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Spacewalk to fix Solar Panel; Hate Crimes? Rally to Call for Action; Packing Heat: Officers Upgrade Their Weapons; Orphan Kidnapping Plot?; Kids as Political Pawns

Aired November 03, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Want you to take a look at this picture. Do you recognize this little girl? This is the composite sketch of the girl called "Baby Grace". Her tiny remains were found in a box. This morning police are pleading for your help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. LAURIE PFEIL, PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: They don't have little .38s anymore. They have AK-47s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It's the new Rambo reality. Criminals carrying assaults weapons, so police adding these powerful guns to their own arsenal. Will the streets be any safer?

NGUYEN: And happening right now, one of the most dangerous and difficult spacewalk repairs ever attempted. We have live coverage this hour. You don't want to miss it.

From the CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, November 3rd.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes.

So glad you could be with us.

Want to get you caught up on the news happening around the world, and a major breaking story out of Pakistan.

A state of emergency was imposed there about 45 minutes ago. That is according to government sources. CNN Senior International Correspondent reported live on this crisis a short time ago and said nothing less than the future of democracy in Pakistan is now at stake.

In addition to imposing martial law, President Pervez Musharraf also suspended the Pakistani constitution. The Pakistani supreme court said that President Musharraf did not have the power to declare a state of emergency and called the act illegal. A CNN producer in Islamabad confirms that troops entered the supreme court and are surrounding the homes of the judges. Now, prior to the declaration, most TV and radio stations were blacked out. These moves come amid rising political unrest.

We'll keep you up to date on this breaking story as we get new information into us.

NGUYEN: Also, this just in to CNN. Before you fire up that grill today, you better check your freezer, because you could have some dangerous meat in there. Cargill Foods is now voluntarily recalling more than a million pounds of ground beef sold at these supermarkets. You see it on the left hand side of your screen. They're throughout the Northeast and under the store's brand name.

Now, federal investigators say the meat may be contaminated with the dangerous E. coli bacteria.

HOLMES: Also, a grisly find near Galveston, Texas, shocks even the most hardened police officers there. The decomposed body of a little girl found inside a plastic box that washed up on an uninhabited island.

Now, Galveston police are calling her "Baby Grace" and have released artist sketches of what she may have looked like. We spoke a little while ago with one of the investigators on this case. He said hundreds and hundreds of leads have been coming in and they are tracking down each and every one, but they still are no closer to identifying the young girl.

Now, if you have any idea of who she may be, you're certainly encouraged to call police and give them any idea. Now, the girl's body was found around the area of a fishing tournament which had drawn hundreds of contestants. Police are trying to track down anyone who may have known her.

NGUYEN: This other piece of news we want to tell you about, you know teacher/student relationships, they often, unfortunately -- and we've been reporting it -- cross the line. Well, now one appears to have crossed the border, and right now a 25-year-old female teacher from Nebraska is in custody.

Take a look. Kelsey Peterson was arrested last night in Mexico. The 13-year-old she's accused of running away with is back with his family.

Peterson faces charges of kidnapping, child abuse, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Authorities say she and the boy ran away after police began investigating their relationship. And, according to court papers, authorities found love letters and e-mails the two had sent to each other.

HOLMES: Well, some construction workers in Seattle actually left their construction work site and went somewhere to do some more heavy lifting. They lifted a car off a baby.

Witnesses say the driver lost control of the vehicle, hit a woman who was pushing a baby carriage. The woman's 1-year-old son was inside that carriage. It was caught under the vehicle.

Terron Hammonds describes what he saw and what he and his fellow workers did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRON HAMMONDS, HERO: We squished the baby buggy all the way down to the ground, but the baby was up under the engine. So once we lifted it, we slid it out and the baby was still laying there, smiling and grinning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Smiling and grinning you hear there. Well, the mom was not hurt. Her child suffered only minor injuries. Can you believe that? Well, the driver will be cited for traffic violations.

NGUYEN: Untangling a traffic nightmare. Take a look at this video.

A deadly wreck in Connecticut has shut down most of I-95. It's been blocked for nearly 24 hours now. Transportation officials hope to get the road cleared and opened sometime today. Boy, what a mess they have on their hands.

Now, all of this started with a tanker full of heating fuel. Police say it crossed the center guardrail, rolling into oncoming traffic. Three people were killed in that accident.

HOLMES: Well, a spacewalk is never really a walk in the park, but this one is particularly tricky. Two astronauts up there right now trying to fix a major problem, but they're fooling around with some potentially dangerous stuff here.

CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien, thank goodness we've got you this morning.

This is kind of a complex thing, and it has a lot of -- a lot of moving parts and little details we need to hear about that make this thing dangerous.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Absolutely, T.J.

Let me just show you where the spacewalkers are right now. We've got a space station model here.

This is the has habitation modules here. That's the U.S. laboratory right there. There's an air lock which comes out right here.

And space -- the distance from here to here is about the length of a football field. OK? About 300 feet. And using a robot arm with an extension on it, which rides along this track right here, Scott Parazynski is way out here at the very end of this solar array on the port, or left side, a solar array which got snarled up on Tuesday as they were trying to deploy it.

Now, take a look at these pictures from space that are coming down. Spectacular shots which kind of belie the danger which is involved here.

The thing about solar arrays is, when they're exposed to light, they simply keep generating electricity. There's no on-off switch. So there's 300 watts of juice running through there, and so you want to be very careful anytime you get close to it.

There's the damage, it happened on Tuesday. They were unfurling it. It folds together like a pleated blind, and as they were unfolding it, one of the guide wires got caught up.

They couldn't see it because the sun was in their eyes. And they kept pulling on it, and it ripped it all apart. That's about a two-and-a- half-foot tear.

Now, the solar array is working fine, but it needs to be at a certain level of stiffness in order to rotate properly and capture the sun's rays. If they can't get this thing so they can fully extend it and stiffen it and reinforce that tear area, they'll have to jettison the thing, and that causes all kinds of potential problems for the space station because they may not have enough juice to provide electricity for modules which are coming on the latter part of this year, first part of next year.

There you see a good animation showing Parazynski, who is at the end of this extended robot arm -- it's the space station arm attached to the extension of the arm on the shuttle -- making his way all the way over to that end and to that damaged array. Once there, take a look at what he saw.

First of all, he put in these kind of jury rigged cufflinks, they're calling them, kind of like a butterfly bandage which went through some existing holes there and kind of tied together or reinforced the ripped portion so that it won't tear any further, and they can stretch it out. There you see all the cufflinks that they plan to put in there to kind of give it some structural integrity there.

And then -- then he just saw a complete hairball of wires there. And for the past 30 minutes or so, has been snipping things. And as he snipped, T.J., he's using tools that are taped up with capped-on insulating tape.

There you're looking at a live picture right now, kind of a still image coming down. It's obviously not the best image right now.

But insulated tools. And all the metal portions of his suit, like the cuffs, are all insulated as well because they don't want him, obviously, to get a shock -- T.J.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness. It sounds like they're doing a lot of improvising.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

HOLMES: I don't know if this is in Astronaut 101, if they teach some of this stuff, but they have to make some of it up as they go along.

Miles, we're glad we've got you this morning. You're keeping an eye on it for us. Thank you. We'll see you again soon, all right?

O'BRIEN: All right. You're welcome, T.J.

NGUYEN: All right. Listen to this. The FBI knew and didn't do anything about it. We're talking about the O.J. Simpson memorabilia case.

You heard me. The FBI knew about plans to retrieve the personal items, but the FBI says they were tipped off back in August by co- defendant Thomas Riccio and they didn't know where or when or that a crime would be committed.

We'll continue to follow this case.

HOLMES: Pro wrestling cleaning up now in the wake of Chris Benoit's death. Two wrestlers in the WWE now suspended for violating its drug policy. They go my the names Chris Masters (ph) and D.H. Smith (ph). This is the first time the WWE has released the names of wrestlers caught by their new drug-testing policy. The policy was put in place after Benoit's death in June.

NGUYEN: It started when West Virginia police got a tip that a woman was being held hostage. They were horrified by what they found -- a young black woman with stab wounds begging, "Help me."

Megan Williams had allegedly been physically, verbally and sexually abused for days by six white people. Suspects face assault and kidnapping charges, but prosecutors say they'll have a hard time adding hate crimes to the list. And that's not what the Black Panthers want to hear.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is there.

Talk to us about what they want in this case.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Betty, what they do want to see, as you mentioned, is that hate crimes charges be brought in this case. And again, you did give us some of the details of it, the brutal kidnapping, alleged rape and torture of young 20- year-old Megan Williams of Charleston, West Virginia, allegedly held for at least a week in a mobile home some 50 miles here from the state capitol of West Virginia.

Six people charged in the case. And here at this rally today at the state capitol, they're calling it a rally against hate crimes and racism. And they want to see federal state hate crimes brought in this case.

Now, so far, both federal and state officials have declined. And not that either of them think that this case is not horrific, but they do point out that very serious charges are already pending against the six allegedly responsible in this case.

Kidnapping charges, which in West Virginia carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, sexual assault, a maximum penalty of 35 years, whereas in this state hate crimes charges carry a penalty of just 10 years. And then the Logan County prosecutor, Brian Abraham says that state hate crimes could be hard to prove in this case because Ms. Williams apparently had a relationship before this with one of the alleged assailants, Bobby Brewster.

So, again, the rally beginning very shortly now.

Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: OK. So, just to clarify, she had a relationship with one of the alleged abusers here?

KOCH: That is what authorities do believe is, indeed, the case. They had actually been called there to that very same mobile home some months prior to this alleged incident in September.

So, again, they say that that makes the hate crimes charges even harder to prove. But that's not dissuading anyone here. They say they're going to rally hundreds of people. Buses have just started arriving, and they at least do hope to raise some money for Megan Williams to help pay for her -- the treatment of her mental and physical injuries that still do continue from her ordeal.

NGUYEN: Yes, what she went through is just horrifying.

All right. Kathleen Koch joining us live.

KOCH: Quite so.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Kathleen.

HOLMES: Well, a volcano that has a history of killing in the past is erupting once again, and that is causing hundreds and hundreds of people to hightail it out of there.

That story coming up next.

NGUYEN: And on the other side of the globe, nowhere to run. Water is everywhere. And it looks like there is no way out.

We'll have that story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, if you're just joining us here, we've got new reports out this morning of a major volcanic eruption in Indonesia that's happening right now. This is out of Mt. Kelud.

The video you're seeing here was shot earlier in the day before the eruption. Reports now say that the mountains are hidden by the clouds. But intense seismic activity indicates an eruption is under way. Evacuations began several days ago.

You can stay right here with CNN for the newest information and video as soon as it becomes available. But this is a volcano that has a history of killing people in the past. In the '90s there was an eruption. Thirty people died. And back in 1919 as well, several deaths there reported with another eruption. So people certainly on edge when they hear that Mt. Kelud is erupting.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Getting the drop on the bad guys. Some police departments are now upgrading their arsenals with powerful automatic weapons.

HOLMES: Yes. They're packing some serious heat here, even if it means having to bring their own weapons from home.

CNN's Susan Candiotti takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This isn't S.W.A.T. training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's on you. It's on you. The line's hot.

CANDIOTTI: Regular cops on the beat are fast becoming sharpshooters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did I hit? Did it work? Are there any other threats?

CANDIOTTI: The Palm Beach County, Florida, Sheriff's Office is among law enforcement agencies nationwide adding assault weapons to their arsenal, because so are the bad guys.

PFEIL: They don't have little .38s anymore. They have AK-47s.

CANDIOTTI: Training in an AR-15, a civilian version of the M-16 the military uses in Iraq, Sergeant Laurie Pfeil is taking aim at self- preservation.

PFEIL: They don't get out and run from us anymore. They stop and they're shooting at us. And this is what they have. They have automatic weapons now.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Why is this weapon so powerful?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so effective? It's basically -- it's the round that...

CANDIOTTI (voice over): The bullet is set to cut through steel at 100 yards. But because each weapon costs around $900, some departments can't afford to arm or train everyone at once.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back in the vehicle right now.

CANDIOTTI: So they allow certified officers to buy and carry their own assault-style weapons.

(on camera): So this is where you keep it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's securely locked in the trunk. CANDIOTTI: Palm Beach deputy Carl Martin, an ex-marine, gave up his department-issued assault rifle to an officer who was on a waiting list. Martin, meantime, is licensed to use his own AR-15 on the job.

DEP. CARL MARTIN, PALM BEACH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Personal protection. If outgunned by bad guys due to their superior firepower, maybe we can level the playing ground a little bit.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): This department had already been planning on increasing its fire power, adding the AR-15. But the goal of arming every officer with this kind of weapon took on added urgency after two area police officers lost their lives.

(voice over): In one case, one deputy was killed and three wounded by a burglary suspect whose own arsenal had the police outgunned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The civilian version of the M-16.

CANDIOTTI: From inside an evidence vault surrounded by AK-47s, Miami's police chief says since the assault ban expired in 2004, Miami homicides using those guns are on the rise, up 18 percent last year and 20 percent this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now my police officers are facing this, all these various types of assault weapons. What's it going to look like 10 years from now? What are the officers going to be facing 10 years from now? It's like Rambo becomes reality.

CANDIOTTI: Some activists don't like cops packing extra heat.

(on camera): Shouldn't they even out the playing field?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want to even out the playing field, then maybe you should reduce the amount of firepower. Where's it going to stop?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, I actually agree with that. And for a person in my position, it's a little bit embarrassing that we're engaged in this. But what is the alternative?

CANDIOTTI: Did you think it would ever come to this when you started off?

PFEIL: No, not at all. When I started off, no. Not at all. Not at all.

CANDIOTTI: Does it scare you?

PFEIL: Certainly. Certainly it does.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): Why more police agencies say they're aiming for more protection.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: Packing the heat, yes.

HOLMES: Yes. That's some serious stuff.

NGUYEN: Serious.

HOLMES: Let me bring mine from home.

NGUYEN: No.

HOLMES: That's weird to have to do that. Isn't that something?

NGUYEN: Yes, I know.

HOLMES: Well, stay here, because still talking about guns here. Some folks armed with a gun but watched by a camera. A little later in the show we'll show you the newest way to keep cops honest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The oldest is 10, and there's a limit to maybe what they can really give you in terms of information to help you to find the families and to trace exactly their origin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: All right. Here's what happened -- children snatched, allegedly taken away to be adopted. So can authorities find their families and return them?

We have a special investigation next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Also, young children, babies, even, taken away in an alleged adoption plot, but these kids not orphans. They have families. And now what's so disturbing is word is that some of the kids may never get back home to their real parents.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson has been covering this story for us from the beginning and he joins us now.

Hello to you, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, T.J.

Well, some of these children are so young that they're not able to tell the aid workers who they are and where they come from. One 1- year-old baby girl is at most risk of not being able to be placed back with her family, and that's a real concern for the aid workers.

What they're doing is photographing the children, talking to them. Many of them are just aged between 3 and 5 years old. Trying to find out as many details of their backgrounds as they can. And then next week, they hope to take that information out to the villages, close to the border with Darfur, talk to families in those villages, who we understand freely gave up their children, believing that their children were being given up for education, education in Chad. Not expecting them to be whisked out of the country to France, which is -- which is what the aid workers responsible for taking the children are now being charged with, kidnapping those children -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

Nic Robertson on the story, on the scene for us there in Chad. A disturbing story. A lot more to come on that.

Nic, we appreciate your time and your work on this story.

NGUYEN: And speaking of it, do you think of all those parents in this country who adopt children from Europe, Asia, Africa, all over the world, in fact, there are thousands of them. And today, every one of them is asking, what telltale signs do I need to look for?

Well, here to talk about it is Thomas DiFilipo with the Joint Council on International Children's Services.

We do appreciate your time.

You know, and let's just get to the heart of it. If you're a parent out there, how do you make sure that the child that you're wanting to adopt is really an orphan and hasn't been taken from a family?

THOMAS DIFILIPO, JOINT COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S SERVICES: Well, there's a number of ways that potential adoptive parents can ensure that the child that they're adopting, in fact, is an orphan and that they are participating in international adoption and not child trafficking or the type of situation that you've seen in Chad. One of those is the organization that you work with should certainly be licensed by the state.

Every state in the United States has a licensing bureau. The families should check with that bureau to make sure that there's no active complaints or significant complaints against the adoption service provider.

The second way is certainly checking the Department of State Web site and learning about international adoption, contacting the local embassy of the country in which they hope to adopt from. Again, checking if there's any complaints or problems with that adoption service provider.

NGUYEN: Should parents also travel to that country where they're wanting to adopt a child?

DIFILIPO: Well, just virtually every country requires that, that the parents travel to the country to bring the child home. There are a few, such as South Korea, where...

NGUYEN: Well, this case was very different, because the children were shipped abroad. DIFILIPO: Well, this case wasn't about international adoption. And that's one of the sad parts here, is that this kidnapping case is actually what it is. International adoption was used as a guise to facilitate the kidnapping. This wasn't about kidnapping -- I mean, this wasn't about international adoption at all.

NGUYEN: And so when we talk about these red flags, obviously that is one. You don't wait for a planeload of babies to arrive if you're adopting. You go to that country.

What are some of the other red flags?

DIFILIPO: Well, certainly it's the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true. Certainly, international adoption is not an easy process. It's now one where you sit here and wait for a planeload of children to arrive and then go select one.

There's an entire screening process that adoptive families must go through here in the United States. And in most developed countries, there's a process by which your documents and your family is reviewed by the country of birth. This takes about a year to 18 months in most cases.

So if an agency or a facility comes to you with something that sounds just too good to be true, it probably is.

NGUYEN: Yes, that's a problem.

Yes. Hey, just quickly, if you would, folks wanting to do some research, wanting to adopt a child, where should they go to get that information? Very quickly.

DIFILIPO: I would say three places -- the Department of State Web site, our Web site, which is jcics.org, and also adoption.com.

NGUYEN: OK. So there are places out there so you can know exactly what you're getting into and the red flags to look for.

Tom DiFilipo, with the Joint Council on International Children's Services.

We do appreciate your time today.

DIFILIPO: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Allegations of misconduct in South Africa at Oprah Winfrey's school, it's at the center of controversy. She'll be speaking out on the scandal.

We've got the details for you.

NGUYEN: Plus, water available only three hours a day? No, we're not talking about a third world country. This is happening right now in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Well, he wants you to go to the polls and vote for him, but he doesn't have time to cast his own votes? Barack Obama missing in action, missing some key votes in Congress. A lot of people talking about this.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. It's about 40 minutes past the hour this Saturday morning. Your "Quick Hits" right now.

A court hearing has been set for Monday for a former matron accused of abusing students at Oprah Winfrey's South Africa school. Winfrey plans to make a public statement after that hearing.

HOLMES: Well, a massive meat recall to tell you about here. Cargill Foods now voluntarily recalling more than a million pounds of ground sold at these supermarkets that you see there throughout the Northeast under the stores' brand names. Federal investigators say the meat may be contaminated with the dangerous E. coli bacteria.

Also, late-night comedy may be the first casualty if Hollywood writers go on strike on Monday. Tomorrow, in a last-ditch effort, a mediator will try to iron out a contract between the writers and the studios. But if they cannot find a compromise, eventually you may see lots of reruns of all your favorite shows.

NGUYEN: And lots of reality TV.

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: Hey, it looks like Ford workers may be staying on the assembly line instead of walking the picket lines. The United Auto Workers Union says it reached a tentative contract with Ford just a few hours ago. About 60,000 union members still have to sign off on the deal.

HOLMES: Well, we know running for president is a full-time job, but, hey, you've got a day job too. The race might be getting in the way of Senator Barack Obama's current job duties.

In the last two months, Obama has missed 80 percent of the Senate votes. But the Obama camp says, hey, that's not fair to pick on us. You have to look at the entire year. And in that case, Obama's people say senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd actually missed more votes than Obama actually did.

Well, CNN's Bill Schneider sits down with one of the Republican frontrunners. Mitt Romney talks about working hard and spending cash. That's right here, coming up in the NEWSROOM next hour.

NGUYEN: All right. So are President Bush's opponents unfairly using children to score political points, or is it just politics as usual?

HOLMES: Yes. Our Mr. Reality, Josh Levs, is here, and he'll be keeping them real.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys.

Yes, you know, this is what we want to take a look at today, because this is a really hot story right now.

All this talk about the Children's Health Insurance Program, and you're starting to hear some folks in the White House, even the first lady, start to say that they're being unfair by using children to kind of tug at people's emotional heart strings.

Well, what we've done is taken a little bit of a look back. And we found that the president himself has something of a record like that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS (voice over): In the now daily battle over the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Democrats accused the president of...

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Opposing health insurance for 10 million children.

LEVS: Democrats had 12-year-old Graeme Frost tell his heartbreaking tale, followed by a plea to the White House.

GRAEME FROST, BALTIMORE, MD.: I just hope the president will listen to my story and help other kids to be as lucky as me.

LEVS: As Democrats ratcheted up their campaign over the bill Bush vetoed, White House spokesman Tony Fratto complained the Democrats are "... exploiting the image of children." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino accused the Dems of demagoguery, a charge the first lady repeated.

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: And it's just a perfect issue to demagogue.

LEVS: Demagogue: to obscure or distort with emotionalism or prejudice, something often done in politics, particularly when it involves children. Though sometimes, as Democrats say here, citing children is about reminding the country what's at stake.

Either way, the president has his record of citing children in controversial issues, like the troop buildup in Iraq...

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Failure in Iraq would have serious consequences for the security of your children and your grandchildren. And so I made the decision, rather than pulling out of the capital, to send more troops in the capital.

LEVS: ... or renewing the No Child Left Behind Act...

BUSH: Through this law, our nation has made an historic commitment to America's children, and we have a moral obligation to keep that commitment.

LEVS: ... or rejecting efforts to ease restrictions on funding embryonic stem-cell research.

BUSH: We should not use public money to support the further destruction of human life.

LEVS: The truth is, children have been used plenty to make political points on both sides. Who could forget the 12-year-old at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When our vice president had a disagreement with a Democratic senator, he used a really bad word.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEVS: And apparently they're actually trying to get that same girl again, who is now closer to 15 years old.

You know, the fact is, you can see it on both sides throughout political history, but when you start to see one side accuse the other of demagoguing, guys, then it's time for us to take that little tour through recent history.

NGUYEN: Well, let's look back for a minute, shall we? Because it's not the first time that the politicos have used children in ads. Remember that daisy ad back in the Johnson era?

LEVS: Right.

NGUYEN: That really set off a lot of people, and many were upset about it. Still are, in fact.

LEVS: Absolutely. You know, we've got some video of that. And you know what's amazing? This thing only aired once.

It was way back in 1964, and basically it showed -- maybe we don't have it. That's OK.

It showed a girl picking petals on a flower, then followed by a nuclear explosion. Now, obviously not everyone goes that far. That was a Lyndon Johnson ad against Barry Goldwater. It's something that people do talk about.

But the fact is, every era, every presidency, every Congress, every White House uses children in some way to score political points. What's really challenging is when one side starts to tell the other side, hey, look what you're doing. It's time to look at what that first guy did.

You know what I'm saying?

NGUYEN: Yes. When you start pointing fingers, it gets kind of ugly.

LEVS: You got it.

NGUYEN: OK. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks. NGUYEN: So if you live in the Southeast, you know all about water restrictions, right? But unless you live in Orme, Tennessee, you don't know how bad it can get.

Every night residents there have only three hours of running water. Three hours. Cooking, bathing, laundry, all of it has to be done in that short of time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying so hard to consume what water we have.

MAYOR TONY REAMES, ORME, TENNESSEE: Unbearable. I mean, it's -- boy, you can't even have (INAUDIBLE) flush the commode when you need to flush it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, the waterfall that usually feeds the area is down to a trickle, so every couple of days trucks go back and forth from Orme to Alabama to bring water from a fire hydrants to the town's tank.

Can you believe it?

A pipeline is being built though, and should be done by Thanksgiving.

And they'll have a lot to be thankful for by that time.

HOLMES: You can't flush when you want to flush, as the guy said.

NGUYEN: Oh, you just painted a bad picture.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: OK. A gun with a camera on it. Can you imagine that?

HOLMES: Yes, your best shot. Caught on tape -- is this personal protection or big brother watching?

Find out in the NEWSROOM.

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(MUSIC)

HOLMES: I didn't even notice the KJV (ph) part earlier, King James Version.

Yes, the guy is talking about the bible. "Baby Got Book". The video is attracting millions of people on the Internet. All looking for religion outside of a traditional church.

We'll talk to the founder of GodTube, "Sir Chris A Lot" (ph) we're calling him. Chris Wyatt is the name. He's going to join us live on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. That begins tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern.

NGUYEN: We have been singing that song all morning long.

Hey, want you to check this out, video from pistolcam.com. It was recorded by a digital device that may soon be part of every police weapon.

HOLMES: Officers in Orange County, New York, have been tapped to try it out first. It fits on the barrel and begins recording audio and video the moment the weapon leaves the holster. The digital recording could be invaluable in shooting investigations.

NGUYEN: All right. So do you remember the man who bought a meat smoker at an auction only to discover a human leg was inside?

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: Yes, the embalmed limb had once been attach to do a man who lost it in an accident. Well, both men claim the leg belonged to them.

HOLMES: OK. Isn't that an easy one to figure out, who that leg belongs to?

NGUYEN: Yes. The guy that's missing a leg.

HOLMES: Yes, that guy. Now TV's Judge Mathis has settled the dispute, ruling that the leg rightfully belongs to the original owner, you know, the guy who is missing a limb.

NGUYEN: It makes sense.

HOLMES: But he also said the guy who bought it deserves $5,000 in compensation. We don't know, however, who is supposed to pay that. If the guy without the leg is supposed to pay it, or the person who sold it.

NGUYEN: Yes, he's supposed to pay the guy who bought the smoker with the leg in it to get his leg back.

HOLMES: So you're paying for your own leg? Really?

NGUYEN: Your own leg.

HOLMES: I have to look into that one.

NGUYEN: So that's costing both two legs, not an arm and a leg. Never mind. Not even going to...

HOLMES: Oh, OK. You were trying.

NGUYEN: OK. Yes.

OK. So now listen to this one carefully. It's not a home invasion. It's a gnome invasion.

No. That's just a gnome.

HOLMES: Just a gnome. Just a gnome.

NGUYEN: A woman in Springfield, Oregon, came outside of her home early one morning to find about 80 lawn ornaments staring back at her.

HOLMES: And she thinks teenagers were playing a prank on her 15-year- old stepdaughter. Police rounded up the wayward garden ornaments and hauled them in. The challenge now is getting the gnomes back to their proper homes.

NGUYEN: See, I thought it was a science thing, a genome thing. I guess not.

HOLMES: No. Oh, I didn't know you were that...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: I didn't even know...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: I didn't want to call you a nerd, but...

NGUYEN: Well, so now we know.

HOLMES: Yes.

Well, some third graders in Texas now.

NGUYEN: Speaking of, yes.

HOLMES: You take this, your home state of Texas here.

NGUYEN: All right. So they said a classroom is out of tune with the latest technology. And they are not just singing the blues. They are hoping a few tunes will get them some new high-tech equipment.

The story now though from Barry Carpenter of our affiliate KDAF.

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UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN (singing): It's a low-tech life for us...

BARRY CARPENTER, REPORTER, KDAF (voice over): This is Karen Rose's third grade students singing the "Annie" blues about their low-tech classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Won't that be swell?

CARPENTER: That's Ms. Rose in the home video.

KAREN ROSE, MELISSA RIDGE ELEMENTARY: Technology. Because do we use technology every day?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Yes.

CARPENTER: And that's Ms. Rose in class, where she and her students cooked up the idea of entering the contest.

ROSE: Technology was never something that I considered a strong point of mine, and I saw how much it impacts their learning and how much they love it. And I've grown very attached to it.

CARPENTER (on camera): The classroom is definitely low tech. They only have two small computers that are kind of old and one small overhead television set that doesn't really work for the big classroom. And today they could have really used a projector, but there's only one and it was in another classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN (singing): Our ceiling is so bare, there's no projector there.

CARPENTER: The kids even sing about the projector in the video. Rose says the new technology would be interactive and fun.

ROSE: They can be at their desks and writing on the board, the portable board, and it appears on the screen right in front of them.

CARPENTER: More than 200 schools from all over the world entered the contest. And the Melissa third graders are one of five elementary finalists.

Just making the video was a learning experience.

MEGAN COSTAN, MELISSA RIDGE ELEMENTARY: You got to see Ms. Rose and you got to be in a video with her, and you got to sing the song with her.

CARPENTER: And the thought of a high-tech life is exciting.

KARRINGTON LEWIS, MELISSA RIDGE ELEMENTARY: I going to keep on using it and don't stop, because I've never really had anything like that. So it will be kind of exciting to have stuff like that in our classroom.

CARPENTER: Like going from old school to new school.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN (singing): It's a low-tech life.

CARPENTER: Barry Carpenter.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN (singing): It's a low-tech life.

CARPENTER: CW33, News at Nine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: You know they're going to get that projector. It's just going to happen, one way or the other.

HOLMES: Well, folks work hard and spend money. That's what Mitt Romney is doing in Iowa. The Republican presidential candidate talks to CNN's Bill Schneider. The exclusive interview in our next hour. NGUYEN: And then at noon Eastern, making that white wedding a little bit greener. Not only does it help the environment, it might also keep some green in your wallet.

You'll want to stay with us right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOLMES: Well, it is that time for us, time for us to head to New York and check in with Kiran Chetry to see I guess what happened this past week on "AMERICAN MORNING." Also to see what they've got coming up next week.

Good morning to you, ma'am.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, T.J. Great to see you.

Well, if you've flown recently, then you can relate to our series on flyer frustration. People have been e-mailing us some of their nightmare stories -- hours of delays, cancelled flights, long lines of security, no information. I guess we could go on and on.

Well, things that we've come to accept, really, as just part of our travel package doesn't have to be that way. And what's behind it all?

On Monday, we're going to get an insider's view. A guy who spent decades watching the skies, he's a retired air traffic controller named Bob Richards.

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BOB RICHARDS, RETIRED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I would say the biggest reason has got to be the staffing. The staffing of having enough controllers to get the job done.

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CHETRY: So he's come up with a top 10 list that airlines need to learn and understand, and how it affects the safety of all passengers.

So we'll have that top 10 list for you, T.J., on Monday.

HOLMES: All right.

Also, that's been a hot topic, of course. Well, it's always a hot topic. But also something people have been talking about as well, chemical in plastics. There seems to be a lot of concern over this.

CHETRY: That's right. A new word in our vocabulary, phthalates, among others. And it's become big business. People very worried about the chemicals that end up showing up in their bodies.

There are parents shelling out big bucks to get phthalate-free and toxic-free baby bottles, but are they really all that they're cracked up to be? We're going to see whether you can ever purge your body of a lot of those chemicals -- T.J. HOLMES: OK. All that serious stuff you're talking about, but the reason I'm going to be tuning in is because of this topic, the hottest college professors. You all know how to reel me in there, Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. Did we really have any of these when we went to school, T.J.? Who knows?

Well, if you had some hot professors in college, hey, maybe they're on the list. We tracked down the hottest male and female professors in the nation. They were voted on by their own students, by the way. And we're going to meet the number one hottest female professor, see how she actually feels about that honor -- T.J.

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