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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien
Facebook IPO Investigation; Interview With Rep. Peter King; Pastor Makes Controversial Anti-Gay Comments; Congressional Budget Office Issues Warning of Impending Tax Hikes; Fiscal Cliff Diving; The "Men in Black" Go Back in Time
Aired May 23, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our STARTING POINT this morning, Facebook stock tanking. Even Mark Zuckerberg is selling. A major bank is accused of possibly hanging investors out to dry.
Also, a pastor's call to put gay people in something that sounds very much like a concentration camp with an electrified fence. Kind of extreme words from a man who claims to be a man of God. Some parishioners are defending him. We'll tell you what he said.
And a woman in panic calls 911. Her husband is sick. She hears this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALL TAKER: Hold on one second. Let me try to get them on the line again --
CALLER: OK.
(SNORE)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Yes, that would be the sounds of the dispatcher snoring in the middle of her husband's emergency. We'll tell you what happened there as well.
It's Wednesday, May 23rd and STARTING POINT begins right now.
(MUSIC)
O'BRIEN: Margaret is denying this song.
MARGARET HOOVER, AUTHOR: I mean I like it but --
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: The Kingsmen, "Louie, Louie." It says Margaret's playlist and she's denying it.
It is now.
Welcome, everybody. Let me tell everyone who is on the panel this morning.
Margaret Hoover, the denier of the "Louie, Louie."
HOOVER: And who can't spell that.
O'BRIEN: Who cannot spell, she's a denier and also she's an author of "American Individualism."
Roland Martin with us as well. He's the host of "Washington Watch with Roland Martin" and Will Cain -- would you stop. Seriously. Stop.
And also we just rolled right by you. Will Cain from TheBlaze.com.
Our STARTING POINT this morning, subpoenas have been sent, investigations launched this morning into what was a pretty messy IPO of Facebook. According to "Reuters," the state of Massachusetts is now looking for answers about possible insider information. Sent subpoenaing out to see if Morgan Stanley lowered revenue guidance for Facebook before it went public, but only informed some of its bigger clients and not its investors.
The company issued this statement saying that Morgan Stanley followed the same procedures for Facebook offering, that it follows for all IPOs. These procedures are in compliance with all applicable regulations.
And the group that self-regulates Wall Street, the Financial Institution Regulatory Agency also launched an investigation.
Facebook shares have dropped 18 percent from last week's original offering price of $38 a share, which is bad news on several fronts.
Nice to have you, Christine Romans -- joins to us talk about this.
So, let's talk about the investigations first. SEC, we know the financial regulatory commission as well and the state of Massachusetts. Why are they looking into wrongdoing?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They're trying to find out what Morgan Stanley knew inside or what they were telling their top clients inside and whether they told everyone and Morgan Stanley says it did nothing wrong here. We al knew, we knew that revenue was slowing for this company. That's something the company Facebook itself had said in a regulatory filing.
So, you had a lot of people on the street going back and sharpening pencils saying, wow, this is not a great time for Facebook to be showing us that revenue is slowing a bit at a time. They are trying to go public.
O'BRIEN: Any wrongdoing would be if Morgan Stanley was telling its big investors they valued one thing, but the smaller investors with gazillion (ph) friends I have who got in on the Facebook deal and not making it public to them. That would be wrong.
ROMANS: That's what they are looking into to see if that actually happened with Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley saying that did not happen. It did not happen. It's all based on -- not just analyst inside Morgan Stanley saying I think their revenue is going to slow. It's because the company said their revenue was coming in lighter than they thought. It was public information they were making this call on. Who did they make the call to, that's what everyone will check out now.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You have folks upset they put out so many shares.
ROMANS: I know.
MARTIN: And so explain that because the person at home is saying you put out more shares --
O'BRIEN: They thought there would be less access to shares and people had more shares.
ROMANS: That started happening late Thursday. Brokers said, wow, we're up. We're up. People don't want anymore than we've offered them and there were more shares to go.
And you make a really good point, because you look at where stock is trading right now, it's trading right now at the beginning range that we first heard of that Facebook was going to put forward. Somewhere in there Facebook and banker got involved in their own hype about how much demand and value of this stock and they priced a lot of shares at the very high end and the public just didn't want that many.
ROMANS: The graphic of Facebook is $38 to $42 and then it's been like this down to $31 today.
HOOVER: Don't you think it will recover eventually?
ROMANS: It is hard to say. You look at Groupon and other ones that went public and they've been sort of struggling along. I think that every time they buy a company or they make some sort of a strategic hiring -- what are they going to do with the money they made? They made $15 billion or $18 billion. What are they going to do with that money?
Every time there's a press release about what they done with that money, that could move the stock.
But the bottom line is you have 420 million shares. I likened it on the day of the IPO that (INAUDIBLE) swallowed a goat. You have 420 million shares. It's very hard. It takes time. It looks ugly, you know?
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: It's cascading set of errors.
O'BRIEN: People who have been waiting to become millionaires are going to sell their shares.
ROMANS: A lot of paper millionaires in 90 days. You'll see them selling shares.
CAIN: Isn't just the appropriate conclusion regarding this entire Facebook story, that there is no conclusions, there are no conclusions. We don't know what Facebook is worth. We don't know what future business will be like. We don't know if IPO is right or if current price is right. We're analyzing things --
O'BRIEN: It's stock market 101.
CAIN: It's stock market valuated over a two-week period.
O'BRIEN: Right.
CAIN: Let's just kind of see where they shake though.
O'BRIEN: If you evaluate the stock market over 10-year period, sometimes -- I mean, look at Jim Collins, things turned out not too work out so well.
CAIN: It's kind of my point.
ROMANS: This is why we say IPOs are risky. This is why it's hard before the IPO individual investors complained it was hard for them to get shares. After the IPO individual investors saying, why wasn't I protected?
IPOs are risky. We don't have a track record of the company.
MARTIN: They wanted a sure bet. They wanted a sure bet. They didn't get a sure bet and now they are sitting here complaining.
CAIN: They wanted hype to be real.
MARTIN: They want the sure bet.
ROMANS: It's an existential crisis for social media companies, right? It really is. They change your life but can they make money off of them, you know?
People who know Facebook say this is so big it changed the whole world. It must be a good investment. Investments and life changing social media aren't necessarily the same thing.
O'BRIEN: Conventional wisdom is you should purchase what you know. Many people who use Facebook and like Facebook say, OK, I know it. I like it. I use it. Ergo, I shall purchase it.
CAIN: It's not about social media exclusively. Doesn't Warren Buffett say you could have done more for American capitalism if some investors sat on the beaches of Kitty Hawk and (INAUDIBLE) the American Airline industry wouldn't have sucked all this money --
O'BRIEN: How about that for a sharp turn before we head to headlines.
MARTIN: Thanks, Will. Appreciate that.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate that as well.
CAIN: That was actually a bow and circle and it was all --
O'BRIEN: Hard time following all of the analogies.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's a challenge for the rest of us. We'll ask you to do double duty this morning if you would give us headlines.
ROMANS: Right.
Right, because we're also watching Egypt and its future closely watched by the U.S. and Israel this morning. Look here at live pictures in Cairo where Egyptians are heading to the polls right now to elect their first president since the fall of Hosni Mubarak and 30 years of dictatorship.
It's really the first free election in the country's 5,000 years of existence. If all goes as planned, the election will end the military-led transitional period. There's fear, of course, of more bloodshed if that military decides not to step aside.
It's not much mystery left but Mitt Romney picked up two more primary wins last night, folks, and in position to officially clinch the Republican nomination next week when Texas holds its primary. Romney taking Kentucky with 67 percent of the vote, Arkansas with 68 percent. Total of 75 delegates up to grabs between the two. Romney now less than 100 delegates from clinching number of 1,144.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan will have a chance to defend his agency when he appears before the Senate Homeland Security committee today. He may have a hard time e convincing senators that the prostitution scandal in Colombia was an isolated incident. Four Secret Service agents fired in the sex scandal fallout plan to fight for their jobs back. The agents claim they were made scapegoats for behavior the agency knew was going on and has long tolerated.
Big spoil alert. If you don't want to know who won this season's "Dancing with the Stars." you have 1.5 seconds to look away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Donald and Peta!
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ROMANS: NFL star Donald Driver this season's winner. He and partner Peta Murgatroyd wowed judges with their country-themed freestyle scoring a ten and they also got the trophy. The Green Bay Packers receiver was considered an underdog. The judge favorite Katherine Jenkins came in second.
And those are headlines.
O'BRIEN: Earlier this morning I asked, would you do "Dancing with the Stars"? She's like you could get shin splints.
HOOVER: I heard you say you would do it.
O'BRIEN: In a hot second.
HOOEVER: Where is that invitation?
MARTIN: We'll drive it like it's hot.
ROMANS: Let's do it here tomorrow. You two be partners and we'll be judges.
CAIN: Book it.
MARTIN: We don't want to embarrass will. Donald Driver is an alpha man. Congratulations.
O'BRIEN: No on that offer. I was talking about the real show, people.
Moving ahead on STARTING POINT this morning: a woman claiming she has a device sewn into her body happens on an international flight. The plane is then diverted. The all-clear is given but it's a real concern. We're going to a point man on Homeland Security Congressman Peter King will join us up next. He was given minute by minute on the scare as it was unfolding.
Also, our get real this morning. Catching up on Zs. When precious seconds count the most. A 911 call where the dispatcher fell asleep.
You're watching STARTING POINT.
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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
This morning, we're learning more about a woman who caused a flight to be diverted to Maine over fears that she had a bomb implanted insider of her. The flight was headed from Paris to Charlotte, North Carolina.
And just about 40 minutes in, a French citizen, who've been born in Cameroon, handed a note to the flight attendant and the note said that she had a surgically implanted device inside of her. Two fighter jets were scrambled. The plane was diverted to Bangor, Maine.
Flight attendants restrained the woman in the back of the plane, while a doctor, who happened to be onboard, examined the woman. One man who was behind the same is getting the minute by minute of all of this while it was unfolding is New York congressman, Peter King, who's also on the Congressional Homeland Security Committee.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it. You were notified about all that's happening in the air. You bet. Tell me what was your first thought when you heard of this unfolding 35,000 feet up?
REP. PETER KING (R), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: I was very concerned. I'll tell you why, because we've been focusing, really, for the last several months on this new strategy which al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has which is to implant a bomb, an explosive device within the human body.
They have doctors, they have scientists which, at least, we understand theoretically they can carry it out. Now, we're not -- obviously been any test runs, but they are focusing on this. We do believe they have capacity to do it. So, this was not as crazy as it might sound for the average person. So, once we heard it, we became very concern.
But it appears from all accounts, one from, you know, doctors looking at it on the plane and also all of the tests that are being done since, that she did not have any device at all implanted into her body, but we are very concerned that this could happen.
O'BRIEN: The first thing I thought of was the conversation that you and I had last which was, if you remember, about that bombing -- the bomb that could not be detected coming out of Yemen. And I thought, oh I wonder, if this is sort of the next step of that potentially. Did you think of that as well?
KING: I did, because again, we're concerned about the bombs that can be concealed on the body, but again, we do know that Yemen has actually gotten surgeons who can perform this operation. And, that's al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operating out of Yemen. And so, we are very much looking out for this starting about a year ago, but more so, in the last several months.
And again, it's believed that this would have the capacity to bring down a plane. Now, this is a short flight for this. You can't walk around with a bomb inside of you for that long. And also, the bomb, itself, would not stay lethal for that long of a period of time, maybe several days or a week.
And so, the person who has had the surgery, you would think, would be showing signs of it. It would be stooped over, would be in some kind of pain or some kind of discomfort. And that's what the screeners are on notice for what to be looking for, any type of physical symptoms coming from a person.
By the way, she's been checked through all of the data bases. Her name has not shown up anywhere which is also a good sign.
O'BRIEN: Yes. At the same time, more is being learned about this woman who was not, you know, showing any signs as she went, apparently, through the security checks. She's a French citizen, born in Cameroon, Africa. She was traveling alone for ten days, had not any luggage with her.
And, another passenger said that she was seemed very nervous as she was waiting for the flight. I'll play a little bit of that and ask you a question on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW KOBAYASHI, PASSENGER ON DIVERTED FLIGHT: I had gone to the restroom earlier in the flight, and I noticed that she had been sitting alone in the back of the plane and seemed kind of sweaty and nervous and seemed on edge, but no more so than somebody who is nervous about flying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Do you think, Congressman King, that there are red flags that were missed, that someone who's traveling for ten days from France with no luggage wouldn't be a red flag to give a second look?
KING: We don't have our screeners overseas. On this though, even though she was flying without luggage and she was flying for ten days, I think if that had been in the U.S., she would have been taken aside for secondary screening and would have been questioned and asked, you know, where she was going and why she was doing this and they would have asked a series of questions trying to get some indicators from her.
On the other hand, apparently, none of the terrorists' data bases that we have. Her name does not appear anywhere on them. So, to that extent, she would not have been a threat. But I agree with you, Soledad, I think that, first of all, we have to worry about people who are not on terror data bases, who are not on terror watch lists.
And in this case, I think she should have been taken aside and at least given what we call a secondary screening, being questioned, being interrogated, and find out why she was doing this, and again, looking for any telltale signs that she was actually up to something nefarious.
O'BRIEN: I want to ask you a question about a movie that we know is coming out. It's a movie that's going to focus on the raid that kills Osama Bin Laden. Kathryn Bigelow, the director, is sort of going to be directing this film. She's known for "The Hurt Locker," obviously.
You have come out after looking at some of the e-mails going back and forth between, I believe, the White House, and the production team incredibly angry about what you say is being revealed. What's being revealed? KING: Let me just start at the beginning by saying I give President Obama tremendous credit for this. It was a courageous decision he made. He deserves all the credit for what happened. I'm not challenging that or a movie being made about him. That's not my issue.
My concern is the access that Hollywood producers and Democratic lobbyists were given to the CIA and to the Defense Department. We're finding out that Kathryn Bigelow that all of this -- all her meetings with the CIA were arranged by a Democratic lobbying group. I've never heard of lobbyists interceding to get people into the CIA.
She was taken to locations and sites that not even mentioned. They've actually been blacked out of the reports of the e-mails because they're sensitive, yet, she was taken to them and other people involved were taken there, and I'm saying that if this is too sensitive for the average person to know about, did Kathryn Bigelow have security clearance? Is she cleared to go in there?
Why would she have it when only members of Congress have been to some of these sites? And also, we find there's also in the defense department making information about Navy SEALs available to them. This, to me, requires more investigation. We've got hundreds of pages now of e-mails which the administration fought, by the way.
Judicial watch had to go to court to have them forced to turning these documents over, and again, to have Democratic consultants, lobbyists, having access with Hollywood producers to inner workings of the CIA, of the military, raises very serious questions. I mean, this was done within 10 days, 10 to 20 days of the attack when the American public was not supposed to being told any of this.
So, again, I think there's too much cooperation and collaboration here between Hollywood and the administration and our intelligence agencies and also the military.
O'BRIEN: Congressman Peter King joining us this morning. Thanks, Congressman. Nice to see you, as always. Appreciate it.
KING: Soledad, thank you.
O'BRIEN: You bet.
Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, a woman in the middle of an emergency situation with her husband calls 911. And in the middle of trying to get help for her husband, the operator falls asleep and starts snoring. We'll tell you what happened. It's our "Get Real" this morning.
And a wedding photo kind of out of the "Wizard of Oz." A cowboy, his bride, a kiss, and a twister. Nice photo.
Don't forget, you can catch us live on your computer, your cell phone while at you're work, just head to CNN.com/live or follow me on twitter @Soledad_O'Brien. You're STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: What is that a picture of?
MARTIN: I have no idea.
O'BRIEN: I was trying to figure that out. Anybody have an idea? Oh, that's the Intrepid. Put that back up again. (INAUDIBLE).
MARTIN: All right.
O'BRIEN: Look at that. Beautiful. Great.
MARTIN: It looks like they're sailing or something.
CAIN: City fall of sailors.
O'BRIEN: That's Everclear, "Father of Mine," off of Will Cain's playlist this morning.
Let's get to "Get Real" this morning.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Stop. Panicked woman calls 911. Her husband has collapsed. She starts talking to a dispatcher and then she hears this. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on one second, ma'am. We're trying to get them on the line again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: It's a complete emergency. And the sleepy dispatcher has fallen asleep. He's snoring. Meanwhile, her husband has a breathing issue. So, he's literally suffocating. Another operator took over. But meanwhile, the snoring guy is on the line still.
So, while they're having their conversation with the second operator, you can hear snoring in the background from the first operator who goes through, and in fact, the dispatcher asks, you know, is it your husband -- is that your husband that we're hearing so loudly on the phone line. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that him I hear in the background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that him I hear in the background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, uh-huh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: No, it's not him she hears in the background. That would be the dispatcher. Her husband cannot breathe in the background.
HOOVER: I'm just delighted there was at least a backup operator, so this guy wasn't left hanging. Do we know what happened to the snoring operator?
O'BRIEN: Well, he eventually woke up.
MARTIN: Somebody woke him up.
(CROSSTALK)
HOOVER: Does he still have a job? That's what I want to know. Does he still have a job?
O'BRIEN: In the long run, six minutes later, he woke up and he sort of got back in on the call and started asking for the address. Meanwhile, she's like, I have been working with somebody else here. He's been placed on administrative leave. The patient was hospitalized. The fire department says that there were no adverse effects because of the snoring operator.
CAIN: Are we sure he was asleep and snoring? Story about heavy breathing? Somebody's heavy breathing.
MARTIN: Dude, seriously? He was snoring. He was asleep.
O'BRIEN: I love that whatever story I say, Will is always like, well, I'm not sure.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: What's the other angle on this?
MARTIN: We know what he wasn't doing.
O'BRIEN: We say get real to that dispatcher and I think probably not going to have a job.
MARTIN: Not get real, wake up!
HOOVER: He should get a sleeping problems checked out.
O'BRIEN: Clearly. Clearly, for the next gig. No question. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, a CNN investigation. Preaching hate. A pastor is calling for locking up gay people inside an electrified fence. Gary Tuchman is going to join us live from North Carolina. Members of the pastor's church who say they support him.
And "Men in Black 3" will hit theaters this weekend. The leading lady, Alice Eve, is going to drop by, talk about the movie. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.
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O'BRIEN: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. Let's get right to headlines. Christine Romans has that for us. Good morning.
ROMANS: Good morning, Soledad. Al Qaeda apparently intent on waging an electronic jihad against the United States. An Al Qaeda video obtained by the FBI last year has just been made public. That video calls for cyber-attacks against our government computer systems and critical infrastructure, including our electrical grids. The video compares vulnerabilities to U.S. computer networks with flaws that existed in aviation security before the attacks of 911.
A tragic end for the search of a missing Harvard business school student. The body of 31-year-old Nathan Billmaier was recovered yesterday in Portland, Maine. Police say there's no sign of foul play. They'll conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan slowly recovering from broken ribs this morning. The announcement was made yesterday at the Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley where she was expected to attend a speech. Mrs. Reagan suffered the injury in a fall in her home six weeks ago we're told. The former first lady is 90-years-old.
Hundreds of thousands of minorities are missing from the latest U.S. census count. Analysts say blacks, Hispanics, American Indians were undercounted in the 2010 report. Census officials say they have no plans to correct the count, and that has upset some minority groups because census data is used to determine who receives federal funding and how much. Minority advocates fear bad count would hurt certain communities and states. Officials say the 2010 census is the most accurate count in the nation's history.
New FDA warning for dog owners about treats made in China that could sicken or kill your pets. The FDA first warned about health problems associated with certain kinds of China made brands of chicken jerky products you can see on your screen.
A Kansas couple's wedding photo gets photo bombed by a tornado. Caleb and Candra Pence just said I do when the tornado touched down about eight miles away from where their wedding ceremony was taking place in Kansas. They chose an outdoor farmhouse location. The two met at a rodeo and that is a wedding picture for the history books.
O'BRIEN: That's a beautiful shot actually. All right, thank you. A hateful rant by a pastor in North Carolina has gone public and now his church is in danger of losing its tax exempt status. That is all because of what the pastor said. The pastor's name is Charles Worley. He's facing fierce backlash because of what he proposed this country do to gays and lesbians. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES L. WORLEY, PASTOR, PROVIDENCE ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH: Build a great big, large fence, 100 mile long, and put all of the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have that fence electrified so they can't get out. Feed them, and, you know what? In a few years they'll die out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Yes, he's been saying this for a while. Here's a clip of a sermon that he gave back in 1978.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WORLEY: We're living in a day when you know what it saddens my heart to think that homosexuals can go around, blessed god, and get the applause of a lot of people, lesbians and all of the rest of it. Blessed god, 40 years ago they would have hung them, blessed god, from a white oak tree. Wouldn't they? Amen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: What he said about voting is what could actually land him in some serious trouble with the federal government. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WORLEY: I tell you right now, somebody said who are you going to vote for? I ain't going to vote for a baby killer and homosexual lover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: So it's that remark that has provoked an advocate for separation of church and state filing a complaint against Pastor Worley. He said he thought the pastor crossed the line in lots of ways but this one particularly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unless you were asleep during the sermon, which has been known to happen, this went on for 90 minutes, you know unequivocally you are not supposed to vote for Barack Obama. This means it's a clear violation of the tax code that says, again, without equivocation, you cannot endorse or oppose a candidate for public office and retain your tax exemption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: All this brings us to Gary Tuchman who joins us from North Carolina where Worley's church is located. Talking to folks in the congregation, the sermon was put up online and now has taken down, what do folks who attend the church tell you?
GARY TUCHMAN: Perhaps it's not surprising, Soledad, but still chilling that every person we talked to who goes to this church supports their pastor. Right now it's quiet inside the Providence Road Baptist Church. But last night they had a special meeting. Scores of members showed up for a prayer meeting to pray for their pastor, pray for their church after their pastor's words this mast Mother's Day.
Was the pastor inside the church? We don't know for sure because sheriff's deputies did not allow us on the property. Earlier in the day we wanted to talk to the pastor and went to his house. A lot of members of his family were outside of the house. We parked our vehicle and they scattered inside the house so quickly that actually one of them left a lighted cigarette on the window sill, and once again deputies came and chased off the property so we never got to talk to the pastor at this point about this.
We hope to at some point today we can tell you in Maiden, North Carolina, it's a small town but we must tell that you people who aren't affiliated with this church, many are embarrassed and aghast about the situation but the members we've talked to strongly support their pastor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would do anything he could for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Takes a real firm stance on the Bible and what it says about different things, whether I like it or not or anybody else likes it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being gay and lesbian or whatever, homosexual is wrong according to the bible. We love the people and hate the scene, pointblank. You need to lay off my pastor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: We're not exactly ready to lay off the pastor as we said we're trying to talk to him today. We figured he would be very delighted to talk to us. He knows the stuff goes on the web. He knows that anyone can see it. But as of now either he doesn't want to talk to us because he's afraid or because he couldn't care less about us. Back to you guys.
CAIN: Hey, Gary, this is Will Cain. Real quick, how big is the pastor's flock? Is this a big church?
TUCHMAN: Yes, this is a surprisingly big church. When I heard about the story I imagined it was a tiny church. This place fits between 800 and 1,000 people potentially. So it's a major church in this area.
MARTIN: Gary, are other Christians, other pastors condemning this pastor's comment and stepping up and saying anything saying how wrong and hateful he is and that he is not operating as a person of faith as what Jesus would do?
TUCHMAN: Yes, Roland, many other pastors in this area have spoken out against this man. And, once again, I must emphasize I think a lot of people out there say this town must be crazy people in this town. Most of the people we have talked to here in Maiden are totally opposed to what this guy is saying. They think he's a nut job. They think he's an angry man. But it's fair to say every person we talked to that goes to this church is supporting this guy.
O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to hear what pastor says when he decides to start talking to you. Gary Tuchman for us this morning. Appreciate the update.
Still ahead on STARTING POINT, disturbing news from one of the country's top money watchers. The Congressional Budget Office says another recession could be looming. Why and how it could be lamented. We'll take a look.
And "Men in Black" back for the third time. Alice Eve is starring in the latest installment. She's going to join us to talk about it straight ahead. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.
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O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you. Are we about to fall of a fiscal cliff? The Congressional Budget Office says that's exactly what's going to happen if trillions of dollars of tax hikes take effect as scheduled next year, include letting the Bush tax cuts expire, the alternative middle class exemption for the middle class, and $1 trillion in spending cuts and pay cuts for Medicare doctors. The reports says if Congress doesn't act, the U.S. economy could be pushed back into a recession. Christine Romans joins our panel to talk about that. It sounds dire.
ROMANS: And it is. When you look at the numbers, the Congressional Budget Office says it would be 1.3 percent contraction in the economy next year, a recession that everyone would feel. It's really a warning from CBO to the president and to Congress that not doing anything is going to hurt.
But the CBO also points out that longer term you got to get our fiscal house in order as well or we're going to hurt the economy longer term, too. So what they're really telling us is that Congress and president and both parties have to do a better job of figuring out the way forward here or either in the near term we'll get hurt or in the long-term we're going to get hurt.
CAIN: Two years now since (inaudible) but just not yet.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And also saying figuring out how to do a better job. I mean like you don't have to do a report on that. We could all say the exact same thing to Congress.
ROMANS: Well you know when I first started covering Congress and business, the whole mantra was gridlock is good because then Washington can't get in the way of business. Well now the gridlock is not good anymore because they've got to figure this out. We have some big problems. The gridlock is not going to fix.
CAIN: Silence.
MARTIN: No, no, no, I thought Margaret is going to say something, so I say I defer to Margaret.
HOOVER: Oh, that's kind of you. No I just -- in here gentlemen, CBO is a nonpartisan (inaudible). I mean people have been saying for a long time we just had the Pete Peterson fiscal conference in D.C. last week. When and what is it going to take for members of Congress to get into their heads that fixing the debt and fixing the deficit is something that not just -- not just Americans care about. My generation care about, we know that were going to be paying for it if we don't get on it.
CAIN: Briefly Margaret inaction actually advances what you just put forward, debt and deficit. What it worries people about is economic growth. You can't put in big tax increases and big spending cuts. That hurts economic growth.
MARTIN: But they're also --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: And so growth versus austerity fight that they're having in Europe were having here too. We need growth in the near term but we need austerity in the long-term. And where are they going to have -- how are we going to telegraph that and that it stands smartly.
O'BRIEN: And some of those things -- sometimes those two things collide and really it is up to Congress to figure out how to navigate that so that we can minimize the collision I guess.
MARTIN: And if you look at the Bush tax cuts and whether people like it or not, they have contributed to the deficit and it's going to be a problem when you have this conversation because the GOP says don't keep them in but it also causes deficit to increase. The Democrats don't want any cuts. That also impacts the deficit. Somebody -- both have to give up something.
HOOVER: How do you think about Bowles-Simpson? It's still looking good in the rear view mirror?
MARTIN: First of all that's unrealistic because both parties are absolutely wimps when it comes to making real changes.
ROMANS: Well that is really -- that's actually an interesting point here. Because both sides say oh yes we understand CBO. And were going to -- we know that we got to do it. But it's the other guy's fault. They are the one who is the problem. CAIN: (inaudible) the last two months of the year, November 2, where they have no interest on working on this right now.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: But think back to November and December.
(CROSSTALK)
HOOVER: And by the way and it's going to be the President.
MARTIN: After the election in 2010, how much stuff got done in the short window after the 2010 election? It's amazing what happened when they have the kind of pressure to get stuff done.
ROMANS: When is the debt ceiling of loan.
HOOVER: It could have be -- well, all of this is going to happen in December after the presidential election with either a lame duck president or lame duck Congress.
ROMANS: Cancel your Christmas vacation.
O'BRIEN: And you say people are cynical about politics. We know why. All right Christine thank you.
ROMANS: Yes, you're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, actress Alice Eve stars in a new "Men in Black 3" movie. It opens this weekend. The trailer looks hysterical. She's here with a preview up next. She's got a great playlist too. "I love a girl who loves Pit Bull". Back in time, listen to it.
You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.
Hey, great to have you, welcome.
ALICE EVE, ACTRESS: Good thank you so much for having me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL SMITH, ACTOR: Can I have everyone's attention please? Ok you know your kid won that goldfish in that little baggy from the school fair and you didn't want that nasty thing in your house so you flushed it down the toilet? Well, this is what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: They're back. The aliens trying to rule the world and "Men in Black" trying to stop them. "Men in Black 3" opens on Friday. This time Agent J, Will Smith travels back in time. He's trying to stop an alien from assassinating Agent K Tommy Lee Jones. Josh Brolin is playing the young Agent K because he's going back in times. MARTIN: Right.
O'BRIEN: And Alice Eve plays his love interest the young Agent O. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH BROLIN, ACTOR: How do you know my name?
EVE: Terribly sorry, X is frightfully upset about the whole Coney Island incident.
BROLIN: Thanks for the heads-up. Oh man, this coffee tastes like dirt.
EVE: What do you expect it's ground.
BROLIN: It's ground this morning.
SMITH: O?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Alice Eve joins us. Nice to have you.
EVE: Thank you. Very nice to be here.
O'BRIEN: We were just commenting on that big giant hairstyle which we all thought was a wig.
EVE: Yes.
HOOVER: And in many of the press report also indicated it's a wig but you corrected us. That is your hair that you spend two hours a day on.
EVE: The bubble flip hair and not bubble flip wig.
MARTIN: Will and I had no idea about it.
EVE: And now you know. Now you know.
O'BRIEN: Is it -- is it hard to come in to a series that's been very successful and sort of be part of the third one? I know you go back in time. So it sort of changes the characters again. But you're in something that's wildly successful. Do you worry about that?
EVE: That's very comforting to me in something that's very successful. I've done it a few times actually. I've joined things that are established. I just finished shooting "Star Trek" and we were sort of the entourage. But I went to nine schools so that's an adequate preparation to fit in with an already established community.
O'BRIEN: Nine schools through like -- Kindergarten through high school.
EVE: Yes, I did nine.
CAIN: Were you a military family or just kept moving?
EVE: My parents are actors so they moved a lot. Sometimes I was naughty.
O'BRIEN: She glosses over that.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: You got kicked out of school?
EVE: I never got kicked out. Sometimes it was better for me to move.
MARTIN: A voluntary leave.
EVE: Yes. Voluntary leave.
HOOVER: You all moved to Los Angeles and then you moved back to the United Kingdom.
Eve: Yes. So I swapped accents and cultures and dress codes.
O'BRIEN: What was it like to be on the set with Will Smith who is so funny? I love the trailers. There's a bunch (inaudible) that are online. But you know, is it naive to think that everybody sits around and laughs because -- people just crack up the whole time?
EVE: He's kind of a phenomenon.
O'BRIEN: People just crack up the whole time.
Eve: Yes. And he will -- I don't know if he's still -- he was on Graham Norton and he did "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" rap which, you know, I was like, can you please do "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and he did it. You have to pinch yourself. He's kind of a phenomenon. He's an amazing guy.
MARTIN: Now, of course, Tommy Lee Jones is a Texan and he is about --
O'BRIEN: These Texans by the way --
MARTIN: Yes we are. Yes we are.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: It's God's country. He's also a very interesting guy as well. Always seemed to be intense.
EVE: You know, because of the story line going back in time, my scenes were with Josh Brolin and not Tommy Lee Jones.
MARTIN: So you didn't have to deal with Mr. Intensity?
EVE: There was some intensity. We had our fair share. It was a very pleasant experience.
CAIN: Let's explore that as well. What do you mean?
EVE: Well, you know, it's very intense because Brolin was doing, you know, to some extent an impersonation or impression of Tommy Lee. So that creates a very intense atmosphere. And you know, the first time he did the scene for the director, the director kind of had a little tear. It could be hit or miss. It's a lot to take on. And I think he does a wonderful job.
O'BRIEN: Josh Brolin, you're doing love scenes with Josh.
EVE: You are?
O'BRIEN: No, you are.
CAIN: Not yet. That's in my next --
O'BRIEN: Do you have to like a person to execute well on that? Can you do a love scene with someone you really just personally don't like or do you have to really like them?
(CROSSTALK)
EVE: You can. Love scenes are difficult. It's one of the things that, you know, it's what you're paid for. Some days are pleasant you feel like you would do it for free.
O'BRIEN: Your agent swoops in and says don't be ridiculous.
MARTIN: People pay and they realize though, you know.
CAIN: (inaudible) with this hairdo -- Josh Brolin or Adrian Grenier in "Entourage".
EVE: You know, as Emma Stone says it's apples and oranges.
O'BRIEN: A political dodge and we love it.
MARTIN: Can't wait for "Entourage" movie though.
O'BRIEN: It's so great to have you. The movie opens on Friday, I think, right over the weekend.
EVE: Yes. It does.
O'BRIEN: Something to see -- "Men in Black 3". Great to have you.
EVE: Thank you for having me.
O'BRIEN: We've got end point up next with our panel. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We'll start with Roland Martin. You want to start Roland?
MARTIN: Yes, real simple. My take away, watch your kids, please. That video of the kid on that big wheel or whatever he was going across the street, it happens so often. When I'm going shopping, you see kids just running around, look and the parent's gone. Check your child, please. That's how they come up missing.
O'BRIEN: Thank you for that parenting advice this morning, Roland Martin.
MARTIN: Absolutely.
CAIN: I was going to visit a commercial break conversation. Let me introduce you to Chris. Chris operates one of the cameras in the studio and he divorced himself from the New York Jets because they signed Tim Tebow and in the process he broke several man rules. You don't get to pick your sports team. You're born into your sports team.
MARTIN: When you're a grown man, pick your own team.
HOOVER: I will say like me, I am born into my sports team -- the Denver Broncos. I'm so proud of Tebow. We're going to miss him but we're really looking forward to Peyton Manning hitting the field.
O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Really, you divorced yourself? Because of Tebow?
CAIN: He went to the Colts.
MARTIN: But the Houston Texans will beat all of you.
O'BRIEN: Well, that's our final word. Thank you, guys.
Let's get right to Carol Costello for "CNN NEWSROOM". Hey Carol, good morning.
