

We're going to tell you, coming up after the break. As a matter of fact, Chad Myers is on top of this. We've got the amazing video. There it is.

PHILLIPS: Oh, wow!

LEMON: See the rest of it.

The CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, Chad Myers, all I know is that this is an organ and it has something to do with muscle, is it, or suckers?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No. Suckers. Suckers.

LEMON: OK. You said it.

MYERS: Huh?

Sure...

LEMON: Everybody at home is going, oh, no, suckers. No, get those suckers. They want to keep those suckers alive.

MYERS: They do. In fact, the problem is that when the suckers try to go up into these habitats that have been dammed off or levied off now for the past, well, I guess, 50 years they can't get to their breeding grounds and their protection grounds -- their protected grounds. So they can't actually get there into these little swampy areas. So they blew up -- they blew up the levees.

Have we got those pictures?

This was amazing. Bam! They're exploding out of the ground. These are a bunch of, basically, pipe bombs, is what they're calling them. There was about 2,900 pipe bombs, buried 12 feet deep. And all these pipe bombs blew up blew up -- they basically didn't have to blow the whole levee, but they blew holes in the levee...

LEMON: Oh my gosh.

MYERS: And that levee was used to keep the water out of this -- what used to be wetlands 50 years ago. Well, the levees stopped it from being a wetland and there was a bunch of great farmland there.

Well, this restoration project says hey you know what, farmland is great, but these sucker fish need this habitat back. So they blew up these 50-year-old levees and now the water has been flowing in for the last hour. This is only about an hour old. And they stay that the whole area will get flooded in about an hour-and-a-half and it will be all back to normal, all back to nature like it was about 50 years ago.

Here's the delta.

LEMON: Wow!

MYERS: You see these levees here. Some of these levees are all the way back up here. So now all of this farmland is no longer farmland, but habitat for the sucker fish.

LEMON: I want to -- you know, I apologize. My mom told me never to see that word on TV because she heard someone say it. She goes, you'd better not say that. But...

MYERS: It's a technical term.

LEMON: It's a technical term.

But you know what, the -- I want you to hear this, because it's like in unison, everybody goes whoa.

Scottie, can you play that back?

(VIDEO CLIP OF DESTRUCTION OF LEVEES)

LEMON: Whoa! Oh, my. It was like it was scripted, Chad Myers.

MYERS: Hey, you know what?

It was scripted. They've worked on this project 12 years to get it right.

So let's hope that they did and all this water is coming back in and these native fish -- actually, very important to the Native Americans that live up there -- a sacred fish, actually, to them. Let's hope that they get their habitat back.

LEMON: Absolutely.

Chad Myers, much appreciated.

Thank you, sir.

MYERS: Sure.

LEMON: Good pictures.

PHILLIPS: Well, sometimes the most memorable interviews are the ones that end suddenly with the microphones on the floor.

Our Jeanne Moos takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When an interviewee wants to turn the tables, he or she can always walk out. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was already calling his press aide an imbecile for scheduling an interview with "60 Minutes" on a busy day. So it took just one too many questions about his soon to be announced divorce to get him to walk out.

PRES. NICOLAS SARKOZY, FRANCE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No comment.

Thank you.

MOOS: Only five minutes into an expected 45-minute interview, out came the earpiece. The next thing you know, he's telling Leslie Stahl, "Chin up." He was gone.

It sort of made us nostalgic for even more flamboyant walkouts. Take the time comedian Andrew Dice Clay didn't like questions that suggested a slump in his career.

ANDREW "DICE" CLAY, COMEDIAN: Every time I do an interview, a guy wants to open his (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Andrew...

CLAY: Can't even do a little (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED) being here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

We thought that you could hold that...

CLAY: (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED). So, you know what? (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED) the whole (OBSCENE WORD OMITTED) network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll go back to talking about Art Carney.

MOOS: Or how about when quarterback Jim Everett got mad at an ESPN host who kept calling him Chris Everett after the female tennis star?

JIM EVERETT, QUARTERBACK: You probably won't say it again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bet I do.

EVERETT: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris.

MOOS: Interview over, though it's still seen over and over again.

(on camera): Remember, if you're ever tempted to storm out of a TV interview, the only thing TV producers like better than a good interview is a good walkout -- or even a good hang-up. For instance, when Yasser Arafat told CNN's Christiane Amanpour to zip it.

YASSER ARAFAT: (INAUDIBLE) quiet.

MOOS: She refused to shut up.

Watch her eyes open up.

ARAFAT: (INAUDIBLE) with these questions.

MOOS: And then he hung up.

ARAFAT: Thank you.

Bye-bye.

MOOS: But even worse than a hang-up or a walkout is the pass out. Now Israeli President Shimon Peres seemed dozy even while speaking. But when it was time for a question, it was naptime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY LIVELEAK.COM)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: When his eyes fluttered open, an aide offered coffee.

Nothing sleepy about Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MARCH 1989)

DONALD TRUMP: Do this interview with somebody else, OK?

You don't need this. Do it with somebody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: The dreaded mike drop -- a sure sign that the last view of this interview will be the interviewee's departing back.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON: Oh, sorry. You were supposed to wake me up, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Sorry about that.

LEMON: Video you must see and probably will see again and again -- trampled by the team.

Did you hear the NEWSROOM?

Everybody goes ooh! That's the wrong place at the wrong time, ahead in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Cheerleading can be a dangerous duty -- especially when the entire football team can't see you.

LEMON: Oh.

PHILLIPS: Here's Luke Ducee (ph) of affiliate KOMO in Seattle -- KOMO.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LUKE DUCEE, KOMO CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You've seen the hit. Now, meet the 18-year-old cheerleader who got trampled...

(on camera): That probably hurt.

CALI KALTSCHMIDT, HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADER: It hurt really bad.

DUCEE: Cali Kaltschmidt. KALTSCHMIDT: Well, it's not really the -- something that I'd want to be known for, I guess. I mean it was really embarrassing.

DUCEE: At halftime, Cali says she saw something wrong with her team's banner.

KALTSCHMIDT: Well, they put the sign up and it was kind of like at an angle. It wasn't really ready for the boys to run out yet.

DUCEE: But when she tried making one last adjustment...

KALTSCHMIDT: They really got there.

DUCEE: Fifty football players were sprinting right for her.

KALTSCHMIDT: And then smack, I got ran into by Zack.

DUCEE: And this is Zack (ph) -- six feet tall, 245 pounds. He says, at the time, he didn't know what he ran into.

ZACK: I thought I just slipped and fell.

DUCEE: But Cali got the last laugh. Taking another look now in slow motion, you can actually see her take down the much bigger lineman straight to the turf.

(on camera): Did you apologize?

Did he apologize?

ZACK: Yes, I apologized.

KALTSCHMIDT: A while later he got around to it, but...

ZACK: I was in the middle of a game.

KALTSCHMIDT: That's OK. It's OK. I understand.

DUCEE (voice-over): But Cali's story doesn't end there. During our interview, we found out she didn't just have a bad night...

KALTSCHMIDT: I got in a car accident on Thursday, the day before the game -- that morning. I totaled my car and I got like a bruise on my neck from the seatbelt.

DUCEE: She had a bad week.

KALTSCHMIDT: And the next day I got trampled by the football players.

DUCEE: And even though she got a few bruises here and there...

KALTSCHMIDT: Yes, there was like a little swelling right here after it -- right after it happened.

DUCEE: Callie insists that she's OK.

KALTSCHMIDT: I'm good. I'm fine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, see, one of the football players goes back and helps her up. I want to know who that was.

LEMON: You know -- yes. He's a nice guy. But I'm sure they didn't even know she was -- you know what I mean?

Because they didn't see her with the thing there.

PHILLIPS: Well, as for the game, Auburn High won 36-6. I hope they won't want to run her over every week for good luck.

And if you just can't get enough of the trampled cheerleader, well, you can tune into CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow. She's going to join Kiran Chetry and John Roberts.

LEMON: All right. Well, tickling the taste buds of pampered pooches, we go from trampling to dog water -- designer h20.

What's the deal with Woof Water?

Is that what it's called?

It's called Woof Water -- oh, gosh. CNN drinks it, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're going to check in with Wolf Blitzer.

PHILLIPS: He's standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to see -- see what's coming up at the top of the hour -- hey, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Hi, guys.

Thanks very much.

CNN's Lou Dobbs and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer -- their public disagreement is getting personal. Coming up, a look at how it started in a candid conversation with Lou Dobbs.

Also, he's moving up in the polls, but Mike Huckabee is getting slammed on all sides. Now, some Republicans say he's simply not conservative enough. Huckabee live one-on-one right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

And Laura Bush breaking out of the first lady stereotype. She says she's been helping her husband with policy decisions from day one.

Now, what happens after the White House?

All that and more coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- back to you.

PHILLIPS: It sounds good, Wolf.

Thanks.

LEMON: All right, with products named Toxic Slime, Dog Drool and Bug Bar, well, you know, it's a company that thinks outside of the box. Avery Beverages is marketing what it calls Woof Water. The Connecticut-based bottling company hopes your pooch will lap it up. The thinking behind the doggy designer H2O is simple -- many Connecticut towns have heavily chlorinated water that dogs don't like. Woof Water is spring water and apparently preferred over toilet water in taste tests.

I'm not down with it. We've got a drought.

PHILLIPS: Susan Lisovicz.

LEMON: There's no water.

PHILLIPS: I thought I was going to stop at the doggy spas.

LEMON: Whatever...

PHILLIPS: But, no that's...

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's capitalism at work, folks.

LEMON: Come on. It's a dog. Give it regular water.

LISOVICZ: That's what I do.

LEMON: Toilet water is probably good for it, anyway.

LISOVICZ: I spoiled my dog by putting ice cubes.

LEMON: Now, there you can -- LISOVICZ: That's about it.

LEMON: You can do that.

LISOVICZ: That's about it -- and with a lot of love.

Hey, listen, you guys, did you guess where the World Cup in 2014 is going to be? LEMON: Spain.

Where is it going to be?

LISOVICZ: Brazil.

LEMON: Ooh.

LISOVICZ: It won unanimously because it was the only candidate. Colombia dropped out a few months ago. You remember that Germany raked it in last year, the site of the 2006 Soccer World Cup. And the next one will take place in 2010 and that will be South Africa -- the first -- first country on the African continent that will host it.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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