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American Morning
Showdown Over Libya; Canadian Post On Strike; Wisconsin's Anti- Union Law Upheld; Pandora Stock Begins Trading Today; In Support of Medical Marijuana; A Collection of Art
Aired June 15, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan on the ropes this morning.
I'm Christine Romans.
The CIA informants who helped the U.S. track down bin Laden, they have been arrested by Pakistan military spy agency.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: The showdown with the president.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
House Speaker John Boehner warning that the U.S. could be breaking the law with its military operation in Libya. We're live at the White House with reaction.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: An anchorman lands an interview with the Dalai Lama. Then he decides to tell him a Dalai Lama joke.
I'm Ali Velshi.
The Dalai Lama didn't get the joke. We'll see if you do on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning. It is Wednesday, June 15th. Good morning, everyone.
CHETRY: Nice to see you guys.
We've been following developments this morning in Greece. They've been having massive protests because of the austerity measures. Well, now it's turned potentially violent this morning. Police using tear gas and water cannons on thousands of demonstrators. All of this happening outside of the Greek Parliament in Athens. Protesters are very angry about budget cuts and proposed tax hikes by the government. Lawmakers are set to begin debate on a five-year austerity campaign.
Potentially, they really don't have much of a choice here to keep Greece from defaulting on its debt.
VELSHI: Yes. But the folks in Greece don't seem to like it too much. You can see some of the action playing out in the streets of Athens right now.
A U.S. drone strike has killed at least four suspected militants, according to intelligence officials. The attacks took place in a Wana. Tat is main city in South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan.
Drone-fired missiles reportedly hitting a suspected militant compound and a vehicle near the border with Pakistan.
ROMANS: Also developing right now, Pakistan's top military spy agency arresting informants who helped the CIA track down bin Laden. Among those taken into custody, a Pakistani army major who wrote down license plate numbers to visitors to bin Laden's compound and turned them over to American intelligence officials.
CHETRY: All right. We're following some other news this morning right now as well.
NATO airstrikes targeting the Libyan capital of Tripoli overnight. It is not clear this morning what was targeted or whether there were any casualties. But there are reports NATO aircraft are dropping leaflets intended for Moammar Gadhafi's forces, warning them to leave their posts near the post city of Misrata.
VELSHI: And a showdown is looming over Libya between House Speaker Boehner and President Obama because he failed to get -- the president failed to get consent from Congress for the military operation in Libya.
ROMANS: Brianna Keilar is live at the White House for us this morning.
Brianna, explain this for us. This is -- you know, John Boehner saying you only got a couple of days to get permission.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And all along, guys, you've seen Congress -- and we are talking some Republicans, some Democrats -- who have posed a number of questions to the White House and what we're going to have is the White House essentially defending U.S. military involvement in Libya. The White House says this is probably going to happen today, that they will answer a number of questions that Congress has asked.
And this really comes amid sort of a fever pitch over tension between Congress and the White House. Yesterday, we saw a vote in the House of Representatives to cut off funding for the military operation there. Mind you, that's not going to clear the Senate or is not expected to. We saw House Speaker John Boehner send a letter to President Obama saying, come Friday, you will be in violation of the War Powers resolution.
That, of course, is that law that says the president can have U.S. military involvement abroad for 60 days and if he hasn't gotten congressional authorization by then, he has 30 days to pull troops out.
So, Sunday is going to be day 90 and that was sort of the warning that Speaker Boehner sent to the president yesterday, guys.
CHETRY: All right. So, a big source of tension as you've said, between the White House and Congress is really what the goal is in Libya. And at first, the administration said it was a humanitarian mission to protect Libyan civilians. We also heard some back and forth about whether or not it meant Gadhafi would be a target and whether Gadhafi would go.
Is the president going to explain sort of the end goal to Congress and the American people?
KEILAR: He is expected to. The White House has said it will answer the questions that Congress has posed and in the resolution, specifically that the House passed not to long ago, there were 21 questions, I believe. And some of the big ones had to do with this idea of authorization, why hasn't the president sought congressional authorization?
And as you mentioned, Kiran, yes, what is the goal in Libya? How does the president expect to achieve it? And also something very important in this day and age to a number of members in Congress, what is the cost going to be.
I talked to Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. He's on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's the author of a resolution that asks a number of these questions, and here's why he said they need to be answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEEE: It's really easy to enter thee conflicts, especially when you have no stated goal, which is kind of where we are right now. And, all of a sudden, you know, the ante keeps being up. You end up there in a situation that, again, is very difficult. I'd like for the president to articulate what our national interest is there and what our goals are on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, all along, this is what's interesting. The White House has said it's not in violation of the War Powers Resolution. That it's acting in accordance with it. A number of members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, disagree with that.
But we are expecting to get probably today the president's justification for that.
So, guys, while we know that some of these answers may be coming here today, it's not for sure that Congress is necessarily going to like what it hears, I guess is fair to say.
CHETRY: Brianna Keilar for us this morning -- all right, we will be listening. Thanks so much.
ROMANS: OK. Same-sex marriage could soon be legal in the state of New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a marry equality bill yesterday and, if passed, New York will join five states, plus the District of Columbia, in legalizing same-sex marriage.
Governor Cuomo says the bill is a matter of fairness and of legal security.
CHETRY: New York Congressman Anthony Weiner may be days away from calling it quits as the calls for his resignation continue to grow. One big factor, discussions with his wife, Huma Abedin, who returns today from her week-long overseas trip with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy says she is hearing Weiner might resign in a couple of days and that he was, quote, "waiting for his wife to come home."
VELSHI: Arnold Schwarzenegger's former housekeeper telling her side of the story for the first time. In an interview with "Hello" magazine, Mildred Baena said that as her son Joseph got older, he began to resemble the California governor and that's when Maria Shriver flat out asked her if Schwarzenegger was the father. Baena says, quote, "She cried with me. We held each other and I told her, it wasn't Arnie's fault, it takes two."
An Australian anchorman who landed a one-on-one interview with the Dalai Lama would probably like to do this all over again.
CHETRY: Yes, Karl Stefanovic of Australia's "Today" show -- listen to him as he decides to tell a Dalai Lama joke to the Dalai Lama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL STEFANOVIC, NINE NEWS ANCHOR: I don't mean to be disrespectful in any way shape, or form, but I have a joke for you that my son told me that he said you would laugh at, even though it's about you. Could I tell it to you? Could I tell you the joke?
DALAI LAMA: Yes.
STEFANOVIC: I don't want you to feel like I'm disrespecting you.
DALAI LAMA: No, no, no.
STEFANOVIC: So, the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop. Pizza. Yes, pizza shop. And says, can you make me one with everything?
DALAI LAMA: Hmm. What is that?
STEFANOVIC: Do you know what I mean? Can you make me one with everything?
DALAI LAMA: Ah! It's really impossible.
STEFANOVIC: I knew that wouldn't work!
(LAUGHTER)
STEFANOVIC: Now I'm embarrassed in front of you, a world figure.
DALAI LAMA: No problem, no problem. Don't feel like that way. Whenever I met people, I want to look -- look at them as another human being. No differences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: There you go! That's what you call making lemonade our lemons.
CHETRY: I always loved the Dalai Lama, but that makes me love him any more. He turned it around.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: I mean, anyone else, he could have slapped the guy and bopped him on top of the head, something that he just he's trying to make him feel better. He laughed eventually.
ROMANS: The joke is pretty funny.
VELSHI: But you have to know what the nuance means, right? One with everything, I think that --
CHETRY: But the other thing, too, is he had to explain pizza. OK, pizza shop.
ROMANS: Can you imagine?
CHETRY: Also, if you already are one with everything, that's not a joke to you. You just are.
ROMANS: Can you imagine having an appearance with the pope and you start, hey, pope, I got a joke for you!
VELSHI: That was -- anyway. Looks like everybody left relatively unharmed but that was a little painful.
ROMANS: All right. This is a story that we have been meaning to bring you this morning about airport screeners specifically targeting Mexicans and Dominicans.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: We're going to tell you what airport and why possibly they were doing this profiling.
CHETRY: Also, the latest on the Casey Anthony murder trial. The prosecutor's last day is today before the defense tries to put its case out there. One of the things they talked about is the meaning of her bella vita, beautiful life tattoo when she got it.
Also, how did her mother -- what did her mother say in court and how did Casey react?
Eight minutes past the hour.
VELSHI: And Montel Williams now sells weed. He is going to be here to tell us all about it.
Nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. So, about 10 percent of your screen is Des Moines, Iowa, and 90 percent of your screen is the sky above it.
CHETRY: Why do we show the clouds?
VELSHI: We always do this. Our cameras seem to have -- somebody must have heard that and panned down a little bit.
It is 66 degrees and cloudy in Des Moines. They are going to get showers later on and it's going to be 82 degrees.
ROMANS: The Missouri River, which is about three hours due west of Des Moines, maybe two and a half hours, it keeps rising. Right now, it's threatening thousands of homes and farms in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska. A lot of flooding already being seen in places like south Sioux City, Nebraska, where houses are taking on water with more flooding on the way there.
CHETRY: Also, still a big problem in Arizona right now: the largest wildfire in the state's history. Firefighters are making progress, though. It's now 20 percent contained. It burned more than 730 square miles in Arizona and New Mexico, destroying homes, forcing entire communities to evacuate.
VELSHI: Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center for us.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Ali.
Another day where the weather will cooperate with fires across the Southwest, although we're not going to see any rain for quite sometime. At least the winds will die down once again. But it's such a massive fire, it's kicking out so much smoke. Smoke and air advisories and air quality issues across parts of New Mexico and even pressing back in through parts of Phoenix as well.
You know, it's been hot and dry across the Southeast, too. And we've got a decent fire that's burning across Okefenokee swamp in through here. We have a red flag warning that's been posted for parts of northern Florida for more on the way of low level humidity and a lot of heat.
Temperatures across Tallahassee, yesterday, 103 degrees. Monroe, Louisiana, 102. St. Simons Island, 99 degrees.
So, intense heat continues across the Southeast, some with humidity, some without. And across the north, we got some humidity in the way of some heavy rains that have been falling across parts of the Midwest and Upper Midwest.
Tracy, Minnesota, yesterday, seeing over 5 inches of rainfall and parts of Iowa seeing also two to three inches of rainfall and that's not what they need to see considering the flooding issues going there.
We had another batch of heavy rain last night, now moving through parts of Chicago and into Indianapolis. You're about to get peppered with some heavy thunderstorms. These aren't severe technically, but they could have winds gusting to 40 to 50 miles an hour, going to have some heavy rain and maybe some isolated spots of hail through Indianapolis.
So, that's where the bull's eye for storms will be. It will sink down to the South and East through time today. Memphis and Nashville will be under the gun as this thing continues to press off towards the North and East which also continues to be rather comfortable to temperatures.
Eighty-two degrees in New York City for a daytime high. It will be 67 with the rain-cooled air in Chicago and continued steamy across the South with a high of 91 degrees expected in Atlanta.
Ali, Christine, Kiran, back up to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you, Rob.
VELSHI: Bruce Springsteen is speaking out this morning about saxophonist Clarence Clemmons, a member of Springsteen's E Street Band. We all know him. Clemons suffered a stroke last weekend.
In a statement, Springsteen says, quote, "initial signs are encouraging, but Clemons will need much care and support to make a full recovery." Clarence has played Springsteen's band since 1972.
ROMANS: Yes, and they've been together all the way.
CHETRY: They've got a lot of people pulling for him, though. That he gets better.
ROMANS: Very talented, talented man.
CHETRY: Poor Hugh Hefner. 25-year-old fiancee Crystal called off the wedding.
I think they were supposed to get married on Saturday.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: The nuptials were scheduled at the Playboy Mansion for the 18th of June. Hefner tweeted Crystal Harris had a quote, "change of heart."
ROMANS: How sad.
CHETRY: They're going to remain friends, though, they say. VELSHI: Nice.
ROMANS: Yes. I'm not quite sure. I heard one report that part of the problem was she wanted some kind of a music career, and that was kind of --
CHETRY: That was the problem?
ROMANS: That had something to do with it.
CHETRY: That was the problem?
ROMANS: It's a boyfriend!
VELSHI: So sweet. He's so sweet.
ROMANS: It's a boy for actress, Natalie Portman, and her fiance. It's the couple's first child, but, other than that, not much more is known about this little guy. Portman and her fiance met on the set of "The Black Swan." Her husband is the choreographer.
VELSHI: Creepiest movie I've ever seen! I hated it.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Maybe upset for the whole day. I don't go to movies to get upset.
ROMANS: Well, that movie was --
VELSHI: I want an entertainment. I was confused. I was conflicted about myself. I didn't like my mother. It was very upsetting.
CHETRY: It was very hard. You found yourself looking in the mirror and not knowing if you had the body of a ballerina.
VELSHI: Yes, totally.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: There's a new exhibit coming to the rock and roll hall of fame. It's Lady Gaga's meat dress. This one confuses me, I have to tell you. This is the dress she wore to the 2010 MTV Music Awards. It's going to be unveiled tomorrow. Wear a mask if you're going to see it.
ROMANS: Yes, but what's confusing about it. This is, actually, the perfect thing to preserve. It's jerky now. Do you know what I mean?
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Chew on a bit of it!
CHETRY: They pour salt on it, they smoke it, and now, it's in a glass case, and, if you get hungry, you know where to go, in a museum.
ROMANS: Oh, Lordy! OK. That brings us to our question of the day, the key to a happy marriage.
VELSHI: How does that bring us to happy marriage?
ROMANS: I don't know. I'm just thinking of that rotten meat, and --
CHETRY: It's not rotten. It's jerky now.
ROMANS: Oh, man.
CHETRY: All right. we do want to ask you a question about it. It's sleep deprivation. It came out with a study saying that if the wife is sleep deprived, the marriage suffers. If the husband is, life goes on as normal.
VELSHI: Sort of the same with guys all exactly. I don't know. Whatever. I didn't sleep much last night. So, we'll tell you about that coming up.
ROMANS: OK. Also, --
VELSHI: And you can e-mail us your thoughts or tweet us or whatever.
ROMANS: And also, we're going to talk about mail delivery down a postal strike hits Canada. Sixteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 20 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning. Greek police firing tear gas on tens of thousands of protests in Athens this morning. Demonstrators gathered to protest a debate in parliament today on new austerity measures as the country struggles with its national debt.
And no mail in Canada this morning after a 12-day postal worker strike. Canada Post announcing its closed operations. Negotiations between the government and the union are ongoing.
The Wisconsin law that took away collective bargaining rights of state employees, it has been reinstated, and now, tens of thousands of workers lose their right to bargain as a union and will also pay more for their benefits.
And a checking on the markets this morning. Futures are set to open lower today. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 are all down ahead of the opening bell ahead of some inflammation data.
Shares of the internet radio company, Pandora, will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today. What's interesting here is that Pandora has priced shares at $16 apiece valuing the company at $2.6 billion. At the same time, the company admits it has never turned a profit. Shares of JCPenney spiked 14 percent yesterday after announcing a new CEO, The former Apple executive, Ron Johnson, an Apple executive running JCPenney. He was in charge of Apple's retail locations nationwide if he takes office in November.
The former White House press secretary for President Clinton is joining Facebook as its new vice president with Global Communication. Joe Lockhart will head up the company's corporate policy in international communications team.
Up next, Casey Anthony's controversial tattoo ignites the prosecution's case. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Actress, Angelina Jolie, is hoping to visit some of the thousands of Syrians. You know, she goes everywhere, and she's a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: But yes, she wants to go to Syria as well, and she wants to see those who have had to flee the violence and are now camped out along the boarder. A spokesman for the foreign ministry, they tell CNN that they received and are now evaluating the application for Jolie to visit these refugee camps.
VELSHI: So, this is going to be, I believe, on the Turkish side.
CHETRY: Yes, on the Turkish side.
VELSHI: Where the boarder is, so she won't actually be going -- I can't imagine they're going to be all that happy on the Syrian side to have her around.
This morning, we are getting a rare first look inside Syria and at the humanitarian crisis that's been caused by a brutal crackdown from that country's administration. The regime does not want us there. They've refused to give CNN and other news organizations permission to enter the country.
ROMANS: But our Arwa Damon found a way inside, anyway, and she uncovered the camp filled with people who fled the advancing Syrian military. Arwa Damon joins us live now from Turkey. She has safely returned to turkey. And Arwa, you say it's not so much a camp as more a group of desperate people fleeing a desperate situation and attacks from their own government inside Syria?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most certainly is the case. I mean, one described exactly just how terrible (ph) the conditions are for these individuals, having already fled what they describe as being absolutely terrifying violence. They're living underneath nothing more than plastic tarp that is strung across trees. It had been raining for the last few days that had made the conditions incredibly unbearable. One woman telling us that she and her 30 family members had to spend the entire night standing up because the ground had just turned to mud. To wash themselves, they have a dirty river and that is where they also have to try to clean their clothes. They're drawing water from a well but that also not clean. Food, they're having to rely on the Turkish villages on the other side of the border (INAUDIBLE) to bring across things like bread and other basic supplies.
And they continue to live in sheer horror because there have been numerous reports that the Syrian military is slowly making its way towards the Turkish border. The one young man who we met said that he tried to go back to his village to assess the situation a few days ago, and he came face-to-face with the Syrian military, he says, that was creeping its way through the olive groves, and he managed to run away and get to safety.
But its reports like that that are causing even greater fear for these people who have already been through so much. In fact, when you ask them about their experience, the first thing they'll say is that it was simply too horrific to put into words.
ROMANS: And what are we hearing from the government about this, Arwa? I mean, you got in there. We are not allowed in the country. They're being very, very strict about not letting outside eyes see what's happening inside of that country. Does the government acknowledge that people are fleeing?
DAMON: Well, yes. The government does acknowledge that people are fleeing, however, it says that that is because armed gangs of Syrian government has been calling them are the ones that have been causing this unrest, and that they are the reason why the Syrian military had to enter these various villages and towns in the first place. Interestingly, the Syrian government is now also urging these refugees to return back home, saying that calm and security had been restored.
Now, all of the refugees and the residents (INAUDIBLE) and the other areas in northwestern part of the country have been saying that there were absolutely no armed gang members, but there were simply civilians who are asking for their basic freedoms who were then fired on by Syrian security forces indiscriminately and that is what caused the situation to then spiral into even greater violence.
Now, when it comes to the Syrian government urging them to return back home, that most certainly, is going to be met with a lot of skepticism. There have already been tales circulating inside this camp. Again, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of these tales, but circulating about handful of families who did try to go back home who were then slaughtered.
And so, what you have is this scenario that has repeatedly been upholding since this uprising began where we hear one thing from the Syrian government blaming it, again on these terrorist elements that it says has been brought in from the outside and terrified (ph) residents who say that they are being indiscriminately targeted by their own government. ROMANS: Arwa Damon in Turkey. Thank you, Arwa, and thank you for that exclusive and very in-depth reporting. Thanks.
CHETRY: Yes, shining the light on the situation there. It's very treacherous for those people.
Other top stories this morning. Another blow to the shaky relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan. Pakistan's top intelligence agency arresting CIA informants who funneled information to the U.S., information that then led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Pakistani army major was among those arrests and he wrote down license plate numbers of people visiting bin Laden's compound.
House Speaker John Boehner sending a letter to President Obama warning him about violating the 1973 war powers resolution for failing to get congressional authorization for the military operation in Libya. Boehner is calling on the president to respond by the end of this week.
Security screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport reportedly profiled Mexican and Dominican passengers for two years. According to a federal report obtained by the "New York Star Ledger," the profiling was so out of hand, TSA employees actually referred to each other as, quote, "Mexican hunters." The TSA calls the profiling isolated and insists that it's already taken measures to fix the problem.
ROMANS: I'd like to know what the measures are. Like were people fired?
VELSHI: I'm curious to know why they decided to, you know, choose Mexicans and what is it?
CHETRY: Dominicans.
VELSHI: Prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial expected to wrap up their arguments today. A string of final witnesses took the stand yesterday including Casey Anthony's mother and a tattoo artist who had some crucial testimony.
ROMANS: CNN's Gary Tuchman heard all of this in court and here now with the latest details. Another, another just very compelling day in the courtroom there, wasn't it, Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It definitely was, Christine. And now 30 minutes from this very moment, prosecutors will enter the courtroom on the 23rd floor behind me and utter seven words, "the state of Florida rests its case."
Yesterday, prosecutors called their last witness. He was a man whose testimony at the very least will make jurors think what the heck was this mother thinking?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: On July 2nd, 2008, two weeks and two days after Caylee Anthony disappeared never to be seen alive again, her mother Casey walked into this man's shop.
BOBBY WILLIAMS, TATTOO ARTIST: She came in to get tattooed.
TUCHMAN: This tattoo shop in Orlando. Bobby Williams, tattoo artist, is a crucial prosecution witness because of this testimony.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ask her what she wanted done?
WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. "Bella Vita" in a feminine type font.
TUCHMAN: "Bella Vita" mean "beautiful life" in Italian. A "beautiful life" tattoo is what Casey Anthony asked for just 16 days after she said her daughter allegedly drowned. Was she sad, solemn, or serious when she got the tattoo?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you describe her demeanor?
WILLIAMS: Normal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does that mean?
WILLIAMS: She didn't seem upset about anything, pretty happy for the most part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she leave the store?
WILLIAMS: No, sir. We ended up ordering a pizza, and she actually had a couple of slices.
TUCHMAN: The prosecution is hoping to paint a picture of a callous young woman using examples like the tattoo and this picture showing Casey in a hot body contest four days after Caylee disappeared. How does the defense plan to explain away the "beautiful life" tattoo? By trying to convince the jury that it was done to honor her dead daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it customary in your business that people get tattoos to remember their loved ones that have passed?
WILLIAMS: They do, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: A potential problem with that defense, though, is that the tattoo artist testified that Casey Anthony said she wanted another tattoo and made appointment to do so, and said this time she would bring Caylee with her.
Meanwhile, Casey's mother took the stand for the second time and testified she had not seen Caylee's "Winnie the Pooh" blanket weeks before her disappear ns. The blanket was found with Caylee's body. Casey Anthony looked at her mother vacantly during the testimony, and when Cindy Anthony walked off the stand, it appeared she mouthed the words "I love you" to her daughter, who looked away.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TUCHMAN: So lawyers will take care of some business today, and then tomorrow the defense will begin calling its witnesses. The big question, will the defense call Casey Anthony? I asked one of the defense attorneys yesterday, came up to him after court and asked him that question, will you call Casey Anthony? And I said have you made a decision about whether you're call Casey Anthony? He said if we make that decision, I won't be telling you.
That leads me to two conclusion. One, they don't want to show their poker hand, or, two, they haven't made their decision yet. It's crucial, critical. Her testimony could save her life and also cost her life.
VELSHI: Gary, we were talking to Sunny Hostin earlier who said the one question that was really going to stick with jurors is why.
CHETRY: Sonny seemed to say she didn't think that the prosecution necessarily proved motive. It will be interesting to see whether -- what others think, Gary.
TUCHMAN: Yes. They may not have proven a motive, but they have done a very workmanlike solid case. There is overwhelming evidence in this case that something terrible happened to this little girl. Keep this in mind. What the defense said in the beginning is that she accidentally drowned and Casey Anthony decided to say nothing about it. Usually the defense has to prove nothing, but because of that defense they have to prove that this woman did not have her daughter drown. And that means she may have to take the stand and testify.
ROMANS: Gary Tuchman, thank you. Another emotional and compelling day in court and I'm sure today, as well.
VELSHI: People have been waiting in lines. You can expect the defense is going to be as compelling for all of those people who have been waiting to see this.
ROMANS: Today's students don't know much about history. We are going to give you a pop quiz next.
CHETRY: We're also talking to Montel Williams also. The talk show host, who opens up about his struggles with MS and his plan to open a marijuana dispensary. He is an advocate about legalizing marijuana. He will talk to us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A beautiful picture this morning of Los Angeles, California. It's 73 later on. Good morning, L.A.
Pop quiz time. Who is this? And why is he an important figure in history? That was one of the questions on the 2010 national assessment of education progress U.S. history test. Guess what? Only nine percent of fourth graders knew the answer. Disturbing, right?
That's now raising questions about the effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind law. Dr. Steve Perry is a cofounder of a magnet school and joins us live from Hartford, Connecticut. Steve, I asked a teacher that very question. The teacher said I got to teach kids how to read and write. I got no input from the parents. The last thing I need it them memorizing a picture of Abraham Lincoln.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: You have to teach them to read something, so why not teach them to read history? We so often blame No Child Left Behind for everything that goes wrong in education. Listen, I know that George Bush is not a popular figure among many people. He wasn't my favorite either. However, even a stopped clock is right twice and in case of education, he and many of the Republicans were dead right.
What they said is there needs to be standards. All No Child Left Behind said there need to be standards and each state got to set their own standards and you get to decide in those standards how you want your children measured. This is another example of how we, as Americans, have our heads in the sand, because this is not a test of just tested poor minority students in urban centers. This is 30,000 of America's students, 30,000 of America's students so poorly on this examination the best of them only got 20 percent.
ROMANS: Let's talk about that. This is not just given to fourth graders but eighth graders and 12th graders as well. And you can see the statistics. It tells a dismal story about U.S. history. How do we fix it?
PERRY: There are solutions. One of the problems that we have in America is that we have a generalist approach to primary education, meaning we expect one fourth grade teacher to teach children all subjects. That is unreasonable.
We need to specialize in the primary grades. You need marge and science and social studies and English teacher. That creates an opportunity to be a specialist like the rest of the academic experience. In addition to that, we asked parents have to have higher expectations -
ROMANS: I'm not letting parents off the hook here. No, go on.
PERRY: I have heard too many parents, especially parents of elementary aged children talk about too much homework. Do you see how poorly we are doing? I think we could use a little more homework. Parents are so concerned about children having down time and play time. Their kids, they will find a way to play even in class.
ROMANS: Sometimes it's more than just homework and what kind of play your child is doing but the expectations you're setting in the home is a place that it all starts. The expectations you're setting for your child in the home.
Dr. Steve Perry, thank you so much. Great to see you this morning. As always, excellent segment. Morning headlines next. It's 42 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour right now. Here is a look at your top stories this morning.
Greek police are using tear gas and water cannons on thousands of protesters that have gathered outside of the parliament buildings in Athens. Demonstrators staging a 24-hour strike trying to keep lawmakers from passing budget cuts and tax hikes designed to stop the country from defaulting on its debts.
Pakistan's top intelligence agency have arrested a handful of CIA informants who gave information to the United States -- Information that led American troops to Osama bin Laden. A Pakistani -- one Pakistani Army major was among those arrested for writing down license plates numbers of people visiting bin Laden's compound and then passing that information on to U.S. intelligence officers.
House Speaker John Boehner is warning President Obama about violating a 1973 war powers resolution for failing to get congressional authorization for the military operations in Libya. Boehner is calling on the President to respond by the end of this week.
And Congressman Anthony Weiner's wife Huma Abedin returns home today. She's traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and has been for the past week. Fellow New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy suggested that Weiner might resign in a couple of days.
The markets open in just 45 minutes. And right now, DOW futures are down more than a hundred points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 futures also lower after reports show consumer prices rose 3.6 percent over the past year.
The new royal couple's California itinerary has been revealed. During their stay next month, Prince William will play polo in Santa Barbara. The couple will also visit an inner city art school in L.A.'s skid row.
AMERICAN MORNING is back after a short break. We're going to be talking with Montel Williams still ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I can't get enough of that weather in New York City; 63 degrees right now. Only -- it's not even 9:00 yet. It's going to go up to 83. Yes, I could take it at 63 or 73. It's getting a little hot here.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) out there, if your wife isn't getting enough sleep, it could be wrecking your marriage.
CHETRY: That is according to the study.
ROMANS: They need a study for that?
CHETRY: Yes, right.
That's a study at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. It showed that when a woman is sleep deprived, the mom, the marriage suffers but when a man isn't getting enough quality sleep there is actually no impact to day-to-day relationship. Take what you will from that.
VELSHI: Well, we want to know, is a lack of sleep affecting your marriage, is it hurting your marriage? Our question of the day. We've got some great responses from you.
On our blog, Todd says. "On the weekend my wife sleeps in -- and in -- and in. It's irritating to wait until noon to go run errands or work out together. On Saturday and Sunday I spend more quality time with T.J. Holmes."
CHETRY: That's not a bad thing.
HighgateCross writes, "We've survived fitful sleep patterns by blaming the mattress and not each other. So marriage is fine, we just stumble around a lot."
ROMANS: Hester Nguyen on Facebook says, "I found that I am the emotional compass in my marriage. If I am less than sparkly from the lack of sleep then that affects my hubby and children. There is proof in the age-old adage if mommy isn't happy, no one is happy. The question then becomes" --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Totally true.
ROMANS: -- "what do we need to do keep mommy happy?"
VELSHI: I say, amen, that's -- that one makes sense.
ROMANS: Yes, I think so, too.
CHETRY: Hot shower and eight hours of sleep might do.
VELSHI: My wife is momentarily grumpy yesterday. And I told her, you know, it affects everybody's mood when that happens. I could be grumpy and nobody seems affected.
CHETRY: You were calling on -- you were calling on the work study to tell her about that?
VELSHI: That's right, yes exactly.
CHETRY: Good one.
VELSHI: All right. He's a well known TV personality an Emmy award winner and a former talk show host. These days, Montel Williams wants less talk and more action when it comes to medical marijuana.
He's openly admitted to using marijuana to treat his MS And now he's getting involved with a medical cannabis consulting company.
Montel Williams, good to see you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Welcome.
MONTEL WILLIAMS, EMMY AWARY WINNING TV PERSONALITY: Thank you so much for having me here.
VELSHI: So you've got -- you've got two things going on. You've had MS for about ten years now.
WILLIAMS: Well, I've had it for probably 30. I got diagnosed ten years ago.
VELSHI: Ok.
WILLIAMS: Until I finally figured out what this malady was -- was going on with me after I went to the doctor. And I have been on a pretty steady, you know -- now, I don't call it a decline but the disease has done what it's going to do and I'm trying my best to do everything I can to slow it down --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- to mitigate some of the effects and to live like everybody else in this room does --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- and pretty relatively normal life.
ROMANS: And so what is a -- the day for you like with MS?
WILLIAMS: You know, it's kind of crazy. Because a lot of people don't understand, you mentioned when I walked up and a lot of people say this to me. Montel, I see you all the time and you look so good.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Right.
WILLIAMS: And you have a mask. Well, let me explain to you. I have to get up in the morning. This morning at 5:00 to get on the treadmill on elliptical for about an hour just to crack my legs out so I can walk here.
VELSHI: Wow.
WILLIAMS: I don't do that today, I'm not walking this morning. And if I -- and -- and my day is characterized, you know, 24 hours with neuropathic pain in various areas of my body. Extremely on my feet, my shins, I have to deal with this and cope with this 24 hours a day --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: You describe the feeling like it's on fire, right?
WILLIAMS: Oh it's -- it's -- it's almost like you -- if you liken it to when you strike your crazy bone. That's not funny, that hurts. Now just have that continuously and multiply that by about ten.
ROMANS: Now prescription medication at one pas -- it was shutting down your kidneys. It was damaging you and a doctor finally recommended that maybe you should try marijuana to ease some of the chronic pain here.
WILLIAM: Absolutely. And you know what we're finding right now is that this is a recommendation that a lot of people think is absurd but let me just make sure that you get to say some truth finally on CNN.
For the last 36 years, this federal government has agreed with this as a viable medicinal agent because they've been dispensing from (INAUDIBLE) in Mississippi for 36 years. Every month on the 17th of the month canisters go out that is grown at the University of Mississippi. It started out with 20 patients; it's now down to 4 because 16 of them have died. The other four every month our federal government gives them marijuana as a medication.
VELSHI: So why don't they make it legal?
WILLIAMS: Correct. And how about this? In 2003, the federal government gave itself a patent on marijuana. Right now the U.S. government has a patent on marijuana claiming that in its abstract it's one of the most efficacy drugs there is for neuropathic pain.
ROMANS: Hey, you know what's interesting? Because I think that the recreational users are sort of the pro-pot for a social reason group has glommed on the medical marijuana trend and that actually hurts the real efficacy case of marijuana.
WILLIAMS: And that's the reason why I decided to get involved as a consultant. And the reason why is because the last ten years, I have been involved in every state that has passed legislation -- 16 now -- to allow patients access to medical marijuana. But unfortunately, this has been hijacked by people who want to make a lot of money.
VELSHI: Right.
WILLIAMS: Patients need to be taken off the battlefield and put first. And so I am now proposing a paradigm that's a shift completely and everything that's been done so far in this country when it comes to the 16 states that allow medicinal marijuana.
VELSHI: What's the shift?
CHETRY: Isn't it funny --
WILLIAMS: The shift is called "abatement"? What that shift means is an opportunity for us to really truly do what should have been done the last 90 years, and that is medical as a product that is available that's helping people.
First, let's understand. 90 percent of our medication are plant-based medicines. You can walk out of here today and walk across the street, your child can walk across the street and buy a medication that's not even a scheduled one to five drug and they will be dead on the living room floor if you don't get home in time. They'd take so many of them. It's plant based.
Back in the turn of the century we called it willow bark. Now we call it aspirin. Why can't we do the same thing to medical cannabis and turn it into a product that's efficacious for patients?
CHETRY: It's funny, there is a stigma attached to it. And even when people say Montel Williams admits he smokes marijuana as if there is something wrong with it.
WILLIAMS: How about this?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But why -- go ahead.
WILLIAMS: I'm sorry -- I didn't mean to cut you off there.
CHETRY: No. I'm just wondering what it is about marijuana that I understand it's illegal but yet people wouldn't blink an eye if they said you were taking large amounts of opiate painkillers for your pain.
WILLIAMS: I was going to say the same thing. How about Montel uses morphine.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I use morphine. I use heroin-based products.
CHETRY: Right.
WILLIAMS: Which is opium-based products.
VELSHI: Right.
WILLIAMS: Morphine, I get from a doctor. I have prescriptions for opium-based products. I have prescriptions for them. In my medicine cabinet right now, seven different drugs because when the pain gets so bad, I have to do that.
VELSHI: And the marijuana does --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Oh, without a doubt.
CHETRY: I think people also have a problem with the whole smoking notion of it because we know that, you know, smoking elements can hurt your body, the carcinogen. How do you take medical marijuana?
WILLIAMS: If we paid attention to the studies, even the studies the federal government has done themselves, you recognize that right now part of the reason why they continue to dispense it for 36 years, some of the damage we believe is happening isn't. There is edible. There are -- there are vaporized. There are --
CHETRY: How do you take it?
WILLIAMS: I use it in every direction I can. I try to eat it at night so that at night I don't have the spasticity and I don't have cramping. I try to make sure that during the day, I try to vaporize. I try to eat. I do various things and all we have to do is do the science behind this --
VELSHI: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And we'll bring it into the 21st century.
VELSHI: Well, good to see you and we wish you continued good health. I know you have a procedure coming up. We wish you good luck and come and keep us posted on it.
Montel Williams, it's good to see you.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
VELSHI: It is 55 minutes after the hour. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: You know that old saying: One man's junk is another man's treasure. That's true in the case for one Wisconsin businessman.
CHETRY: Yes. He has an eclectic mix of merchandise that's helped him make it through the recession.
Here is Tom Foreman with today's "Building up America".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On an old farm outside Oshkosh --
MEL SCHETTL, BUSINESS OWNER: Yes, we do have a lot of unusual items. --
FOREMAN: -- a wonderland is growing.
SCHETTL: I just call it a collection of art.
FOREMAN: An open air emporium of nostalgia, whimsy and whatever else catches Mel Schettl's interest. He has rescued these items from old restaurants, theme parks, even movie sets for 30 years. Now, they are rescuing him.
SCHETTL: Well, those items are actually helping us make it through the tough times.
FOREMAN: Schettl's main business is building materials. But as construction has stumbled he's found himself relying more on the foot traffic and trade brought by, well, this.
SCHETTL: This is a reproduction of a rodeo-type bull.
This is an eagle fabricated out of all steel.
This is a fairly popular piece. Some people might think it's unusual. I don't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter wanted us to stop here. And I'm glad we stopped.
FOREMAN: Many people come just to look, but plenty end up buying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how much it is? The neon one?
SCHETTL: The neon porch sign is $650.
A lot of individuals will buy it for home use, yard art, interior art. Other businesses use it for interior and exterior artwork to get attention. The same as we do.
FOREMAN: It is not an economic cure-all but it makes up for some of the weakness in his other trade.
SCHETTL: Well, I don't know how much of an advantage I have. I do know some of my competitors are gone and we are still here. So it must be helping us some.
FOREMAN: And in the building business these days, hanging on can be enough.
Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And that will do it for us this morning. Thanks for joining us. We will be back tomorrow morning.
The news continue right now with "CNN NEWSROOM" and our good friend, Kyra Phillips. Good morning Kyra.
