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American Morning

Supreme Test of Free Speech: Supreme Court Looks at Military Funeral Protests; Obama-Clinton Ticket in 2012?; Caught on Tape: Circus Lion Mauls Trainer in Ukraine

Aired October 06, 2010 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, lion attack caught on tape. Eyewitnesses to a mauling at the circus join us live.

Hate debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry that they raise their son for the devil and hell.

CHETRY: A big test of free speech in the Supreme Court. Is a soldier's funeral off limits?

And trading places?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until they switch jobs and not out of the question.

CHETRY: Whether Hillary Clinton could join the ticket in 2012. And is that still the dream team on the Most News in the Morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY (on-camera): Good morning to you. It's 7:00 here in New York. Glad you're with us on this Wednesday. It's October 6th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.

Here are this morning's top stories.

The president of Chile now saying that those 33 miners could be rescued as soon as this weekend as crews drill within a few hundred feet of the underground chamber where they're trapped. They could be breaking through within the next couple of days. We're live in Chile at the San Jose mine where optimism is actually running high this morning.

CHETRY: And a developing story right now. Western target's under attack in Yemen. The British embassy in Sana'a confirming an attack involving one of its vehicles this morning. We have also got confirmation from the French ministry of foreign and European affairs that a French national was shot and killed in Yemen. They say this victim was than employee in the company.

Also, two people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at the offices of an Australian oil and gas company. We're following the latest as we get new information on this and we'll bring it to you.

ROBERTS: A temporary hiring is picking up. There are 22 percent more temp jobs now than there were this time last year. That is good news. The bad news, permanent jobs are stagnant. Analysts say there's still much too much fear out there for companies to fill full- time positions.

Well, it could be a matter of days before rescue crews bore through the underground chamber where 33 Chilean miners have been trapped for two months now. Hopes are higher at the San Jose in Chile mine. Three tunnels are being drilled through 700,000 tons of collapsed rock.

And one of those tunnels is now within a few hundred feet of the trapped miners, prompting Chile's president declaring their rescue, quote, "imminent." Karl Penhaul is live in Chile this morning. And we've heard that things are looking up there today. What's the atmosphere? What's the sense there today, Karl?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is amongst the family members who have been up here on the surface in a camp -- this camp just around us here that is called Camp Hope. It's a tent village where the relatives have been living.

And their hopes are certainly up. They believe that the breakthrough could come in just a few days and that their loved ones will be brought back to the surface. The president's statement that the rescue is imminent, that it could happen before the 15th has alarmed some of the rescue workers. They're saying just look at the technical problems. This isn't a homerun yet. It could still be a few more days. Yet it might take us into the second half of October.

So no full agreement on the timeline, but certainly the sense now that this is the beginning of the end and those 33 miners could be home soon, John.

ROBERTS: So when they do finally drill through that rock and put in that liner pipe and get ready to bring them up in that rescue chamber, there could be some problems because some of the miners were fairly overweight, and that's a very, very small chamber they have to fit in. Can they all make it back up to the surface through that borehole?

PENHAUL: It is going to be a tight fit -- 21 1/2 inches across. That's the kind of width that these miners will have to fit inside this capsule, which has been dubbed the "Phoenix capsule" because the government says this is the capsule that will give these miners a rebirth of sorts.

But there are two points here. First of all, in the first 17 days these miners were trapped and feared dead, had no contact from the outside world, each miner had the to survive on just four cans of tuna. That's one can of tuna every four days. And so in that period, the miners lost up to 30 pounds each. So of course they slimmed down there.

And since then, the medics have been very conscious that they're going to have to fit in a very small space. And so from the surface, via fiber-optic tube that has been passed down the 2,300 feet down to the mine, every miner every day has been having a personal exercise routine set out by a personal trainer on the surface. So that will help them slim down, as well, John.

ROBERTS: Some good news out of there for a change. Karl Penhaul for us this morning in Chile. Karl, thanks.

CHETRY: Now to a CNN security watch. Talking with the enemy -- this morning, the "Washington Post" is reporting that secret high- level meetings are underway between Hamid Karzai's government in Afghanistan and the Taliban. Sources tell the paper that the Taliban is very serious about finding a way out and ending the war and that the people at the table speak for Afghan's Taliban leader Mohammed Omar. Ivan Watson has the latest from Kabul this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like so many things involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Taliban militants who operate on both sides of the two country's borders, reports about these alleged negotiations are quite murky.

Here is what we know. According to a number of Afghan high-level government sources, they are describing this as a "nongovernmental conference between afghan and Pakistani figures." We know some former afghan government officials and current government officials have been involved in the talks taking place in Kabul in recent days.

One of the participants, according to one afghan source, is a former Taliban official who served time in Guantanamo Bay in the detention center and has reconciled with the Afghan government in recent years and lives here in Kabul. However, Afghan government sources denying that the Taliban is actively participating in these negotiations.

Now, the U.S. embassy here is also denying any involvement in these negotiations. They have stipulated that for some settlement to be reached they have three conditions -- that this be an Afghan-led settlement process with the Taliban, that Taliban militants renounce Al Qaeda, and that they abide by the constitution, meaning equal rights for both Afghan men and women.

Now, the Afghan government has been trying for years to woo some Taliban commanders over to the side of the government to lay down their weapons with rather unspectacular results. It's really been seen as a failure by many observers here.

One Afghan analyst is describing these reports of talks as basically talks about talks. If something is taking place, it's just the beginning here towards some kind of negotiated settlement. And certainly this has been the bloodiest year yet of the nine- year Afghan conflict, the highest number of casualties for U.S. and NATO forces on the ground here in Afghanistan. Certainly some kind of negotiation process would be better than bullets.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Ivan, thanks. And as Ivan was referring to, a lot of complications for NATO troops. Ask right now one of them is this roadblock that continues to complicate things on the battlefield. Dozens more NATO supply trucks were torched on the Pakistani side of the border. They're being described as sitting ducks as Pakistan closed the border in protest of a NATO air strike that killed three of its soldiers. The initial report from NATO on that air strike is due out today.

ROBERTS: An environmental disaster in Hungary, a wave of toxic sludge sweeping through villages, killing at least four people and injuring more than 100 others. Government officials declaring a state of emergency after Hungary's worst ever chemical accident. It was caused by a dam that burst at an aluminum processing plant.

CHETRY: And a manhunt is underway this morning for a gunman after a deadly shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana. One person was killed, three others wounded. That suspect is described as mentally unstable. Police say he stopped his pickup truck in rural out of the way spots in states, both of the states, randomly asking people questions about bees and then opening fire.

To the Most Politics in the Morning now. It's eight minutes past the hour. There's talk this morning about the Obama-Clinton dream ticket in 2012. Here's what "Washington Post" reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King yesterday when asked about the possibility that Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden may actually swap roles in the administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, "WASHINGTON POST": President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the 2008 primaries. And so they switched jobs. And not out of the question, the other interesting question is Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Despite the chatter, White House senior adviser David Axelrod is quoted in the "Washington Post" as saying there is absolutely nothing to it. Coming up at 7:25 eastern, our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is going to join us live to talk more about it.

ROBERTS: Something intriguing to think about, though, this political season.

CHETRY: Yes, as Ed said, back in 2004, they said, oh, is President Bush going to get rid of Dick Cheney? Is he out the door?

ROBERTS: Didn't happen. But there have been plenty of examples of presidents getting rid of their running mates and going with somebody else for a second term.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up, a Ukrainian circus act goes horribly wrong as a trainer gets mauled by lions. We'll talk with the iReporter who captured the shocking scene on tape coming right up.

CHETRY: Also, one of the first cases heard by the Supreme Court in its new terms is one of the biggest, involving the rights of anti- gay activists to protest at military funerals. We're going to be joined by our legal analyst Jeff Toobin who's going to be weighing in.

It's 11 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 14 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

There's been a situation going on at the Port of Houston that's really tangling up shipments. Dozens of cargo ships have been waiting there. This is the country's second busiest port because it's been closed since Sunday.

What happened was a barge that was being pushed by a tow vessel rammed into an electrical tower. That left the power lines hanging over the channel. They didn't think it was safe for the big ships to pass under it, so they shut it down. The Coast Guard hopes to have the port back up and running today.

Also, the White House is getting a little bit of a green makeover, not the color, but, you know, environmentally speaking. Solar panels and a solar hot water heater will soon be installed at the White House. Officials say it reflects the president's commitment to clean energy. Former President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the roof during his term. They were removed during the Reagan administration. President Bush also installed some solar panels on other buildings on the White House grounds -- John.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Kiran. Fifteen minutes after the hour. To a big test of free speech coming up today in the Supreme Court of the United States. That issue, the right to protest at military funerals.

The controversial Westboro Baptist Church has protested the funerals of service members denouncing homosexuality. They carry signs, they make a scene. Well, one father fought back, taking them to court. He won and was awarded millions of dollars in damages, but that verdict was thrown out. And now the case has gone to the Supreme Court where it will be heard this morning. Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us now. This is a really, really interesting case. We're talking about the 2008 funeral of Lance Corporal Matt Snyder. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church protest. And his father, Albert Snyder, took it to court and it's an interesting argument between right of privacy at something like a funeral and the right of free speech and religious freedom.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You know, Oliver Wendell Holmes defined freedom of speech as freedom for the thought that we hate. And that seems like an apt description of this case. Because what this tiny church does is so hateful, is so awful, you know, imposing on these families at this tremendously vulnerable sad time in their lives. But they are engaging in political speech of a kind. They are talking about views on national issues, and that is the kind of speech that the courts generally protect. So it's a very hard case.

ROBERTS: What we saw on some of the video there that they carry signs like God hates America, priests rape boys, you're going to hell, God hates you. Their argument is that they're protesting against broad and unspecified actions of the military. But Matt Snyder's father says, no, you're aiming those at my son.

TOOBIN: Right. And, you know, the court generally allows restrictions on speech that doesn't refer to content in particular. If they say, no protests within 100 yards of funerals, that is a rule that undoubtedly would be upheld by the court. The problem here is that it seems to be that this damage award was for speech that was general that was not -- that was not targeted at one family in particular. It was about national issues, and that's why the appeals court overturned the judgment against this church.

ROBERTS: Now you mentioned funerals. The venue here is important.

TOOBIN: Right.

ROBERTS: Because they will be considering how much privacy someone should be afforded at something like a funeral. This is not like a political rally or if there were to be some sort of public meeting and people protest. Funeral is a very, very private event. The court will take that into consideration.

TOOBIN: They certainly will. And look, the justices are human beings too. You have one extremely very -- extremely sympathetic party, the family here. This church, to call it a church is sort of an exaggeration. It's really just one extended family. One curiosity about this case is that the lawyer representing the church is the daughter of the founder. So it will likely be a very personal argument in court today.

So, you know, I think that the court is going to struggle with this because these are two values -- privacy and freedom of speech, which are very deeply ingrained in the court's traditions.

ROBERTS: You mentioned this. And it's obvious that it's such a time of pain for these families burying a loved one who has been killed in either combat or in Matt Snyder's case, it was a non-combat vehicle accident. But you can imagine the trauma these families are going through. And then to have protesters coming up with inside of the funeral and holding up these signs and shouting slogans, what reason do members of this little tiny, as you put it, church give for interrupting these solemn moments like they are?

TOOBIN: You're asking me to articulate what is to me a virtually incomprehensible position. They basically say that soldiers are dying because America is an immoral place. That's as logical a description as I can come up with.

Frankly, it doesn't make much sense to me or I think much of anyone. But the problem is, I mean, one of the interesting things about the First Amendment and the Supreme Court is that it is often very unpopular groups who make the law. Whether it's anarchists after World War I, people who wouldn't salute the flag during World War II, people who burned the flag in the 1980s, these have never been very popular groups, but the court has often said this is why we have the First Amendment to protect unpopular groups. And certainly, it's hard to imagine anyone more unpopular than the Westboro Baptist Church.

ROBERTS: You would think if they were going to make that argument legitimately, they might want to do it on the Capitol steps or at the Pentagon. But I guess they're smart enough to know that if they do it at the funeral, they'll get noticed.

TOOBIN: And they have.

ROBERTS: There you go. Jeff Toobin, great to see you this morning. We'll be watching this case.

TOOBIN: Thanks, John.

ROBERTS: Thanks -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Thanks. It's 20 minutes past the hour. Still to come, annoyance at 35,000 feet. One airline, at least, moving closer to allowing cell phone calls on flights. So what are the chances you're going to be sitting next to that guy?

Also, find out why breast cancer survivors are so upset with a handful of companies who've actually donated thousands of dollars to breast cancer research. They say it may come down to bad taste.

It's 20 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-three and a half minutes after the hour and "Minding Your Business" this morning. Now may be a good time to invest in noise-cancelling headphones because cell phones on planes are coming. Singapore Airlines, which offers an 18-hour flight to Newark has announced that it may soon allow passengers to make and receive text messages and phone calls over their Wi-Fi system. Federal regulations still ban the use of cell phones in the United States. CHETRY: Well, the results are in for the first round of crash tests. It's under a new rating system and some tougher federal guidelines. All of the vehicles were given a single rating of one to five stars based on front and side impact and rollovers. Most of the 33 cars tested earned four stars, but only two, the BMV 5 Series and the Hyundai Sonata earned a five-star rating.

ROBERTS: In the nation's capital, a new tax on single-use disposable shopping bags is working a little too well. Since January, D.C. residents have been charged five cents for every disposable bag that they take from the grocery store. Officials looked at this as a real cash cow. They were counting on $3.6 million in tax revenue, but they're only seeing a third of that because shoppers are using 50 percent fewer bags.

CHETRY: Which one was it? Was the goal to do right environmentally or to make money?

ROBERTS: No, just to make money.

CHETRY: Well --

ROBERTS: Under the guise of doing right environmentally. But you know what? We showed them. We did right environmentally and we took the money away.

CHETRY: Exactly. I mean, look, if you're going to take time to clip coupons, they're going to be charged five cents a bag? No way.

ROBERTS: Forget it.

CHETRY: Exactly.

Well, breast cancer survivors are angry with some alcohol companies, like the makers of Mike's Bard lemonade after they launched pink campaigns in support of breast cancer. Survivors are saying it's hypocritical since the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute say that even moderate drinking increases breast cancer risk. One charity has already announced it's no longer accepting gifts and donations from alcohol providers.

ROBERTS: Imagine that.

It didn't happen in 2008, but could Secretary of State Hillary Clinton join President Obama on the ballot in 2012? Our Ed Henry is on top of the story. He's here with an early look at it.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Bob Woodward is saying that this so-called dream ticket may be alive. But is there something solid to this? Or is it just Bob Woodward daydreaming? I'll have details in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. The Most Politics in the Morning now at 28 minutes past the hour. It was the dream ticket that never came to be, but the buzz is building that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could become President Obama's running mate in two years.

ROBERTS: Our Ed Henry is live at the White House. And certainly it's a lot of fun to speculate about things like this, even with two years until the election. But where is all this really coming from?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's coming from Bob Woodward. And he just wrote this book "Obama's Wars" and obviously he has a strong track record in terms of his reporting. And he's got this book out that basically the Obama administration has largely embraced, at least in private, has said the book shows him to be -- the president to be a strong commander in chief. And so now when he goes on "JOHN KING USA" last night and basically suggests that there may be this so-called dream ticket in 2012, it's going to make people listen.

But listen closely to how Bob Woodward phrases it because I think it's going to make some people wonder how strong this really is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know the talk in town. A lot of people think if the president's a little weak going into 2012, he'll have to do a switch there and run with Hillary Clinton as his running mate. In all of these conversations, in all of the political conversations and the asides that you have when you're doing serious research, sometimes you have political asides. Things like that come up?

BOB WOODWARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "WASHINGTON POST": It's on the table. And some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see as a real possibility in 2012. President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the 2008 primaries. And so they switched jobs --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Listen very closely there. Bob Woodward attributing it essentially to the fact that Hillary Clinton advisers think she might make a good president. It's a lot different than him saying that advisers of the president think that he wants to do this, much, much different.

And I would also note that when you look at this in context. You think back to the first Bush administration, there was a dump Quayle movement. The second Bush administration maybe a little bit of a dump Cheney movement. It never happened. It's extremely rare for a president to do that. And in this case, you have a vice president in Joe Biden that appears to have a pretty strong working relationship with the president. And you don't really hear from liberals dump Biden, you hear quite the opposite. John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: No question that Biden would probably like a job like Secretary of State if they were to switch. What are the president's advisers saying about all this today?

HENRY: They're basically saying it's ridiculous. They think it's idle speculation. This is what they hate about Washington and they think someone throws an idea out there and it's going to gather steam on its own. But the fact of the matter is on the flip side of that, as you noted, Joe Biden originally did want to be secretary of State, not vice president.

I think, though, after spending a couple of years on the job, he seems to have taken to it and it seems unlikely he would want to take what so many see to be a step down. And I think also, though that they just feel inside the White House that this is a good working relationship, why would they mess that up?

And so they think there's really no traction here at all, John.

CHETRY: But looking ahead to 2016, does it help if, you know, if Hillary Clinton would indeed want to run at that point if she was doing it as the vice president versus coming off secretary of State?

HENRY: No doubt about it. You're right, Kiran. And that's one of the things that's going to keep this alive, at least the speculation is that if there continues to be some frustration on the left about this White House, they're going to maybe push from the left or some sort of a shake-up.

And the fact is, you know, as John was noting last hour, there have been various CNN and other polls suggesting Hillary Clinton is still a very popular figure in Democratic circles. Some Democrats in a hypothetical match-up would support her over President Obama in 2012. Now, that's far off. We should note, but, you know, clearly if you have secretary of State under your belt and then vice president, she would be a strong contender in 2016. It's just that it's so far off. We haven't even gotten to the 2010 election yet. That talking about 2012 or 2016 seems very, very distant at this point.

ROBERTS: All right. Ed, all just talk at this point. Thanks so much.

A reminder of the latest political news, go to our web site at cnnpolitics.com.

CHETRY: All this week, we've been focusing on the bullying crisis that confronts millions of American families. In fact, a third of children in this country are either victims of a bully or admit to bullying others. So what is a parent to do when a child is being bullied at school?

ROBERTS: Telling them to just walk away or to tell a teacher is simply not enough. Many parents believe the problem is so pervasive that children need to learn how to defend themselves.

Our Casey Wian went to a jiu-jitsu class that teaches self-defense while stressing the need to always avoid violence if possible. He is live in Los Angeles this morning. What did you find out, Casey? CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning John, Kiran. You know, some academics say that bullying is on the rise nationally. Others say it only seems that way because the media's paying more attention to the issue. But in one class we visited, there is no debate that these students are not likely to be victims of bullies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENER GRACIE, CO-CREATOR GRACIE BULLYPROOF: Listen to me, hamburger head. This is my school, leave your hamburger at home next time.

Yes, good, tackle, tackle, tackle. Good. Nice.

WIAN (voice-over): Nine-year-old Trevor Robertson is one of 60 students in a jujitsu class that says it can bully proof kids.

GRACIE: Very nice.

MARGARITA ROBERTSON, ENROLLED SON IN "BULLYPROOF" PROGRAM: Trevor had to transition into a different school and he had a hard time fitting in with some of the kids.

GRACIE: Good, Trevor.

WIAN: Now Trevor's earned a new stripe on his belt and new confidence.

GRACIE: Very good job, you guys.

TREVOR ROBERTSON, GRACIE BULLYPROOF PROGRAM MEMBER: I was at soccer camp. An older kid, he was kind of picking on me and then he tried to push me. So I got his arm and I put it behind his back and I asked him if he would stop and he said yes, and he didn't bug me.

GRACIE: Redirect. Lay down.

WIAN: At the Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy just outside of Los Angeles, students learn that physically subduing a bully is the absolute last resort.

GRACIE: Be respectful and calm.

WIAN: And they should never go looking for trouble.

GRACIE: If the bully's aggressing, harassing you, talk to them with confidence. Eye contact, stand strong, what to say.

If the bully still persists beyond that, you have to tell the teacher and get the parents involved, get this principal involved, get the school administrator involved.

Should he punch me in the face?

GRACIE: No. Of course not.

Should he tackle me? No.

If it ever becomes physical with the bully we give the child the resources to defend themselves without ever becoming violent. Neutralize the threat and end it.

Nice, good, tackle.

WIAN: Michelle, he was bullied when she started kindergarten last year.

WILLIAM HIE, DAUGHTER TARGETED BY BULLIES: She'd come home with her pants kind of like dirty, her sunglasses kind of like broken. So when we asked, "hey, what happened here?" She really said I just fell. Didn't want to say anything else. But then I noticed kind of like the attitude changed. OK. It's kind of like angry.

GRACIE: Get off of me.

WIAN (on camera): Does she have any problems with bullying anymore?

HIE: Actually, no. She kind of knows what to do. That's a good thing.

WIAN (voice-over): As part of this year-long class, children are also taught responsibility, respect, citizenship, and manners.

GRACIE: If you want something say please, if they give it to you, say thank you. If you don't want something, what do you say, Mark? No, thank you. It's the only way.

We're teaching these kids how to fight fire with water. It's really the humble approach. And again, it can't be more emphasized that the more the child learns how to defend him or herself, the more confident they become. And the more confident they become, the less likely they are likely to ever be targeted by a bully.

WIAN: The academy has heard complaints from schools with zero tolerance policy for violence even in self defense. As a parent I asked Gracie how he would advise my son.

(on camera): I don't want him to go against the school, but I want him to be able to protect himself. So how would you handle the situation like that?

GRACIE: It makes sense why the school says that no one fights at all. You throw a punch or you kick someone or you respond to a fight, everyone's in trouble, everyone gets suspended.

The problem is the bullies violate the rules and the kids who are the victims now of the abuse, the violation of the rules are too scared of the policy to stand up for themselves.

WIAN (voice-over): He stresses the goal is to avoid conflict by giving kids confidence.

GRACIE: Thanks for coming, guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: The Gracie Academy says that jiu-jitsu can even work for kids with special needs. We met one little boy there with a mild form of autism whose father described him as a former bully magnet. They said he's had absolutely no problems at school since taking jiu-jitsu. John, Kiran.

CHETRY: And is that because they have a different type of confidence about them that sort of, you know, makes a bully think twice? Or because they've actually had to get into some sort of physical altercation?

WIAN: No, it's all about confidence, they say. When kids learn to look other kids in the eye and to project an air of self-confidence, bullies are going to stay away from them. That's the key. They know how to handle themselves if the need arises, but the key is to make sure that that need never does arise. And that is through confidence.

CHETRY: Interesting stuff. Casey Wian for us this morning. Thanks so much for that report.

At 8:40 Eastern, we're going to be talking more about this issue with clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere and former prosecutor Paul Callan. We got a ton of e-mails yesterday when we did our (INAUDIBLE) with Carol Costello. A lot of people said "wait a minute, I'm not supposed to humiliate a bully, walk away, allow my kid to be attacked and do nothing about it?" So many people were very upset.

So we're going to ask both of them, experts who dealt with this situation, both from the psychological standpoint but also the potential legal standpoint to how to best support your child.

ROBERTS: And more than one in four high school students in this country engage in binge drinking. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen breaking down a new CDC report for us.

CHETRY: It's been so cold in the south, that it actually snowed in Tennessee. Rob will be here to show us the morning travel forecast after the break. It's 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: How about this? You think it feels cold even across the south? The mid south. It's snowing in the Smokies, my friends. This video out of the Smokey mountains of south and east of Knoxville, Tennessee. A little bit higher up in elevation. Some of the amounts get to be 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 feet. You know, these weren't terribly high and enough to build even some snow men. Believe that. All right.

Good morning, everybody. We have frost advisories up for Kentucky, parts of the Tennessee Valley. It's 40 in Nashville right now, 36 in Crossville, and 41 degrees in Knoxville, 31 in Monticello. So it is chilly. All around the backside of this low which continues to bring unsettled weather across parts of the northeast from New York to Boston, especially eastern New England and Boston. You're getting the moderate to steady rainfall right now. That's where it's going to be the most wet.

Also out west, Southern California, parts of Arizona, Sierra Nevada seeing some snow, and Phoenix just got clobbered yesterday with some heavy thunderstorms. Now we're seeing some thunderstorms develop, which have spawned some tornado warnings. Camp Verde to Cottonwood. And getting even the (INAUDIBLE) county now. This is a radar- indicated tornado moving to the north about 45 miles an hour. So this is stuff that we're watching on top of the subtropical depression, John and Kiran, which is forecast to become a full-on tropical storm. And move away from the U.S. that's the good news there. Lots going on weather wise. Toss it back to you in New York.

ROBERTS: It looks like it's moving away from just about everything, which is good thing.

MARCIANO: Yes, sir.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: Bye, guys.

ROBERTS: Coming up, he took his family to the circus, but didn't expect to see this. A lion tamer getting mauled by his animals. We'll talk to the CNN iReporter who captured the horror on videotape, coming right up. 42 and a half minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 46 minutes past the hour right now. A day at the circus took a terrifying turn for one family. We first showed you this video yesterday. It shows a trainer getting mauled by lions during a live performance. This was a circus in the Ukraine.

The video was sent to us by Doug Shepherd and his wife Masha as an iReport. And they are now joining us. They're in Levive (ph), Ukraine via Skype.

Thanks so much for being with us, Doug and Masha.

What we see on the video and we heard you describing some of this yesterday, which is why we wanted to have you on today, is actually the second part of an attack by those lions against the trainer.

Tell us how this all unfolded.

DOUG SHEPHERD, FILMED CIRCUS LION ATTACK: Well, we're in the second act of the circus, and the lion show had just started about two minutes, two minutes, two and a half minutes before the video starts. One lion did a trick on a trapeze. And they were encouraging another lion to walk across a high beam and he wasn't very excited about it, attacked the trainer in the leg fairly severely and that resulted in people hosing down the lion and extra handler getting in the cage with a pole. So when the video starts, you already see him limping around kind of in the middle of this very tense situation.

CHETRY: That's amazing. Because they continued on with the show, or did it appear they were sort of trying to get the lions back into an enclosure?

SHEPHERD: Well, from the video, you can see the trainer kind of pointing toward the cages and where they're trying to get the lions to go into. We thought viewing it, you know, that was horrible, but now, you know, everything will get calm, and then we can exit. But as you can see, it just escalated.

ROBERTS: It's pretty amazing when you think of it that he's still in the ring there hobbling around after a lion had bit him in the leg. You said it was a fairly severe attack.

Can you describe that a little further, Masha?

MASHA SHEPHERD, FILMED CIRCUS LION ATTACK: Well, when we saw him limping after that bite that happened, I think at that moment, everybody still hoped that they would keep it under control. But once they ran on him and grabbed on his arms and started pulling on his side, I think that was the moment everyone just stood up and wondering do they leave now or do we wait a few seconds?

CHETRY: Yes, it didn't really look like there was much separating the audience from the actual ring there.

Doug, describe what happened after everybody realized they can't control these two lions and it's already turned on its trainer. What do you do as an audience member? Were you guys just trying to run out?

D. SHEPHERD: Well, the rules are in the circus, it's a one-ring circus, no one can stand up during the wild animal performance. So everyone's told to sit down. Well, it's going bad. So people are starting to get up, move around. And we were wondering ourselves, I mean, we've got five-year-old and a three-year-old. We're trying to cover their eyes. When do we get out? And then as it escalated and moved toward the little net door, that's when we were starting to get a little concerned for our own safety.

ROBERTS: Wow. And how much protection is there in a one-ring circus like that between the ring and where the lions are -- where those wild animals are -- and where you are as spectators?

D. SHEPHERD: Well, there's a net that you can't see. And they've been reporting that the net itself has wires in it and it's very safe and it goes all the way around the ring, you can't see very well. The problem is that there's that netting across a little aluminum pole gate. And throughout the video on the far right side of the screen, you can see them opening it and closing it, letting people in and out. And there's nothing between the lions and the audience at that point. CHETRY: And so we got word that the trainer is OK. He was taken to the hospital, reportedly had to undergo some surgery. They're sort of downplaying his injuries at this point. We're told that's typical in the Ukraine. They don't want to say that the worst happened because they want people to continue going to the circus.

But as two spectators with young kids, would you go back?

M. SHEPHERD: Well, definitely they're going to be wild animals, I don't think I'm ready to go back. Our son did say that he would like to go back to the circus as long as -- if there are any animals, people are not with them.

D. SHEPHERD: Yes. We're ready for the performing chickens and the goat performance.

ROBERTS: All right. Well, you know, there are clowns at a circus for a reason.

All right. Thanks for joining us, folks.

CHETRY: Doug and Masha Shepherd for us, from the Ukraine. Thank you.

ROBERTS: Ten minutes until the top of the hour. We'll be right back.

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CHETRY: 54 minutes past the hour. Time for your AM House Call, stories about your health. Some disturbing news about just how many teens and young adults in the country binge drink.

ROBERTS: Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta. And when you look at the numbers, Elizabeth, they are pretty stunning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They really are. I mean, I haven't been in high school in a long time but boy, these certainly made my eyes pop.

Let's take a look at the results of this recent CDC study. What they found is that 42 percent of high schoolers drink, and of those two thirds say that in the past month they've been on a binge drinking episode. So two thirds of those students binge drink. And it's not just kids. 33 million men and women, adults, also binge drink.

Now, if you're wondering, gee, what is binge drinking? Here's a definition. For a woman, it means consuming four or more alcoholic beverages. Or for men, five or more alcoholic beverages over the two course of two hours. So in two hours, consuming that much alcohol is considered binge drinking -- John, Kiran.

CHETRY: Who does it more, in terms of the sexes? How does it break down? COHEN: If you look at the statistics, we can come up with a typical binge drinker. So a typical binge drinker, whether it's a high school student or an adult is male, is white or Hispanic, and when we're looking at adults, makes more than $75,000 a year, which I found interesting. I wasn't aware that there was an association between how much money you make and your tendency to binge drink, but apparently there is.

ROBERTS: Of course, we know that the immediate effects of binge drinking. Obviously you get drunk, you fall down, you throw up and you wake up in your vomit the next day and you're very embarrassed about the whole thing. But, long-term, it can have serious health effects.

COHEN: Well, actually let me add a few more consequences to your short-term list. I like the first list one you had there. Another one, of course, is getting into a car accident. Another one is having unprotected sex with a germy stranger, those are some other consequences short-term.

Long-term, there are consequences like liver disease, high blood pressure, stroke. So, you know, it may seem like oh, I went out and got really drunk last night. Well you do that over and over again over the course of several years or God forbid a lifetime, it has really has an affect long-term.

CHETRY: That's what I was wondering about. In high school and college, typically, thought of as times of experimentation, frat parties, on and on, you tend to think that most people leave that behind as they get older.

If you binge drink at that age, are you more likely to have continuing alcohol problems as you get older or can some people compartmentalize, move on and kind of mature?

COHEN: I think there is some evidence that if you're a heavy drinker as a young person you are more likely to go on to have alcohol problems compared to someone that didn't drink as a young person. But clearly people that drink when they're young and then sort of grow out of it and move on. And for those people what you're concerned about is these short-term problems. Getting into a car accident or getting a sexually transmitted disease. For them, that's the worry.

ROBERTS: All right. So for high school students, no alcohol before the age of 21. And for adults everything in moderation, particularly those germy strangers.

COHEN: That's right.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Elizabeth. Good to see you this morning.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way after a quick break. Stay with us.

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