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American Morning

Iranians Plan Mass Rally; U.S. Iranians Take Part in Protest; Man Accused of $115k "Drag Queen" Scam; Iran Accused Obama Administration of "Provocative Conduct"

Aired June 18, 2009 - 08:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: Crossing the top of the hour now. Thanks for being with us on "The Most News in the Morning" on this Thursday, the 18th of June. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN HOST: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.

Here's on this morning's agenda. These are stories that we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. Extraordinary things are happening inside of Iran as we speak. Thousands of Iranians are expected to take to the streets any moment now to be heard in a nation that's accustomed to total control.

Also this morning, the images Iran doesn't want the world to see are making their way to places like California where a network ran by Iranian exiles is broadcasting it back into Iran using satellite. We're going to be talking to the owner of that station.

Also, one New York man is being charged with 47 counts of fraud. He's accused of ripping off more than $100,000 from his deceased mother's social security checks. There he is on the left dressed as his mother. This scheme went on and on. Police saying you will not believe the lengths he went through.

We begin, though, with breaking news out of Iran. And right now, thousands of protestors are expected to flood the streets again today despite the threat of violence. They want to mourn those killed in recent protests. Iran is not allowing CNN and other foreign media to cover the rallies going on, so you won't see any live reporting.

We did plan to do some live reporting from Iran this morning on this. But right now, we're joined by Fawaz Gerges. He is a Middle-Eastern scholar at Sarah Lawrence College. He's also the author of "Journey of the Jihadists: Inside Muslim Militancy."

And thanks so much for joining us once again.

You spoke about the particular relevance of what we're going to see today. This is a rally in order to honor those who were killed in some of the other protests and rallies that were taking place. They're calling on people to come out to the streets dressed in black, and you liken it to what happened back in the revolution, back in 1979. Explain.

FAWAZ GERGES, MIDDLE EASTERN SCHOLAR, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: You know, Iranian political culture venerates martyrs and martyrdom. It's really deeply entrenched in the imagination, the Iranian imagination.

And as you remember in 1979, during the early days of the revolution, of course, hardly anyone knew that the revolution was taking place. And, basically, the shock when some victims basically -- when some Iranians were killed, the forces, the dissident forces called for days of mourning. And that's how it started. I'm not suggesting that, but we're witnessing today is the same as what happened in 1979.

But this is a very powerful vehicle to really, I mean, bring about people and basically highlight the tensions within the Iranian society.

ROBERTS: You know, when we look at the Iranian society in the overall, so many of the leaders, at least the folks who were running for the presidency come from the conservative side of things. Is there a split between Moussavi, who is conservative? I don't know -- maybe say split is the wrong word -- but is there a little bit of a difference in tone between Moussavi and some of the people who are supporting Moussavi?

GERGES: Absolutely. I mean, I think there are multiple -- really the beauty about what we are witnessing in Iran is that Iran is not a monolith. I mean, think about it, when we think of the Islamic Republic.

One of the -- the Woman Movement Iran is one of the largest in the third world. You have a very powerful dissident voice. And yes, there are multiple cleavages. Within the Islamic Republic itself. You have the hard liners led by Ahmadinejad and the Revolutionary Guards. And, of course, the supreme leader and some clerics.

And you have moderate conservatives led by Rafsanjani and Moussavi and former president Mohammad Khatami. And, of course, you have the Reformist Movement.

What has happened is that the moderate conservatives have become a symbol for the Reformist Movement. While Moussavi does not really want to go, too far. Reformists and young voters and female voters would like more freedom, special freedoms, democracy, civil rights, economic empowerment and so on and so forth. And the split within the Islamic Republic, the split within the ruling establishment is basically enabling the dissident voices to make their voices heard in Iran today.

CHETRY: So are we seeing some of that as you referred to, the powers that be right now -- have we seen some of their hold on what's happening slip away, fall out of their control?

And, you know, we've been talking about how we've seen this limitation of some of the reporting. But at the same time, they could go much further if they wanted to. They certainly have the ability to. So they are letting some of this happen. What is the net result of their decisions, and how they are reacting to what they're seeing on the ground?

GERGES: I think you're raising really a very important question here. I think we have seen some violence, about seven or eight Iranians have been killed, but this could get much uglier. It could get much bloodier. In particular, if the hard liners within the Islamic-based regime, I mean, lose control. And that's why what you are seeing now is that the supreme leader and Ahmadinejad and the other conservative clerics are trying to walk a tight rope between basically making some compromises and also not undermining their own legitimacy regardless of what happens. Even if Ahmadinejad remains the president, Iran will never be the same.

We are witnessing really a major cultural and generational clash. It's not just about the ruling elite. It's about basically the rise of a major social movement led by female and young voters who are calling for reforms, for freedoms, for more civil rights, economic empowerment. And I think this generational divide is bound to become deeper and wider in the next four years.

This is really the accumulation of 30 years. I mean, of course, the elections -- the elections are basically where the spark that ignited the whole thing. But this has been in the making for the last 70 years.

ROBERTS: Fawaz Gerges this morning for us.

Fawaz, thanks so much for joining us.

And this morning as Iran cracks down in the flow of information, Iranians living in the United States are doing their part to try to fill the communications gap back home.

CNN's Kara Finnstrom is live inside a television station run by Iranian exiles, it's right there, in Tarzana, California.

Kara is there live for us.

Now, Kara, give us a little bit of a tour. Show us around this morning.

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, * TV is actually a small satellite TV station with a big voice in the Iranian community here in Los Angeles. It started about 28 years ago. It was the first independent Persian TV station to begin broadcasting around the world and here in Los Angeles. Also broadcast in Iran.

If you take a look on these screens, they've got a talk show underway right now. It's in the wee hours of the morning here in Los Angeles. But they are in full gear here. And I want to bring you over here and take a look at also some of these images that are being brought in. These are live images coming in from Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a new image from today's Tehran protests.

FINNSTROM: So we've been seeing some of these images coming in throughout the morning.

I also want to take a look inside here because this is where their live program is going on. And I want to let Gabe take a step inside there and give you a view of that.

Now this TV station was started by a native of Tehran who left after the 1979 revolution. While he says he tries to run the station as neutrally as possible, he also makes no secret of his desire to see a complete regime change in Iran and says that this TV station is also used as part of this mission to forward democracy in Iran.

That's a very popular sentiment here in Los Angeles. Obviously, not the only one within the Iranian community here.

John?

ROBERTS: I guess the neutrality for Iranian exiles certainly does include regime change for the most part.

What are they hearing from their viewers, Kara?

FINNSTROM: Well, they are hearing a lot of things from their viewers. They've got viewers from all around the world. Many in the Iranian community here. Also some from Iran who have lots of concerns. We spoke with a psychologist yesterday who told us she's hearing from Iranian parents who are very concerned that their teenagers are going to go out and get involved in, you know, what's happening on the streets. Very concerned about their safety. So she's been fielding a lot of those calls.

We have seen some images coming in throughout the morning from Iran. We were hoping to show you some of those, but some of the ones that have been coming in, just to be frank, are not appropriate for air.

These also have not been vetted, but we had some peaceful demonstrations coming in earlier today. They say they have a number of sources within Iran who are feeding these images, and we're kind of trying to keep a close eye on what we're showing you.

Here we go.

Here are some images that we can show you that are coming in from some of their sources on the ground. This is the equivalent of home video, you know, showing large crowds there.

John?

ROBERTS: As you know, Kara, we've been hearing some difficulty getting information out of Tehran itself. From what you're seeing there at that television station, has that big pro-Moussavi rally, this day of mourning, actually begun in Tehran?

FINNSTROM: This is. And let me just double check and confirm with him.

The video that we were just seeing, was this from the rally that's taking place this morning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Right. This is the latest video from Tehran, University of Tehran. FINNSTROM: And explain to us how you find your sources there on the ground. Where this video is coming from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, mostly we have some sources in Tehran. But right now because they're also in Tehran, they don't have permission to go out. We get our videos from individuals, like people all around.

FINNSTROM: All right. Thank you.

Obvious, very busy here this morning.

Small staff here, John. So they've all been kind of pulling double to triple shifts, but they say that this is really what the station is about. So they're happy to be here.

ROBERTS: Dedicated group of workers there in Tarzana.

Kara Finnstrom for us this morning.

Kara, thanks so much.

You at home, by the way, also weighing in on the controversy over the election in Iran.

Let's listen to some of what you had to say.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ANNE, TEXAS (via telephone): I think the tone President Obama is taking is the right one. People's lives are at stake over there, and we don't want that anger to be turned toward the United States and we become their scapegoat.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIANA MAXWELL, MARIETTA, GEORGIA: There is very little the United States can do in order to overturn this particular election. We wouldn't want to. As I recall, there was a Bush v. Gore instance. Nobody came running to our doorsteps, saying, "Are you sure?" They respected our outcome. They respected our loss. We should do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, keep those comments coming. We're going to get them on the air for you. Go to cnn.com/amfix. You can sound off via email, Twitter and Facebook as well. Or call our show hotline 877-my- amfix.

And stick with us, because coming up in about five minute's time, we're going to be talking with Moorhead Kennedy. He was an American held hostage for 444 days during the demonstrations that ushered in the Islamic Republic. And find out if he sees any parallels between then and now.

It'll be interesting to talk to him. He's got some views on American foreign policy as well.

CHETRY: Sure will.

All right. We look forward to that. We're going to take a quick break. It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Oh, boy, look at that. That's Atlanta today. Mostly cloudy, 75 degrees. It's going to be 94 later. But I don't know if you're necessarily going to enjoy that weather because of the isolated thunderstorms in Atlanta.

Do they still need rain or are they pretty good?

ROBERTS: Well, the drought is over. They haven't yet -- I don't think lifted the water restrictions there, but the drought is definitely over.

CHETRY: All right. There you go.

Well, a lake on Mars. Yes, could mean life on Mars.

Check this out.

Researchers say that images from a high resolution camera at the University of Colorado indicate that water once carved a 30-mile long canyon on the planet. It's just fascinating to see these pictures. Water is key, of course, to life and scientists say that this is the first hard evidence of a standing lake on the surface of Mars.

ROBERTS: You can see somebody wake boarding right there.

ROBERTS: Billy Joel headed for divorce court for the third time. No charm between the 60-year-old singer and his third wife, Katie Lee Joel, who is 27. They are separating after five years of marriage.

She's 27? Five years of marriage.

CHETRY: Yes. They got married when she was 22. They were 33-year age difference, but, you know --

ROBERTS: I wonder why it didn't work. In the joint statement, the not-so-happy couple says they remain caring friends with admiration and respect for each other.

CHETRY: Well, in his first full interview since admitting that he cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards tells the "Washington Post" that he's not ruling out a future in politics -- quote, "Sometimes you just keep your head down, you work hard, and you see what happens." That's what he said. ROBERTS: Well, it's one of the strangest stories to cross our eyes in weeks, maybe months, sort of like the old movie "Tootsie" with Dustin Hoffman, if Tootsie was -- the drag queen was being accused of being one of the biggest, heartless, rip-off artist ever.

Confused? Susan Candiotti straightens it out for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, putting on a wig, lipstick, dress and painted fingernails to allegedly pose as his dead mother, Brooklyn's DA gives Thomas Parken first prize in the scam department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For creativity, this comes out number one.

CANDIOTTI: Creativity apparently motivated by greed. Parken is charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery. He allegedly began dressing in drag following his mother's death six years ago allowing him to live rent free as her in her million dollar town home.

Authorities say Parken pocketed more than $100,000 in her social security and housing assistance benefits. He allegedly faked her death certificate by giving a funeral home a phony social security number and even used her monthly benefits to buy a fancy tombstone. An inscription reads, everyone is talking about the lady in red.

Parken chose a red dress last April to renew his mom's driver's license at the DMV. The man next to him is also charged in the scam posing as the old woman's nephew. In an amazing display of nerve, prosecutors claim Parken went to them last month to file a fraud claim against a man who bought his mom's home at a foreclosure auction.

CHARLES HYNES, KINGS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The chase went from strange to truly bizarre.

CANDIOTTI: Bizarre because Parken, dressed as his mom, agreed to a meeting with investigators about that fraud claim.

HYNES: A scene even too absurd for Hollywood movies. Investigators met someone dressed as a 77-year-old woman, complete with lipstick, painted nails, because the impostor was Thomas Parken.

CANDIOTTI: Investigators say they can't help but compare him to Norman Bates who dressed up like his dead mom in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." But with Parken, authorities say it was all about money. His defense attorney had no comment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: In court papers, prosecutors say Parken told them he held his dying mother in his arms, and in his words, her spirit went in me.

If so, an investigator said he had an odd way of showing it.

John? Kiran?

ROBERTS: Wow.

CHETRY: Even the D.A. is standing there at that press conference where he couldn't really keep a straight face.

ROBERTS: The guy just kind of had this perpetual smirk on his face, didn't he?

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: Yes, who wouldn't?

Seventeen minutes now after the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Nineteen minutes past the hour now. And this morning, the government is expanding its crackdown on foreign journalists in Iran, limiting CNN to filing just one report a day. And tensions in the country are rising.

The hard line Iranian government is accusing the Obama administration a, quote, "provocative conduct." Well, for President Obama, it's certainly a delicate balancing act.

CNN's Brian Todd has that part of the story.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran.

The president got a lot of praise early on for striking just the right balance on a number of difficult issues. But he's under intense pressure right now to take a much tougher stance against the Iranian government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Walking, perhaps, the most unsteady tightrope of his young presidency, Barack Obama finds the Iranian crisis one of the toughest to nuance.

He's repeatedly said he doesn't want to be seen as meddling. But the Iranian government complains of just that -- telling Swiss diplomats who handled U.S. business in Tehran that America is interfering in the election process.

Others say the United States is not doing enough. A senior Israeli official tells CNN the administration's response is, quote, "not strong." The Israelis have long pushed for a tougher line on Iran, but their statements give the current backlash against the president some critical mass following challenges by some Republicans in Congress.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I am frankly incredulous that anybody should say we should abandon our advocacy for free and fair elections anywhere in the world, much less Iran, which is ruled by Muslim clerics who are obviously extremists.

TODD: The White House also finds itself defending the president's comments that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Moussavi, in terms of their actual policies, may not be as great as has been advertised.

Says one long time Middle East observer...

DAVID MAKOVSKY, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: There's clearly differences for the non-reformer. And I think he went a little too far to the edge and he can walk that back.

TODD: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked to pin down what the president meant by that comment.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Regardless of the outcome of what we're seeing, the United States still has two principal national interests as it relates to the Islamic Republic of Iran -- the state sponsorship of terror and their support of terror, as well as their pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: On the overall criticism for not bringing more pressure to bear on the Iranian regime, another White House official told us the administration simply cannot be drawn too deeply into this post- election fight.

It could empower the hard-liners in Iran this official says, and could even be seen as a justification for a tougher crackdown.

John and Kiran, back to you.

ROBERTS: Brian Todd for us this morning.

We just want to tell you, we're trying to get in contact with Moorhead Kennedy. He is one of the American hostages who was held for 444 days, 1979 through 1980 in Iran.

We're having some technical difficulties, but the very least, we'll get him on the telephone, because he's a really interesting voice to hear in all of this. So, hopefully, we'll have that coming your way in the next couple of minutes.

Twenty-two minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Joining me now is a man with a unique insight into the events that are playing out these days in Iran.

Moorhead Kennedy was the acting head of the United States embassy's economic section in Tehran, when it was overrun by student protestors in 1979 setting off a 444-day standoff in which he was among 66 Americans held hostage.

Moorhead Kennedy joins us now from Waterville, Maine.

I want to apologize first of all, Moorhead, that we had hoped to get you on camera, but some problems in the studio. So we have you on the telephone now.

But it's great to talk to you.

Do you see any parallels between now and what happened in 1979 going on in Iran?

Mr. Kennedy, can you hear me? Now we seem to have another technical problem here.

Well, we're going to have to try to work this out again. We just seem to be a little bit snake bit with this this morning. But we'll keep on trying to get in touch with him. We had him on the telephone there for a second, and we'll definitely do our best to try to get him back.

CHETRY: All right. Meanwhile, let's get to some other top stories that are going on today at 25 minutes past the hour.

Damaged homes, flooded streets, thousands without power, another round of storms battering the Midwest. And there are reports of several tornadoes touching down in areas like Austin, Minnesota, pulling up trees, flipping cars in Abercrombie, which is near Fargo, North Dakota. Eight inches of rain in just a day. It overwhelmed the town with flooding.

ROBERTS: The economy is sending a growing number of parents to court to get their child care payments reduced. And with so many Americans losing their jobs, more people are failing to pay what they have to pay altogether.

Take San Mateo County in California for example. "USA Today" reports that contempt orders against parents who owe child support there had increased more than 120 percent in the past year.

CHETRY: All right. And despite a ban on cell phones in most classrooms, there's a new survey finding that a quarter of all text messages by teens are sent in school. Many of them being used to cheat. More than a thousands teenagers were surveyed and more than half of the kids say they know someone who's storing information or texting it in order to cheat on exams.

All right. Well, we are going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we are going to have much more about what is going on in Iran. How social networking is changing the way that people protest and that people communicate with one another, post election.

Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: All right. Thirty minutes past the hour. We have reestablished contact with Moorhead Kennedy.

Again, just to refresh you, he was one of the Americans held hostage in Iran back in 1979. He wasn't released until January 20th, 1980 when President Reagan was inaugurated, 444 days as a hostage.

Moorhead, thanks for being with us this morning.

And, again, apologies for the technical problems we've been having.

He is in Waterville, Maine this morning.

Do you see any parallels between what we're seeing on the streets of Tehran now and what happened in 1979?

MOORHEAD KENNEDY, FORMER IRAN HOSTAGE (on the phone): Well, I think the biggest parallel is that at least some of the reaction against us in '79 was because we interfered, had interference in Iranian affairs. And I think that there's -- there seems to be from a lot of talk going around that we should do something, do something about this election problem in Iran. And that's - it's the attitude that we have sometimes about Iran rather colonial attitude that is - has been always part of our problem with that country.

And so I think if I had any conclusion to draw, we would have been much better off not interfering in Iran now and I think we're going to be much better off not interfering in Iranian affairs now.

ROBERTS: Now, you did say in an interview with the "Daily Beast," "it's very counter productive to interfere in someone else's election. I think that the best thing that the U.S. can do in this particular case is shut up." I ran that quote past Senator John McCain who is urging a more vocal response by the Obama administration. And he said yesterday, "we're not interfering in taking the side of the opposition, we're seeking as we head throughout the world a free and fair election. Do you agree with what the senator said or do you disagree?

KENNEDY: No, I don't agree because I don't see it's any business of ours to seek elections fair elections, particularly in a sensitive area like Iran. John Quincy Adams said we don't go around seeking monsters to destroy. And I think that that is their problem. It's something they've got to work out. And I think the United States, particularly, in view of our past record of interference, it's much better for us to sit back, obviously express hope that they will be no violence, sort of general things of that nature, but don't be seen to interfere because we don't like the present Presidents of Iran and we might like to have someone else in that job.

ROBERTS: Now, already the interior minister is trying to make this the fault of western countries. He is out there on the streets saying many interviews and saying this is all because the west is interfering in our electoral process to putting pressure on us to try, you know, institute these policies of reform. They're basically meddling in what we're doing. So, he's already trying to draw the United States in. Do you think it is prudent for this White House to take the standoffish approach that it has for fear of potentially getting drawn into this conflict?

KENNEDY: It's not the fear of being drawn into the conflict. It's expressing our respect for a sovereign state that we do not interfere in the internal affairs of another country. And I think part of the Iranian deep, deep resentment of the United States is that we have never treated them with proper respect.

And, of course, that's been furthered by some of the episodes in our relationship, not only the famous CIA coup but the fact that we, very definitely help Saddam Hussein when he attacked Iran in 1980 and even did not prevent him in any way from using chemical warfare against Iran. There are a great many resentments there. So if we have to hold back from interfering in any country, it should be Iran.

ROBERTS: So where do you see all of this heading? These street protests, this day of mourning, you know, apparently there are tens of thousands of people on the streets that we have not actually seen. Those pictures ourselves. Do you think that this will play out over some time and eventually die down? Or could this be the beginning of something even bigger?

KENNEDY: Well, it doesn't, so far there doesn't seem to be an organized push to bring about a civil war or a rebellion so far against the established government. But don't forget we're talking about two candidates for president, the real authority is in the clerical, in the religious headquarters with the Council of Guardians. And Iran has a far more stable structure than I think we give them credit for. And I think that's an important thing to remember.

ROBERTS: All right. Moorehead Kennedy, former American hostage held in Iran back in 1979 through 1980. It's good to talk to you this morning, sir, we really appreciate you coming in.

KENNEDY: OK.

ROBERTS: Thank you so much.

KENNEDY: OK.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And right now we're coming up on 35 minutes past the hour. When we come back, we're going to be talking about this notion of the twitter revolution in Iran. Ways that people are able to get out their message using new social networking tools. Is this all over hyped? We're going to talk about it with Nick Thompson from "Wired" Magazine, still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, in this down economy, there's one breakfast club serving up some good advice trying to get middle-aged people who are out of work back on their feet. And Christine Romans joins us with more on that. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We know 600,000 people got first time unemployment benefit last week and we know a lot of those people are veterans in their careers who are now out looking for a job. So we went to Main Street to find some interesting ways people are trying to cope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready? Let's get it on.

ROMANS (voice-over): This isn't fight night, but there's no pulling punches either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are unique, and you are a warrior. Get up and move forward. Go after that job.

ROMANS: Landing a job is the ultimate goal here at the Long Island Breakfast Club. But the way they go about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

ROMANS: Is, well, different.

CHRIS FIDIS, LONG ISLAND BREAKFAST CLUB: Go to a regular job fair and most of those seem very stuffy. They're very one-sided or very narrow-minded and they want you to feel like, OK, this is what you did wrong. Makes you feel like, I have to climb mountains. Here you don't have to climb mountains, just reinvent yourself.

ROMANS: For example, Jim Altamore, construction manager turned professional singer.

JIM ALTAMORE, TURNED HOBBY INTO SECOND JOB: Take a look at your hobbies, your passions, they can become an income stream for you.

I've got the world on a string.

ROMANS: The Long Island Breakfast Club was started by a small group of friends who mid-career suddenly found themselves out of work and seemingly unemployable.

VALENTINA JANEK, LONG ISLAND BREAKFAST CLUB: We were so experienced that we had felt that we were a product of age discrimination and that we couldn't get beyond the brick wall. There were some days where we needed a lot of support from each other.

ROMANS: That was three years ago. The unique approach of networking, counseling, support, and laughter has helped grow the club to 190 members today. They say 87 of them have found jobs.

(on camera): This is a nice resume.

(voice-over): MaryEllen Shpak is among those still looking.

MARYELLEN SHPAK, LOOKING FOR A JOB: Because the stock market took such a hit, the amount of income that we thought we were going to get was a lot less.

ROMANS (on camera): How much less?

SHPAK: Like we were afraid to touch it.

ROMANS: Oh, wow.

(voice-over): Huge losses forced Maryellen out of early retirement at 53 to start working again, or so she thought.

There are no jobs.

ROMANS: So she connected with the Breakfast Club, and although she's still looking for work, the club and its members have at least helped her stay positive.

SHPAK: You just get involved with people who are in your situation and people who were in your situation and have become successful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many people in the room are employed? That is great, OK.

ROMANS: Maryellen hopes she too will soon be putting her hand up. But for now, with the help of the Long Island Breakfast Club, she's at least keeping her spirits up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: You know, it's difficult, she's had some interviews, but she gets in and she thinks sometimes people are surprised to see that she was coming out of early retirement, that she's going back and starting again in her industry. Also, you know, she doesn't want to start maybe at the bottom again. She's got a lot of experience in her field, years of working, a lot of experience and a degree to put to work. It's just tough there. A lot of people like her trying to get a job right now.

ROBERTS: You know, this economy is forcing a lot of people to make some difficult choices. No question.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.

And for more stories about how people are trying to thrive in this slow economy, join Christine in our series "Money & Main Street" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. 41 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ROBERTS: And at 44 minutes after the hour. Breaking news to tell you about. According to the "Associated Press," that big day of mourning rally in Tehran has begun. Information today, a precious commodity there as the Iranian regime cracks down on the release of information severely limiting our ability to report there. But according to the "Associated Press," that demonstration has begun today.

CHETRY: That's right. So information is still getting out, it is just harder to come by. And this, again, is because as we've been talking about, the crackdown on protestors and also the media. People in Iran though have turned to Facebook, to Twitter, to texting, to get the word out about what's been going on. And CNN has been monitoring these social media sites to try to keep you informed.

So here's what some people have been tweeting about in Iran about the unrest. Here's one, the "march is in memory of those killed by government. Mousavi will lead the sea of green." This is referring to what we've just talked about being underway right now. This march to honor those who are killed in some fighting with pro-government militia earlier in the week.

Another tweet. "My mom didn't let me tweet anything for three hours. She's so worried about me. Don't know what to do. She's afraid of Iran's intelligence agency." And another, "gov spreading false rumors that protestors are causing violence. This is not true."

And joining us for a closer look at the social media phenomenon in Iran is Nicholas Thompson. He is a senior editor at "Wired" magazine. Thanks for sticking around this morning to talk to us, Nick. First of all, are we overstating the role of social networking in organizing these rallies in Iran?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, "WIRED": I think we're overstating the role of twitter. I don't think we're necessarily overstating the role of cell phones, Facebook, or social networking in general.

CHETRY: So what is twitter being used for in Iran?

THOMPSON: Twitter is being used for some internal communications. What it's really being used for is getting the word out to the outside world. The great thing about twitter is that you can have as many followers as you want and anybody can read anything. It's completely open network. So it's great if you want to get news to your friends in America, people in the media in America who are watching and playing an important role in this drama.

But if you actually want to organize a protest. If you actually want to get people together at 6:00, twitter is kind of sort of useful, but it's not being used by everybody in Iran the way that it's sometimes portrayed as here in the United States.

CHETRY: So you say that this notion of a twitter revolution is not quite --

THOMPSON: Not quite a revolution yet and it's not quite twitter. So, yes, Twitter is a great tool, it's very useful, and you know, there are a lot of advantages to it and there are a lot of reasons why some people are using it like these tweets that we just saw. But we shouldn't get too excited about twitter itself right now.

CHETRY: Let's talk about in general, the ability of the Iranian government if it chooses to do so to shut down these sites. How effective is trying to limit internet communication?

THOMPSON: It's fairly effective. Now with twitter, what you can do is they can shut down the website twitter.com. They can do that easily. They control the pipes. They can just say no more twitter.com. But a lot of people use twitter through other services. All tweets go out and they're sort of - you can tweet through Facebook, right. I can put something on tweet deck and it'll automatically go to my Facebook friends. Now, that's using twitter. But if you shut down twitter.com, that doesn't do anything to it. So there are ways around it.

But the other thing to remember is that there aren't that many people who really know how to use twitter in Iran right now. I mean, there are plenty, but not enough to organize a million people in the streets. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. So, yes, some of them can get around it, but it's a percentage of a small percentage that's using it in the beginning.

CHETRY: So the other interesting thing is as you said finding ways to get around the slowing down or in some cases the total cutoff of the internet. What are some of the ways that information is still being able to come in and to go out of Iran?

THOMPSON: Well, you can use - I mean cell phones are great. It's very hard to actually cut down the entire cell phone network. And if you do that, then, you know, the pro-government forces can't communicate either. So you can use other social networking services. You can go, as I said you can go through tweet deck. There are about 10 applications that you can use. You can also filter your - you can also use a browser, you can use a safe mode in your browser. There's a software called TOR, T-O-R. And that prevents you from being followed or watched. So there are ways that you can anonymize your blog. If you use the Google Chrome browser or if you use the new Firefox 3.5 browsers, there are ways to set those up so that nobody can track you and you can be anonymous and you can post what you want.

CHETRY: That's very fascinating. Speaking of being anonymous and blogging, we wanted to talk to you about this as well. On this court ruling dealing with blogger privacy, this was in the U.K.. A judge ruled Tuesday that the identity of a police officer who was blogging anonymously about some of the cases that they worked on could be revealed. Meaning, he did not - he could not have a reasonable expectation to privacy in the blogosphere.

THOMPSON: Yes.

CHETRY: Because of the whole public nature of the blogosphere. Is that case - they're calling it a landmark case. They're going to change the way that some information and at times rumors and libel come out over the internet?

THOMPSON: I don't think it's a landmark case. I think it's interesting and I think it's important. Be we have to remember here that it wasn't as though the government said tell us who this blogger is and then the court said, OK, you have to tell them. What happened was a newspaper was going to publish this guy's name. He said hey I'd like an injunction against my name being published and the court said you don't have a right to that injunction.

So it's not quite the same as forcing his name out to the public. But any time an anonymous blogger who is possibly blogging to try to keep people in line and put out information he couldn't do attach to his name. Any time someone like that is exposed, it has a chilling effect. And there are some benefits. Everybody had to reveal their name when they blogged, you'd have probably a higher quality of information, but you also have much less information and you'd miss some very crucial information.

So it's not certainly not a good thing, but it's not a disaster.

CHETRY: Interesting stuff. Nick Thompson for us, senior editor at "Wired Magazine." Thanks for joining us this morning.

THOMPSON: Thank you, Kiran.

ROBERTS: You know, I've never understood unless they're in some, you know, political hot spot like Iran why bloggers are afraid to blog under their real name. Why do they want to hide behind that veil of anonymity?

CHETRY: So they can be really mean.

ROBERTS: If you've got an opinion, put your name to it. Man up.

THOMPSON: What if you worry you're going to be fired. I mean, let's say you want to expose corruption in your police department, and you know, if you put your name next to it, you're going to be fired or worse.

ROBERTS: Well, I mean, that's a fine case, you know. The majority of the blogs though they just want to be anonymous and say things about everybody. So -

THOMPSON: That's true.

ROBERTS: Yes. Thanks, Nick.

10 minutes to the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": The bad economy is affecting the numbers of available jobs. So many new college graduates are choosing to spend a year volunteering at a non- profit organization. Yes, that's good. Yes. Yes, these non-profit organizations include Chrysler and GM.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Not anymore. Well, Chrysler's opened up seven other plants, right?

ROBERTS: It is. It's still a non-profit organization at this point.

CHETRY: Exactly.

Well, some of the stories right now on cnn.com are on popular videos.

How about coming home to this? Oops, a car sticking out of your front door. This happened in Mesa, Arizona. The driver says he doesn't remember what happened but he recently got his license back after losing it after a similar incident where he had fallen asleep behind the wheel.

A 15-year-old girl from Iowa texted her way to $50,000 in the LG national texting championship. Katie Moore won several challenges, including texting a verse from zippity do da as well as the Gettysburg address preamble in text speak. See that. That's even harder. The winner gets a lot of practice. She says she sends about 400 to 500 texts per day.

ROBERTS: Per day?

CHETRY: 400 to 500 texts per day.

ROBERTS: Does she have time to do anything else?

CHETRY: I don't know. I mean, if she's that fast, maybe she takes care of that in like an hour. Look at it, stressful, she's shaking.

And a battle of the titans at the world toe wrestling championships in Ashbourne, England. Alan "Nasty" Nash defeated Paul "The Toeminator" Beech for the men's championship. Also Twinkle Toes was able to upset the Toeminator's wife, Heather Beech, to win the women's title. How do you win, though? What do you - you have to hold down somebody else's toe for - what's the winning? Oh, it's like arm wrestling. All right. So it's more foot than toe, right?

ROBERTS: If you can actually twist the toe off, you get extra points.

CHETRY: If you had six toes, you'd probably have a leg up on, you know, the competition.

All right. Well, PETA's getting on the president's case, they are bugging him for swatting a fly. This happened during an interview with a reporter on Tuesday. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: Sorry. I'm going to start over - hey, get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the most persistent fly I've ever seen.

OBAMA: Nice.

OBAMA: Now, where were we?

That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker. What do you think, Gibbs?

GIBBS: That is very good. It's right there.

OBAMA: It's right there. You want to film that? There it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: There you go. We're checking it out. Katcha bug, that's what PETA sent to the president. It's called the Katcha Bug. That lets you trap and then release, you know, the animal - or I mean the insect. It's an animal, right? Without hurting them. There you go.

ROBERTS: It's Thursday and that means it's your chance to have your medical questions answered by the best in the business. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta opens up his mail bag or sometimes his mail blog to find out what you want to know. Let's check right in.

Sanjay, this is a question that so many men wonder about. Javier wants to know, "I'm 38 years old, I haven't seen a doctor in a long time, what tests do I need to ask for to ensure that there's nothing wrong with me?" You would think if he's feeling all right, maybe there is nothing wrong with him.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you, first of all congratulations that you're thinking about this, Javier. And you're not alone, men aren't just as good as women about seeing their doctor. That's point number one. Point number two is something John that you and I have talked about a lot this week surrounding health care reform. And that is simply ordering lots of tests is not always the answer either.

It can be a lot simpler than that. So here's a couple of quick tips, you should probably be seeing your doctor. One rule of thumb that I se. I usually plan these visits around my birthday just because you'll forget otherwise. I plan a doctors visit every October in my case. Certain tests, you get your blood pressure checked every couple of years. That's a probably a good rule certainly starting at your age.

Also cholesterol checks. Usually around 35, if there's a problem, you're going to get a check yearly or maybe not as frequently if there's not a problem. Around age 50, this is something that the United States preventive task force agrees on, getting cancer screening for colorectal cancer specifically. Also something we hardly talk enough about, John, is actually getting emotional testing, as well, specifically looking for depression. So if there's something that you were noticing or your doctor was noticing talking about depression, as well. Something that potentially can be treated with talk therapy or medications.

ROBERTS: And that colonoscopy, that's a great 50th birthday present. GUPTA: That's right.

ROBERTS: Schedule it around your birthday. No greater gift that you can give yourself there. Hey, Sanjay, another question we got here. Is it true that men are at greater risk of dying from cancer than women?

GUPTA: That's actually true. Not by much if you look at absolute numbers. But if you look at, you know, the overall cancer deaths are slightly higher in men every year as compared to women. There are three big cancer killers specifically for men in terms of causing the roughly 300,000 or so deaths, lung cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer. A couple of these cancers, as you know John, have no symptoms early on. So you really have to make sure that you are abiding by some of the screenings that we just talked about.

Also, you know, the simple basic supply here for anyone who is concerned about cancer. There's a lot of preventable cancers out there, not smoking, eating a diet low that is low fat, high in fruits and vegetables. Lots of anti-oxidants, despite all of the other innovations that we talked about on this show, some of those basics can really apply and really help you.

ROBERTS: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning, opening up the mail bag. We'll do it again next week to make sure that you get your requests in to either cnn.com/amfix or you can twitter us at amfix as well. Doc, we'll see you next week.

GUPTA: Thanks. All right. You got it.

CHETRY: There you go. Some interesting questions in the mail bag this week.

ROBERTS: Yes, big thumb's up. Don't forget to get that colonoscopy as a 50th birthday present.

CHETRY: Happy birthday, baby.

ROBERTS: Look at what I got you. Whoa. Where does that go?

CHETRY: You tie it. It needs to be open in the back. Sorry.

All right. Well, to continue the conversation on today's stories, go to our blog cnn.com/amfix. We'd love to hear from you.

ROBERTS: For the 55th birthday you can get a rigid sigmoidocscopy as well. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll be back here again, bright and early tomorrow.

CHETRY: Right now, here's CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins.