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CNN Sunday Morning

Another Lehman Brothers Moment?; Sandusky's Defense Could Start Tomorrow

Aired June 17, 2012 - 07:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I've been sharing this story with you all morning. A teacher apparently ordered an entire class to beat up a so-called bully at school. And did I mention that the boy was just six years old? Why? Well, allegedly to show the class that bullying is bad, which is true, but you got to question how she did this here. The teacher reportedly instructed the kids to attack him, shouting, "Hit him harder "

So, what do you think about this story? What should happen to the teacher? We've been getting a bunch of tweets in. A lot of people heated about this one.

Ralph says, "The teacher should be put under investigation. Good to notice bullying, other ways to handle it."

Forgive me if I get this name wrong. Al_Anood tweeted me as well. "That is disgusting. The teacher is teaching to bully instead of helping the bully to stop and discover other outlets."

Michael is calm and cool and collective above justice. "Since it's allegedly, if found to be true after an investigation, the teacher should be fired."

Keep sending me your thoughts. You can find me on Twitter. You can tweet me @RandiKayeCNN. We'll have much more about this story throughout the morning.

(MUSIC)

KAYE: Hello, everyone. And good morning. So glad you're starting your day with us.

We have a lot ahead for you now on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

I'm Randi Kaye. It's 7:00 on the East Coast.

We are talking a whole lot about Greece, bracing for an economic meltdown there. The world holding its breath. It could be the next Lehman Brothers. If you thought the 2008 meltdown was bad, wait until you see what today's election results bring.

And an alleged serial pedophile may take the stand as the Sandusky defense takes center stage tomorrow, promises that jurors will hear from the man himself. A lot of people hope the 2008 economic meltdown was a once in a lifetime event. But there is growing concern right now that a pivotal election happening half a world away could push the U.S. economy to the brink again. Voters are at the polls in Greece, picking a new parliament. The outcome could end up propelling Athens right out of the eurozone.

CNN's Ali Velshi explains why that could shake Wall Street and global markets to the core.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Think back to 2008, the failure of Lehman Brothers in the United States. It set off a worldwide credit freeze, proving just how interconnected the global financial system is. Back then a car buyer in Oklahoma found out he couldn't get a loan because an investment bank in New York he probably never heard of collapsed.

That credit crunch hit America, it hit the entire world. It forced businesses around the world, economies to pull back. When a business needs to cut costs fast, it lays people off.

So the question now is -- could the same thing unfold in Greece? Could Greece be today's Lehman Brothers? It's a small country, the 34th largest economy in the world. Could it set off another worldwide credit freeze?

Whatever the answer, the eyes of the world are on the Greeks as they go to the polls.

Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And we'll dig even deeper into this ahead. CNN's Richard Quest, the one and only, joins us from Athens in just a few minutes.

Back here at home, more than 54,000 acres have been burned and nearly 200 homes have been destroyed in the fast-moving Hyde Park wildfire in northern Colorado. Thousands of people have been evacuated in connection with the fire. Today's weather could make things even worse with 50 mile-per-hour winds expected. It was sparked about a week ago when lightning struck a tree. Officials say it could be another month before they have it fully contained.

And further west, about an hour outside of L.A., firefighters are battling a blaze that has grown to 2,000 acres. One official says the brush fire was helped by steady winds but that he didn't expect it to threaten any homes.

In Oregon, swift currents and high waters turned a family kayaking trip into a nightmare. This happened yesterday. A raging Oregon river swamped the family of four's boat, leaving them all in the water to fend for themselves. Thankfully, the Oregon Army/National Guard was able to rescue and airlift, as you see there, each person to safety.

Today, Jerry Sandusky is expected to meet with a prosecution psychologist who will examine him to see if he has histrionic personality disorder. It seems his lawyers plan on using that as a defense, arguing his so-called love letters to young boys weren't part of a grooming technique, but rather a byproduct of his disorder.

So, what is histrionic personality disorder? According to the National Institutes of Health, those with the disorder act in a very emotional and dramatic way that draws attention to themselves. One expert says Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone with the Wind" is an example of someone with this.

And experts say people with the disorder aren't usually beloved members of the community like Sandusky was once thought to be. They're theatrical, fake, and in fact usually female. So, we may see histrionic personality disorder come up when the defense starts this week.

Susan Candiotti has a preview of what to expect when the prosecution rests tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi.

For four days, jurors heard prosecutors set out to prove Jerry Sandusky is a serial predator, raping and molesting 10 boys. Come Monday, the defense takes center stage.

(voice-over): After a week of listening to withering testimony from and about 10 alleged victims, Jerry Sandusky began and ended nearly every day with a smile on his face. His lawyer is trying to be upbeat.

JOE AMENDOLA, JERRY SANDUSKY'S ATTORNEY: Every day's hard.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Have you decided --

AMENDOLA: It's tough work.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Tough work defending a man who himself is a legend for designing defense on the football field.

Criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby has Sandusky has an uphill battle.

RON KUBY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There's a tsunami of evidence against him.

CANDIOTTI: Sandusky's strategy is expected to attack the timeline of repeated alleged sexual assaults raised during cross-examination by pointing out conflicts with Sandusky's schedule. The defense is also expected to further question whether alleged victims were motivated to come forward by possible lucrative lawsuits.

Nonsense, says Howard Janet, attorney for alleged victim six. HOWARD JANET, ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIM #6: Does that mean that none of them are telling the truth because they've gone to hire a lawyer? That's absurd.

CANDIOTTI: Sandusky's wife Dottie appeared briefly in court the first day, but stayed away the rest of the time, indicating she's expected to take the stand to defend her husband.

KUBY: What is his wife going to say in his defense unless she was in the shower with him and the various young boys? Which obviously she wasn't. She has, as far as I can see, nothing to offer this case outside of some sort of plea for sympathy.

CANDIOTTI: The defense also plans to bring in a psychologist to explain love letters Sandusky wrote to alleged victims. In court papers, the defense indicates the letters were not part of a predator's grooming technique, but indicative of someone suffering from a histrionic personality disorder, who wanted to make himself more endearing to the boys in his charity.

(on camera): Are you looking forward to presenting your case?

(voice-over): A gag order's preventing Sandusky from talking now, and he isn't required to testify. But the defense promised jurors they'd hear from Sandusky.

KUBY: The only chance he has is to take the witness stand and just maybe he can convince one juror to hold out.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Will he or won't he take the stand? Ultimately Sandusky must decide whether he wants to look jurors in the eye and face prosecutors armed with tough questions of their own -- Randi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Thank you, Susan.

And to be clear, Sandusky has repeatedly denied any abuse. He remains free on bail and is on house arrest during the trial.

An international manhunt for a suspected triple murder has ended. Twenty-one-year-old Travis Baumgartner was captured yesterday while attempting to cross into the U.S. at a crossing in Washington state. Police believe he tried to rob an armored car at the University of Alberta. Three guards were killed. A fourth critically injured.

One man dead, four people injured after a stage collapse at a concert in Toronto. Police say the weather was good at the time of the collapse. No significant winds, there weren't any storms in the area. But the incident took place just an hour before fans were due to arrive for a sold-out concert by the band Radiohead. The concert, as a result, was canceled.

What is happening in Greece today could rattle Wall Street tomorrow. We're watching elections in Greece this morning. The implications much bigger than Athens. How the vote could have a huge impact on you, your job, your wallet, your bank, you name it. A live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: One month ago, Wall Street and the global markets tumbled after Greeks went to the polls. And now, there are fears that this could happen all over again. Greek voters are picking a new parliament today, but the vote is even bigger than a new government and a one-day shakeup on Wall Street.

One historian has even warned that the outcome could be the financial equivalent of the Cuban missile crisis.

Let's go to CNN's Richard Quest. He's in Athens for us this morning.

Richard, some pretty strong words there. Walk us through, if you will, the implications of this vote not just for Greece but for Europe and the U.S.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you or good afternoon from Greece. It is a picture-perfect day here in the Greek capital. And the voting is brisk as the Greek people make up their minds over who they want in their government.

And if the last opinion polls and direction is anything to go by, we're not going to really have an answer to that, because the voting is likely to be split between all the major party. If you think, Randi, that Republican, Democrat, and the electoral college is a complicated idea to get your head around.

I promise you the machinations of the Greek electoral system are equally if not more so because not only do you want to try and get an absolute majority in parliament, if you don't reach that threshold, you're then in the business of doing coalitions and who you get into bed with.

Now, to your point, the reason it is so important is because of the ripple effects. What happens in Greece is significant to the Greek people. But it is of crucial importance if it creates instability in the eurozone, Europe, and ultimately, of course, in the United States economy, Randi.

So, Richard, there's a lot of talk and certainly a lot of fear that this could be sort of a Lehman Brothers-style run as a result on eurozone banks, and it could freeze credit worldwide. Is that possible, do you think? I mean, how dire is this really?

QUEST: OK. Let me talk you through briefly exactly how we get to that worst case scenario that you're talking about.

One, the Greek people don't elect a government or they elect a government that wants to rip up all the agreements. Two, they rip up the agreements and the other European countries say nope, no more money. Three, Greek -- Greece defaults and goes bankrupt. Four, contagion spreads to Spain, Italy, and everywhere else. Five, the ripple effects go across the world.

Now, that is the doomsday scenario. Between this minute when you and I are talking and the doomsday scenario, there are dozens if not hundreds of tributaries and options that we can get to that will avoid it. But just keep in mind, Randi, the road that we are embarked on, if we do not take the right turnings does inexorably end up in the doomsday scenario.

And that is why this country that only makes up 3 percent of European Union, that only has 10 million population voting, that is why it is so significant, what's happening today.

KAYE: I think that explains it. But Greek leaders, they keep saying they don't want to leave the eurozone. I mean, could European nations decide that it's too expensive to keep bankrolling Greece? Do they have a choice?

QUEST: What a good question. That is the $100 billion question. They are both looking at each other to see the whites of the eyes, particularly the Party Syriza, which is the far left and wants to rip up the agreements.

They basically are saying to the Europeans, "All right, bring it on. We want to rip up the agreements, you don't let us, we'll take down the eurozone." That's the blackmail threat that they are effectively offering up.

In return, the Europeans are saying you play along or if you do not, your country goes down the toilet.

It's crude terms. But that is what you're looking at. We are just about to use the phrase that you are familiar with from the congressional hearings. We're just at the cliff edge. We are just at the cliff edge in the eurozone. And not only if we tip over it in the eurozone, will those ripples cross the Atlantic, to the United States and to Asia and the Pacific.

KAYE: Richard Quest explaining the Greek crisis like nobody else can. Richard, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

QUEST: Thank you.

KAYE: Another pivotal vote to tell you about this morning, this one underway in Egypt. Voters are casting ballots in the country's presidential runoff for a second straight day. The election pits ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister again an Islamist. But there are still a lot of questions about whether Egypt's interim military rumors are really ready to give up power.

Move over, tiger moms. We've got a panda dad. I'll ask him how raising three kids in Beijing changed his views on what makes a good parent.

(BEGIN VIDEOI CLIP)

STAFF SGT. DIANNE HOFFMAN: Hi. I'm Staff Sergeant Dianne Hoffman. I'm out there with the First Division DHHB. I'm in Bagram, Afghanistan, I'm sending a shout out now to see my husband, Dave Hoffman, in New Port Richey, Florida.

I want to tell you you're doing an awesome job. I love you, I appreciate the support. Take care of little man. And I'll see you guys in December. Have a great one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

We've talked a lot about tiger moms -- the strict, tough love approach to parenting popular in eastern cultures like China and Japan. Well, tiger mom, meet panda dad.

That's what my next guest, Alan Paul, calls himself. He has a different idea how to raise kids, and it's based on the warm and fuzzies. It's in his book, "Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing."

Alan Paul, joining us now. Welcome, and Happy Father's Day to you.

ALAN PAUL, AUTHOR, "BIG IN CHINA": Thank you very much. Good morning.

KAYE: Good morning. Tell me, what exactly is a panda dad? And why do panda dads make better parents in your opinion?

PAUL: Well, a panda dad, first of all, is a father who's ready to be involved and roll up his sleeves and get in there with the kids. And not cede parenting to the mom and ready to give kids room to run and not think that they can control everything. I guess that's the main reason I think it's a better way of parenting.

KAYE: So, you lived in China for several years. I know you and your wife moved there. You're really in charge of the parenting in your household, as I understand it. So, tell me what happened there that shaped your view on parenting.

PAUL: Right. Well, I think it's an important point to back up for a second to say I've been in charge of a lot of the day-to-day parenting because I've been able to have more of a freelance lifestyle and work at home while my wife had more of the office job. But we parent as a partnership, which I think is how anybody who can do it should do it and would like to do it.

In terms of China -- I mean, living abroad certainly changes your perspective on a lot of things, gives you some more opportunities to see different ways of doing things. We lived in a very international community. So I saw a lot of parents doing things a lot of different ways.

And I did see a certain amount of typical or stereotypical tiger parenting. I don't think it's always the best way to go. The children can't always be controlled. You can't control everything they do. They shouldn't be on a tight leash.

And I don't think their play is always frivolous, especially for young children. I think it's essential for children to develop and to learn how to interact with one another, and to learn how to set rules and boundaries for themselves, because you're not going to be with them every step of the way throughout their lives. They need to be independent.

KAYE: One thing that really struck me in reading an article that you had written for the "Wall Street Journal" was you described these kids, a lot of Chinese kids looking out the windows looking sad, while the Western kids were out playing, right?

PAUL: Well, I did see that. A lot of those children were very, very programmed. They would come home from school and have a piano tutor or violin tutor or Chinese language tutor or English tutor depending on their specific circumstances. And a lot of the other kids, not just Americans but sometimes African, Australian, New Zealand, European, South American, children were sort of running around through the streets.

I think there's great benefit in kids having more unstructured play. I love the fact that we lived in a place that was a safe environment and the kids could do that, I'm happy to say. I managed to find a place in the United States where people can do that.

So, I think kids should have more unstructured play, not less.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: I'm curious, given the reaction to the tiger mom, what kind of reaction have you as a panda dad been getting on this?

PAUL: I did a TV appearance like this last year, or about six months ago. Right after I wrote the column. And I -- you never know who's watching. I was at an event at my daughter's school, and a mother came up and said, "Excuse me, are you the panda dad?"

KAYE: Do people agree or disagree?

PAUL: This woman said thank you for validating that there's other ways of doing things. It's really not about attacking a certain way of parenting. It's just the saying that you're not necessarily being a bad parent because you give your kid more space.

KAYE: Right.

PAUL: My oldest son is 14, and he enters the teenage years, things change a little bit. Sometimes you have to go back to when they were 2 or 3 and kids do need firm rules.

I'm not advocating just letting kids be wild. I'm saying that you've got to give them space. You can't helicopter over them all the time. You can't do everything for them. And let them be a little bit. Let them discover, give them guidance and help them -- give them support but don't try do everything for them or tell them how everything has to be.

KAYE: Understood. Alan Paul, happy Father's Day. We'll let you get home to your kids so you can enjoy it. Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you. Happy Father's Day to everyone.

KAYE: Thank you.

She was banned from speaking on the floor of the Michigan state house after daring to utter the word "vagina" during a heated debate. Now this politician will be saying it more with the help of a Tony Award- winning playwright. I'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Grab yourself a cup of coffee. It is time to get you caught up on the morning's headlines.

National park authorities continue searching for missing climbers on Alaska's Mt. McKinley. Four Japanese men are feared dead following a massive avalanche. One climber survived and climbed out with minor injuries. The climbers were coming down the mountain when the avalanche hit.

And keeping you updated on a story that I covered this week in the small town of Shiner, Texas, but a father who beat to death a man that he alleges was trying to rape his 5-year-old daughter. According to the sheriff's office, Jesus Mora Flores is the alleged molester. It's the first time they've revealed his identity. A grand jury will decide if the father who killed Flores will be charged in the case. Some neighbors think that father should be given a medal, not a criminal charge.

Tomorrow, the Michigan state lawmaker who was punished after saying "vagina" in a speech will join in a special performance of "The Vagina Monologues," that famous play in the capitol steps in Lansing. "Detroit News" reports she'll be joined by the award-winning playwright Eve Ensler and several female Democratic lawmakers.

Lisa Brown was giving an impassioned speech against a bill that could restrict abortion when was she shouted the word. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA BROWN (D), MICHIGAN STATE HOUSE: I have not asked you to adopt and adhere to my religious beliefs. Why are you asking me to adopt yours? And finally, Mr. Speaker, I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Michigan Republicans said she wasn't punished for saying "vagina" but for violating House decorum rules and acting unprofessionally.

I'll be back with more headlines at the top of the hour. "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right now.