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American Morning

Group Highlights U.S. Sex Trafficking with Billboard Advertisements; Huntsman 2012; "Enough is Enough"; Opium Farming and Trade Booming in Afghanistan; The Argument Against Coddling; On the Road Again; Making Over "Carson Nation"

Aired June 21, 2011 - 07:59   ET

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


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: For 100,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and the people in America who love and miss them, the end is in sight.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

President Obama preparing to announce plans to end the war and bring our troops home.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello.

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman will be channeling Ronald Reagan when he launches his presidential bid this morning in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty on this AMERICAN MORNING.

CHETRY: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Glad you're with us this Tuesday. It's June 21st and at 1:15 p.m., it'll be officially summer.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CHETRY: Ali and Christine are off. Carol's with us again today.

Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to be here. Good morning, everyone.

We're a day away from hearing the words thousands of American families have been waiting for -- they are coming home. Big announcement is scheduled for tomorrow. That's when President Obama will tell the nation how many of our fighting men and women will begin returning to the United States from Afghanistan next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There has been significant progress in disrupting or halting the momentum of the Taliban and significant progress in stabilizing Afghanistan and the government to allow Afghan national security forces to build up, to train and prepare for taking over the lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Right now, 100,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Afghanistan. Thirty thousand of them are there because of a recent surge, and it's not clear how many of them will be getting orders in July to ship out. We'll know tomorrow.

CHETRY: And the mission in Libya is also setting up a showdown between House Republicans and the president this week. Speaker John Boehner believes the White House is in violation of the War Powers Act for not getting congressional approval to continue the operation. Well, Republicans are planning to hold votes this week on measures that would restrict funding for the mission in Libya.

COSTELLO: Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman about to join the hunt for the Republican presidential nomination. He will launch his campaign about two hours from now -- taking a page from Ronald Reagan's playbook with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

CHETRY: Jim Acosta joins us. He is live in Liberty State Park in New Jersey today with more on this announcement.

It's very interesting. Jon Huntsman jumping into the race and what it could mean for the GOP field.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

And, you know, he has been a little cautious up until this point. He skipped the CNN debate about a week ago. He didn't go down to that big Republican leadership conference down in New Orleans.

He's been sort of shrinking away from those big public events and part of that might be because he wanted to make this big splash out here in front of the Statue of Liberty. Not literally but he is going to launch his kickoff for his presidential campaign a couple of hours from now.

And Huntsman is not really known, Kiran and Carol, for throwing out of a lot of red meat to conservative audiences, but he is going to ratchet up the rhetoric a little bit and warn Americans of the dire consequences he says if the country does not get this economic turned around and this mounting national debt under control.

And I'll just share with you an excerpt of his speech that his staff put out overnight. The embargo has been lifted on the comments. But here's what he has to say in the speech in just a couple of hours from now.

Quote, "We are about to pass down to the next generation a country that is less powerful, less compassionate, less competitive and less confident than the one we got. That is totally unacceptable and totally un-American."

Note the last two words there, totally un-American. So, really taking a bit of a swipe there at President Obama. He's not really known for doing that.

Having said that, Governor Huntsman is also expected to call for a more civil tone towards the president in his speech later this morning, saying that this race that's coming up here is not about who the better American is, it's who the better president will be -- Carol and Kiran.

COSTELLO: How uncivil could he be? He worked for President Obama. So --

ACOSTA: That's right. That's right.

CHETRY: It was interesting to hear, Jim, David Axelrod saying, it's curious that he's criticizing us now and criticizing the president now, I guess that's politics because he was very supportive of some of the policies of the president when he worked in the administration.

COSTELLO: Yes, when he was ambassador to China, he didn't come out and say President Obama, you're not doing the right thing, I think you need to fix this!

ACOSTA: That's right. Yes. I mean, and that's what Jon Huntsman is up against, right? He started testing the presidential waters about a month ago up in New Hampshire. I was there for that. You know, he got a lot of Republicans talking about him but he still is mired in the single digits at this point.

Now, he does have sort of a crafty campaign staff behind him, John Weaver who is a notable Republican strategist, helped craft John McCain's presidential campaigns in the past and he's got this ad maker on his side named Fred Davis. He is known for the demon sheep ad.

They put out this video just a few days ago. If you want to show a clip of this, we've got it.

COSTELLO: Oh, let's do it.

ACOSTA: And it basically shows -- let's do it. It shows a guy on a motorcycle. It's not Jon Huntsman, but it's supposed to evoke Jon Huntsman as sort of a risk taking guy. Here's that video. I can -- I can hear that music in the background.

And, you know, Fred Davis is known for that demon sheep ad out in California during that race and the "I'm not a witch" ad in Delaware for Christine O'Donnell.

So, Huntsman is trying to take an unconventional approach here. We'll have to see whether or not it pans out for him. It's really a big open question at this point. He is vying to be the un-Romney, the guy who can take down Mitt Romney in this Republican battlefield. But, at this point, it's just a big question mark as to whether or not he can pull it off, guys.

COSTELLO: Jim Acosta, many thanks.

ACOSTA: You bet.

CHETRY: Well, in London, a 19-year-old who's been arrested in connection with this massive security breach at Sony that we've been telling you about. Police say the teen may have also hacked into a number of international businesses and intelligence agencies, including the CIA. Sony PlayStation's network went down in April after the personal information of more than 70 million users was compromised.

The Supreme Court is putting the brakes on a massive job discrimination lawsuit against Walmart. At issue: whether hundreds of thousands of female employees could make a unified claim that they were paid less and given fewer opportunities for a promotion. The court ruled the claim was just too big and, therefore, not justified. But it does not prevent the women from proceeding with individual lawsuits.

COSTELLO: The Casey Anthony murder trial resumes this morning in Orlando. That's what the court schedule says anyway. The jury did not get seated. Not a single witness was called to the stand because the judge declared for a recess and proceeded to blast the lawyers, ordering both sides to stop the gamesmanship or else.

David Mattingly live in Orlando this morning.

David, the judge was not pleased.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. He has one big rule in this case and it's no surprises. If one side brings an expert to the stand, the other side is supposed to get a report detailing what they are going to talk about so they can be prepared for cross-examination.

That has not been happening, according to the prosecution. They stood up yesterday and said, look, we got witnesses about to take the stand, and we have no idea what they are going to talk about. They're calling it a trial by ambush.

And the judge was very clear when he spoke out yesterday, I'm not going to tolerate this anymore. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTRY CIRCUIT COURT: Enough is enough. And both sides need to be forewarned that exclusion, even at the price of having to do it all over again, which I don't think I will have to do it all over again, because of repeated violations. Exclusion may be the proper remedy, if it continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now when the judge talks about exclusion, he is telling both sides, if you try to do this again, then I could very well say, no, you're not going to call that witness to the stand, regardless of what sort of consequences, including a mistrial, there might be in this case. So, he's very clearly saying, that's it, no more.

And if we do get the testimony today and we're expected to do that now, expect to hear more about duct tape, Carol. Experts from the defense trying to poke holes in the prosecution's assertion that that duct tape was used by the mother to suffocate her child, making it a murder weapon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll check back with you. David Mattingly, live in Orlando.

CHETRY: A Delta Airlines flight returning to Atlanta shortly after takeoff last night. A spokesman says the crew onboard flight 1323 experienced a, quote, "engine issue." The Boeing 747 was headed to Los Angeles. There were 174 passengers onboard at the time.

COSTELLO: Three Kentucky miners trapped for nearly 14 hours. They're safe and they're in good shape this morning.

The men who had just finished their shift were underground when a heavy rain caused a flood inside the mine. That happened yesterday.

Officials say the men made their way to a high spot inside the mine and then waited to be rescued.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DICK BROWN, KENTUCKY ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT CABINET SPOKESMAN: Pumped the water down and they were able to walk through the water and walk on outside.

HEATHER KOHLEP, FAMILY FRIEND: It's amazing, you know. You hear about the tragedies in West Virginia and it's a good thing that, you know, there was just three. Like I told someone else, if it had been anything, any, you know, later, then there would have been 30 trapped miners.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis plans to speak with the three men sometime today.

CHETRY: Well, the story that Los Angeles Dodges falling even deeper into the financial abyss. Major League Baseball has tossed out a cable TV deal that was worth a reported $3 billion. That voids a divorce settlement between the team's owner Frank McCourt and his wife who are battling for the team. McCourt was banking on the deal to get out of debt and meet payroll.

Divorce documents show the couple took more than $100 million of team revenues for personal use.

COSTELLO: You need those houses (ph)!

The Florida Marlins is going old school. They have named Jack McKeon interim manager. He led the team to the World Series in 2003. He is now 80 years old. That would make him the oldest skipper in baseball by 13 years.

McKeon broke into baseball in 1949. The same year as Mickey Mantle and just two years after Jackie Robinson broke gable baseball's color barrier.

CHETRY: So, he's seen it all. Good for him.

COSTELLO: He's not the oldest manager in history, though.

CHETRY: Right. And you can't put a price tag in wisdom. He is 80 -- 80 years young.

COSTELLO: You go!

CHETRY: All right. Well, ahead on AMERICAN MORNIN: He robbed a bank on purpose. He wanted to get caught. He wanted health care in jail. Sad tale.

We'll have more coming up. It's 10 minutes past the hour.

COSTELLO: And over a dozen gators literally tunnel their way to freedom. You didn't know gators were that smart, did you? But this scares for a smart. Neighbors are now afraid to go outside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: You usually think, OK, why does somebody rob a bank? Because they want money. In this case, the guy wanted actually some help for his health.

The 59-year-old James Verone had no job, no money, and he has some serious medical issues. Actually, I guess he had a mass on his chest.

He thought that jail would be the best place for him to get medical treatment and a roof over his head. So, last week, he entered this bank. It's in North Carolina. He was unarmed and this is the note he handed the teller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES VERONE, ROBBERY SUSPECT: The note said this is a bank robbery. Please only -- please only give me $1, because I wanted to make it known to whoever would know that, you know, it wasn't done for a monitor value, it was done for, you know, medical reasons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: He is hoping for a three-year sentence. He says he could then get treated and then get out to collect Social Security. But because he's only demanded $1 when attempted to rob that bank, police charged him with larceny and not bank robbery. So, he might not get as much time that he was hoping for.

COSTELLO: He needs a good counselor, financial counselor, to help him through this.

CHETRY: And a doctor.

COSTELLO: And a doctor. Oh, I know. It breaks your heart.

A homeowner is checking their pools twice in a neighborhood in Citrus County, Florida. A Florida Fish and Wildlife official says 17 alligators busted out of a nearby gator farm. They dug underneath the fence. Eight of them are still on the run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait until I tell my wife that there's eight unaccounted for. The last one that was caught on Friday evening was about five-foot, three inches.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wow. It's a big gator.

CHETRY: As tall as you, Carol.

COSTELLO: It is. Only two inches shorter.

Wildlife officials say the owner of the gator farm did have a permit but they are still investigating.

CHETRY: All right. Eight still out there.

Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center.

They're just looking to cool off, right? They were at their farm. They followed their buddies. One left, the other 16 followed and now look.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you live in the neighborhood, definitely bring the pets in. That's all I got to say.

COSTELLO: Oh!

MARCIANO: Well, what's the problem? You know? Gators do what gators do.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, it is the next Afghanistan war, opium? We'll look how ending the war in Afghanistan could help hurt the drug trade.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 20 past the hour. We're Minding Your Business this morning. We start with today kicking off day two of the meeting -- actually a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve, policymakers in Washington. Interest rates expected to stay unchanged. But all eyes will be on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's second-ever press conference tomorrow and what he'll say about the stimulus program ending this month.

A confidence vote in the Greek parliament takes place today. It's a key hurdle for the prime minister. The European Union announcing yesterday that Greece's austerity measures such as budget and benefit cuts, need to continue to receive a portion of a second bailout package by July. Today's confidence vote must pass in order to for Greece's austerity reforms to push through.

Half of U.S. workers say they are unhappy in their jobs and they're actively looking to get out. That's according to a report from Mercer, it's an outplacement and consulting firm.

Taking a look at the stocks now. They're headed up ahead of the opening bell this morning as investors look forward to the confidence vote in Greece. Wall Street hoping for good news, as well, from the housing numbers that come out later this morning. So again, all three pointing up this morning for the futures.

Up next, there is a new billboard campaign. It's an effort to help fight child sex trafficking here in the U.S. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

The CNN Freedom Project highlights the growing efforts to stop the sexual exploitation and trade of human beings. This morning we're highlighting a new billboard campaign to raise awareness of the child sex trade here in the United States.

The campaign is called "Do You Know Lacy" and it's being spearheaded by a Shared Hope International. The group's founder and president Linda Smith joins us now from Portland, Oregon.

Welcome, Linda.

LINDA SMITH, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL: Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: I know you recently wrapped up an investigation in Washington State on sex trafficking. What did you find?

SMITH: We found the same thing we found all over the United States, that the child being sold is relatively young and she's an American child and the man buying her is a pretty typical American man. The assessment is available online for Washington State, but I think the serious issue is that this is a natural phenomenon that I really didn't know until I started investigating it five years ago.

COSTELLO: It's really depressing and quite sad.

How widespread is it? Do we know how many young girls and boys, I would think, are used in human trafficking cases?

SMITH: Well, you know, bad guys don't report and buyers don't check in and say I was buying a child tonight, so it's hard.

But what we do is we look at the kids that end up in the criminal justice system arrested for prostitution and those that come into the child welfare system who have been prostituted. And we're able to come up with numbers. The other number we use is spun off of missing children that end up in the commercial sex industry. So we there's over 100,000. I think that's comfortably a low number that are throughout the United States that go into commercial sex every year. We found 300 to 500 children that are prostituted at any time in Seattle alone. And in Washington State, we found 153 in a very short period of time that were in jail for prostitution from being prostituted, and the youngest was 12 and the average age was 15.

COSTELLO: It just hurts your heart. OK. So you started this billboard campaign, "Do You Know Lacy?" That's what the campaign is called. "Do You Know Lacy?" will be on those billboards.

Who is Lacy?

SMITH: Lacy is any child who has been prostitute in the United States. But I wrote her Lacy when I wrote the first book on the children being prostitute called, "Renting Lacy." And this is a real girl that I worked with who was rescued by the FBI about four years ago. She and 12 other girls make up a book that was created to show what it is to be a 13-year-old in sex trafficking in the commercial sex industry in the United States. So she could be anybody's daughter.

COSTELLO: It was interesting, though, because Lacy was targeted by someone so that they could sort of fool her or trick her into becoming a prostitute.

SMITH: Yes. I have a currently a Lacy that was 13 when they stalked her at Starbucks and literally over a period of months, built her trust and then she was forced into prostitution having to take several men the first night, the first one in a strip club. And when I first started writing the book, I had a 12-year-old who someone built a relationship with, just a friendship, as she walked to school over a six-month period.

So these children are stalked and then tricked and then put into commercial sex.

COSTELLO: And one of the problems that you cite is that the men buying these young really girls aren't prosecuted all that much. We had a recent example of that in Lawrence Taylor, the football star, right? He bought a prostitute, she's 16-years-old, he gets, what, six years' probation. So essentially a slap on the wrist.

In your mind, that's wrong.

SMITH: Oh, it's absolutely wrong. When we evaluate a state, we look at not only the numbers of children arrested like in Washington State, but we look at the number of men. We could only find two cases where the man was prosecuted for commercial sex with a child and yet in the same period, we found 153 children who were jailed for prostitution.

So there's a big problem in the United States. And what we've done is developed what's called protected innocence framework of laws. And we've asked groups like the National Association of Attorney Generals, who is now led -- they are now led by Rob McKenna who is the attorney general of Washington State. We've asked them to take this as a top issue and Attorney General Rob McKenna this week in Chicago, is introducing this to the rest of the attorney generals as an issue he'd like them to take up.

So it is getting some leverage, people are getting it. But, we, in society need to understand it because I would imagine most people are hearing about this for the first time. They're shocked, repulsed and they don't know what to do. So the billboard campaign was simply to say, you know, real men are buying our kids and this is a real serious issue.

COSTELLO: Well, you keep fighting the fight.

Thank you so much for joining us. Linda Smith, we really appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Stay tuned to CNN for continuing coverage of our freedom project. Demi Moore joins the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year to take you inside the fight to ends this modern day slavery. "Nepal's Stolen Children," a CNN Freedom Project documentary. CNN Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern.

CHETRY: It's 8:30 now. Time to look at the top stories this morning.

The president announcing tomorrow the future of America's role in Afghanistan. That will mean how many troops will be on their way home as well.

Another war is heating up, and that is the drug war. The cash crop opium. As Nick Paton Walsh shows us in a special report, it's a reason why many people there, farmer and fighters, want to keep the violence in Afghanistan going. This is something you will see only on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're heading north into the remote hills for a glimpse of Afghanistan's future. The war here is not against the Taliban, but against a business so profitable, growing so fast, many worry it's Afghanistan's only option when the west pulls its troops and money out -- opium.

With an Afghan task force racing through the valleys to disrupt this year's harvest, for a while NATO let opium growers be, focusing on the surge against Taliban. But here expanding faster than anywhere in the country and risks getting out of control.

WALSH (on camera): Stopping this harvest is important because the cost of opium has risen dramatically, threatening to flood a record amount of cash into Afghanistan and also into the insurgency.

WALSH (voice-over): In one year the price has tripled. That's because uncertainty about Afghanistan's future means traders are hoarding the drug. This could generate record profits the United Nations drug control chief revealed to CNN.

JEAN-LUC LEMAHIEU, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF DRUG CONTROL: Those who benefit the most, the traders, which are not necessarily always the insurgents, will have a big incentive to continue the conflict to make sure the opium business can continue to provide the huge profits we witness today.

WALSH: Eradication is the simplest way of breaking the chain that puts heroin on city streets, but here it wipes out the livelihoods of people who have nothing, creating enemies where before life was simple.

For villagers who huddle on a roof, mourning their lost crop, it's not safe to approach, the police say, who have come prepared, in case the people behind this $1.5 business take issue. Mohammad, who lost his leg in a blast in Kabul and his $1,000 dollar opium crop to these police, still has six children to feed.

MOHAMMAD, FARMER (via translator): We grow poppy because of poverty. Without it we grow hungry. We didn't grow it for four years here, but the government gave us no help. So we started again.

WALSH: Mohammad won't discuss who he would have sold his crop to, but those cartels are the big worry here. The war funds about two-thirds of the economy, and when NATO's money dries up, it will have to be replaced with something.

Opium is the easy answer, and along with it comes war lords and fears of a narco-state. Here far away from the war, growing opium is a simple economical argument, the easiest and often the only money to be made.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: This isn't just about money going to the insurgency. It's also about creating a whole network here of criminality, of drug pushers that can already weaken this very weak Afghan government here. Obviously people say the gap between failed state and narco-state is pretty small, and preventing this country from collapsing is the reason America came here in the first place.

CHETRY: It is just such a challenging issue. You're right the not only the financing of the narco-war but the addicts and heart breaking to see somebody is buying these drugs, clearly. Nick, thank you for being with us.

Still to come this morning, we all try to be perfect parents and we all definitely fall short. But a new article that say coddling your kids too much could land them on the therapist's couch when they get older. Our next guest claims it is a surefire way to make your kids miserable.

It's 34 minutes past the hour.

COSTELLO: Also, fashionista Carson Kressley is back with a new show, and he's stopping by to look at Kiran's outfit. Do you think he will like your green?

CHETRY: I also have green shoes. I wanted to be made over by Carson, and that's why I dressed this way today.

COSTELLO: We will ask him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 38 minutes past the hour right now.

You might have spent years sacrificing for your kids, doing everything in your power to give them the happiest, most secure, stable, and, you know, wonderful childhood possible. Well, you may be contributing to a new generation of depressed young adults.

Our next guest, Lori Gottlieb, wrote the cover story for this month's "Atlantic" magazine entitled "How to land your kids in therapy." She joins us this morning. Lori, it was a fascinating article because you were a therapist. You said when you first started interviewing people and finding out what was wrong with them it was a typical I felt unloved in childhood. Then you find a different generation of 20 and 30 something's who say, no, everything is great in childhood and I'm depressed.

LORI GOTTLIEB, WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Right. I think a lot of people came in and said my parents are my best friends in the whole world and did everything for me but I can't figure out what career I want to do. I'm having trouble commit to go things. And they couldn't figure out, you know, why this was so. And I started to think, well, you know, maybe because they have never had to experience anything where they have had to take responsibility before because their parents did everything for them.

CHETRY: How do you find this happy medium, I guess, between coddling them too much, but also protecting them from true, you know, emotional harm and damage?

GOTTLIEB: Right, right. I think there is a difference between loved and being constantly monitored. I think what happens is we should love our kids, we should lavish affection on them. So I'm not asking people not to do that.

But you also need to let them experience struggle and disappointment and sadness and the things of life. If they don't get into the school play, don't call up the school and say why didn't my school get into the school play? They didn't get into the school play because maybe they didn't get the part for a reason.

CHETRY: What do you say at home to them?

GOTTLIEB: I think it's good for them to know you're good at some things and some things less talented at, and it's OK to say that. Everybody is gifted, everybody is gifted at everything, and your kid goes out into the world and they get a job and, all of a sudden, you know, their bosses aren't saying, good job, good job for everything they do. Then they start to really question whether they have any talent.

CHETRY: It also seems that there is a big, you know, discrepancy between people that have money and are able to make sure that their kid gets the best of everything and people are sort of scraping by and struggling. And one of the questions seems to be this constant feeling like you're on this keeping up with the Jones 24/7. So you're the one that didn't get your kid tutored in preschool so they could be assured a great spot in kindergarten and everybody else did. How do you avoid that trap?

GOTTLIEB: You have to do what is right for your kid. There is a peer pressure but I think a different kind of peer pressure. We want our kids to be so happy and so we do what everybody else is doing because we think they are doing it and I don't want my kid to be deprived in any way. I want my kid to be happy. So my kid, their kid is taking karate, my kid needs to take karate. They are doing this for their kid, so I need to do that for my kid. In reality your kid will probably be happier if you spend more time for your kid and play at the park.

CHETRY: Another question. You brought it up and interesting. You said don't call up the school if the kid doesn't get into the play. Carol is over here laughing.

GOTTLIEB: The teachers don't like that.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: I totally get what you're saying. We also have had this renewed focus on bullying. What is the best way to allowing your kids to learn interpersonal conflict and learn -- I mean, I just had an experience where I got a call and my daughter got hit at a play date and I was -- it was the worst feeling. And I felt a need to race over there and she is sobbing hysterically, and I didn't know if I did the right thing. But I yanked her out of there and brought her home and kissed her boo-boos and said I'm sorry this happened. What do you do? Let them duke it out?

GOTTLIEB: No. I think bullying is real and has to be dealt with. But I think parents take it to the nth degree. When a parent got to school, she saw a kid grab the toy away from her kid. The parent got upset saying, that is not fair. That is my kid's toy. That is not bullying but four-year-olds figuring out social interaction. Not physical violence, but you do have to let them have their disagreements and learn how to deal with them.

And if they don't learn how to do that and mommy and daddy are always taking care of it, they won't know how to deal with it when mommy and daddy aren't around.

COSTELLO: I don't mean to butt in. My husband is an administrator at the university level. This behavior continues to the college level. Let's say the kid cheats on a test or gets an F in a course. It's the parents who are calling. These are young adults who don't know how to handle the work world.

And when you get to the work world and you complain to young people who don't take the initiative, whose fault is that? We haven't taught our children how to deal with stress.

GOTTLIEB: College administrators are calling the freshmen that come in "tea cups" because they are so fragile. I don't like my roommate, I want to switch.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I'm just warning you that you're doing the right thing being tough.

CHETRY: She does have a tea cup set but I haven't taken it out yet. Maybe when she is six. The article is great. Lori Gottlieb, great to see you. Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much. It was interesting. I loved it.

Still head, on "AMERICAN MORNING," Carson Kressley. You might remember him from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." He is back with a new show, and he is tough. We will be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Southern Rock icon Greg Allman has a newly-found life after hepatitis C, a liver transplant and cancer.

Chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked to him for this morning's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG ALLMAN, ROCK STAR: Three rules of the day are I don't mess with my wife, I don't sit on my Harley and do not mess with my hammock --

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For rock legend Greg Allman the good old days were filled with good times and great (AUDIO GAP) in Macon, Georgia.

ALLMAN: We thought, you know, we should go find us a big, huge house, you know? What we call a big, huge hippie crash pad.

GUPTA: Today, that big house is a museum. A testament to the Allman Brothers Band.

ALLMAN: I mean every time I look somewhere, it brings back a different memory, you know? Things all torn apart here.

GUPTA: But Allman is here more than a just a stroll down memory lane. He's taping a public service announcement for drug company Merck about Hepatitis C. A disease he says he got after years of heavy partying and risky behavior. ALLMAN: They think that I might have got it from an early at tattoo.

GUPTA: Allman wasn't diagnosed until more than a decade later.

ALLMAN: I just started getting real tired, you know? Energy just isn't there.

GUPTA: For years, the virus lived undetected in his system, all the while doing irreversible damage to his liver. And after ten years of failed treatments, Allman developed cancer and he needed a new liver.

ALLMAN: They put me on the liver list. And in five months and five days they found me a -- a 29-year-old liver.

GUPTA: Now just a year after the transplant Allman is back to touring, full time.

ALLMAN: Your energy comes back a little bit of a time. It's so much better than it was.

GUPTA: He still has Hepatitis C, but he is living with it and while a liver transplant is no picnic, it's much better than the alternative and he wants to get that message out.

ALLMAN: It doesn't really matter how you get the Hep C, you got it, and you need to treat it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Ok. We're a little excited -- we're a lot excited but a little nervous because Carson Kressley is here. You know when he first burst onto the scene, it's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." At least one of them and he has was quite a fashionista.

Well, now he has a new show called "Carson Nation."

CHETRY: That's right he is dropping in on cities across the country doing what he calls not makeovers, but make-betters. Here is a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON KRESSLEY, HOSTED, "HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED FOR LIFETIME": Lead me to your closet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my closet.

KRESSLEY: Fantastic. Ok. Oh, my God. Where is your stuff? These are lonely. Look at all of these. I mean, it's just -- you have all this closet space. She has nothing to wear. I mean nothing. Not next to nothing, not almost nothing. She has nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Yes, that's my exact opposite problem.

COSTELLO: Me, too. It is so unusual.

CHETRY: Well, Carson joins us now. Thanks for coming on.

KRESSLEY: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: How do you find these people? By the way, because you -- you get -- you got some great ones.

KRESSLEY: You know what's really fun? I've always wanted to do a show and I developed a show with the team at OWN. And I said when the show opens can I find the cities that I visit by throwing a dart at the map of the United States? And they were like, sure, why not.

So then, I did and I tried and I was like, I realized I have no aims. So like, all of the darts were landing in the Gulf of Mexico and oh, Alberta. They are like we're not going to Canada.

So then, I got a little closer to the map and then we literally just picked cities that way. And we went to cities in Nevada, in Utah and Texas and California.

COSTELLO: So are people receptive of this? Do they want you to come in and like malign their wardrobe?

KRESSLEY: No, I give them margaritas and then they get sleepy and then I worked my magic.

No, they are all people that actually wanted it. Because what's different about "Carson Nation" versus a lot of makeover shows, it's not just like, oh, let's make you look cute for your wedding ok, here you go. It's we're making people's lives better hopefully by saying you know, you need to take care of yourself and if you look good and you feel good, and your potential it's going to be greater. Because you go out there and do all those things that you want to do.

But it's also families that have been living with hard times, you know. Maybe someone lost a job or maybe someone in their family has been sick. So they need my help. You know, I can't help them with those other areas in their life but I can certainly come in and make them feel better about the way they are -- they are looking and taking care of themselves.

CHETRY: See I'm all one -- Carol and I were having a discussion before. She said oh, it's mean -- it's mean to tell people that you know, you're perfect. Now change.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, no, no. Hear me out.

CHETRY: Ok. Let me hear you out.

COSTELLO: When I see shows that are on the air right now.

KRESSLEY: Right.

COSTELLO: Similar to yours, they completely annihilate the person.

KRESSLEY: Yes.

COSTELLO: Make them feel disgusting. They throw all of their clothing away and then they transform them into this person you don't even recognize any more.

KRESSLEY: Right.

COSTELLO: And then when they are presented to their families, the families begin crying as if to say oh my God, I'm so glad we got rid of that ugly person in our family and we have this beautiful swan.

KRESSLEY: Exactly, no that's --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: It's awful.

KRESSLEY: Right, that's exactly not what happens on "Carson Nation." Because that's why I called a make better because I don't want to steam roll somebody into a look that's totally not them. And that they looked like a Vegas show girl and where are you going to wear this outfit in Utah.

So I really spend time with them. We hear their story. And I find out what's going to make their life better. You know, how can they -- what have they always wanted? What's going to be empowering for them?

CHETRY: Right.

KRESSLEY: And we really keep it the best version of themselves.

CHETRY: See that's what I like to into my -- my alternative argument to Carol was that, you know, a lot of times you can get in a rut. You get depressed --

(CROSSTALK)

KRESSLEY: Right.

CHETRY: -- and let yourself slide.

KRESSLEY: Yes.

CHETRY: And then you're like, you know what, I just -- I told her I said, I wear the same pair of velour shorts every single day when I get home. I have a million other clothes.

(CROSSTALK)

KRESSLEY: That one of -- me too.

CHETRY: If you pay me, you make me throw them out. And so you're just helping me be perhaps a better version of myself.

KRESSLEY: Yes. I think a lot of women especially, most moms are out there they're working and they're busy. You want to do things that are quick and easy. And you do, you go for that same pair of pants, that same t-shirt.

And I'm just out there saying look there are other options. They don't have to take a lot of time. I can show you how you can still be chic and look young and fun and sexy and sassy and embrace all of those parts of you and express it through, you know, your hair and your makeup and your clothes.

COSTELLO: Ok well, let me ask you -- I always like to be a cynic.

KRESSLEY: I hear a devil's advocate in the background.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I admit it. The psychology of this. Some of the shows on television, they try to say you have no self-esteem, that's why you dress that way. If we dress you in this type of clothing and you look great, your life will change.

KRESSLEY: Right.

COSTELLO: That's not exactly true.

KRESSLEY: You know, I don't think -- you know, a makeover by its very nature is very superficial. Here put this on and do this with your hair, now you're different. No, that doesn't work. I have been doing this for a long time. I started out on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." And also a really popular show called "How to Look Good Naked." It's not the end result but the process.

It's saying you're worth the attention. You're worth the time. Someone cares about you. You need to care about yourself. Literally, my makeovers are holding up a mirror literally and saying look, you have the potential to change.

CHETRY: Right. And also where you're living and -- now I'm interviewing Carol. You're living in a society where the bottom line is people judge you by what you look like, unfortunately. And I know that that's --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: I think in our society today, people judge you too much by the way you look. And they judge you on the way you look for everything. And it's not right.

CHETRY: But if you need a job. It's not fair.

If you need a job or a nice suit and you need a nice suit or you need to look good. You need to present the best version of yourself, I mean unfortunately -- you know why I like you a lot and loved you since "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" you're actually --

KRESSLEY: Thank you.

CHETRY: You're very kind about. You're not just like trying to get a laugh and ripping on people. You actually --

COSTELLO: You don't suck people's clothes in a vacuum.

KRESSLEY: I know what it's like. The bottom line with my makeovers is that I want someone to be more confident when it's over so that they can, you know -- if they like the way they look and they feel good about themselves then my job is done.

It's not about, you know, do you look ok for your husband or do you look ok for your potential employer. It's do you look ok for you? Do you feel like you're being taken care of and nourished and feel confident and proud of who you are? Because I know what not being proud of yourself feels like. So that's what I try to instill in these people.

CHETRY: And speaking of proud of yourself. I don't know what this new celebrity thing is where everybody feels a need to tweet a picture of themselves in their bathing suit from their bathroom. Are we in an over-sharing situation? What the heck is going on with that?

KRESSLEY: I don't know. I definitely am not going to do that and I'm not going to pull an Anthony Weiner or any of that so --

CHETRY: Oh, dear God.

KRESSLEY: You can follow me on Twitter but there will be no nude pictures. I promise.

CHETRY: And you'd pick different boxers if you were going to do it right?

KRESSLEY: Yes. Or I send a picture of somebody else. Get a body double. Yes, it's me.

CHETRY: Or in this case, he was saying it wasn't. Hey, all is well that ends will with.

KRESSLEY: That is what I would do. That's how I would, you know --

CHETRY: So when can we see "Carson Nation"? It's actually premiering on June 25th on Oprah?

KRESSLEY: Yes. It's on every Saturday night this summer. Saturdays at 10:00 on the Oprah Winfrey Network and you can find the complete schedule at oprah.com.

CHETRY: Good for you. Ok.

KRESSLEY: Ok.

COSTELLO: I'm going to watch and try not to be depressed.

KRESSLEY: Don't. You're going to love it.

CHETRY: She is.

COSTELLO: I'm going to be empowered by it because it is Oprah.

KRESSLEY: You're going to laugh. You're going to cry. It's going to be better than "Cats."

CHETRY: Carson Kressley, always great to see you. Take care. Thanks for coming.

KRESSLEY: Great to see you.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much.

KRESSLEY: Thank you so much.

CHETRY: All right. That's going to wrap it up for AMERICAN MORNING. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Happy Summer, Kyra. First official day.

KRESSLEY: Oh, my God.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: That makeover is great for all of us.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": I'm sorry. I just have visions of Kiran in velour shorts. I don't know. That is just like haunting me right now.

CHETRY: I know. I got to toss them. I don't know what to do about it.

COSTELLO: They are in the back.

PHILLIPS: You guys have been Carson-ated. See you soon.