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Barack Obama Addresses Race Issue; FAA Orders Check of Maintenance Records for All U.S. Airlines; Supreme Court Hears Case on Gun Ownership Rights; Turmoil Continues in Tibet

Aired March 18, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: OK, cheaper money, well, the feds appear ready to take a knife to interest rates one more time. How deep will it slice?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A delicate balancing act for Barack Obama. After days of searing headlines about his former pastor's racially-charged comments, the senator makes a bid to move the nation beyond its racial division.

LEMON: Relief and disappointment on Wall Street. The Fed cuts interest rates, but not as much as many investors were hoping.

WHITFIELD: And a pair of financial titans take major hits, but not as bad as many investors had feared. What does it add up to for your investments, your debt or even your job?

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in today for Kyra Phillips, at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

We will run the numbers right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're watching your money and we're hearing from the Federal Reserve a three-quarter-of-a-percentage-point interest rate cut.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: Let's get back to our other developing news. It involves the nation's airline industry.

Drew Griffin, our special investigative correspondent, breaking the news last week about Southwest Airlines. Now there's going to be -- it's having a ripple effect across the industry.

Drew, take it away.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Don, I think I told you on your show last week, this was a big deal. It just got a lot bigger.

The acting Federal Aviation Administration administrator, Robert Sturgell, today is directing Federal Aviation inspectors to reconfirm that commercial carriers are operating in compliance with these things called airworthiness directives.

These are the mandatory safety checks that the government wants on every single commercial airplane that it pertains to. And this follows that huge lapse in checks that were going on at Southwest Airlines, that literally had dozens and dozens of airplanes flying last year and the year before outside of that safety requirement.

And then, if you can remember, just last week, Southwest had to ground another 44 planes while it reinspected to make sure it was complying with these safety standards. Now this is going to go to every single airline, the FAA ordering its inspectors to look at least 10 airworthy directives at a fleet and then comply with at least 10 percent of them by -- by the start of the summer.

So, this is basically the FAA saying to its inspectors and to the airlines, we take these things seriously, and we want to double-check to make sure that these carriers are as safe as they can be.

LEMON: CNN's Drew Griffin -- thank you, Drew.

GRIFFIN: You bet, Don.

WHITFIELD: All right, Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama moves to dampen a political firestorm. A short time ago, in Philadelphia, Obama delivered a major speech on race in America.

He spoke just days after racially charged sermons from his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, surfaced on the Internet. Well, critics call many of Wright's comments racist and un-American. Obama hopes to put the issue to rest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice.

Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country, a view that sees white racism as endemic and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, you will want to stay with us in the NEWSROOM. This hour, we will talk more about race in America and the race for the White House with our political roundtable.

LEMON: Well, Hillary Clinton is also in Pennsylvania today. A short time ago, in Philadelphia, she talked about Obama's address on race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not have a chance to see or to read yet Senator Obama's speech. But I'm very glad that he gave it. It's an important topic. You know, issues of race and gender in America have been complicated throughout our history. And they are complicated in this primary campaign. There have been detours and pitfalls along the way. But we should remember that this is an historic moment for the Democratic Party and for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Pennsylvania's presidential primaries are five weeks from today.

WHITFIELD: Fresh from his eighth trip to Iraq, Senator John McCain says any hasty pullout of American troops would be a mistake. He says efforts to stabilize the country are working. But there's still a long way to go. And after leaving Baghdad, the presumptive Republican nominee is now in Jerusalem, after a stop in Jordan. He's also visiting Britain and France as part of a congressional delegation.

All the latest campaign news is available right at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com, plus analysis from the best political team on television -- that, and more, CNNPolitics.com.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

LEMON: A delicate balancing act for Barack Obama. After days of searing headlines about his former pastor's racially charged comments, the senator makes a bid to move the nation beyond its racial divisions.

WHITFIELD: And teachers in trouble -- struggling in the housing market leave one state to replace report cards with pink slips.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Many of you heard the speech, actually saw it happening. Barack Obama speaks out for racial unity in America. His speech in Philadelphia today was tied to a firestorm of criticism over racially charged comments by his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama condemns Wright's comments, but won't disown a man he thinks of as family.

Joining me now from Washington, D.C., author and cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson.

I like that, cultural critic.

Columnist Gebe Martinez, and Bonnie Erbe, columnist and host of "To the Contrary" on PBS.

Thank you all for joining us.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK. Big breath. So, Bonnie, what did you think of the speech?

BONNIE ERBE, HOST, "TO THE CONTRARY": He's a great speaker. Nobody can deny that. But he lost an opportunity to move forward on this issue. What he did essentially was preach to his own choir, keep his own supporters happy, and not open up to people who find some of the comments made by Mr. Wright to be highly offensive.

LEMON: Yes, you know, we were speaking before, during the commercial break, and that's why I started with you first. You didn't think he changed any minds.

And, Bonnie Erbe, I don't -- I think you agree with that. You don't think he changed any minds with this speech?

ERBE: I do not believe that he changed many minds. I think that the liberal Democrats, white and African-American and of other colors, who supported him, have supported him so far in the primary, and are big supporters of him, thought it was a great speech. I have spoken with several of them.

(CROSSTALK)

ERBE: But in terms of changing minds of people who are on the fence and people he may need to appeal to in the general election, he couldn't have done that without completely distancing himself from Reverend Wright.

LEMON: Michael Eric Dyson, you are awfully quiet, my friend, and you're not usually that quiet. Why are you so quiet today?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, you didn't call on me. I wait my turn.

LEMON: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

DYSON: But I think what's so interesting is that -- the decorum is necessary to facilitate civility. I think what is important here is to say that -- that he made an incredibly important speech. He was calm and reasonable.

People were looking for the fireworks to go out. The fireworks were what caused the problem in the first place. Black style and rhetoric is not as obviously as well known as it should be in America, and, therefore, he had to tone it down, so to speak.

Number two, why would he disown a man for whom he had a lasting affection? And because he what he shows us is that, because you have problems with human beings who make statements that you disagree with, you don't then turn out and become disloyal to them, because, if he's disloyal to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who helped him to that great degree, how disloyal will he be to others?

Number three, what's important is that we can't yet tell whether or not this speech changed anybody's minds. I think it was an important speech. It was eloquent. It was powerful. He did a very difficult thing. He is already walking a tightrope.

LEMON: Yes.

DYSON: He was able to articulate the real truth of the tradition from which a sermon like Jeremiah Wright's emerged, while, at the same time, speaking to the need to forge coalition, E pluribus unum, out of many, one.

So, that's a very difficult thing to do in American society. I think he did it brilliantly and I think he did it effectively.

LEMON: And, Michael, you bring up a good point, because when I said -- I have been saying he's walking a tightrope, because he has to in some way distance himself from the remarks, not necessarily from the preacher, because then he may lose support in some arenas if he does distance himself completely from Jeremiah Wright.

(CROSSTALK)

DYSON: Well, not only that. Not only will he lose support. I think what happens is that he would be disingenuous about a tradition that produced Martin Luther King Jr.

If there were YouTube when Martin Luther King Jr. was alive, he made the following statement. He said: I don't want to put on a reservation like Native American people because America has practiced genocide.

America would not take that statement from Martin Luther King the same way. I think what Senator Obama did was to acknowledge a tradition of prophetic preaching, while also cautioning us against the more explicitly radical rhetoric that doesn't do any good, that doesn't serve us the best. And the best that can serve us is to bring us together as a nation to move forward.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK, Gebe, get in on this.

GEBE MARTINEZ, COLUMNIST AND CONTRIBUTOR, "THE POLITICO": He's a little more challenged, too. It was very universal speech but he still has to try to figure out how to reach out in a better way to the Hispanic community, which he has not been able to do in some of the larger states in the primaries.

LEMON: Talk about that. What do mean he's not been able to do -- how should he reach out to the Hispanic community?

MARTINEZ: Well, frankly, the Hispanic community relies a lot on retail politics. And he seems to be more at a distance when he talks about them, if he does.

Obviously, he has a black experience because he's African- American. But he hasn't learned how to tap into the Hispanic voter sentiment the way Hillary Clinton has. And Senator Clinton really does have a remarkable campaign on the ground with the Hispanic community. He has to match that.

LEMON: Well, this speech where he's talking about embracing all different people with all different stories -- I'm sort of paraphrasing here -- and you don't think that that reached the Hispanic community at all, Gebe?

MARTINEZ: Well, what did help in the speech I thought was that the issues that he did talk about, he didn't just talk about health care. But he talked about being able to access affordable health care, for example.

LEMON: OK.

MARTINEZ: That's the kind of thing he needs to do more with the Hispanic community.

LEMON: OK, real quickly, I want to talk -- what led us up to all of they were the statements by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I want to play that, and I want to I want to hear, play what Barack Obama said this morning in response to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: ... and then wants us to sing "God Bless America?" No, no, no, not God bless America. God damn America -- that's in the Bible -- for killing innocent people. God damn America.

OBAMA: I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now, here's what people are saying. You can choose your reverend and your spiritual adviser, but you can't necessarily choose your grandmother.

Michael?

DYSON: Well, I think, look, the point is that this man (INAUDIBLE) he was an ancestor of his. It was because of Reverend Jeremiah Wright that he found his faith. The things that people admire in Barack Obama are attributable to something that Jeremiah Wright brought out in him. Don't forget that. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

LEMON: But doesn't that make some people uncomfortable, though, even those sorts of statements and -- DYSON: No, look, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and he owned slaves. Let's not pretend that anybody is pure here. All of us have bloody hands.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: But, Michael, this is a different time, though.

And you brought up the YouTube, if there was YouTube when Martin Luther King Jr. But there wasn't. And this is a different time. And there's much more scrutiny on people in public life.

DYSON: I understand that, the scrutiny. But the scrutiny doesn't mean that we have different moral characters. It means that they are being more scrutinized.

So, the point is, we still have the different characteristics, Don. And we have to acknowledge that, on the one hand, human beings make mistakes. If Barack Obama disowns Jeremiah Wright, he disowns the legacy that produced him. He's able to be critical of Jeremiah Wright while embracing him in love.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Go ahead, Bonnie.

ERBE: Well, I would like to say, everybody views the race issue through very different lenses. I do not believe, for example, that white men have a right to tell me from my perspective what is sexist and what is not sexist. And I don't believe, as a white American, that I have a right to tell African-Americans what is racist and what isn't.

By the same token, I think that there are many American voters, not the more -- more extremes, not extreme, but more extremes, who tend to turn out during the primary season, who support Senator Obama, the most liberal Democrats, just as the most conservative Republicans tend to turn out and vote in the Republican primary season, who will see this as a conciliation.

But people who are likely to be offended by Jeremiah Wright's association with Louis Farrakhan, who are likely to be offended by the use of the term "G.D. America" in a church setting, he did not reach out toward those people in this speech today.

DYSON: Yes, I disagree with that. I think that what he did brilliantly was walk that tightrope that America puts on him. He's put in the unique position as an African-American candidate. And I think what he had to do is to acknowledge the history and the legacy of white supremacy, while also talking about the great America that floats within him, that he wants to see realized in the broader American polity.

The only thing he can do is lead us in that direction, ask us to join him in that journey, and, together, we make the America we want to see occur. That's what I think he did today. LEMON: OK. Real quickly, because I got to go. I'm up against a break. But is this going to change anything for him as far as support, not support, Michael?

DYSON: Yes, absolutely. I think that people will be reinforced in their perception that he's a man who is willing to be self- critical. And I think it will change some other minds.

LEMON: OK. Bonnie?

ERBE: Let's wait and see polls, but my gut tells me -- and I hate making assumptions and looking forward, because I'm always wrong, particularly in this very strange election, very different election year -- but my guess is, it's a wash.

LEMON: Gebe?

MARTINEZ: Well, he stood by his friend, but this is politics, and who knows what's going to happen now.

LEMON: Thanks to all of you.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Cheaper money, is there such a thing? The Fed takes a knife to interest rates one more time. How deep will it slice?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The economy, the number-one issue for most Americans, and there's a lot to be worried about. A new CNN poll shows inflation is at the top of the list.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

LEMON: Turmoil in Tibet -- protesters push for independence. China pushes right back, and the Dalai Lama speaks out.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Three thirty-two here in the East. Three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Storm warnings posted across a big chunk of the country, as people in the South and Central U.S. face another day of potentially dangerous weather. Included in the mix, heavy rains tornado threats and snow.

Protesters and crackdowns in Tibet -- Chinese forces and Tibetan protesters are still clashing in the streets. China blames supporters of the Dalai Lama for the violence. The Dalai Lama denies it.

It is a case that goes to the heart of the Second Amendment and it's before the Supreme Court today. The issue -- does Washington, D.C.'s strict and sweeping ban on handgun ownership violate the constitution?

Also, we have some developing news today in to the CNN NEWSROOM. It involves a University of Central Florida freshman football player. His name is Ereck Plancher. And we're being told he collapsed during training drills this morning on campus.

According to the reports from our affiliates there, the head trainer began CPR immediately and he was quickly transported to the hospital, where he died. Again, University of Central Florida freshman football player Ereck Plancher collapsed during a training drill this morning on campus. As soon as we get more information, we'll bring it to you here in THE NEWSROOM.

WHITFIELD: And, Don, this other story we continue to follow at this hour, this concerns your air travel. We understand from the FAA that they want to reconfirm the airworthiness of many airlines. So former vice chairman of the NTSB, Bob Francis, is on the line with us now to help make some sense of what this really means.

So, Bob, how do we know which airlines might be targeted in this kind of reconfirmation of their airworthiness?

BOB FRANCIS, FORMER NTSB VICE CHAIRMAN: Well, I have not seen the announcement. But from what I understand, this is targeted to 737s and older 737s. So what you've got is a situation where the FAA has found a problem with inspections for cracks on Southwest.

And they are doing what you do in a system that's as safe as ours. And they are going about, making sure that other operators that have comparable aircraft are not having problems with the same issue.

WHITFIELD: And so how common is this? How alarmed should air travelers be when they hear something like this?

FRANCIS: I think that one says that violation of regulations, which happened with Southwest, is a serious thing. I think that in terms of the safety of flying on Southwest, that your safety is so minimally less than what it is every other day that it's not even worth talking about or thinking about.

WHITFIELD: And when --

FRANCIS: I mean this is an enormously safe system with huge redundancies. And there's no reason that anybody should be worried tomorrow or the next day about getting on any commercial aircraft in this country.

WHITFIELD: Except when you do single out 737s -- or at least the older ones -- and these are the problems that arose with Southwest -- are we dealing with an aging fleet of planes, no matter which airline you're talking about, anyway?

FRANCIS: Well, we are dealing with aging aircraft, but we're always dealing with aging aircraft. And what happens over the course of the life of the aircraft is that as it gets older, the requirements for inspections or replacement of parts or whatever it is, you know, becomes more and more rigorous.

WHITFIELD: Right. And clearly there are stresses on these aircraft.

FRANCIS: Absolutely. And, you know, I remember visiting -- when I was at the safety board -- visiting Delta Airlines. And they were doing, on 727s at that point, they were repairing cracks that were appearing in the top of 727s. It was known. They inspected for it. They found them and they repaired them.

WHITFIELD: Is it possible to ground most 737s during this re- inspection process completely, just industry wide?

FRANCIS: If you grounded all 737s in this country, you would create havoc. And there's no justification for it.

WHITFIELD: All right.

FRANCIS: There's just -- you know, these are older aircraft. They know which ones they are, the percentage of the fleet. They aren't huge numbers. And they will go and they'll look and make sure everybody is doing what they're supposed to do.

WHITFIELD: OK.

FRANCIS: And we'll all be just as safe as we always are.

WHITFIELD: All right. Former vice chair of the NTSB, Bob Francis, we appreciate your time.

FRANCIS: OK.

LEMON: Let's talk about some politics now.

Swept into office by the Spitzer scandal, New York's new governor is coming clean about his own marital difficulties. David Paterson and his wife faced reporters today in Albany, revealing they both had affairs during what they call a difficult period a few years back.

The governor is admitting to several relationships, including one with a state employee. The Patersons say they eventually went to counseling and decided to give their marriage another shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: I just felt that this -- some information apparently was out there. I didn't want to be compromised. I didn't want to be blackmailed. I didn't want to hesitate taking an action because the person on the other end might hurt me or my family. And so I just thought this was the time to come forward and reveal this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, the story comes just a day after Paterson was sworn in as governor, a week after his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, was publicly linked to prostitutes.

And there is a new nasty twist in the bitter divorce between former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and his estranged wife. Dina McGreevey is denying allegations she and her husband had three-way sex with one of the former governor's aides and drivers.

Teddy Pedersen claims he and the couple started having threesomes while the McGreeveys were courting and it continued after their marriage. Jim McGreevey says Pedersen's claims are correct. In 2004, McGreevey acknowledged he's gay and stepped down as New Jersey governor.

WHITFIELD: All right, teachers in trouble. Struggles in the housing market lead one state to replace report cards with pink slips.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, exactly what does the right to bear arms refer to? That's the issue at the U.S. Supreme Court today, as justices consider a challenge to Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban. It's one of the toughest gun laws in the nation. It took effect in 1976 as a reaction to high crime rates.

But the case is much broader than Washington, D.C. . It forces the court to decide whether the right to keep and bear arms was meant for individuals or state militias. Attorneys for the District of Colombia argue the latter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER DELLINGER, ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: One of the troublesome aspects of viewing this as a right of personal use is that that is the kind of fundamental liberty interest that would create a real potential for disruption. Once you unmoor from or untether it from its connection to the protection of the state militia, you have the kind of right that could easily be restrictions on state and local government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Some of the justices' questions suggest they disagree but legal analysts say that doesn't necessarily mean the court will overturn D.C.'s handgun ban.

LEMON: Let's turn now to weather, Fred. We have some developing news into the CNN Center. We want to get to Chad Myers over in the Weather Center.

I believe we have a tornado warning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a rapidly rotating storm, Don, just south of Corpus Christi -- actually going toward the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. That's kind of the road that goes all the way to North Padre Island there, kind of following along in Corpus Christi right there, the tornado south of Corpus Christi proper, don't get me wrong. But as you get down and you take that road that goes to North Padre, it's kind of -- that rotation is right there, right around Flower Bluff, really, kind of in the middle. That would be right near the Naval Air Station, right there on the Intercoastal Waterway.

So I want you to be taking cover with that storm right now until 3:00 Central Daylight Time -- Don?

LEMON: All right, Chad, we appreciate the warning. Thank you very much for that, sir.

MYERS: You're welcome.

LEMON: The economic crunch could be seeping into the classroom and offering a real life lesson in subtraction.

CNN's Chris Lawrence reports from California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This may be a very tough summer for tens of thousands of students and teachers. California is facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortage.

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: That's all we have. So, therefore, I cannot promise the schools through funding.

LAWRENCE: Some arts, athletics, even summer school may get canceled. Fourteen thousand teachers received notice of possible layoffs and many could lose their jobs.

GINNY ZEPPA, RECEIVED LAYOFF NOTICE: Who is the sheriff who runs the jail?

LAWRENCE: English teacher Ginny Zeppa was devastated of her possible layoff.

ZEPPA: I feel like I'm good at what I do and I care about what I'm doing a lot.

LAWRENCE: Out of only 10 English teachers at her school, seven got this notice.

STEPHEN LEVY, ECONOMIST: We have about $8 million less to spend because the economy is doing poorly rather than very well.

LAWRENCE: Economist Stephen Levy says it's simple subtraction. Californians are selling fewer homes, so the state gets less capital gains tax. Fewer homes are being built and furnished, which reduces sales tax. The remaining homes are being re-assessed at lower values, so there's less property tax. It all adds up to one harsh lesson.

LEVY: We're out of tooth fairy solutions.

LAWRENCE: And like the federal budget, California was running a deficit even before this happened. (on-camera): Say we don't cut these teachers, how much does each Californian have to pay in taxes to make up that difference?

LEVY: Probably families would pay about $400 or more per family.

LAWRENCE: And per person?

LEVY: A hundred and twenty or so.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Zeppa says even families facing tough times put their kids first.

ZEPPA: And so it would be like a parent saying you're not important enough. Even though I'm strapped, I can't figure out a way to make it work for you. I think that's irresponsible parenting and it's irresponsible leadership.

LAWRENCE: And unless the economy improves, it's a problem parents, politicians and pupils will have to deal with in the future.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: The economy -- it's issue number one. And we'll bring you all the latest financial news all this week at noon Eastern -- information you need on the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch and more. "ISSUE #1," 12:00 p.m. Eastern.

WHITFIELD: Turmoil in Tibet -- protesters push for independence, China pushes back and the Dalai Lama speaks out.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And the Feds cut rates today three quarters of a percent. Let's see how Wall Street is reacting. Wow! Up 366 points. The closing bell coming up shortly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The accounts are horrifying, the images even more so, as China cracks down on protests in Tibet. The Chinese premier blames supporters of the Dalai Lama. The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists threatens to step down if the violence spirals out of control.

CNN's John Vause has been trying to get into Tibet for several days -- and he almost made it.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tibetan exile groups have made serious accusations against the Chinese government, including in one instance accusing Chinese security forces of killing more than 30 people, including monks, women and children in Aba County in the northwest part of Sichuan Province. And to back up their case, they've e-mailed a number of photographs. One of them shows bodies lying on the ground surrounded by a large crowd apparently in prayer. Others show Chinese troops arriving in large numbers, as well as police deployed on the streets, apparently guarding buildings.

So to find out exactly what has happening there, we tried to get to Aba County. But police have set up checkpoints along the way. We made it through four of those. By the time we got to the fifth, we were stopped, ordered out of the vehicle. They took our passports. They recorded our details. And after a time, we were told to turn around and go back the way we came.

But what we did see was a significant military buildup. At one point, I counted a convoy of about 30 army trucks. Some of them were carrying heavily-armed soldiers. There were also communications, as well as fuel supply vehicles heading north to Aba County. But what their mission was, what they were meant to be doing, we just don't know.

We asked the foreign ministry in Beijing today about those photographs coming out of Aba County and what the situation was there. But the spokesman said he didn't know, he wasn't familiar with that situation.

So the bottom line is this. Right now it seems it's next to impossible to find out what is happening in places like Aba County. And it seems the Chinese government is determined to keep it that way.

John Vause, CNN, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Violence in Iraq claims six more lives today. A car bomb exploded outside of the electronics store in Mosul, destroying the building, killing three people and wounding 40. A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed three people and wounded seven more. And four Iraqis were wounded in a separate roadside bombing in the capital.

The death toll is rising from yesterday's attack in Karbala. Fifty people were killed by a female suicide bomber who apparently targeted Shiite worshippers before evening prayers. Seventy-four people in all were hurt.

And tomorrow in the NEWSROOM, Kyra Phillips will be reporting live from the International Zone in Baghdad, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

What's happened to the oil revenues in that war torn country? How are everyday Iraqis coping after five years of war? She'll show us tomorrow, starting at 1:00 p.m. in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And the closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: What do you say we check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer?

WHITFIELD: I think that's a great idea.

LEMON: Hi -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Thanks very much.

Coming up at the top of the hour, Barack Obama and what some say has been his most important speech of his presidential campaign. He talked about race, change, how he feels about his controversial former pastor. We're going to talk about that.

Also, the Federal Reserve makes a major move to cut interest rates again. Will it be enough, though, to this help the economy?

And the re-do may be out, but the fight certainly isn't over. You're going to find out what some Florida Democrats are planning to do to make sure their votes count.

All that, guys, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be watching. Thanks, Wolf.

All right, well, time to check out what videos are clicking on CNN.com.

The weather wasn't fit for man or beast Friday night in Atlanta. That we know. A carriage horse spooked by that surprise tornado that hit downtown breaks free -- oh, and then takes off. Security cameras caught it dodging traffic and debris before it finally was corralled and, thankfully, unharmed.

Tax rebate checks rolling off the presses and into your mailbox in a few months. Lots of you are getting all the facts and figures from CNN's Veronica De La Cruz.

And Senator Barack Obama steps up to the podium for a speech on race relations in the United States and the controversy over his former pastor. You can link to all of our top story lists from the front page of CNN.com.

The closing bell right around the corner on Wall Street.

LEMON: Yes, Stephanie Elam is standing by with a final look at the trading day.

It's been a very interesting trading day, too, with the Fed announcement right sort of in the middle of it and then the market sort of went down. Now it appears to have rebounded, correct?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's more than rebounded.

LEMON: Yes.

ELAM: It's up at session highs, just about. (STOCK MARKET REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Time for "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.

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