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Palo Verde Nuclear Plant on Lockdown in Arizona; The War & Your Money; Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Will Vote Against Bush Nominee for Attorney General

Aired November 02, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And we start this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with some developing news. This just in. It concerns Michael Mukasey, who is the nominee, President Bush's nominee for attorney general.

This is just in. Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy says he will vote against the confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general. That information just coming in, just being confirmed by CNN.

Of course, it's been controversial because Mr. Mukasey has refused to talk about whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture, and that's been frustrating Democratic leaders and potentially slowing his confirmation to head the Justice Department. So, again, Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy says he will vote against confirming Michael Mukasey as attorney general.

Meantime, we have some other developing news to get to, and we want to get to the NEWSROOM.

T.J. Holmes working on that for us.

What do you have, T.J.?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this story concerns the nation's largest nuclear power plant out. It's out in Arizona, just west of Phoenix.

It has been put on lockdown this morning because of a suspicious item that was spotted in the back seat of a vehicle that was driven in there by a contract worker. Now the -- this aroused suspicion, is what they are saying, and they said it was something that the security person just was not comfortable with. But apparently in the back seat of a car, according to a local affiliate, something that looked like a pipe, some kind of a package in the back seat of a vehicle that was being driven in by a contract worker, just didn't sit right with the security guard, so they stopped the person. That pipe -- or that package now being checked out by security officials, and the plant has been locked down for a time. Now, also, need to let folks know, no threat to the public or anything like that having to do with this, according to officials there. They will make sure they get that word out. And also, the security checkpoint where the person -- where this employee had to drive through is some half mile from the actual plant itself, so the person didn't get anywhere close to the plant itself, was stopped at the checkpoint.

And, again, don't know if this is anything threatening at all right now, just maybe something suspicious and security just being better safe than sorry. But just wanted to pass this word along, that the plant has been put on lockdown because of the suspicious package that was spotted in the back seat.

Again, this is the largest nuclear power plant in this country called Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. It supplies four million customers with power, and some four states, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. But right now on lockdown while they check this out.

Again, no threat to the public right now. No word of anything threatening about that package. But just something they wanted to check it out. And we will to continue to work this story. When we get more information, hopefully get an all-clear, and we'll pass that word along to you -- Don.

LEMON: All right. We appreciate that update.

HOLMES: All right.

LEMON: Thank you very much, T.J.

PHILLIPS: And the president of the United States, if you've been watching CNN, just about half an hour ago was mixing it up with recruits at an Army boot camp today. He was speaking live at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, talking to men and women that are getting ready to go over to Iraq and Afghanistan, talking about his Iraq policy, improvements he thinks that he has made, success stories that he believes run true in that country.

This is a little bit of what he said to troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our new strategy is based on the idea that improvements in security will help the Iraqis achieve national reconciliation. There's some challenges. Reconciliation at the national level hadn't been what we hoped it had been by now.

While the central government has passed a budget and it's reached out to its neighbors and begun to share oil revenues with the provinces, the Iraqi parliament still lags in passing key legislation. Political factions are still failing to make necessary compromises. And that's disappointing, and, I, of course, have made my disappointments clear to the Iraqi leadership. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Democratic senator Jim Webb joined us just after that speech, gave us his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: The problem with the president and his administration is there are three different components that have to be addressed in terms of truly solving this situation in Iraq. One of them is the military component which they keep coming back to over and over. The second is the notion of political -- what they call reconciliation inside Iraq. And the third is regional stability writ large, which is the sine qua non of solving the problem, and they have done very little in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a side note. Senator Webb served in Vietnam. His son served in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: The fight for Iraq, it is costly in so many ways. But for now, we're just talking money. Hundreds of billions of dollars, in fact. And you know who is footing the bill, but do you know how and how much you've paid out of your own pocket?

CNN's Jill Dougherty found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just how much are Americans paying for the war in Iraq? Most people know it's a lot of money, but how much is a lot?

We asked some Washingtonians on their lunch hour.

(on camera): Do you know how much the war has cost?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding, it's in the trillions, is it? Or a trillion dollars?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Billions of dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Billions of dollars.

DOUGHERTY: They are not the only ones who are confused.

Before the war began, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget predicted it would cost $50 billion to $60 billion. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, Congress, if it approves a new war funding request for fiscal year, 2008, will have appropriated nearly 10 times that, $576 billion. And that doesn't include the war in Afghanistan.

The Defense Department now spends more than $300 million per day on the Iraq war. In just the minute it takes to order and pay for a sandwich, the country racks up another roughly $200,000.

(on camera): In dollars terms adjusted for inflation, the war in Iraq will be the second most expensive in U.S. history after World War II. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are other major issues -- how the war is being funded and how much it will cost in the long run.

(voice over): To pay for previous U.S. wars, presidents eventually included war funding in the overall budget. This war is being paid for with emergency supplemental funding. That makes congressional oversight more difficult.

What's more, the Bush administration has tried to add its normal military operating costs to the war budget. The results, according to one defense analyst, a tangled mess.

TRAVIS SHARP, ARMS CONT. & NON-PROLIFERATION CENTER: There's even funding that the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office identify that they have no idea where the funding went. They don't know if it went for weapons systems. They don't know if it was operating costs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

DOUGHERTY: Then there's the long term. Economist and former presidential adviser Robert Hormats is author of a new book on how America has paid for its wars. Previous presidency notes have pushed to raise taxes and cut spending.

ROBERT HORMATS, GOLDMAN SACHS INTERNATIONAL: Americans have not paid higher taxes to pay for this war. In fact, we've had a tax cut. Nor have we seen a reduction in domestic spending. We've in effect shifted the cost of this war to future generations.

DOUGHERTY: Extrapolating from the Congressional Budget Office figures, the war in Iraq so far has cost the average American family of four more than $7,500.

(on camera): What do you think of that money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lot of money. It could have been used some other kind of way.

DOUGHERTY (voice over): According to a CNN poll, nearly two- thirds of Americans disapprove of the war. But Congress so far has been unwilling to cut funding over concerns for troops in the field.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you believe you should be there, then borrowing is probably OK.

DOUGHERTY: So, the U.S. keeps borrowing by selling treasury bills to foreign countries like Japan and China. And the war's ultimate price tag keeps growing.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: It's the areas that didn't burn in last week's wildfires that have California firefighters worried today. Forecasters say the Santa Ana winds will kick up tonight and stick around through the weekend, setting up prime conditions for a new outbreak of fires.

The winds aren't expected to be as powerful as last week's but firefighters aren't taking any chances. Crews are in place in high- risk areas just in case.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Who is this little girl and who wore this shoe? And why did she have to die? Heartbreaking questions as police in Texas try to put a face on a crime.

LEMON: Lay down your wallets and holster your plastic, just for today. That's what some activists want on this National Blackout Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, there's no secret there's been some wrangling among Democrats about President Bush nominating Michael Mukasey as head of the Justice Department, and now we hear the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the chairman, Patrick Leahy, says he will not -- he will vote, he will not vote for his confirmation. He will vote against the confirmation.

Kelli Arena joins us now with the very latest from the Justice Department -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Don, Senator Leahy joins four other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who opposes Mukasey's nomination for attorney general. And you'll remember this all started as a love fest and it quickly turned sour. That's because Mukasey refuses to say that waterboarding is torture.

Now, as you know, waterboarding is an interrogation technique that simulates drowning. And Mukasey says, look, I haven't been briefed on the classified interrogation program, so I can't comment on it. But if all the Republicans support Mukasey's nomination, as expected, Mukasey needs one Democrat, just one on his side, to actually be confirmed by the Judiciary Committee, and then that vote will be sent to the full Senate.

All eyes are on Senate Chuck Schumer. And it was Schumer who originally suggested Mukasey as head of the Justice Department. Of course, he's a Democrat, and he's been uncharacteristically coy on this issue.

You know, you know, he's always right ow front saying what he thinks. Right now he's sort of playing it close to the vest. So we have to see what happens with Chuck Schumer and whether or not he gives Mukasey his backing. And then, of course this, will go to the full Senate for a vote, but right now, you know, this is not looking good. LEMON: All right.

Kelli Arena, thank you so much for that report.

ARENA: You're welcome.

(NEWSBREAK)

LEMON: If you won't listen to words, maybe you'll listen to silence. That's the message behind today's national blackout.

Radio host Warren Ballentine is calling on African-Americans not to spend a dime today to protest racism and injustice. In fact, he's calling on all Americans not to.

Ballentine says he came up with the buying freeze idea after several race-related incidents including Jena, Louisiana, where six black teens were charged as adults with attempted murder; the recent outbreak of nooses across the country; and the teen sex conviction of Genarlow Wilson in Georgia. Wilson got out of prison just last week.

If you think a noose is a prank and that people who are offended should just get over it, well, listen to these young black students from Atlanta. We watched my partner here, Kyra Phillips' report on "The Noose: An American Tragedy," and check out the look on their faces and the tone of their voices as we discuss a symbol they thought was their ancestors' nightmare, not theirs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice over): Roy Padeen (ph), the president of a black law enforcement group, became enraged after learning about a noose hanging in this small Hampstead, New York, police station. He immediately let the local press know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just look at this.

LEMON: Silence. Nobody wants to say anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing to say. It's all in the pictures. It's a shame. I mean, I thought we were way past that.

LEMON: Why silence? And I saw people were dropping their heads, they couldn't look. And now after this you guys are speechless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just lets us be more aware of what's out there, and it is sad that this is what is still out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people lost their lives, these people were castrated, hung, put on fire for something that we're very, very more or less taken for granted nowadays.

ALVIN MCNAIR, STUDENT: For me, it really says to me that, OK, we are in a situation where your feelings and your life are no longer valuable and we can do whatever we like to you. And that -- you get a sense from that, from that noose. I've put the time and the craftsmanship to let you know you don't mean a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) thing.

TAAJ RIDLEY, STUDENT: Just because a law is passed or, you know, they say you can't do this, it's not like a person is going to change the way they act.

I think that this country has never been ready to have a true, honest dialogue about race. So we're going to continue to see this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't gotten to the point where our country can own up to slavery, but we can talk about the Holocaust. So it seems to me almost hypocritical to say -- to learn about the Holocaust, which I understand and I respect it, but to deal with America's own Holocaust, and basically doing an injustice to our black America, about not really talking about race because we're scared to talk about it...

LEMON: Do they teach about it in school?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like, when you're touching the stones, that's how it was. They would hit it and then they would stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't get a sense of scale at all. You don't get a sense that these might have been a thousand people that were killed or what the purpose was, that it was a sustained campaign of terror in order to intimidate people so they wouldn't vote and wouldn't participate in the government system.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow. We needed that in our special last night.

LEMON: Very interesting, huh?

PHILLIPS: That's amazing.

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: The fact that they were all speechless.

LEMON: They were all -- and I mean, when we showed it to them, I was looking around. At first we were all just sitting there, because obviously it was great reporting to look at those images.

And I said to the camera people, "Can we get this on tape?" And they are like, oh, because everybody was sort of riveted by it.

And so I started over and they were looking, and all the guys were -- they would just drop their heads. They couldn't look at it if something would come up. So you see how it sort of touches their heart. And for them, I mean, it's immediate, it's right here.

So remember yesterday when Martha said, you know, the piece of paper, the slavery thing was just a piece of paper?

PHILLIPS: Martha Zoller, the radio host here. PHILLIPS: Yes. And then both of the other panelists said, well, that's -- you know, that's sort of the issue. That's where it's more immediate for those guys. It hits them right in the heart, and it was very interesting for me to see that.

PHILLIPS: And some people might think oh, yes, white Americans, they don't know about lynching.

LEMON: Right.

PHILLIPS: They don't know what the noose means. And as I traveled around the country, I saw that white, black -- and we saw it right here with these black students...

LEMON: Right.

PHILLIPS: ... they had no idea. They didn't realize...

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... the history behind the noose. And it is a part of our history that Americans are embarrassed about it. They just kind of sweep it under the rug.

LEMON: Well, you may know about it intellectually, you think, but then it's another thing to actually feel it and to actually see those images. It touches you. It's much more visceral when you see it that way.

This is part, by the way of an academy -- and I would urge -- you know, I want to take this platform that I have. I would urge all people, all men, especially African-American men, to get -- to be a mentor and to mentor a young African-American.

And we're going to talk about that, because they say they don't see any role models. This is part of a Teach One Academy. We meet once a month with young, black men and we talk to them, and mostly we just listen.

So if you want to know more about Teach One Academy or get ideas on how you can make a difference, go to their Web site. It's TeachOneAcademy.com.

And CNN Special Investigation, of course, "The Noose: An American Nightmare," you can catch it again this weekend, Kyra. It is Saturday and Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: We're definitely doing our job as journalists.

LEMON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: That's for sure.

Well, straight ahead, a tiny girl wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a box. Police in Texas hope her clothes will tell who she is. More on the effort to identify "Baby Grace". (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opened in January, and it was this month that we learned about abuse taking place in that academy. We can push it forward now and tell you that a suspect will now appear in court on Monday, a court for family violence, child protection and sexual offenses. This former matron at Oprah Winfrey's school for girls in South Africa has been arrested and will be charged with abuse, including assault and soliciting girls for indecent acts.

Oprah Winfrey now responding through a statement. This is what she says...

"I would like to thank the South African Police Services for bringing this investigation at my academy to a timely resolution. I am grateful for their compassion and sensitivity to the girls during this difficult time. It means the world to me. It is my deepest hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that in any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and to take immediate action."

Oprah Winfrey responding to the quick action served by police in South Africa as a matron is arrested, a matron worker at her academy, for abusing and also soliciting girls for indecent acts.

We'll stay on top of that story.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LISOVICZ: In the next hour, we'll tell you something that's taking off. Air fares. I'll tell you how much ticket prices are going up. Not good news there.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, yes, I know, I'm flying this weekend. Are they going up or are they already up?

LISOVICZ: They going up, Don, and I'm glad you have your tickets already. I know, I'm flying next week and I locked in a while ago.

LEMON: All right. Thanks, Susan.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Jerry Seinfeld doing more than plugging a movie on "Larry King Live". He also answers these questions, "Where is Michael Richards now, and is his career over?"

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: You'll remember this videotape from last week, that beach house that caught fire in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. We're told that we're supposed to have a news conference, possibly 3:00 p.m. eastern time to release the findings of the State Bureau of Investigation report into this fire. You'll remember seven college students died in that fire, six of them from the University of South Carolina and one from Clemson. We hope to have more details on how this fire broke out coming up in the 3:00 eastern hour.

LEMON: All right. So, if you won't listen to words, maybe you'll listen to silence. That's the message behind today's national blackout. Radio host Warren Valentine is calling on African-Americans and all Americans as well, not to spend a dime today to protest racism and injustice. He says, the incidents in Jena, Louisiana, the outbreak of noose displays across the country and the Genarlow Wilson teen sex case inspired him to act. CNN's Rick Sanchez joins us here in the CNN Center, Atlanta to talk more about the boycott and whether it's really good. I got to ask you this, did you buy anything today, seriously?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, far I haven't had a chance to. I need to get ready to be here with you.

LEMON: Yes?

SANCHEZ: Because I got to do my homework before I come out of here.

LEMON: You know, it's weird. I was down in the commissary doing a little informal poll about people buying stuff.

SANCHEZ: What did you find?

LEMON: I'll tell you after you do your thing. What do you think? Is it a good idea or not?

SANCHEZ: Well, I'll tell you what's going on. We've been following this all week long. A couple of days ago, I decided to go out into the streets of New York City where our show is based "Out In The Open" every night at 8:00, so I went outside the Time Warner Studio there on Columbia Circle and I grabbed about I'd say 15 to 16 people. Every single person to a man and to a woman told me I have no idea what you're even talking about. It was almost like national blackout day, black stare. So, a little while ago, Don, back to two shot. I decided...

LEMON: You're always directing from the shot. Let's go to the wall. Roll that video. Can we go back to that?

SANCHEZ: So, a little while ago, I went down in Atlanta, downstairs, and I did the very same thing and I probably stopped nine or ten people. Every single one of them to a man or a woman knew exactly what it was, why it's being done and they explained to me how they have heard of it.

LEMON: And I'll tell you why?

SANCHEZ: Why?

LEMON: Because Warren Valentine's show is not on in New York. He's on here, he's on Detroit, he's on Chicago.

SANCHEZ: They didn't talk about urban radio as much as you would think. They're talking about a new type of technology. LEMON: Internet.

SANCHEZ: Yes and we'll get to that in a minute. First of all, we've got a couple of clips from people we talked to down in Atlanta. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: National blackout day. What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's where you're not patronizing today any of -- you're patronizing only African-American businesses.

SANCHEZ: Interesting, and you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Same thing, yes.

SANCHEZ: Do you think it's important for African-Americans? I mean African-Americans have pretty huge consuming power, don't they?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So, this is kind of a way of flexing their muscle?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I think it's a way for us to unite as a culture as well. Just to, you know, support each other sometimes because we are one of the cultures that don't support each other as much as other cultures did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So, I asked them the obvious question. Well, how do you know about this, how did you find out, and most of them said, found out because I went and checked my e-mails and I had five or six different e-mails telling me about this and how it's going to work. There's also websites that had been set up and of course, they heard a little bit on urban radio. But, it speaks to the urban, young African-American in this country who Jena was the greatest example of that. I mean, Kyra could tell you about that. The idea that people would get together and use this new technology to share this information and to develop unity around a cause.

LEMON: You know how we got this story?

SANCHEZ: No.

LEMON: I got an e-mail saying blackout day, did you know about this and passed it up the chain, right?

SANCHEZ: That's right.

LEMON: And I'm on Warren Valentine's show as you are, probably sometimes in Kyra, but sometimes -- I had no idea about it, so, I went up the chain and found out it was him, but it came over the Internet through an e-mail. SANCHEZ: Do you see this as a development that we haven't seen before. Young African-Americans using a technology in a way of communicating with each other.

LEMON: I'd say it's all young people, obviously, using it but I think yes, absolutely, and I just --

SANCHEZ: But we're talking with a political cause.

LEMON: Absolutely, and if you look there's one, you know, I hate to point out one website -- one blog, its called jackandjillpolitics.com. As they call it, you know, It's Jack and Jill, they called it "Buji" (ph) in the African-American community. This means educated sort of well-to-do people who are plugged into politics; they have that kind of blog, also same thing with entertainment blogs. Specifically, for African-Americans, so yes, Rick Sanchez, you're absolutely right.

SANCHEZ: And that's what we're tapping into tonight at 8:00, "Out in the Open". We've been doing it since the beginning of the week when we cross the Genarlow story and we'll finish the week by doing these National Blackout story.

LEMON: Yes. When I found that, when you ask me about what I found, most of the people are in the commissary were they have to buy and sort of go I knew about it but I'm hungry. People, when I walked in, who said, you know, I brought my lunch today, they were asking me about it so, you know.

SANCHEZ: It's a good conversation.

LEMON: Rick Sanchez, always good to see you.

SANCHEZ: Nice to see you over there.

PHILLIPS: You need to be doing this stuff in Spanish now. In Spanish and in English. That way, we continue this effort and commitment towards diversity.

LEMON: I started doing it in Spanish and English. You got my e- mail? Right?

SANCHEZ: Yes. I'm always speaking in Spanish on the air.

LEMON: And off.

SANCHEZ: And confusing people from time to time. Good to be with you guys. Nice to be back in Atlanta.

LEMON: You're headed right back to New York.

SANCHEZ: We're doing the show from here tonight.

LEMON: I know, I know. He's a great dad. You can catch Rick Sanchez tonight and every week night "Out in the Open", that's at 8:00 eastern only here on CNN and also, Kyra, Rick, we're going to be talking to some college students. I think I got to talk to Rick about that, more house college students and also high school students, black males who say they can't find a decent African-American role model who is living. At least, they don't know about it. They hear so many things about negative images on television and rappers.

PHILLIPS: They have Don Lemon. They have Don Lemon right here on CNN.

SANCHEZ: I knew she was going there.

LEMON: And Rick Sanchez, I brought you up, too, in this thing, the diversity, Rick Sanchez. There you go.

SANCHEZ: All right guys. Thank you. Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: Well, now we know who called the Dog out. We're talking about Duane Chapman. TV's Dog, the bounty hunter and his racist telephone tirade. Chapman's lawyer says it's the bounty hunter son to whom he was ranting, recorded the call and sold it to the "National Enquirer" for a lot of money. The Dog dropped several "n" words in a heated conversation about his son's black girlfriend. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUANE CHAPMAN: It's not because she's black. It's because we use the word n-----r sometimes here. I'm not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for 30 year because some f-----g n-----r heard us say n-----r and turned us in to the "Enquire" magazine. Our career is over. I'm not taking that chance at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Duane has stopped the series and its tracks but hasn't cancelled it while all this gets sorted out. The Dog has apologized and promise to make things right. I can already see that Rick Sanchez will be talking about this on his hour, his mouth agape right now. Dog the bounty hunter might ask Michael Richards what it's like to get caught on tape and loading racial epithets while it's been almost a year since the former "Seinfeld" star went on his racist rant in an L.A. Comedy club. He apologized and basically went into seclusion. Jerry Seinfeld talked to "CNN's Larry King" about the rant heard round the world. He says Richards still feels bad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST: What do you make of what happened to Michael?

JERRY SEINFELD, ACTOR COMEDIAN: That was I think a thing that where you have a flaw sometimes, in your personality or in your kind of emotional base that sometimes it just cracks and -- and something happens that is -- you almost don't want to do. I think people know what it's like to lose their temper and it was a bad moment and it was a bad choice but it was just -- I think it was a temper thing.

KING: During all your years with him, was he ever racist? SEINFELD: Oh, no, no, no.

KING: So you were shocked?

SEINFELD: Yeah, completely.

KING: Did you talk to him?

SEINFELD: Yes, sure, we talk all the time. I talked to him a couple days ago.

KING: How is he doing?

SEINFELD: He's doing good. You know, he still feels bad. You know, that's the -- you know, the terrible thing about something like that is you never quite get it out of your head. That you hurt people but, you know, he did what he could.

KING: What's the place for the Michael Richards or in another category Dog, the bounty hunter, who used the racist word in a private phone conversation that happened to be taped? Is it recoverable?

SEINFELD: For somebody like that?

KING: Yes.

SEINFELD: I don't think -- probably for that person it's almost impossible. I think other people can forgive you. It's harder to forgive yourself, I would say.

KING: For Michael, too?

SEINFELD: Yes, yes. If you're a sensitive person, you know, if you're not that way and you hurt someone, you never forgive yourself, that's probably the most difficult part.

KING: So do you work?

SEINFELD: Do I work?

KING: Does Michael work?

SEINFELD: Oh, does Michael work? He's starting to look into it, yes. He wants to go start working again.

KING: Would somebody in television hire him?

SEINFELD: Absolutely. Why not? I mean, we're human beings. It's like, you know, none of us is without a mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Richards apparently isn't without showbiz work. Imdp.com shows him doing voice work for "Bee Move" and says he is doing more voice work for a movie still in production.

LEMON: "Bee Movie," Jerry Seinfeld's movie.

A police officer reports his wife missing and now investigators are taking another look at the death of the officer's former wife. More on the mystery in the Midwest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Police in Galveston, Texas, are working on a case they will never forget. They are searching for clues in the death of a little girl known only as baby Grace. More from report Chiao Wynn (ph) of our affiliate KHOU at Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHIAO WYNN (ph), CNN AFFILIATE KHOU: Harbor walks is just on the north side of Galveston's west bay. It is also a few miles from Monday evening's awful discovery of a little girl's remains inside a large plastic container. Few people live here but it was a very different scene over the weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were a lot of contestants out here in this fishing tournament, around 300 or maybe a little over.

WYNN: It was Harbor Walk's first fishing tournament with at least 75 boats lining the marina. Now detectives hope to hear from as many people who were part of that tournament as they can.

RAY TUTTOILMONDO, GALVESTON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: If we can get to every single person that's exactly what we're going to do, if that's what it takes.

WYNN: They want to know if anyone saw anything around the uninhabited island where that container with the girl's body was found. It is believed that some fish within proximity. Detectives also released this replica photo of the container. It's a Sterilite brown model 1842 and it's not brown but royal blue with a black handle. It has been around the clock investigation as authorities' hopes for any clues that can help them identify this girl and what happened to her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So, if you know anything that could help police lead to any information about baby Grace and help solve this case, please contact the Galveston County sheriff's office at 409-766-2222 or 866- 248-8477.

LEMON: Breaking news into the CNN NEWSROOM and it has involves a Secretary of State. T.J. Holmes working on that for us. Tell us about it, T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, kind of a complex story here but the gist of it, is Condoleezza Rice will in fact be subpoenaed to testify. This case here involves a couple of lobbyists, a couple of pro-Israel lobbyists who are working for the American/Israel Public Affairs Committee and these lobbyist, attorneys for these lobbyist have now gone ahead and subpoenaed the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Also, the National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams and several others. This trial is supposed to get going for these lobbyists next year. They are facing espionage charges. Now, I'm not clear exactly what they are hoping to glean from the testimony of the Secretary of State but a Federal judge has now said that it can go ahead and has OK these subpoenas and essentially what the Secretary of State is going to have to do and also these other members of the National Security Team is essentially discuss their discussions. They're going to have to talk about what they talked about with these pro-Israel lobbyists who are now facing these charges.

These espionage charges so this is a story that's kind of been under the radar, if you will, haven't heard a lot about it, haven't gotten a lot of coverage but certainly will move to the forefront now that the Secretary of State will in fact be subpoenaed. A Federal judge OK'd the subpoena for here and several other members of the National Security Team. Just want to get that information through as we got it. Lots more details to come on that.

LEMON: Thank you very much, sir.

PHILLIPS: We want to remind you that we're waiting for a news conference out of Orange or Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. You'll remember this fire that took down this beach house where seven college students died, six from the University of South Carolina, one from Clemson. How did it happen? Still, not sure but we're supposed to her from the State Bureau of Investigations. They did it -- the organization did a report on this fire. We'll be bringing us the information from that report hopefully within the 3:00 eastern hour. We'll take it live when it happens.

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PHILLIPS: And if you won't listen to words, maybe you'll listen to silence. That's the message behind today's national blackout. Radio host Warren Valentine is calling on African-Americans not to spend a dime today to protest racism and injustice. Valentine says he came up with buying freeze idea after several race-related incidents including Jena, Louisiana, where six black teens were charged as adults with attempted murder, recent outbreak of nooses around the country and the teen sex conviction of Genarlow Wilson in Georgia. Wilson, by the way, got out of prison just last week.

LEMON: Well Valentine and company are trying to get African- American something to rally around. It could be a role model for young black men? Could he? Well, I sat down this week with a number of African-American students here in Atlanta. We talked about who their heroes are and who they would look up to in this day and age. At least, one student said they need some heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Two-parent household. Do you think it makes a difference? CHRISTIAN PITT, 13-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: I have to say, sometimes when males don't have like a male figure in the house hold, they will look up to media, like rappers and like that will be their male idol that they want to be like when they grow up and that's maybe some of the reason why males act like how they do now, because they want to be like what they see.

ALVIN MCNAIR, COLLEGE STUDENT: Paying attention is more important than necessarily how many they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm all right with a one-parent household. And I don't have any complaints.

LEMON: And here, you all say that it doesn't matter that there are two parents in the house. It's really not a big deal. It pains me as well because the family was a hallmark of the African-American community. It was the home, and so, when you break that up, then other things come in now and fill that void and what you're all experiencing is a void.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like, if I was to look up to somebody, like, I would look up to, you know, a powerful African-American, such as, you know, Martin Luther King might as well as (INAUDIBLE).

LEMON: OK, so you said you would look up to Martin Luther King, right who is dead and has been dead since the '60s.

What about now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dwight Howard.

LEMON: Who is an athlete?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say Tyler Perry.

LEMON: Anybody else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There aren't many today. There aren't many positive black males that are out there in the media every day only just as much as these rappers or athletes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would probably inspire to be like Barack Obama. That probably just be the only one that's not an athlete or entertainer, that I probably would look up to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't find that many African-Americans who are really successful in business outside of entertainment. You really can't. It's difficult -- it's difficult to name them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like all this music in the air, like all this sound in the air and what are you hearing the loudest. You're hearing the Soldier Boy the loudest. You're hearing, you know, the NBA the loudest, you're hearing hip hop artists and R&B entertainers and everything the loudest, but you're not hearing intellectual capacity the loudest. You're not hearing business ownership. You're not hearing these professionals in the medical field that are doing great, great things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We as parents, women, the male role model, we assume that we're being role model that you assume, when they sit here and you ask them the question, who they aspire to be, you would hope they say, you, first, before they say anybody that they ever see in the media. That probably hurt me more than anything. I want you to be like me or at least say you want to be better.

LEMON: So, what does that say, that you can really admit, you guys were like, I can who would I think of? What does that say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: If you want to learn more about the Teach One Academy or get ideas on how you can make a difference, go to their website at teachoneacademy.com and CNN's special investigation, "The Noose, An American Nightmare", catch it again this weekend Saturday and Sunday night at 8:00 eastern, right here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: And we continue to wait for that news conference out of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. This is the result of that horrible fire that took this beach house killing seven college students from University Of South Carolina and Clemson, 3:10 eastern time, we believe it will start. We'll take it live. We expect to hear from the State Bureau of Investigation and its report on the findings to why this fire happened.

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