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Women in Charge; Afghan Fraud Panel Takes Action; Striking Iran
Aired October 19, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Pushing forward now on the hour's top stories. Police in Connecticut looking for whoever stabbed Jasper Howard. He was a 20-year-old standout on the UConn football team, attacked at a postgame dance that spilled outside when somebody pulled a firearm. Cops don't think it was random.
The next shoe to fall in the alleged Colorado balloon hoax, it may be the arrest of Richard and Mayumi Heene. Their lawyer tells CNN both were given polygraph tests by police, but he doesn't know the results. He says they feel upset and under siege by the cops' allegations that last week's drama was a publicity stunt. They could be charged with felonies.
And violence on the streets is a crime. In the home, it's a tragedy. The Justice Department casting new light on domestic violence. Attorney General Eric Holder points this out -- homicide by intimate partner is the number one cause of death among African- American women of childbearing age.
Whoever said it's a man's world doesn't say it anymore. Politics, economics, demographics all have shifted women into roles that many have never held, in numbers we've seen. This week, former newscaster and California first lady Maria Shriver unveils a groundbreaking report with the Center for American Progress. It's a snapshot that's really opened your eyes and ours.
Consider this -- by the end of this year, women are expected to outnumber men in the U.S. labor force. Mothers are the primary breadwinners in one out of four American families. Sixty percent of the college degrees earned each year in America go to women, as do half the doctorate and professional degrees. Yet, in 2008, women who worked full time still earned only 80 percent of what men earned.
Marie Wilson, longtime champion of women in the workplace, and every place, actually, in 1998 she founded the White House Project to Foster Women's Leadership. She joins me here live in New York.
So good to see you.
MARIE WILSON, "THE WHITE HOUSE PROJECT": So good to see you live.
PHILLIPS: I know, exactly, in person. I love this.
Yes, in person. PHILLIPS: All right. A lot of great stuff to talk about. Still a number of challenges, too, but let's get into what's happening right now.
It was interesting. I was talking to a friend, Marie, who said, you know, we're in our 40s and 50s. Back when we were going through school, we had to get a degree, we had to focus on becoming successful. We didn't want to be dependent on a man. We couldn't have it all.
Now, she was saying, "Gosh, my daughter's 19 and she's successful. She's got her degree. She's got a boyfriend. She's talking about marriage. She wants to have kids."
It seems like they can have it all nowadays.
Do you agree with that, that it's a different mindset now that we can have it all?
WILSON: Well, first of all, I think we can have it all, not all at once, as some people have said. But you can't have it all.
We trained 9,000 women at the White House Project in the last four years, and I have to tell you, the first thing they want to know when they get a little further into that life is, can I have a family?
PHILLIPS: Wow.
WILSON: Can I have a family? That's what they're concerned about because that's still the issue regardless...
PHILLIPS: You know, men never had to ask that.
WILSON: Never had to ask that.
PHILLIPS: Let's just lay it out. They never had to say, what's maternity leave like, do you pay for certain things, may I have a family? Seriously, they never had to worry about that.
WILSON: Well, and that hasn't changed. There are a few young men -- I have a couple of them in my very own family -- who are really working at being good fathers and taking charge. But still, in three out of four homes, women are still the caregivers, every level, every age, every race. And right now, I mean, come on, I'm still thinking about my children, my grandchildren, my mother.
And I'm doing that between running the White House Project and trying to get women into leadership. It never stops.
PHILLIPS: But you're doing it and you're doing it well.
WILSON: Right.
PHILLIPS: And so, why is that? Why can we do that now? Why are we becoming more powerful, more successful, making more money? Seriously, I mean, you just heard... WILSON: Now wait a minute.
PHILLIPS: OK. We're not making money yet.
WILSON: We're not making more money and we're not more powerful. Well, actually, I mean, we're only 17 percent, 18 percent of the leadership positions. And that's why the change everything part of changing women is the most important part of these new reports coming out, because you can change things but you can't change everything until you get women into leadership, because those policies won't change that allow women and men to share the work in the family and the community and actually...
PHILLIPS: But that's getting better. And that's why we're talking.
So, why is that? Why are we seeing more women running corporations...
WILSON: Well, first of all, I could say one thing, and that is, things are harder. It's our time because things are getting really tough.
PHILLIPS: So, the bad economy has worked to our advantage?
WILSON: Well, not exactly the advantage, but it's making people understand what women bring. They're understanding that women actually, when they get into these positions of power, particularly, have more ability to take measured risks, are probably getting more to the bottom line.
I mean, the stuff that women have done that really changes companies and countries is starting to come up. And it's like a friend of mine told me when we started the White House Project. She's from Africa and she looked at me and she said, "Sister, I tell you what, you're going to get to lead, because when it gets messy, we get to clean up."
So, you know, we're getting to lead, but it is still a cost. It still costs women more, because that's the part that hasn't changed.
PHILLIPS: Well, but here's my question. Let's look at during the war, OK?
WILSON: OK.
PHILLIPS: The women, they were building the aircraft. They were in the labor force, they were taking those men's jobs. And then that's sort of, when the war was over and the men started coming back home, OK, all of a sudden, so many women were back playing those traditional roles, although a lot fought that and wanted to...
WILSON: Absolutely. Rosie the Riveter and others.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. So, how do we keep this trend going? How do we -- we still have a lot more to fight for with regard to, like you said, salary, position, leadership. It's getting better.
WILSON: Policies.
PHILLIPS: How do we hold on to it -- polices -- how do we hold on to it, continue to make it stronger?
WILSON: Well, the way to really make it stronger is, first of all, this information coming out about how many women are in the workforce, it happened of course because you had to have money. I mean, you can't do it with one salary anymore.
PHILLIPS: That's true.
WILSON: You have to have two salaries. So, it was always an economic issue that took women into the workforce. But the only way, Kyra, to keep it going is to not just talk about the flexibility, the policies that are needed, but to concentrate and have the political will to put women in leadership.
We're about to release a report on 10 different sectors that benchmark women's leadership in those sectors. Ninety percent of Americans are comfortable with women in leadership in almost every sector of American society, but we're only at 18 percent across the board of those sectors.
If you get women in leadership, alongside men, and go beyond gender, to the agendas that the companies and country needs, they'll keep putting women in, because women will change the policies and the practices. And they'll make us more profitable. And that's OK, too.
PHILLIPS: You must love working with Michelle Obama. You couldn't have a more perfect first lady to work with.
WILSON: I'm into Michelle Obama.
PHILLIPS: There's a lot of people into Michelle Obama. She's definitely taking strides for this exact cause. And you're doing amazing work, Marie Wilson. So great to talk to you today.
WILSON: Great. I'm so glad to see you in person.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's do it again.
WILSON: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: OK. Deal.
All right. Let's talk now to Erica Hill. Let's bring her into this. She's actually talking with a panel of dynamic women for "AC 360."
You should be on this panel.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was going to say, you should be on that panel, Kyra.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: It's the mutual admiration society here today.
PHILLIPS: Yes, there we go.
Can you tell, Erica and I love each other?
HILL: One of the things we're talking about tonight on "AC 360" is this special report in "TIME" magazine based on this polling by "TIME" and the Rockefeller Foundation looking at women in the workforce. And it's amazing, some of the numbers. You touched on them at the top of the show, Kyra.
By the end of -- what we're seeing right now, 40 percent of women are the primary earner in their family. That's because, as you know, there are more and more women in the workforce. Forty years ago, they only accounted for a third of the workforce. Now, nearly half.
And some good news coming out of this.
Eighty-nine percent of men and women are comfortable with the notion of women earning more. In fact, 70 percent said they are more comfortable with it, with women working outside the home, than their fathers would be. So, some fantastic gains.
Seventy-six percent of men, 80 percent of women, all see this as a positive for the society, there are more women out there working, and that really cuts across all different demographics. We're talking race, age, gender, political ideology. But where it gets interesting, Kyra, is some of the things that you and Marie were just talking about when it comes to the challenges that women still face, and some of the barriers they still face in the workplace.
Sixty-five percent of adults say they really view it as a negative that there is not a stay-at-home parent for more kids these days, because right about now, less than a third of kids have a stay- at-home parent. And most, as you can see, a majority of both women and men, agree that if someone's going to stay home, it should be mom. Dad should be out there working.
Yet, we found in these studies that women who work and have children are just as committed to their jobs as women who don't. So, there are these very interesting juxtapositions in this study, and some of the things we want to tackle tonight with our panel, which include Suze Orman, Arianna Huffington, two very big names from two different sectors of society, but who have some really interesting views on this and who have worked very hard to get where they are.
PHILLIPS: Interesting. What do you think -- can you say that a mom is definitely better at home than a dad, overall, number-wise?
HILL: Well, you know, it's -- I don't know if you can say that number-wise from the findings. And that's something that obviously for each family is a very personal decision. And, you know, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm a working mother, I happen to be married to a fantastic stay-at-home dad. So, things are a little different in our family.
But there's always going to be a little percentage of the population -- and that's what we're learning a bit from this poll -- that isn't as comfortable with mom being out there working, whether or not it's both parents or whether mom's the primary breadwinner, as we see 40 percent of women now are. It's always going to be tough for some people to accept that.
PHILLIPS: Yes. And you find a lot of people in our generation talking about this very issue a lot this time around.
All right. Look forward to the panel. Have fun, Erica.
HILL: Kyra, thanks.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Don't forget to tune into night for women's nation, "Women in the Workforce," "ANDERSON COOPER 360," 10:00 Eastern, only on CNN. And Erica's going to get a chance to talk to some pretty dynamic women.
Well, definitely not the news Afghan President Karzai has been waiting for. A U.N.-backed fraud panel has thrown out hundreds of thousands of his votes from the presidential election in August. President Obama says he won't deploy more U.S. troops until the country cleans up its election mess. A pretty powerful Democratic senator agrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think you need to have a process that is accepted by the people as constitutional. And clearly, there has to be a legitimacy to whatever the outcome is. Obviously, if one entity has suggested that a runoff is necessary, the president's going to have to have very powerful reasons that are acceptable to everybody as to why indeed that isn't the case.
In my judgment, the most important thing here is legitimacy as we go forward. President Karzai needs to have legitimacy in his country with his own people, and obviously with the global community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Joining us now from Kabul, CNN's Chris Lawrence.
Chris, we actually got word of a new analysis of the election results. And again, it doesn't bode well for President Karzai.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Not at all, Kyra. A senior international official close to the election monitoring process here in Afghanistan is telling us that after you look at what ballots were thrown out, invalidated by this investigation into election fraud, that President Hamid Karzai did not get enough votes to avoid a runoff. In other words, when the original election happened, President Karzai got about 54 percent of the vote. Once this commission went in and tossed out ballots, they invalidated about 210 polling stations because of fraud, that brought President Karzai's total down to about 48 percent. That is below the threshold, and that would seem to trigger an automatic runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
Now, there is still a final commission, an independent election commission that has ultimate authority. But, again, these are strong recommendations and strong findings from these fraud investigators.
PHILLIPS: So, has Afghan President Hamid Karzai actually responded to the report?
LAWRENCE: Not yet. He has not, although he has indicated -- a spokesman talked to us earlier tonight, and his spokesman indicated that he is waiting until the independent election commission issues their final ruling. But this brings up some real questions.
You know, there is still the opportunity and some discussions, we believe, for a possible power-sharing agreement between the two. But if not, if you have the runoff, that means you've got to pull a lot of troops out of their current missions to deal with securing another election, and it's got to be done very quickly, because when the Afghan winter sets in next month, some of those roads are just too impassable. You can't hold an election in that kind of weather -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence, live from Kabul.
Appreciate it, Chris.
Next door, Pakistan also turning into a war zone. General David Petraeus touching base with the Pakistani prime minister.
Petraeus, the top commander for U.S. forces in that part of the world, also visiting Senator John Kerry. All of this as the Pakistani military pushes forward its offensive against the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies in that tribal region of South Waziristan. It's day three of what's said to be heavy fighting, with both sides claiming victories.
They are the elite of Iran's military, the Revolutionary Guard. But today, they're struggling to recover from a suicide attack that killed some of their commanders. And Tehran is actually blaming the U.S. No surprise there.
Our Ivan Watson following it all now from Istanbul, Turkey -- Ivan.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
The Iranian government has called for three days of mourning, and it's calling for vengeance after this deadly bombing Sunday morning in the southeast of Iran. They say it is a suicide bomb attack that targeted the top leadership of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps when they were going to a meeting to reach out to the Sunni Baluch ethnic minority in that area.
And this bomb went off and it killed the lieutenant commander, the lieutenant general in charge of the land forces for the Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as the provincial commander and at least three other brigade and corps commanders, in addition to more than 30 other people who were caught in that blast.
Now, blame has fallen on a militant group called Jundallah. And it says it represents the small Baluch Sunni Muslim minority in the southeast of the country. But the Iranian government officials have also cast blame on the U.S. and on Britain, who they accuse of arming and funding this group. And they have cast blame as well on neighboring Pakistan, to the east.
Let's take a listen to the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, what he said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I asked the Pakistani government not to delay handing the main elements of this crime to us anymore, the elements that have gone to Pakistan. And we are aware that, unfortunately, some Pakistani agents cooperate with them.
They should hand these elements to us. And, of course, we consider it our right to demand the vengeance of this bloodshed and demand the criminals, and enforce law about them based on justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So, we've got the Iranians, Kyra, demanding that some of these militants be handed over. Pakistan is denying any links to this. They've condemned the attack, so has the U.S. and the British government. And they're also denying any accusations that they've been helping this militant group -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ivan, we hear about these suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq almost daily. But Iran?
WATSON: Absolutely. It may be a surprise, but Iran also faces some of these problems, particularly in its border regions. In the southeastern region, which is a big conduit for drugs coming out of Afghanistan headed west, this same organization has been blamed or has taken responsibility for previous attacks.
February of 2007, they also targeted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. A car bomb blew up a bus carrying soldiers, killing 11 of them.
There was a bombing in a Shiite mosque -- these are two different groups, Sunnis and Shiites -- earlier this year that kills dozens of people and wounded dozens of people. And not just in the southeast, Kyra.
Iran is not homogeneous. It's got different ethnic groups, different religious groups. And we know of groups in the northwest of the country, Kurdish groups that periodically target Iranian government officials.
And in the southwest as well, where you have an Arab minority. And they periodically attack the Iranian government targets. And the Iranian government, Kyra, often accuses the U.S. and Britain of helping these separatist groups -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson, thanks so much.
Well, if you want to hear real horror stories, all it takes is one visit to a women's shelter in Afghanistan. If you can find this one, that is. It's a man's world in Afghanistan and a woman's hell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, every once in a while, it happens. Someone collapses during a long race and dies. But what happened in Detroit, unbelievable.
Three men running a half-marathon basically fell over dead within 20 minutes of each other. Two were still running. One had just finished. Nothing emergency responders could do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone that responded was properly equipped and did exactly what they were supposed to do with the equipment that they had. One of them was in a cardiac arrest right at the finish line here. That physician that responded had the AED fired appropriately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, early signs point to heart attacks, but we're still waiting for the autopsy results. The runners were 26, 36 and 65.
It happened again -- brutal teen violence in Chicago. The victim this time, a 16-year-old girl. Police say that she was critically injured yesterday in a street fight involving at least two dozen teens on the South Side. The take from witnesses? Trash talk sparked the fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least 35, 40.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Golf clubs, baseball bats, two-by-fours. They jumped at the car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't say what all is going on, but I see so much brutal -- so much, you know, just meanness and hatred. And these are kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Some kids were arrested. It's unclear if the injured girl took part or was just a bystander.
Innocent people apparently caught between the bullets of rival drug gangs in Puerto Rico. The end result? One of the island's bloodiest days.
Seven people killed, 20-plus wounded, including a 9-year-old girl and a woman who lost her unborn child. This happened at a grocery store/bar that was celebrating its reopening.
The government's changed its policies. So, smoke it if you got it, grandma. Medical marijuana users all puffed up over the Justice Department's about-face.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Top stories now.
Slow-going for states trying to get their hands on the swine flu vaccination. The first H1N1 shots shipped out last week. But overall, the CDC admits production delays have put them behind schedule. Widespread availability not expected until the end of the month and maybe early November.
Folks who use or distribute medical marijuana legally under state law no longer targets on the federal government. The Justice Department's basically telling prosecutors and agents, hey, we've got bigger fish to fry -- namely traffickers. New justice guidelines issued today amount to a reversal of Bush administration policy.
And no, we're not hitting you with a psychological test. These are images of a plume of lunar debris, and they're causing the folks at NASA to jump for joy. You'll recall the stuff was kicked up when a NASA rocket slammed into the moon's surface this month. Still no word on just what that stuff really is.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Well, strike. When it comes to making jobs last, this place is probably right up your alley. People keep coming back. And guess what? The jobs never go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So, you want more of our troops? Get your house in order. That's kind of what Senator John Kerry is telling the Afghans. He's in Kabul today and tells CNN Afghanistan needs to straighten out its disputed presidential election before there's any decision on troop levels. A group called Democracy International found that president Hamid Karzai did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff. A source close to the election monitoring process tells CNN the findings are accurate.
A fallen soldier's mother has something to say about troop levels. Today, she committed her son to his final resting place, Arlington national Cemetery. Army Specialist Stephan Mace and seven other soldiers were killed this month in a Taliban attack. Mace's mother now fighting to keep his memory alive. Here's CNN's Kate Bolduan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hero's welcome. But a homecoming every mother fears. Vanessa Adelson flew home with her son's casket.
VANESSA ADELSON, SOLDIER'S MOTHER: Stephan would have wanted me to do that. Stephan and I were very close. So I did it for him. I wanted to be the one to bring my baby home.
BOLDUAN: Adelson describes Army Specialist Stephan Mace as a thrill seeker, a loyal friend and devoted soldier.
ADELSON: As long as I can remember Stephan wanted to be in the army.
SAM CHAPMAN, STEPHAN'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND: He definitely lived on the edge. Even when it came to playing football.
BOLDUAN: Longtime friend Sam Chapman says Mace knew the danger he and fellow soldiers faced in Afghanistan.
CHAPMAN: He definitely knew he was in a tough situation over there. He knew how serious it was. He knew that there might not be a positive outcome.
BOLDUAN: And just two weeks ago the 21-year-old was killed along with seven other soldiers during a fierce fire fight. His mother gains comfort knowing Stephan wasn't alone when he died.
ADELSON: He always wore that St. Christopher. He had it on when he deployed. He had it on the day that he died. I have it now.
BOLDUAN: Mace's return to a small Purcellville, Virginia was met by hundreds of people, family, friends, and strangers. Mayor Bob Lazaro calls the show of support nothing short of amazing.
MAYOR BOB LAZARO, PURCEILVILLE, VIRGINA: Up the hill when the first motorcycle came over, all the chattering stopped.
BOLDUAN: Just silence.
LAZARO: Silence. No cars. No chattering. Silence. It was holy, you know? It was holy.
BOLDUAN: Vanessa Adelson is still searching for answers of exactly what happened that day. The day the country lost a soldier and a family lost a brother and son. A painful reality Adelson hopes Washington sees.
ADELSON: Either fight this war or you get out. You cannot have one foot on ground and one foot in the water. If we want to go in and we want to win this war, then they need the support and they need those troops.
BOLDUAN: Specialist Mace was awarded six medals presented at his funeral. His mother says she will proudly display them as she now fights to keep his memory alive.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Purceilville, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Army Specialist Stephen Mace is one of the 790 U.S. servicemen and women who have lost their lives in the war in Afghanistan.
The Senate majority leader's door going to be shut tight, no peeking. The health care reform debate is private today. Negotiators taking two different bills, trying to come up with one that can win Senate approval. That goal is to get a bill on the Senate floor by the end of the month when they can get 60 votes. Public option is got -- pretty much great -- a hot potato as well. Conservative Dems don't want it and liberal Dems say, we've got to have it.
Making homes more energy efficient and creating jobs at the same time. A major goal of the Obama administration, and it's taking that goal just a step further today. Alison Kostic is here with our "Energy Fix." An energy-efficient home sounds pretty good, but it's also not cheap, right?
ALISON KOSTIC, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's definitely not cheap, Kyra. I mean, think about it. By the time you put in those new windows, weatherize the doors, put in new doors, you're already spending into the thousands of dollars. So, sure, making those energy-efficient upgrades in your home can cost a lot. And with money tight, many Americans just don't have the extra cash to pay for those expensive changes.
But the Obama administration wants to make it easier. It says making these improvements can reduce home energy use by 40 percent and cut $21 billion a year from our energy bills.
The problem, though, homeowners lack access to information, financing and skilled workers. This new report emphasizes ways the government can help people overcome some of the barriers and boost our economy at the same time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The report we're releasing today, called "Recovery Through Retrofit," is a blueprint for creating jobs while also building the economy for tomorrow. The work is there. With 130 million homes in the United States generating more than 20 percent, as Nancy said, of our nation's carbon dioxide emission, there's plenty of work to go around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSTIC: So, of course, the challenge is reducing the high upfront costs of energy improvements, Kyra, so people want to go ahead and make the improvements.
PHILLIPS: All right. Tell me how to make the improvements.
KOSTIC: There are a number of recommendations in this report, Kyra. One of them is to support municipal financing. That would allow homeowners to put the cost of energy improvements into their property taxes, to kind of roll that in so they can make monthly payments and not be saddled with those upfront costs.
Another recommendation, of course, is increase the use of energy- efficient mortgages. They've rolled the cost of energy-efficient improvements into the borrowing cost for the home itself.
The report also recommending making -- establishing these uniform national standards for training and certifying workers in the energy- efficient business so people will feel more confident that the work is going to be done right. But Kyra, we'll see if these recommendations will be adopted, how quickly they'll be adopted and if it's enough of an incentive to get people to put a lot of money into their home upfront.
PHILLIPS: Yes, there's a lot of people are trying to get very creative with the incentives. And we've got to make some changes, right?
KOSTIC: And people want to feel like they're getting a return on their investment.
PHILLIPS: Don't we all, especially when we look at our 401(k)s.
KOSTIC: I hear you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Alison, thanks so much.
KOSTIC: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Bowling has come a very long way since somebody first knocked a bunch of things down a rolling alleyway with a ball. Except at Patterson Bowling Center in Baltimore. Patterson has been around for 82 years. A faithful and familiar source of good times, community, spirit and jobs. Here's our Jay McMichael.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably one of the oldest Duckpin bowling alleys in America. It was opened in 1927 and it's been continuously operating all these years. There were some avid duck hunters. When they seen the pins fly around after the ball hit them, one of them commented, it's like a flock of ducks flying around. At that point, that's where the duck name comes from.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a little easier, the balls are smaller. You don't have to be very good at bowling. You can just kind of throw it, and whatever happens happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are six lanes on the first floor and six lanes on the second floor. The jobs that we have are mechanics and, of course, counter help. You have to have a place with amusement. Any kind of bowling center is amusement and exercise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best way to unwind, get a little friendly competition going, boost morale and it's fun. We get together and we laugh. Get to know each other as people. And we like to come to a place that's really, just very Baltimore-ish. Very old Baltimore. So, it's fun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many, many bowlers have called us at times and told us about good times that they had. As long as you can manage the center properly, it could be here for many, many years and continue to operate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Thanks again to our photographer Jay McMichael.
What do you get when you take a little bit of MLK, add a dash of Billy Graham and cover with salsa? You get this guy right here. Ask him what it's like to be Latino in America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Quick look now at our top stories. President Obama making an unannounced visit to Maryland grammar school. He congratulated students and teachers on their hard work. Fears Mill Elementary (ph) gets federal poverty aid and has been celebrated for closing the achievement gap between minority children and other students.
Football players and coaches at the University of Connecticut in mourning. Someone fatally stabbed junior quarterback Jasper Howard in the stomach at a campus party hours after he helped lead that team to victory. No arrests and no suspects yet. Today, the coach says at least two teammates were with Howard when he got stabbed and tried to save him.
Puerto Rico has just been through one of its deadliest and bloodiest days. Apparent drug gangs and guns and grudges. Open fire at a grocery store/bar over the weekend. Seven people were killed, 20-plus were wounded, including a woman who lost her unborn child.
A dash of soul, a little sprinkling of salsa music and a heaping call for immigration reform. A Latino evangelist is really spicing up his mission, and Washington is all ears. Our Thelma Gutierrez caught up with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm at a strip mall in the outskirts of Sacramento where one of the most influential Evangelical leaders in the Latino community is spreading his message. It's one the political leadership in Washington is noticing.
(voice-over): He's a rock star to Latino evangelicals. He preaches in English.
REV. SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT, HISPANIC EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION: That Jesus Christ is Lord.
GUTIERREZ: .. and in Spanish.
RODRIGUEZ: (speaking in Spanish)
The Reverend Sam Rodriguez describes his style as a little Dr. Martin Luther King.
RODRIGUEZ: I believe that we're about to see a great moment of emancipation.
GUTIERREZ: A little Billy Graham.
RODRIGUEZ: We'll bow down to the authority of God.
GUTIERREZ: With what he says is a lot of salsa.
(on camera): That was quite a sermon. You have English, Spanish and rap.
RODRIGUEZ: The reality of who we are.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): They are Latino Evangelicals, 16 million strong. And as president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, he is their leader. He has influence.
RODRIGUEZ: My prayer is that this Congress remembers another 12 million people living in the shadows.
GUTIERREZ: Reverend Rodriguez is determined to wield his political clout.
RODRIGUEZ: They should worry both the Democrats and the Republicans; the fact of the matter that we're not going to sell out our values for the sake of political expediency.
GUTIERREZ: The Reverend says, traditionally, Latino Evangelicals tend to vote Republican and align themselves with white conservatives on issues like traditional marriage and abortion.
But immigration, that's the deal breaker.
RODRIGUEZ: That scares the daylights out of many Americans. How dare we, is this the Latinozation (ph) of America, one for English, press two for Spanish. That's the elephant in the immigration reform room.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): What if they say, fine, go elsewhere, we don't need you?
RODRIGUEZ: They don't need 47 million Hispanic Americans? This is the largest minority group in America.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Republican leaders want Latino voters back after losing them in the last election.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm convinced that the biggest mistake that was made in the Republican primary was that we put the fault in the wrong place.
GUTIERREZ: The Democrats want to keep them.
REP. JAMES E. CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: We interact with him simply because we think when we hear from him, we are hearing the wishes of his constituents.
RODRIGUEZ: And we're going to see the promises of God made a reality in our lives.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): What's next for the reverend? He heads back to Washington, D.C. to talk to key lawmakers about an issue he's passionate about: immigration reform.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Sacramento, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: We're just two days away from "LATINO IN AMERICA." We're going to have a comprehensive look at that special. Our Soledad O'brien will be taking on a two-night event, Wednesday and Thursday. 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And it will be simulcast in Spanish on CNN en Espanol.
OK. You've heard plenty about the Heene family. Maybe too much. You know, the case of the runaway balloon? Well, there's a bit more to the story, and you're going to want to hear it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Unless you've been flitting around in a flying saucer yourself, you've probably heard -- balloon boy, abust. Colorado police deeming the Heene family drama a hoax. And four days after liftoff, the kooky details just keep coming.
Richard and Mayumi met in acting school. Hmm, imagine that. He's obsessed with reptilians. That's interesting. And so on and so on. Just think, nine words from a six-year-old boy changed this story entirely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FALCON HEENE, FAMILY THOUGHT HE WAS IN RUNAWAY BALLOON: You guys said that we did this for the show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE," the latest fallout from that blockbuster interview. 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.
And to think, Rick Sanchez, there we were, breaking news coverage for how long? An hour and a half, watching a Mylar balloon with helium.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You're right, though. That -- when Wolf Blitzer asked the question -- and it wasn't so much what the son said, it was the father's reaction after what the son said. As a dad, when my kids say something just to be silly or because they're kids and they say something, my usual reaction is, "What are you talking about?".
But the dad's reaction when that son said that was not, "What are you talking about?" It was a big gulp...
PHILLIPS: Uh-oh. I'm in trouble.
SANCHEZ: And that maybe was what gave the whole thing up, as much as anything else, his reaction.
PHILLIPS: And the saddest part, these kids. I mean, now there's talk that child protective services might get involved, that this guy's just a whack job and they put these kids in the position -- you think of the little boy having to throw up twice when his dad was putting him on the spot...
SANCHEZ: Which is very telling, by the way.
PHILLIPS: It's just sad. The whole thing is just sad. It's a shame it took up so much of our airtime.
SANCHEZ: Story's not finished. There's going to be a lot of movement on that story, in fact. Just today, we expect authorities to do something on that.
There's another story not far from there, it's in Arizona. It's Joe Arpaio. Joe Arpaio has decided he's going to do what he wants to do, despite the mandate he's been given the feds not to do it. They're saying, "No more raids from you, sir." He says, "I'll raid whoever I want, when I want to do it, and I'll do it my way." The problem is they're saying his way is against the law.
Joe Arpaio joins me live here in about ten minutes to talk about what he's doing and his defense thereof. We'll have it for you. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: Sounds good.
I would hope you would talk about this story, too. Some tweets about this North Carolina court ruling that means freedom for 20 inmates now. We'll talk to you about that -- well, let's go ahead and go to it now.
Here we are. These were -- all right, can we stop the teleprompter for a second? Because I don't have the hard script. That'd be nice.
And -- you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to the computer here. Here's the deal. Let me lay it out. Twenty or so convicted killers and rapists have been sentenced to life in prison. OK? And they fought that law. They found a quirk in it from 1974. And so now, these guys, Rick, are actually going to walk the streets. Guys convicted of rape, murder.
We asked people to tweet on it. We had a debate about it at the beginning of the program. And all kinds of people weighed in on this. Curious1966 said, "Outrageous and disgusting that these 'animals' are allowed to be released. They should rot in jail, where they rightfully belong." And then "Crimes against children are beyond comprehension. Those who commit such crimes should nevah see the light of day. Rot in prison."
Then Liz581 wrote in and said, "I'm outraged to think that just because these men are older, now they are not going to do anymore crimes when they get out. Are you kidding me..."
SANCHEZ: It's like the Roman Polanski story.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. Look at how many sex offenders, OK, were thrown in the pokey. They got out and murdered kids.
SANCHEZ: Right.
PHILLIPS: I mean, look at what happened with Phillip Garrido. Hello?
SANCHEZ: Leave the victimless crimes alone but go after these guys.
PHILLIPS: Imagine what the victims of these inmates, how feel right now. One of these guys, convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl. The girl is now in her 40s. The girl is scared to death this guy is going to walk the streets.
All right. HighandMighty66: "North Carolina should be ashamed for letting people like that out onto the streets again. Rape, murder, these people should have been put to death."
And then BeachArmor88 tweets: "Just what we need. A bunch of murders on the loose."
LJ01 says, "This is scary! Rapists are set free next week in North Carolina? WTF is our government thinking? I'm a woman in North Carolina, and this is ridiculous." I'm with her.
Debbie69 tells us, "In Canada, the courts can declare someone a dangerous offender and can be jailed beyond their sentence, including their entire life."
SANCHEZ: Hear, hear.
PHILLIPS: And, one more. Obamatologist -- got to love that tweet name -- Obamatologist adds, "In Germany, for example, a life sentence usually is only 15 years or so. Prison sentences in the U.S. are obscene."
Anyway, it's such a talker. You should take this on, this is right up your alley.
SANCHEZ: All right. We're mentioning a story tonight -- I'm doing the 8:00 tonight. And we're talking about some of the laws that are ridiculous, like putting someone in jail for a year because they were smoking a marijuana cigarette or something like that in this country. And then you hear these guys are getting out, but those guys are staying in prison. It doesn't seem to add up, does it?
PHILLIPS: Yes. When should laws change, when should they not be changed? How ridiculous are some of them? I love it.
SANCHEZ: Roll over it.
PHILLIPS: We'll see you tomorrow.
Man's world and a woman's hell. That's Afghanistan for you where domestic abuse is a way of life, a way of fear and a way of death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Maybe you know, maybe you don't. But October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And here's one reason: an estimated 1 in 3 women worldwide is beaten, forced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. One in three. That's an outrageous statistic. But for Afghan women, the situation is even worse. Here's CNN's Atia Abawi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Isolated and alone. Like so many other Afghan women, Shameen lost all hope. Just seven days ago, she says, she was raped and nearly stabbed to death by her husband. And that, after 15 years of torture and abuse because they couldn't conceive a child.
And in Afghan society, most agree it's always the woman's fault. Still frightened, she doesn't want to be identified.
(off camera): She just said that although she misses her family, her mother, her father, her sisters and brothers, she knows she can never go back to them because he'll kill her.
(voice-over): In the eyes of her family, she has brought them shame, an offense punishable by death. In a country where most men consider women property, not equals, they are often beaten, raped, even sold to the highest bidder.
MANISHA NADERI, DIRECTOR, WOMEN FOR AFGHAN WOMEN: Their mothers are beaten by their fathers. They are beaten by their father, by their brothers. It's a way of life. They see their mothers being beaten, they see their sisters and aunt, you know, everybody. That's what they expect.
ABAWI: Manisha Naderi runs a shelter for abused women. Shacria (ph) and her two children found refuge here. She says her husband used to chain her hands and legs together and tie her hair to a nail on the wall for hours on end. She was untied only to cook.
Shacria says she tried killing herself three times but feels safe at the shelter and believes her son and daughter have a chance for a different future.
(on camera): Every single woman in this room, including some of the children, have suffered either violence, rape and abuse, but they are the lucky ones because they found this shelter in a country where NGOs says nearly 90 percent of women suffer from domestic abuse.
(voice-over): Despite that, there are less than a dozen shelters like this one in Afghanistan, usually run by NGOs. Abusers are rarely prosecuted or convicted, and most women don't know their rights or who to turn to.
Hosmia (ph) child is eight years old. Her guardians tell us she was raped and left for dead at the age of five. Her rapist has three years left of his prison sentence, and her parents fear for her life. So, this has become her new home. And these women and girls, her new family. A family who understands her suffering.
With the drop of the burqa, Shameen slips into hiding because here, it's dangerous to be a woman, especially a woman who has challenged the culture of silence and dared to live again.
Atia Abawi, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: That does it for me. I'm Kyra Phillips. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Rick Sanchez takes it from here.
