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CNN Sunday Morning
Air Show Crash; Controversial KO by Mayweather; Dead Satellite Falling to Earth
Aired September 18, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning.
Another deadly air show crash to tell you about this morning. This time it's in West Virginia. It comes a day after we were telling but that deadly crash at an air race in Reno, Nevada. We'll have an update on both of them for you.
Also, it was billed as the mega main event. But it didn't end the way people thought it would. A controversial night in boxing that wrapped up with a head butt and what some are calling a sucker punch.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Eight a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in Houston, 5:00 a.m. in Reno, wherever you maybe, glad you are right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.
And let's give you a new picture now from that air race crash in Nevada. This picture could help investigators figure out what happened and this is why. Take a look here. You can see what looks like something possibly breaking off the tail of that plane.
This was just after this. The plane veered out of control and crashed into the crowd. Investigators say they are now focusing in on this picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ROSEKIND, NTSB INVESTIGATOR: A component has been recovered in the area where that was observed. But I think it's critical at this point to know we have not identified the component. It will be examined. So, we don't really know what the component is or if it even came from this particular aircraft. We are very clearly going to focus on that, and that's part of the factual information-gathering that's going on right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Nine people died in the crash. Seven of them on the tarmac, including the pilot, Jimmy Leeward. Two other people died later at the hospital. Nearly 70 people were injured, a number of them are still in the hospital this morning.
Also, that other air show crash I was just mentioning a moment ago -- this one is in West Virginia. This happened at the Thunder over the Blue Ridge air show in Martinsburg. The pilot killed in this crash. He was flying in an acrobatic demonstration.
This happened, however, out on the airfield. This was away from the crowd. The iReporter who was taking these pictures, as you can imagine, still said this was a really scary moment for everybody. This air show has been canceled for today.
Turning now to the president. He is expected to get his debt reduction bill ready and drop it right on the laps of 12 members of the Congress' bipartisan debt committee tomorrow. You know that supercommittee been herein so much about?
The president this weekend in his weekly address is talking about his jobs bill and this debt reduction bill he's going to use to pay for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will create new jobs, it will cut taxes for every worker and small business in the country, and it will not add to the deficit. It will be paid for.
On Monday, I'll lay out my plan for how we'll do that, how we'll pay for this plan and pay down our debt by following some basic principles. Making sure we live within our means and asking everyone to pay their fair share. But right now, we've got to get Congress to pass this jobs bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: "The New York Times" reports that in his Monday announcement the president will propose a new standard tax on millionaires. It is part of the deficit reduction plan he's talking about there. The plan is not likely to sit well with some Republicans who say excessive regulation is what's dragging down the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And we all know some regulations are need. We've got a responsibility under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce. There are reasonable regulations that protect our children and keep our environment clean. Well, then there are excessive regulations that unnecessarily increase the cost for consumers and small businesses. And those excessive regulations are making it harder for our economy to create jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you'll hear the president's deficit reduction plan live right here on CNN tomorrow morning. That's scheduled for 10:30 Eastern Time.
Four minutes past the hour now. And protesters angry over Wall Street and the banking industry blocked streets in Manhattan yesterday. They were planning to converge on Wall Street in the iconic bull statue there. Police blocked that off, however. Protests were planned through social networks. Organizers had hoped it would be like the demonstrations we all saw take place in Egypt and Libya.
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is our duty as Americans to fight for our country and to keep it, you know, true to serving its people. When it doesn't do that, it's immoral not to stand up and say something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, this is what the New York police are saying about this, quote, "A protest area was established on Broad Street at Exchange Street, next to the Stock Exchange, but protesters elected not to use it. None associated with the demonstrations sought permits."
Ron Paul is your winner. Out west, the Texas congressman won the California straw poll for Republican presidential hopefuls that's run by the California Republican Party. Ron Paul got 45 percent of the vote, as you see there. Rick Perry had 29 percent. Mitt Romney 9 percent.
Ron Paul was there in California yesterday. Most of the other candidates were over in South Carolina.
Also this morning, final arrangements being made for former Illinois Senator Charles Percy. He died last night in Washington. Percy was considered by many a moderate Republican who served three times in the Senate. He was a Navy vet and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. He was the first senator to urge a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon's presidency. Percy was 91 years old and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The United Nations General Assembly really gets down to work this week. They kicked off their 66th regular session last week. But this week, we are going to see all those speeches by the world leaders. President Obama slated to speak on Wednesday. The assembly will also hear more this week on worldwide efforts to fight terrorism and the possibility of Palestinian statehood.
The fight for Libya rages on, but still no sign of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Portraits of the missing strong man got stomped by rebel sympathizers in the town of Birak on -- that was yesterday. Libya's opposition fighters got stiff resistance from pro- Gadhafi loyalists in the dictator's hometown of Sirte. It was there one of our CNN producers was wounded, taking shrapnel to his ankle. Eight anti-Gadhafi fighters also died in that battle.
Well, six minutes past the hour. Now, it's starting to get a little cooler. You may have noticed.
Let's say good morning to our Reynolds Wolf. Reynolds, good to see you back here with us. Good to be working with you again.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Great working with you.
HOLMES: But summer's done.
WOLF: For most people, it's going to seem that way. For parts of Texas, it's still going to be brutal. But you personally are a fan of the warmer conditions.
HOLMES: Yes, I like it hot.
WOLF: Yes. See? I'm opposite.
HOLMES: OK.
WOLF: You got to mix it up just a little bit. It keeps things a little bit interesting.
If you're a fan of cooler weather like I am, it's going to be great across much of the Great Lakes. Temperatures are going to be some five to 10 degrees below average. Same story for much of the Eastern Seaboard.
If you are like Mr. T.J. Holmes, well, then, you're going to be happy in parts of south Texas because we do expect the temperatures to be warm. In Miami, your highs are going to be in the 90s. Another thing we're going to be dealing with today, some scattered showers and a few embedded thunderstorms across the central and Southern Plains.
And what that is going to do is give you the rain chances not just through parts of the Southern Plains, but also moving into parts of the southeast, even into Florida. Expect some scattered showers, some across much of the Great Lakes.
Severe storms could also cause some delays to stack up in a few places. No surprise out in St. Louis, you might have a delay of about an hour. Same deal in Oklahoma and Kansas City. Chicago, back into Tampa and Miami -- those thunderstorms in the afternoon may keep you delayed for about an hour or so. So, just keep that in mind.
The temperatures again -- wow. Love this time of year. It's going to be just perfect in Chicago, 72 degrees; 67 in New York; 81 in Atlanta. Again, T.J., Miami and Tampa with highs in the 90s; 90 degrees in El Paso, 71 in Los Angeles, 64 in Portland, 74 in Billings and Minneapolis with 63.
That is a quick shot at your forecast. T.J., let's pitch it back to you.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you, kind sir. We'll check in with you again here shortly.
About eight minutes past the hour. I got some video to show you here of a flash mob. Pretty good stuff here but we'll explain why they showed up outside a campaign stop of one of the Republican presidential candidates.
Also this morning, the fight ended exactly how a lot of people thought it would. But they could pick the winner but they couldn't pick -- or figure out exactly how this one was going to end. A mess, folks, with a head butt and a sucker punch -- an ugly night for boxing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twelve minutes past the hour now on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
And while campaigning in California, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann ran into this -- a flash mob outside her appearance at California Republican Party convention. Gay and lesbian activists -- they say they don't like her stand on gay issues and this group is sponsored by the Courage Campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bachmann with her anti-homophobic message, they just can't play the gay way. That was the message. We're here and we're here to stay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, inside the convention, Bachmann says Republicans will win back the White House, carry California. The state hasn't gone to the GOP since 1988. That's when George H.W. Bush beat out Michael Dukakis.
Well, again, about 13 minutes past the hour.
Let's say good morning to our good friend from HLN Sports, Joe Carter.
I don't know even know where to start with this one.
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: Well, I can tell you where I want to start, I want my $49.99 back. That's for sure.
HOLMES: You got a better deal than I did.
CARTER: I got a discount.
HOLMES: You got a discount.
CARTER: You got to change your cable providers.
HOLMES: We're talking about this fight, of course, last night. This was supposed to be a big one. This is one of the few marquee names that people will pay money to see, Mayweather.
CARTER: One of the biggest pay-per-view draws in the history of pay-per-view boxing, of course. Mayweather/Ortiz last night ended like no one thought it would end, ended midway through the fourth round. I mean, up to the fourth round Mayweather completely dominated the fight. No question. In that fourth round, Ortiz clearly frustrated, head butts Mayweather in the mouth. Rep stops the fight, docks Ortiz a point. They both come back and touch gloves and for one split second Ortiz took his eyes off of Mayweather, looked in the ref's direction. That's when Mayweather essentially dropped him two hard punches. Ortiz went down to the canvas. Fight was called over, knocked out.
Afterwards though, I mean, the response from Mayweather in the post in-ring interview was just absolutely childish the way Larry Merchant asked him about the fight, asked him about the punch. He went off in a profanity-laced tirade.
But the ref's response was clear. A fighter needs to keep his guard up at all times. Mayweather did nothing illegal.
But, clearly, boxing and I think many people would agree with me is clearly not a gentleman's game. He could have waited two second. He could have waited two seconds, T.J.
HOLMES: This happens all the time. Boxers when they get split up, something happens, they touch gloves. You let your guard down for a moment. You touch gloves and say, all right, let's go back to fighting now.
That was that moment that was happening and it looked like Mayweather took advantage of it.
What are people saying the day after? I mean, they getting on to Ortiz with the head butt? Are they saying Mayweather was a sucker punch? What are they saying?
CARTER: Well, immediately following the fight, you could hear people in the crowd booing. I mean, there's 40,000-plus inside the MGM Grand booing. I even read in "The L.A. Times" that the Staples Center. They had a viewing party. And as the fight ended there, the boo-birds flew out. People frustrated that ended like that.
Obviously, Ortiz did a bad first by head butting him. But you could see how Ortiz, when they came back to touch gloves, gave him a quick hug as to say, hey, you know, my bad. And then when he looked away for one quick second, that's when Mayweather dropped those two vicious punches.
Now I am just telling people, if they didn't see it last night, HBO is going to replay it next week. Make the decision for yourself. But when the first time that I saw and the 15 times I've watched it afterwards, the first thing that comes to mind is cheap shot. It looks like a cheap shot.
But, again, you know, it's a legal punch. We haven't seen a fight end this bizarrely since '97 when Holyfield was bit by Tyson in the ear. You know, remember that? So, it was a strange ending to a fight. And it frustrates me as a boxing fan and sports anchor because I want to see Pacquiao and Mayweather. And it gives these guys, I know, because here it is, you think we cheated? We'll fight you again. It just puts a gap. It just puts more time in between what we would like to see, which would be the mega fight, to determine who is really the best fighter on the planet.
HOLMES: We encourage you to see that next week. You're right. But it is. It's shocking to see, but his hands were completely down at his side.
CARTER: Looking the other direction. In the replay, you could see him looking in the other direction.
HOLMES: All right. Joe, that's the story, the sports story everybody's going to be talking about for a little while. Good to see you though. Thanks so much.
We're at 16 minutes past the hour now.
And there is a satellite up there that's the size of a school bus, and it's coming towards us. It is about to fall out of the sky. We'll tell you about that.
NASA says also that not only did they just discover 50 new planets, one of them is just like ours. We'll see exactly what they are talking about.
Also this morning -- people have been making stuff out of gold for thousands of years. So, what's the big deal about a phone being made out of gold? Well, would you pay 60 grand for it?
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 18 minutes past the hour now.
And this little boy found himself in a pretty tense situation in China. Four stories up. Crying little child. His head is actually stuck between the anti-theft window bars outside the apartment where he lives. You heard me right -- his head is stuck, he's just dangling there in the air.
Now, a fire crew had to come over and secure him with a rope, and then started cutting away those bars with those big colored scissors. You see the little guy, minutes later he's out thereof and back in his mother's arms. My goodness.
Also, we were just talking, me and Joe Carter, about Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz, the fight last night. Maybe we should have been talking about this fight as well. This fight took place in Russia. Not boxers but billionaires, tycoons, business tycoons. They are debating the economy at a forum and look what happens. You don't have to speak Russian to understand that right there. Somebody didn't like something that somebody said, and somebody started throwing blows. That's essentially the story. Now, the guy who got up there, the older guy who threw the punch, he's a former KGB agent. May explain why the other guy didn't come back at him.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
HOLMES: Let's turn now, say good morning to our Nadia Bilchik --
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: The only Russian I know is (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) which means good day.
(CROSSTALK)
BILCHIK: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) which means (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: OK. So you could interpret that for us.
BILCHIK: But, interesting, there are so many very wealthy Russians.
HOLMES: Billionaires.
BILCHIK: Yes. A Danish cell phone company has targeted them and targeted them to sell them something very exclusive. And what it is, is a pure 18-karat gold cell phone.
Take a look. This is a Danish company called Aeisir. And it's called the AE&Y phone. It is pure gold. It is about $60,000.
Now, it does not give you the Internet. It only has speed dial, a built-in calculator and a Bluetooth.
HOLMES: OK. But, again, these guys are billionaires. They run out of things to buy that are unique. They can buy anything they want to.
BILCHIK: They can buy anything they want.
HOLMES: They need something unique.
BILCHIK: And something that is a status symbol. If you think we take utilitarian things like sunglasses which are to protect the eyes and turn them into a fashion item, this is the ultimate fashion item which is your pure gold, very sleek phone.
HOLMES: How much did you say that thing was?
BILCHIK: It's about $60,000. You can get the stainless steel version for about $10,000.
Now, there has been some criticism because it only has a five- hour battery life.
Now, do you have an iPhone? Or do you have a BlackBerry?
HOLMES: I do have an iPhone.
BILCHIK: An iPhone has about an 11-hour battery life.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: So this is not that good, five hours. But who cares really? I suppose, you're just taking it out for fashion anyway. Now, if you think the price of gold has increased so much that you could always melt it down and turn it into something else, right?
HOLMES: What else are -- these days -- I mean, is gold the hot thing? I mean, of course, hot as far as the price of it.
BILCHIK: Absolutely.
HOLMES: But they're doing everything with gold these days.
BILCHIK: We spoke about that a while back. We spoke with gold tattoos, pure gold tattoos out of Dubai. Remember that one?
And you weren't here when I brought you gold contact lenses with diamonds out of India. See there the tattoos. That's the gold contact lenses -- you did miss that -- where people are saying we can use gold in all kind of forms. That's the ultimate, isn't it?
HOLMES: OK. How expensive are the eye -- the contacts?
BILCHIK: The contact lenses are about $15,000.
HOLMES: Gee!
BILCHIK: Right. And the gold tattoos -- as you know, but all different ways of showing gold. But that's not the most expensive cell phone you can buy. Because the 3GPS iPhone supreme is 22-carat gold and it has a diamond home button.
HOLMES: Who makes that?
BILCHIK: Well, that would be the iPhone, apparently. It would be purely on demand.
HOLMES: On demand, OK.
BILCHIK: And that's about $3.2 million.
HOLMES: It's just silly. Has anyone bought one of those things that we know about?
BILCHIK: They apparently have been orders. We'll have to find out. But, you know, think about it -- when you have absolutely everything, imagine taking out of your purse a beautiful sleek gold phone.
HOLMES: It's a matter of principle.
Nadia Bilchik, good to see you. Twenty-two minutes past the hour now.
A massive dead satellite is about to crash back to earth and scientists aren't exactly sure where it's going to land.
Also this morning, they have discovered a new planet that could possibly sustain life. NASA has been busy. What they've been up to after the break. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 24 minutes past the hour now.
And a dead NASA satellite about the size of a school bus is about to crash to earth and we don't exactly know where. That is just one of the big space stories we need to tell you about today.
Always good to see my good friend, John Zarrella, joining me live this morning from Miami. And you're here to tell us when we need to duck.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Let's -- we got to worry about ducking. About the 23rd of September NASA says. And that's like what? Next Friday, I think? Give or take a day, they really don't know for sure.
It's called UARS, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, launched by the space shuttle in 1995 to study the earth's atmosphere. It ran out of gas literally in 2005 and its orbit has been degrading ever since. So, UARS is coming closer and closer to re-entering the earth's atmosphere.
And if you take a look at this flat map of the earth, you can see that the area that it could possibly hit covers six continents, 500- mile wide swath. And so, NASA has no idea where in that swath right now it could come down. But there's a 3,200 -- one in 3,200 percent chance you could get hit by a piece of space debris.
HOLMES: I don't like those odds.
ZARRELLA: No, I don't like those.
Only a half a ton of the six tons is expected to re-enter the atmosphere but that's still quite a bit. We'll know more later in the week.
HOLMES: OK. Big of a -- and again, it's going to break up. So, small chunks but still could be some large, significant pieces?
ZARRELLA: Well, they won't be big -- they won't be the size of your desk, for instance.
HOLMES: OK.
ZARRELLA: There will be some small pieces that will land back on earth, or if we're lucky they'll all hit in the water. But there's just no telling the exact size of these pieces that are going to reenter.
HOLMES: Yes. And we appreciate them giving us a general idea. You know, somewhere on six continents. At least we can narrow it down.
ZARRELLA: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) on the planet.
HOLMES: Other news here though, we have discovered -- I say we -- but they have discovered what these planets -- a planet that has, what, two orbiting suns? Explain this to me. Do I have that right?
ZARRELLA: You've got it exactly right.
You remember Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars," right?
HOLMES: Of course.
ZARRELLA: OK. And he's standing on Tatooine, the desert planet, his home. And he's looking out and he sees two suns. Well, NASA had always thought, well, it is possible but they've never, ever discovered a planet orbiting two suns.
Well, the Kepler telescope that is orbiting the earth right now has done it. They did discover now a planet orbiting two suns. Now, it's not a habitable planet. It is a big huge Saturn-size planet. But it does add to the belief that there are far more planets orbiting out there than they ever thought before because they just didn't know.
Now, here, T.J., let me show you something.
HOLMES: All right.
ZARRELLA: Let me show you something. This is my Milky Way candy bar, OK? This represents the Milky Way, our galaxy. Well, if you just take off a little bit of this candy bar, that's about how much of the galaxy Kepler looks at. And in that portion, there are -- this little portion, 145,000 stars in just that little portion of our galaxy.
So, you can imagine that there's very likely life out there somewhere in the universe.
HOLMES: You know, this is why we love having you on. We get the information and demonstration with the Milky Way bar.
John Zarrella, buddy, it's always good see you. Thanks so much. Talk to you soon.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
HOLMES: All right. We're getting close to the bottom of the hour now.
And did you hear what the Reverend Pat Robertson stirred up this week? A conversation about when it's OK to divorce your spouse. Well, maybe, if he or she has Alzheimer's disease. But what actually does the Bible say about that and about vows. A conversation you don't want to miss for our "Faces of Faith."
Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: So we are just past the bottom of the hour on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes. Welcome back. I'll give you a look at some of the stories making headlines.
Up first here, the NTSB is now looking into this deadly air crash at this air show -- the air race out in Nevada. Not sure what caused it but they're hoping this picture you're seeing can help them out. It shows a missing section of that vintage plane's tail. Nine people died after that plane crashed, including the pilot.
Also Eleanor Mondale, the daughter of former Vice President Walter Mondale has died. She was 51 years old. She was a radio show host and television reporter. She had been battling brain cancer since 2005.
Also, freedom on hold right now for those two American hikers imprisoned in Iran for spying; the attorney for Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal hoping they'll be released soon. But Iranian law requires two judges to sign their release. So far only one judge has, the other judge is actually on vacation.
Also, Tanzanian authorities will charge five men with negligence after a ferry capsized off the island of Zanzibar. They say they are responsible for overloading that ferry. More than 200 people died. Four of the suspects expected in court tomorrow, the captain is missing but there is a warrant out for his arrest.
Well, the Reverend Pat Robertson says divorce is an option for a man whose wife has Alzheimer's. The man wanted to start seeing another woman because he says the woman he married essentially no longer exists.
Listen now to what Robertson said that started such a controversy. This was on his show, "The 700 Club."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT ROBERTSON, "THE 700 CLUB": I hate Alzheimer's. It is one of the most awful things because here is the loved one -- this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years and suddenly that person is gone. They are gone. They are gone.
So what he says basically is correct but I know it sounds cruel but if he's -- he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again. But, you know, to make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But isn't that the vow that we take when we marry someone, that it's for better or worse, for richer or poorer and --
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTSON: Yes, well, that I know, if you respect that vow. But he said until death do us part. This is a kind of death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Ok. You can imagine the reaction that got. You probably, if you hadn't seen it before now, have a pretty strong reaction to it as well.
But to help us with this, to talk about Christianity and divorce, our good friend Dr. Brent Strong, ordained minister and associate professor of Old Testaments Studies at Emory University.
We needed to get you in on this one because people are wondering about vows and what the Bible says about them. Let's just start with this -- what does the Bible say about divorce and when it's ok?
DR. BRENT STRONG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, as you can imagine the Bible says several different things about divorce. And some texts in the Bible seem to really allow for it to pre-suppose that the practice was known and -- and even widespread at least in some cases.
And in other texts are quite adamant against divorce.
HOLMES: Ok, let's put up one here. And you can try to take me through this. The first here, we're getting from Deuteronomy, says, "Suppose the man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it her hand and sends her out of his house, she then leaves his house." That sounds like a man can divorce a woman for whatever reason.
STRONG: Yes, the key phrase there is "something objectionable." You know, what -- what is that? And it gave rise to a lot of interpretation because the text itself isn't clear what that -- what that phrase means.
So in the first century the rabbis debated this and the school of Rabbi Hillel said you know something objectionable means really anything.
HOLMES: Yes.
STRONG: Like you said, I mean, if a woman displeases a husband by, you know, not cooking dinner right, he can divorce her.
HOLMES: Yes.
STRONG: But another school of rabbis headed by Rabbi Shamai (ph) said, no, that's not the case. And the particular language that's used seems to suggest some sort of sexual impropriety. And so that's the kind of debate that's going on. That Jesus then sort of enters into with his teachings on divorce in the New Testament.
HOLMES: Ok, now you brought that up some kind of sexual impropriety. And let me bring up one other here, this is from Mark, the Book of Mark. He says, "Then Jesus said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery." That makes it sound as if you shouldn't be divorcing at all.
STRONG: That's right. And Luke has a very similar statement by Jesus. So Mark and Luke, those texts seem to indicate Jesus is against divorce and particularly about remarriage after divorce and the connection of remarriage to adultery. So it seems to be the concern about the adultery commandment, going back to the Ten Commandments, that's motivating that.
But in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus makes a famous exception about when one can divorce. And it's called Mattheian Exception (ph) because it occurs in Matthew and it's much more in line with Rabbi Shamai School that says basically in the case of sexual impropriety -- and again the term is not clear what it means but most people think it means something -- it has something to do with adultery.
HOLMES: Ok now, let's get now back to what Pat Robertson said. And people brought up the vows. You take a vow that says until death do us part.
STRONG: Right, right.
HOLMES: He says this is a form of death, Alzheimer's.
STRONG: Right.
HOLMES: Now that's surprising to a lot of people to realize when that pastor is standing up there, maybe married you or you've been to a wedding --
(CROSSTALK)
STRONG: Right.
HOLMES: -- he is not reading those vows word for word from the Bible.
STRONG: Right.
HOLMES: They are not necessarily from the Bible. Explain first where did we get those vows we're all so familiar with?
STRONG: Yes.
Yes, the -- the traditional vows seem to be in their early (INAUDIBLE) form going -- go back to the 1500s. But they're not technically found as such in the Bible. Some of the language of course that's used in marriages, including things like what God has joined and let no one put apart.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes.
STRONG: -- that's found in the Bible. Jesus says that in Matthew 19.
But these other phrases are not found in the Bible per se though they echo aspects of what the Bible says about the covenant bond and particularly about care for one another within marriage.
HOLMES: Is there a "till death do us part" you could pluck from the Bible somewhere or somewhere they interpreted that?
STRONG: Right. Not exactly with that phrase. But when you think about -- of course, there's nothing like Alzheimer's mentioned in the Bible proper.
HOLMES: No.
STRONG: They don't have that diagnosis back then. But there's all kinds of texts in the Bible about taking care of people who are needy and sick. And if that applies to strangers which it does in the Bible, then certainly it would apply to a family and even one's spouse.
And we do have these texts like Ephesians that talk about husbands loving -- really mandating husbands to love their wives with the ultimate love of Christ, and so sacrificial love for the church. That says it is "till death do us part", and it -- and even up to and including the death of the spouse that -- that loves the other spouse to that degree.
HOLMES: And we'll wrap here. The reaction you have seen those are there -- of course Pat Robertson has said some controversial things in the past. And you know people support him, people don't support him. But on this one what have you seen from the religious community?
STRONG: Well, it's been really I think markedly uniform condemning him.
HOLMES: Right.
STRONG: And I think it's because the Bible is clear in its broad scope to be against what he said on this particular point.
HOLMES: All right, Dr. Brent Strong it's always good to have you.
STRONG: Thank you.
HOLMES: Thank you being --
(CROSSTALK)
STRONG: My pleasure. HOLMES: -- being willing to come in anytime for our "Faces of Faith" segment.
STRONG: Yes.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
Well, we're about 40 minutes past the hour now. If you'd like more about religion and spirituality we've got our belief blog for you at the CNN.com/belief. You certainly can share your thoughts there.
Also this morning, her son was trying to help a homeless man who was being attacked. He paid with his life. Now his mom is recalling one of the last times they spoke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACPHAIL: He would call me during his break and say Mumsy, he called me, he said, "I'd just thought I need to call you and let you know I'm thinking about you, I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: In just a few minutes you'll hear from Anne MacPhail, you'll hear reasons for wanting Troy Davis to be executed on Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 42 minutes past the hour.
And let us say good morning to Candy Crowley, "STATE OF THE UNION" coming up at 9:00 Eastern Time. Candy good morning. It's good to see you how are you first of all?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Well, I am very good, thank you. And you?
HOLMES: I'm doing fairly well, living the dream here in Atlanta, Georgia. But things there in D.C. --
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Right.
HOLMES: -- the President's been getting out of D.C. a lot lately, hitting the road trying to sell that jobs plan and now he has another plan to sell, the plan to pay for the other plan. What are we going to see on Monday?
CROWLEY: Right. Right, jobs bill part two. How are we going to pay for this?
Listen, one of the things that folks are talking about today and tweeting about is a minimum millionaire's tax. This is -- is based on the idea that has been put forth by actually a number of multi- millionaires, even billionaires, who have said, listen, we pay a lower rate of tax than middle class folks do.
So apparently the President -- one of the President's proposals, we've been told by sources at CNN, will be to make sure that millionaires do pay at least the same percentage as middle income taxpayers do.
So there's -- doesn't seem to be here and no one has yet said like how much that would bring in, it certainly will be a very good populous point to make while on the campaign trail. The Republicans, if I can guess at their reply, will be we're all about reforming the tax system but the whole tax system needs to be reformed, not just a tax increase at this point on millionaires or anyone else.
As you know this week --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Right.
CROWLEY: -- this past week, House Speaker Boehner has said there just can't be any tax increases, we won't go for it.
HOLMES: Now you chat and I assume you'll be chatting about that this morning. Who do you have as your guest?
CROWLEY: We will talk to the number two Democrat on the Senate side, Dick Durbin, as well as Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, to look at the politics of all of this and how it is playing because you can't -- this is about policy and getting American jobs but we're in a presidential election cycle so you can't take the politics out of the policy. We'll talk to them about both.
We're also going to take a look at this Palestinian bid to have their statehood recognized at the U.N. next week. You know, this has caused a huge heartache -- or heartburn for the U.S. not to mention for Israel. We'll have representatives from both Israel and the PLO on to talk about it.
And we're going to talk about the state of the economy and how much will that jobs plan actually produce in terms of real live jobs for people to go to.
HOLMES: You're going to get all that in, in an hour?
CROWLEY: I am. I talk very fast.
HOLMES: All right, Candy Crowley. Always good to see you, thank you so much.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
HOLMES: And to our viewers, you can see more of Candy here in just about 14 minutes and 25 seconds when she comes your way for "STATE OF THE UNION", 9:00 Eastern time, 6:00 Pacific right here on CNN. And they have been marching for a condemned man. After the break; comments from the head of the NAACP and also the mother of the man Troy Davis is convicted of killing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, about 11 minutes off the top of the hour now.
There is a curfew for preteens in Chicago going into effect tonight. They are trying to cut down on delinquency. Kids under 12 will have to be home by 8:30 on weekdays and on weekends by 9:00. An editorial saying that no one should pretend this will solve the problem of out-of-control kids but it also says parents should do their jobs.
Let's turn to Dryden, New York now where an armed soldier who escaped from military custody is back behind bars today. Russell Marcum is his name -- you're seeing him there. He was being held on burglary charges when he got away. That set off a manhunt in upstate New York near Fort Drum. Police using canine units and helicopters finally caught up with him. He did surrender without a fight.
And in Atlanta, hundreds of people marched trying to save the life of death row inmate Troy Davis. They say Davis was wrongfully convicted of murdering a police officer, Mark MacPhail back in 1989. Since Troy Davis' conviction witnesses have changed their story, recanted their testimony. If the Board of Pardons and Paroles does not grant clemency on Monday, Davis is expected to be executed as scheduled on Wednesday.
Among those planning to attend the board meeting is Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP. I talked to him earlier this morning, asked him why the execution should be stopped this time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: I think that right now we need to focus on what's in front of us. We need to stop the execution. I do think that all killers need to be brought to justice and the reality is, if there is this much doubt, then there is a good argument that the case should be re-opened and they should actually start a search for the actual killer.
We now know that more people in Savannah are saying that somebody else did the killing and they know who it is. And they actually point to one of those two folks who will not recant as the actual killer then he put Troy on death row. I mean if I was the DA sitting there, I'd say let's look back into this because frankly we're not safe until all the killers are actually off the street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I also talked to this weekend Anne MacPhail, she is the mother of officer Mark McPhail, the one that Troy Davis is convicted of killing. She has no doubt about Davis' guilt and she said Davis should be executed on Wednesday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNELIESE MACPHAIL, MOTHER OF MARK MACPHAIL: I was at court when that all happened. The jury was emphatically saying he's guilty. Now after 17 years they're saying the other thing? Somebody is on their back and I know before even they were because it came back. We have family in Savannah. We know what they were doing.
So I really don't know what happened Monday, what they're going to do. I'm being very, very cautious because it is the fourth time and every time something else came up. No, I'm not going to the execution. That doesn't give me any satisfaction to see him die. That really doesn't. I will know when it's happened and there will be family members who will be there. That's enough for me.
Because like I said, I'm not out after blood. I'm after justice. I want my son to rest in peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She did say that Davis' execution would finally get her peace but she said she will likely never have closure since the death of her son.
We're about seven minutes off the top of the hour now.
Coming up, go to school -- but you don't have to leave the house -- the growing popularity of cyber schools.
Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're just about five minutes off the top of the hour. "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley is coming your way.
But first, I'll give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines today.
A picture could hold the key to Friday's deadly crash at an air race in Reno, Nevada. It shows a missing section of the tail of the plane that went down killing nine people including the pilot. NTSB now investigating and this picture could be a major part of that investigation.
Also the late Senator Ted Kennedy's only daughter, Kara, died of a heart attack on Friday. She's seen here, this is her accepting her father's Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly before his death in 2009. According to the family she collapsed after her daily workout. Kara Kennedy was 51 years old.
Also, President Obama expected to push for his jobs bill in a speech tomorrow morning at 10:30 Eastern time. You can certainly see it live right here on CNN. The President here in Columbus, Ohio; he has been out and about pitching his jobs plan to the country. As part of the plan the President will ask for a new tax on millionaires. Well, as you know, it is back to school time but these days not every student needs a book, much less a classroom. Not when they have a computer at home.
CNN's Fredricka Whitfield has more on cyber schools.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seventh Grader David Tanner is off to a new school year. But he's not in a traditional classroom. He attends Georgia Cyber Academy, a state-wide public virtual charter school. His mother transferred him to virtual school because she felt he wasn't reaching his full potential with the hustle and bustle of traditional school.
SUZANNE TANNER, PARENT OF SEVENTH GRADER IN CYBER SCHOOL: He had a hard time organizing himself with that and keep up with the work. And so his grades started slipping and we realized that this whole school system didn't work for his personality.
DAVID TANNER, 7TH GRADE CYBER STUDENT: I can concentrate better when it's peaceful and quiet.
WHITFIELD: David tunes in to lessons taught by a live teacher fully certified by the state.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct. Here're some of the links.
WHITFIELD: The classes are recorded so he can watch them again later at his own pace.
S. TANNER: It offers flexibility in that he can actually speed through topics that he already knows, so he doesn't have to sit through the whole class if he doesn't -- if he already gets it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little guy, he's real squirmy.
WHITFIELD: Learning isn't limited to online. There are monthly field trips. David has the opportunity to get out and meet other students.
MALAYSIA MOORE, 10TH GRADE CYBER STUDENT: It is a very flexible program. You can go on field trips once a week and can you do all your homework at home. You can just like wear your pajamas if you want to. It is a lot less stressful than high school.
WHITFIELD: The state contributes $3,000 for each child. Kids from all over Georgia are eligible to attend and the school says it attracts all kinds.
MATT ARKIN, GEORGIA CYBER ACADEMY HEAD OF SCHOOL: We see gifted students who are getting bored in the class. We see students who have fallen behind and need an opportunity to catch up. We see students with health issues or special needs that the distractions or obstructions in a classroom just don't work well for them. We see students who face bullying issues in schools or cultural issues or their local school just isn't safe.
WHITFIELD: David's mother keeps him active and engaged with extracurricular activities.
S. TANNER: He plays violin and he plays soccer in the evening to get his PE hours.
D. TANNER: It says three scoops of chocolate ice cream.
WHITFIELD: And they still make time for the fun stuff -- like homemade milk shakes.
Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Renny, tell them what they need to know on this last Sunday of summer.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, let me put it to you this way. Today's going to be a great day to watch pro football and right across the nation's midsection. It's always a good day to watch football. But I mean you're going to have a lot of rain from the Great Lakes clear down to the Gulf of Mexico, including Texas, even some severe storms that may pop up into the midday and afternoon hours.
Already we've had some thunderstorms in places like Oklahoma City, back into Dallas. West Coast looks pretty good, East Coast pretty nice and actually quite cool for you, New York and Washington with highs in the 60s, Boston 65, Atlanta 81, Dallas 88, 78 in Salt Lake City, 76 in San Francisco and 63 in Seattle.
T.J., my friend, you are up to speed.
HOLMES: Kind sir, thank you. Good to be back with you here on the weekends.
WOLF: Thanks.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you so much.
And to our viewers, thank you all for spending some of your time, your weekend here with us on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING. We will see you back here next weekend but right now it is time for me to hand it over to Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION" which starts right about now.
