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Pricey Party: Beijing Games Cost Estimated $40 Billion; Off Track at Freddie Mac; Justice Department Releases Documents in Anthrax Attacks Probe
Aired August 06, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: The letters spread fear in a traumatized nation. Years later, the warrants, reports, court filings and hundreds of other government documents could explain everything. We are awaiting release of the anthrax files.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Driven to attack or guilt by association? A military jury passes judgment on Osama bin Laden's former driver. We've got the verdicts from Guantanamo Bay.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KAYE: I'm Randi Kaye, in for Kyra Phillips.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The suspect is dead. The case is said to be solved, if not quite closed. But questions remain as to how the FBI zeroed in on this man, government scientist Bruce Ivins, in the anthrax attacks back in 2001.
We could learn a whole lot more now that a federal judges has unsealed hundreds of documents, while investigators met in private today with the victims' families. It all comes just one week after Ivins committed suicide, and a case no one had heard about in years exploded back into the headlines.
The search warrants, affidavits and other papers could be released any time now after the family briefings, and you'll see them first, right here on CNN.
LEMON: We're also covering this story on CNN.
Yesterday, in the Pentagon's eyes, Salim Hamdan was an enemy combatant. Today, the former driver of Osama bin Laden is a war criminal.
His status changed when a military jury at Guantanamo Bay convicted him of supporting al Qaeda in the run-up to 9/11. The same jury cleared him of conspiracy. Hamdan's trial was the first by a so- called military commission at Gitmo. And the White House insists it was fair and appropriate. Not all observers agree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL CHODROFF, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: I think what's (ph) in, in this case, long before the jury went out to deliberate, and that is that the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay is deeply flawed, that Mr. Hamdan could not and did not receive a fair trial in a system that's tainted by coercion, abuse, secrecy, hearsay rules that permit evidence to come in that is deeply flawed. It should be inadmissible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Hamdan has been held at Gitmo since 2002. He now faces life in prison, but it's not clear where.
KAYE: Did police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ignore important clues? Newly-released police files are raising that question.
The little British girl vanished during a family vacation in Portugal last year. The files include a report that a girl who looked just like Madeleine was seen in a store in The Netherlands. She reportedly told a clerk that strangers had taken her from her parents while she was on vacation.
A spokesman for Madeleine's parents, once under suspicion themselves, says the McCanns were never told of the possible sighting. There is no comment so far from Portuguese police.
There is new buzz today over one of the Democrats believed to be on Barack Obama's short list of running mates. Senator Evan Bayh, a former Hillary Clinton supporter, is campaigning with Obama in Bayh's home state of Indiana. Obama is there to push his so-called New Energy for America plan.
Michelle Obama is back on the campaign trail today. And a short time ago, she sat down with military spouses for a roundtable discussion at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Tonight, she joins Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, another possible Obama running mate, for a fund-raiser.
KAYE: Republican candidate John McCain says America needs an economic surge, and he says that will happen if he's elected in November. McCain is campaigning today in the tossup state of Ohio. A short time ago, he talked jobs, taxes and energy issues with workers at a factor in Jackson.
John McCain fired the first shot. Now Paris Hilton is firing back. Later this hour, we will tell you how she is responding to a campaign ad that took her by surprise.
The economy, it still tops all other issues on the campaign trail. In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, nearly half of registered voters say it's the most important issue for them. Far down the list, Iraq, health care, terrorism and immigration. When asked who would handle the economy better, 54 percent of the respondents said Obama, 43 percent said McCain.
John McCain and Barack Obama want to solve the country's energy crisis, but they don't see eye to eye on just how to do that. We'll hear what they're saying in their own words later on this hour.
All right. Time now to talk weather.
Mopping up from the Gulf of Mexico to Massachusetts. Here's what it looked like in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as the rain came pouring down last night. Up to five inches of rain fell in just a short time.
Of course, the streets were flooded. You can see it there. Sewers were backed up. Look at the garbage can just floating down the street. And thousands of homes lost power because of that storm.
They're cleaning up along the Texas Gulf Coast a day after Tropical Storm Edouard blew ashore. On the whole, it did cause a little bit of damage, some flooding, and a roof or two were ripped off. The storm never reached hurricane status though, and it weakened as it moved inland.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: As you know, we've been waiting all day here for the release of these anthrax papers here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We can tell you that a federal judge has approved the release of hundreds of papers related to the anthrax investigation and the anthrax attacks from back in 2001. Well, those papers have just been released online.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is poring through them. She will bring us the details as soon as she can.
We do know that these newly-released court documents apparently will show what they found as they searched the scientist's home, his car, his safe deposit box. I'm talking about Bruce Ivins, who was the scientist who took his own life last week in relation to this as he was waiting to be charged.
Five people, as you may recall, died as a result of these attacks. There you see a picture of the scientist who took his life last week.
The FBI is expected to detail all of the evidence linking Bruce Ivins to these attacks. We've been very anxious to hear the details, and we will bring them to you. There is a 3:30 news conference. We will carry that for you live. And also, as soon as we can get the details from Jeanne Meserve, we'll have that for you as well.
LEMON: All right. There is some better news at the pump, finally, finally, with the price of gas sliding for the 20th consecutive day. According to AAA, the price of regular unleaded fell .9 of a cent to a national average of $3.86 a gallon. That's still high, but it doesn't -- you know, not as high as it was.
The price of diesel fuel is down as well by a penny. It now averages $4.63 a gallon.
Two days until opening ceremonies in Beijing. And here's a live look at the Bird's Nest, a bird's eye view. It's beautiful. Twelve hours ahead of us, so it's 2:12 in the morning there.
The Chinese capital is just -- 12:00 in the morning? Is that what I said? 2:00 in the morning, I should say.
The games are already breaking records there. We'll talk about that.
But that's the Water Cube. You can't really see it because it's so dark. That's where they'll hold -- can you see that?
KAYE: It's pretty dark.
LEMON: Yes, it's dark on my monitor here. But it's beautiful to look at, both at the Water Cube and also the Bird's Nest.
So CNN's Emily Chang is going to report on everything that's happening in China. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the most expensive Olympics in history, from the infrastructure to the incidentals. Depending on how you crunch the numbers, China has spent more than $40 billion on the Beijing games. That's at least 20 times the cost of the last U.S. Summer Olympics, the 1996 games in Atlanta.
SCOTT KRONICK, ORGILVY PUBLIC RELATIONS: I think that they want to celebrate these games, and they want to put on a very good face. They want to show the world a new China.
CHANG: And in developing China, there was a lot of work to be done to pull it off. Topping the price tag, a sparkling new airport terminal and new subway lines. China has also spent billions improving roadways and implementing environmental reform, investments that will likely pay off long after the games are over.
Then there is the Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube, designed by some of the world's top architects. Fancy Olympic venues have a checkered history. Atlanta's Olympic Stadium was converted into a Major League ballpark. But four years after the Athens games, the stadium built for the Olympics is rarely used and blamed for driving the city into bankruptcy.
But a big bill in Beijing is no problem for a country with an economy as big as China's. Critics say it's no excuse for extravagant expenses, like 40 million flowerpots to decorate the city and an over- the-top opening ceremony, money some say has been wasted on improving China's image when it could be better spent helping millions below the poverty line.
NICHOLAS BEQUELIN, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: The priority for the regime is to have a grandiose show that impresses people. That has more to do with power and legitimacy than responding to the country's needs.
CHANG: Take the $40 billion estimated total cost of the Olympics. That's four times what the central government spent on health care in all of last year, and almost three times on what it spent on education.
BEQUELIN: There is a big cut in terms of lost opportunities of what Beijing could have made with these games.
CHANG (on camera): Whether it's an opportunity lost or seized, little expense has been spared. And it's yet to be seen if it was worth it.
Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Wow. Did things get off track for Freddie Mac in the second quarter. The mortgage finance giant reporting some eye-popping numbers today.
Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff joins us now live from New York.
Hi there, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Randi.
Well, this is an earnings report that really can affect all American taxpayers, because the odds of a bailout for Freddie Mac increase as a result of this big loss that they have reported. Keep in mind, President Bush only one week ago signed a bill that permits the Treasury Department to lend money to Freddie Mac, and even to buy stock in the company.
Let's have a look at the loss for the second quarter -- $821 million. And let me tell you, this is only the tip of the iceberg, because all of its financial numbers look far worse after this succeed quarter, the most recent quarter. And the company is increasing its provision for losses.
The CEO of the company, Richard Syron, is saying that things are likely to get much worse in the housing industry. He's saying the housing market is far from stabilizing. national home prices will fall 18 to 20 percent. And by Freddie Mac's calculation, prices already nationwide are down 9.5 percent. So he's saying we're just halfway there.
Keep in mind, Freddie Mac is a very important company. What it does is guarantee and also buy mortgages. It buys them from banks. That cash is then given over to the banks, and they use that money to make new loans.
So Freddie Mac and its sister company, Fannie Mae, are increasing what's known as liquidity in the mortgage market, making it possible for more Americans to get mortgages.
Now, you can debate whether or not that's a good thing these days -- Randi. KAYE: Certainly. And speaking of cash, how much of a cash cushion does Freddie Mac have, enough to keep going?
CHERNOFF: They say they do. They have more cash than regulators require. However, they are under tremendous pressure to increase that cash cushion. And the company has said that it wants to raise $5.5 billion.
It's announced that it's going to slash its dividend down to 5 cents, from 25 cents in the quarter. And that's a way to preserve money. But to raise money, they want to issue stock, and the stock has been plummeting, Randi. It's down more than 90 percent over the past year.
KAYE: All right. Allan Chernoff making sense of it all for us, live in New York.
Thank you.
LEMON: How to escape the so-called "axis of evil." President Bush has some advice for North Korea's Kim Jong-il.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. You've heard everyone's response for the candidates, right? Both candidates. You've heard T. Boone Pickens. You've even heard from Paris Hilton about what they would do to fix the energy crisis.
What's your solution to the energy crisis? We want to hear from you here at CNN. Shoot us an e-mail, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com -- cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, and we might read some of your responses on the air.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Time now to tell you about some of the stories we're working on for you today right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We should know more soon about the government's case against Bruce Ivins. He's the Army research scientist, a suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. He committed suicide last week. Documents linked to the case were released just moments ago, and we're looking over them right now, and we'll have a live report for you soon.
Is this a picture of Madeleine McCann? Newly-released police files are raising questions into the police investigation into the British girl's disappearance during a family vacation in Portugal.
And President Bush has arrived in Thailand on his way to the Beijing Olympics. Even though he's attending the games, he says America stands in firm opposition to China's human rights policy.
KAYE: The anthrax files, almost seven years' worth of FBI documents outlining a desperate and painstaking search which led, in the end, to this man. Bruce Ivins was the government scientist whose suicide made him known worldwide as the leading suspect in the anthrax by mail attacks of 2001.
The documents have been released. And CNN's homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, has seen them, and she's joining us now live from Washington with all of the details.
Hi, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Randi.
We're still wading through these. There is a lot of paperwork to get through. But some interesting stuff just in the pages we've scanned.
Right off the top, an affidavit in support of a search warrant. And in the overview, it goes over some of the points that the FBI thought it had to hold Dr. Ivins responsible for the attacks.
Let me read this to you.
"At the time of the attacks, he was custodian of a large flask of highly-purified anthrax spores that possessed certain genetic mutations identical to the anthrax used in the attacks."
Two: "Ivins has been unable to give investigators an adequate explanation for his late-night laboratory work."
Three: "He has claimed he was suffering from mental health issues in the months preceding the attacks and told a co-worker he had 'incredible paranoid delusional thoughts at times.'"
And four: "Ivins is believed to have submitted false samples of anthrax from his lab to the FBI for forensics analysis."
And finally, "At the time of the attacks, Ivins was under pressure at work to assist a private company that had lost its FDA approval to produce an anthrax vaccine the Army needed for U.S. troops, and which Ivins believed was essential for the anthrax program at Fort Detrick, where he worked."
And it also says that Ivins sent an e-mail a few days before the anthrax attacks warning that, "Bin Laden terrorists for sure have anthrax and sarin gas and have just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans." That is language similar to the language in some of those anthrax letters. It goes on and gives chapter and verse. Part of it that I have looked at relates to the hours he spent in his laboratory.
According to these documents, beginning in mid-August 2001, there was a noticeable spike in the hours Dr. Ivins spent, having access to what was called a "hot sweet" in his laboratory, where the anthrax strains was kept. It said no other employee of Fort Detrick was in the area on those evenings he was there. It also says Dr. Ivins has admitted to investigators that the research he was conducting in 2001, did not require and does not explain his late-night hours in this laboratory, around the time period of the anthrax mailings.
So, that's a bit of a sample of the kinds of information we're getting from these documents just released by the Justice Department and the FBI.
KAYE: And Jeanne, we also understand that investigators have met with -- the Justice Department has actually met with the family members of the victims.
Were they under pressure, do you think, to release these documents? I mean, we've all been waiting so long to see how this case was solved and if indeed, Bruce Ivins was the man.
MESERVE: Well, they did meet this morning with survivors and also family members of people who died in those attacks.
They have been under some pressure to release this. Both because there's been a lot of skepticism about the evidence that's been laid out so far in this case against Dr. Ivins. And I must say, it wasn't laid out officially by the FBI and the Justice Department. This was information that was garnered by the news media from various sources close to the investigation.
They're also under some pressure because of the case of Steven Hatfill. He was also a Fort Detrick researcher. He had been named as a person of interest in these attacks. He was later cleared. And of course, the Justice Department just paid him a great deal of money to try and clear up the situation with him.
So, yes, there has been some pressure both to close the case and also to lay out exactly what they have in terms of evidence. And will it be conclusive and pin down that indeed, Dr. Bruce Ivins was the person responsible for the anthrax mailings.
I'm still going through it, I can't tell you yet whether I think they've made their case.
KAYE: All right. Jeanne Meserve, I know you have hundreds of documents to go through there, for us. So, maybe we'll be able to check back with you later on, if you find anything more surprising that we should report on.
Thanks so much.
MESERVE: Certainly.
LEMON: OK. So it's all we've been hearing this week, on the campaign trail. Barack Obama and John McCain pushing their energy plans and responding to attack ads.
And CNN's Josh Levs joins me now, with a reality check on those attack ads the candidates have put out on energy. Paris Hilton -- you know, I'm at a loss for words. She has shown up in politics, and she's always in unusual places.
But, my god, she's in the attack ad, now she's firing back. JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
LEMON: What in the world is going on, right?
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I know. I'm at a loss for words and that never happens, Josh.
LEVS: Yes. No kidding. We all know that about her, right.
No, it's true -- I mean, Paris Hilton. Everyone's watching that video today. But obviously this is the topic America, not Paris Hilton. But, energy in general. And both candidates are putting out these attack ads focusing on energy. And yes, Paris has a little appearance in one of them.
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a look from both sides. We're going to start off now with Obama's latest attack ad against McCain. Show you his charges and compare those to the reality.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): The ad launches directly into attack mode.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Every time you fill your tank the oil companies fill their pockets. Now big oil's filling John McCain's campaign with $2 million in contributions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Is that true? The Obama campaign puts its sourcing here. The Center for Responsive Politics tracks contributions by people in the oil industry. Through June McCain had $1.3 million. The Obama ad also cites a "Washington Post" article. That article mentioned oil money McCain gets from Republican National Committee fund-raising.
The Center for Responsive Politics says it won't know exactly how much McCain has received until those figures are reported. The total could reach $2 million or it could be less.
Obama's ad does not mention he has received nearly $400,000 from people in the oil industry, or how much more he may have received through Democratic National Committee fund-raising.
Back to the ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Because instead of taxing their windfall profit to help drivers, McCain wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks.
After one president in the pocket of big oil, we can't afford another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Politifact.com pointed out last month that the tax reduction McCain wants would apply to all corporations, singling out oil companies suggests he's targeted them for tax breaks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And now let's look at the other side. McCain's latest ad attacking Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: He's the biggest celebrity in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS (voice-over): While everyone was focusing on this part of the McCain campaign's ad, this got less attention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling and says he'll raise taxes on electricity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Would Obama raise taxes on electricity?
The McCain camp points to a February interview with the San Antonio Express News. Discussing funding and education, Obama was asked if he'd consider taxing emerging energy forms, such as wind energy. His answer, that's clean energy and we want to drive down the cost of that. What we ought to do is tax dirty energy, like coal and to a lesser extent, natural gas. But I think the real way to fund education is for local communities to step up and say, this is important to us.
Coal and natural gas combined, generate most U.S. electricity. Obama has not proposed specific new taxes on them. Factcheck.org calls his one comment a feeble peg on which to hang the McCain campaign's claim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And obviously, we want to hear from you, what your ideas are for solving the energy crisis. That's at cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. We're taking a look at those, right now.
LEMON: Yes. That's why they plan to do about it. But, we want to know Paris. She's not happy about it. What, did she say something about, thanks old white haired dude, or something?
LEVS: Something about everything being hot.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: But anyway, someone is taking offense to what John McCain had to say and it's not Barack Obama. It is Paris Hilton. That's what we have been talking about here.
And CNN's Kareen Wynter takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARIS HILTON, SOCIALITE/ACTRESS: I'm Paris Hilton and I approve this message. I think it's totally hot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paris Hilton sitting poolside. Slings mud at GOP presidential hopeful John McCain in a new response ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILTON: But then that wrinkly white haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I'm running from president. So thanks for the endorsement, white haired dude. And I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: The socialite sounded off on the comedy video Web site funnyordie.com. It's a jab at McCain's recent ad against Democratic rival Barack Obama, which compared Obama's rising popularity to that of Paris and fellow Hollywood bad girl Britney Spears.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: The biggest celebrity in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Hilton's ad takes a swipe at McCain's age.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: He's the oldest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: And offers her own energy policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILTON: We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars. That way the offshore drilling carries us until the new technologies kick in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: McCain's camp quickly responded saying, "Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan."
Obama hasn't responded yet, but has addressed the original McCain ad.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference.
WYNTER: And we may be hearing more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILTON: Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick out a vice president. I'm thinking Rihanna.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER (on camera): The ad was the brainstorm of one of funnyordie.com's founder, Adam McKay, who says quote, McCain made one huge mistake. He drifted into the world of pop culture and that's Paris' world. She owns that world. So, now he gets the blow back.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At Shafer Vineyards, one of Napa's premiere wineries, grape growing just isn't what it used to be.
DOUG SHAFER, SHAFER VINEYARDS: Back then, an idea of a beautiful vineyard was nothing but dirt and just flat as a pool table.
MARCIANO: Doug Shafer enjoys showing off the overgrown vine ropes, the dead and dry remnants of the winter's cover crops. You see, instead of herbicides, Shafer he plants clover, oats, peas and mustard as a natural way to control weeds. These plants also become a natural fertilizer, helping add essential nutrients to the soil.
SHAFER: We're making a natural product here and we're making better wines.
MARCIANO: And to control the population of rodents attracted to the cover crops, Shafer has a chemical free solution. He enlists the help from hawks and barn owls. SHAFER: It was a matter of just putting up perches in the vineyards and they would eat these gophers and moles.
MARCIANO: But one of the most striking features of the vineyard, is the vast array of solar panels covering the many roofs of the hills that help Schafer reduce its energy consumption.
SHAFER: We used to pay maybe $40,000 or $50,000 a year on power. And basically we pay $1,500 now.
MARCIANO: And on very sunny days, the meter even runs backwards.
SHAFER: This arrow here means we're producing more than we're using. So anything extra is going out to the grid.
MARCIANO: Reducing the vineyard's carbon footprint by farming sustainably has its benefits. Shafer says his wines have improved and his customers appreciate it. And that is good for business.
Rob Marciano, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. I have a question for you, and I'm sure you're going to say yes. Want to save 250 bucks on your energy bill? Well who doesn't? The solution involves a device that many people are reluctant to use.
And I know what you're going to talk about, Christine because -- I would like to use, I just don't know how. I don't know how to program it. I don't know.
Anyway, Christine is in for Poppy Harlow with our "Energy Fix" from New York. Welcome back by the way. Good to see you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. It's nice be back, Don.
And you're right, this is for you because this is free money. In here is free money --
LEMON: OK.
ROMANS: -- if you take the time to program your thermostat. Programming the thermostat is going to save you hundreds of dollars. But studies show that only half the people with programmable thermostats actually program them, like you, Don. The industry says it wants to make them less like the difficult to program VCRs, little more easy, something a little like this sort of easy device that we use every day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEOFFRY GODWIN, V.P., EMERSON: We are doing a lot more intuitive programming, so it's really -- it feels more like you're going to an ATM. You're prompted differently and the answers that you give are in language that people understand today, instead of things that you may not understand from some of the old ways you programmed a thermostat or a VCR in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now some now come preprogrammed to set the temperature back six to eight degrees when you're at work or sleeping. Emerson is a maker of programmable thermostats. It says 80 million homes either don't have them or don't properly use the ones they have. If everyone took advantage, the savings would be about $20 billion a year, Don.
LEMON: All right. I'm going to try to learn how to use it. You can do -- seriously -- you can do what I do, right? When you go to work, whether -- depending on the or winter, turn it up or down as you leave the house, right?
ROMANS: You can do that. And that's one way to do it. But the problem is, is that most people don't. They just don't do it, they forget. It's hard to turn it down when you're sleeping. You can save a lot of money by the air going either up or down when you're sleep -- Don.
LEMON: Yes, I like it freezing, so -- I don't know. I set mine, seriously, sometimes it's on like 64 degrees at night. It's terrible.
ROMANS: Put on a sweater.
LEMON: Under the covers, cold.
All right. Thank you very much, Christine. Good to see you again.
KAYE: You might have seen him raising his family on his MTV reality show, Reverend Run, founder of the hip hop group, Run DMC. Now he's urging everyone to take care of their families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND RUN SIMMONS, AUTHOR, "TAKE BACK YOUR FAMILY": Try it one more time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: John McCain says America needs an economic surge. And if he's in the Oval Office, that will happen. The Republican candidate is campaigning today in the toss up state of Ohio. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the face of a severe energy crisis, the Congress decides to go on a five-week vacation. When I'm president of the United States, I will call the Congress back into session and tell them to act and not to leave town, to take their vacation or their pay raise, until they address this energy crisis. Now is the time for action.
We need an all of the above plan to address our energy crisis with alternative energy, drilling and nuclear power. That means drilling here, drilling now, in the United States of America and off the United States of America's coast. Everybody knows that drilling is a very vital part of bridging our gap between our dependence on foreign oil, which is transferring $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. And we have the resources to be explored and exploited and we could obtain some of the benefit of that within months.
My opponent, Senator Obama, opposes both storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. He opposes offshore drilling immediately, and he's out of touch. We need to crack down on those who have abused our credit market and caused this housing decline. We need to take action to support American businesses so that we can stop jobs from going overseas and create more jobs here at home. America has the second highest business rate in the entire world. It's any wonder that jobs are moving overseas when we're taxing them out of the country. Unfortunately, Senator Obama's plans would raise taxes on businesses even more.
He's promised tax increases on income, tax increases on investment, tax increases on small businesses. That's exactly, exactly the wrong strategy. Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you can do because it will kill even more jobs when what we need are policies that create jobs.
What we need today is an economic surge. Our surge has succeed in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones. We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the United States of America. We need to open new markets to U.S. products. And we need to reduce the cost of health care. We need to end the out of control spending in Washington that's putting our debt on the backs of our children.
Now is the time for action. And when I'm president, we are going to get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: For the third straight day, Barack Obama is pushing what he calls his new energy for America plan. The Democratic candidate is campaigning today in the Midwest. Here's what he had to say at a town hall this morning today in Elkhart, Indiana.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We can do some work in improving domestic energy supplies. Right now oil companies have access to 68 million acres of land that they are not using, that they're not drilling on. And my attitude is, you use it or you lose it. Before we give you new leases, start using some of these leases you already have. That's point No. 1.
Point No. 2, you need to give an energy rebate to families to give them some immediate relief. The mother who is having to cut back on groceries because of rising gas prices, the guy I met who couldn't fill up his gas tank to go on a job search, didn't have the money. I have said that we need a $1,000 rebate, energy rebate, to provide families a little bit of relief over the next four to six months. And it's going to be particularly important going into the winter because there are a lot of folks who don't have a lot of income who are going to have to figure out how to heat their homes with oil prices so high. So that's short term.
But, unlike Senator McCain, I understand that that is not going to provide us with the short-term relief -- the long-term relief that's needed. That's just a temporary fix. If we're going to be serious about this problem, we need an all hands on deck approach, an effort from scientists and engineers, businesses, homeowners, all of us are going to have to get behind a new approach to energy.
We know that this is a challenge we can meet.
(APPLAUSE)
That's one of the reasons I voted for an energy bill in the Senate that was far from perfect but doubled our use of alternative energy. We've got to develop it. That's why, as president, I will put the full resources of the federal government and the full energy of the private sector behind a single, overarching goal -- in 10 years we're going to eliminate the need for oil from the entire Middle East and Venezuela. All of it.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, to do this, we're going to invest $150 billion over the next decade and leverage billions of dollars more in private capital to harness American energy and create 5 million jobs in the process, jobs that cannot be outsourced, good-paying jobs that will be created right here in Indiana and all across the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And remember, you can always hear the candidates in their own words live and uninterrupted on the campaign trail at CNN.com/live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We all know hip-hop gets a bad rap for explicit lyrics and degradation of women. But one of the first hip-hoppers ever -- he is trying to change that. Run of Run DMC is now a reverend raising a family of six children, all in front of television cameras. It may sound like a recipe for reality disaster, but Reverend Run Simmons is preaching family values on the MTV reality show "Run's House." And now Simmons and his wife, Justine, have written the book, "Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America's Parents."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Why did you feel you had to write this book, guys?
R. SIMMONS: Well, when we're walking the streets, people loved the show so much that they're always like, you should put out a parenting book. So we said, OK.
We started jotting down things. And we took it and gave it to a couple of book companies. And then we had a little bidding war and here we are.
LEMON: And you know, Justine, we hear so much about families and the lack of two-parent households and what have you and America is losing the family. Did you feel inspired to do that because of any of that?
JUSTINE SIMMONS, AUTHOR, "TAKE BACK YOUR FAMILY": Yes. That's why we want people to know, just because we're married, you don't have to be married to have this book. This is just saying, if you're single, take back your boy or girl or your girl and boy and bring them back in. Don't get so caught up into the everyday things in life. Just remember your kids are there. Before you know it they'll be grown and out of the house. And we have so much fun with our children.
LEMON: You can see the fun that you guys have on your TV show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. SIMMONS: Try it one more time.
Oh, this dude is a professional. Now you try it, Dig. Come on, man. Get into the spirit of the west.
DANIEL "DIGGY" SIMMONS, SON OF REV. RUN: No, I don't want to try anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's wrong with the young man? Did I make him mad? He doesn't want to cowboy up.
R. SIMMONS: No, he's got a bar mitzvah he was supposed to go to. So I told him that was a cowboy mitzvah.
Better yet, a bro mitzvah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What is it like growing up in a house where you've got Rev. Run as your dad? Does he lay down the law, or is he a pretty fun dad?
D. SIMMONS: He's a very fun dad. He's like a big kid to us. It's a lot of fun having a dad like that. And also, he kicks a lot of knowledge to us, teaches us a lot about life and being a kid and not making mistakes and things like that.
LEMON: And you never know what to expect from him?
D. SIMMONS: Never.
LEMON: Never.
I've got to ask you this, we have been talking a lot here lately, Rev, about HIV, about AIDS, about sex, and what have you. And we're getting new numbers just coming in from a big conference that's happening in Mexico, talking about the number of AIDS and HIV incidents -- up 40 percent.
Do you talk to your kids about that?
R. SIMMONS: Yes. Well, I'm a priest, so we base our life on the Bible. I don't push it in everybody's face so hard, but in my house I speak abstinence. And if you can't live up to that, I would definitely suggest condoms.
But the way we live our life is no fornication and no adultery. And then kind of just like Xs out all of the problems. I think God had a pretty good plan if we follow him.
LEMON: Mom?
J. SIMMONS: A lot of times, if they have boyfriends, he will meet them and he'll let the boyfriend know, don't expect sex from my daughter. He lays it down. So either the boyfriends --
R. SIMMONS: If I don't lay it down, they're going to lay it down.
J. SIMMONS: OK.
R. SIMMONS: I thought that was a good one. I couldn't resist that one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well the Simmons are also big proponents of adoption. One of their six children, little Miley (ph) -- or little Millie (ph) I should say, is adopted. The Simmons boys speak out about adoption and their little sister, and we'll bring that to you in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. It starts right now.
