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An Exclusive Interview with Spike Lee; United Airlines Flight Heading to Germany Blew Tire on Takeoff; Vice President of Syria May Have Defected
Aired August 18, 2012 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: I'm Alison Kosik in tonight for Don Lemon. Let's get you up-to-speed on today's headlines.
This is Newark airport, a scene of a few tense moments this evening. A United airlines flight heading to Germany blew a tire on takeoff. The debris flew into an engine. The pilot returned to the airport with a blown tire and damaged engine. The plane landed safely.
The vice president of Syria may have defected, left the country and joined the revolution trying over throw president bash Bashar. He is Farouq al-Sharaa. Officials inside the rebel free-Syrian army insist he is the highest level member of the regime to quit. No confirmation yet.
And Indiana police say weather is to blame for a deadly multiple vehicle pileup this morning. At least 16 cars and tractor-trailer trucks smashed into each other Interstate 65in Jasper County. One person was killed, six others were injured. Police say fog, plus smoke from a nearby fire made it tough for drivers to see.
Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy says his friend and former colleague, Jesse Jackson Junior, is beginning his journey to recovery. Kennedy visited with Jackson at (INAUDIBLE) clinic this week where the Chicago congressman is being treated for bipolar disorder.
On CNN's Erin Burnett "OUTFRONT," Kennedy said Jackson is battling what he describes as deep, deep depression.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Jesse is getting the help needs and needs to make that his priority and I'm happy he is making it a priority. Not only for his own sake, but for everybody who is watching, who also feels the shame and stigma of suffering from depression and a mental illness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Congressman Jackson has not been on Capitol Hill since March. He was first elected to Congress in 1995.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is expected to speak publicly tomorrow. He has been holdup in Ecuador's embassy in London trying to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over a sexual assault charge. Britain is refusing to recognize Ecuador's offer of asylum so Assange just trapped at the embassy for now.
Firefighters out west are glad to see some slightly cooler temperature this weekend helping them getting an upper hand on a long line of wildfires. In California and Washington State, people who fled the area are being allowed to go back home and see what was spared.
Wait until you see what we're working on tonight, CNN Saturday night where most shows dare not to go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK (voice-over): Tonight, Spike Lee like you has never seen him before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me, post racial era.
KOSIK: And the kind of interview only CNN's Don Lemon can do.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're a racist.
KOSIK: Talking politics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drink the Kool-aid.
KOSIK: Principal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're in the punks.
KOSIK: And Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I need to save my time praises has been said.
KOSIK: Plus, Afghan forces turning on Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our enemies have attempted to undermine the trust.
KOSIK: Ryan gets riled up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom, you did build that!
KOSIK: Hairpin turn gone terribly wrong.
Tonight, on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: First, tonight, borne in Atlanta and now an international star. Spike Lee has fundamentally changed film making and, in the process, he has also become a leader in race relations, a controversial critic and a cultural icon. Tonight, he sits down with our Don Lemon and opens up from everything from President Obama and racism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: There are people how say, I've heard a number of people say this. I think Bill Maher has said it and a number of people that the new racism is the denial to racism.
SPIKE LEE, ACTOR, DIRECTOR: Here is the answer to this question to what I've known, I've seen. This country made a great -- one of the biggest steps in its history when President Barack Hussein Obama put his right hand Abraham Lincoln's bible. But I didn't go for the okey-doke. I didn't drink the Kool-aid because there where tons of people, black and white, brown, yellow, thought at that moment racism would disappear.
We like abracadabra, press tow, Change O, Alakazam, poof. Why would it just disappear? I never thought that. A lot of people did, though. That this could be the defining moment and then we enter the post-racial -- what does that word even mean -- post-racial era where race doesn't matter anymore because we have an African-American president.
LEMON: Come on now. So what are you saying?
LEE: That it's still here with us. Now there might be in different shapes, different forms, different disguises, different configurations. But it's still here.
LEE: Do you think African-Americans are too sensitive about race at times, or for the most part? That's the first place we look and I'll say that because I'm African-American. When something happens, the first place we look and it's not always the case.
LEE: Well, again, to answer you, I think that it's hard to say African-Americans and mean that just blanket, everyone thinks the same. I think they the African-Americans think like that and African- Americans who don't, you know? And I think that's something that we get tripped up into again and again and again, that we're one monolithic group.
LEMON: One of the harshest things I've heard about you recently is that you have -- is that you're a racist, you're a race baiter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Garlic bread, pizza, sling spaghetti, been in victim old Perry Como (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cheap gold chain wearing fried chicken and biscuit eating monkey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could have been eating 15 in the car and 30 in the apartment and pointy shoes and Puerto Rican sucker.
LEMON: What do you say to that?
LEE: My ancestors were slave for years. They call it Martin Luther King. We go down the line where people who were -- and also not trying to put myself on their level. But any time. The quickest way -- this is old trick. The quickest way a lot of people feel to negate when somebody talks about racism is to call them a racist. That thing is old.
LEMON: Thus, my question that I asked you, asked you earlier.
LEE: It's old. I'm so past that. It's so old. It's not even funny. I keep it moving. Keeps it moving.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Really makes you wonder is there a topic that Spike Lee doesn't have an opinion about some he definitely feels strongly about a fellow filmmaker, that's for sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0
LEE: Everything I need to say about him has been said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Next, Spike Lee opens up about his new film, the state of movies, and his message to Tyler Perry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Spike Lee's latest film "Red Hook Summer" is leaving audiences speechless. You go in expecting one thing and get something completely different. It bothers a young boy who is forced to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather in Red Hook, a housing project in New York. Spike Lee talks about the unique twist in the film. His thought on today's film industry and a topic of contention for him, fellow filmmaker Tyler Perry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: So Spike, this is when you get us into the film. It's a Spike Lee joint. I think you know it's a Spike Lee film when you're watching it. But then you go places I feel that you haven't gone, the twist that comes in the movie, the shocker. You haven't gone there before, have you?
LEE: Well, every film is different. And it films different subject matters so myself and James McBride, this is how we wanted to tell the story. So it's not necessarily trying to duplicate what one has done in the past and try to grow and stretch out and find different ways to tell different stories.
LEMON: This is something that just you go, oh, my God, what is going on here? And you know, there is a visceral reaction from anyone and if you don't have one, you're not human.
LEE: Or you're a monster. The twist and the shocker, I've been begging people not to give it away. The twist, he didn't want to have any. He didn't want that in there.
LEMON: Really? Why?
LEE: It's touchy. It's touchy. What we did is touch and go. That's one of the hardest scenes. I don't want to give too much but what we did is that is not easy. One of the hardest he's ever had to film.
LEMON: Are you sure about it? Do you think you'll regret leaving that in there?
LEE: No, no, no, no, no, no. Here's the thing. If you can't shoot -- if you include that scene, why even make that film? I've been a punk to not include that. If you're going to go that way and do this film, you're a punk not to include it. And we're not punks.
LEMON: Are you concerned that by giving it away that it may limit the amount of people who will go.
LEE: No.
LEMON: Or just away from the experience?
LEE: Just takes away the enjoyment of discovery. I mean, my man. If I was worried about box office, I would have made black Disney movie, you know? You don't do a film like this where number one concern is box office.
There's no one flying through the air, no one was wearing tights, people aren't transforming. There's no special -- there's no computer generated effects. There are no explosions. Now I know the people are going to say, well, that's not the movie I want to see! How many times can we keep seeing the same film again and again and again?
"Red Hook Summer" to me, this film was not -- is not new. We have been doing work like this from the get go. This is a continuation of the work, observations of the experience of African- Americans in contemporary America. The many different experiences we have and for me, the biggest thing is so often, we're stuck in this rut where we're just one monolithic group. We look alike, talk alike, we all like the same thing, we all just like the same thing and that's a lot. It's a bold-faced lie.
LEMON: You have been critical of black film and the production value of some black productions.
LEE: Yes.
LEMON: Because you believe it is stereo typical and, you know, you strive not to do that in what you call prototype rather than stereotypes. Why are you so critical on that?
LEE: Well, number one, I'm a student of cinema. I'm a professor of film at New York University for past 15 years and as I graduate from school where I finished at it, I finished at Morehouse. I'm artistic director of the school. And I know the damage that humanization and degradation. Not just black people but color, women, made in America suspense. The damage has been done through the imagery throughout the history of television and movies, simple.
LEMON: So, I'm going to ask you. Do you think you've been critical of Tyler Perry? Do you think Tyler Perry, are you lumping in to that?
LEE: I think everything I need to say about Tyler Perry has been said. The man is a brilliant businessman. He do what he does. God bless him.
LEMON: What do you mean by God bless him?
LEE: May God bless him. He told me to go to hell. I say God bless him. He told me to go straight to hell. That's even different! God bless him.
LEMON: You really think it's that damaging to --
LEE: What?
LEMON: To African-Americans, to our culture, to our society, those images?
LEE: Yes. Those are the famous -- I mean, when you grow up, you don't see your history afflicted in the media. It definitely has an effect on who you are, the way you think you stand in the world. Also what can you accomplish.
LEMON: When you have a contest, and you feel that you owe - you owe it to the people who came before you to portray people in a fair --
LEE: Yes. I mean, we talk about Akman (ph) show, Gorman Parks and Ozzie Davis, they made it possible. Paul Roguerson (ph). They made it possible for me to do what I'm doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: "Red Hook Summer" opens in select cities on August 24th. Always political and opinionated, don asks Spike Lee about President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Do you think he has lived up to the promises?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Ahead, Spike on the president on the competition and who he says is holding up progress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Spike Lee has always been political and this election season is no different. Don Lemon continues his interview with Lee, asking him if the president has lived up to his promises and what lies ahead in November. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: I'm thinking about my grandma. My grandma lived to be a hundred years old. Her mother was born a slave and I'm five generations removed from slavery and what Barack said tonight is true. This is the only place in the world where this could happen. America.
LEMON: Do you think it was too high, the expectations?
LEE: He was a savior, black Jesus. And I don't care who it was. I mean, expectations were, I think, way too high. What somebody can deliver knowing how politics works and knowing you have the deal with the Congress, in my opinion, a Congress that's solidified saying whatever you do, we're blocking that. We're blocking. We're blocking. And every breath we take, we're going to do what we can that you don't get a second term. Bottom line, if it hurts America in the process, tough business.
LEMON: Do you think he's lived up to the promises?
LEE: Look. The man is not perfect. Who is perfect? But my wife Ty and I had a fund-raiser at our house in Manhattan. We raised over a billion dollars for him. He has my full support. And I'm going to do what I can to help that he gets a second term in office.
LEMON: You just -- my question was does he deserve a second term and you answered it. Do you want to talk at all on the other side? What do you think of the competition?
LEE: I don't want to -- I don't think I have to do that. Number one, it's -- you have to be -- I mean, it's very obvious. You got this and you got that. It's plain as day and Americans are going to have to make a choice. We go this way, or we go that way. There's going to be no in between.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: He has won all kinds of awards and known all around the world. So, what is next for Spike Lee? Don couldn't let him go without asking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: As a cultural critic and as a filmmaker, what is next? What is next for Spike Lee? Where do you think Spike Lee should go where you just going to -- do you have plan?
LEE: Right now, this is as busy as I've been in a long time. "Red Hook Summer" is coming out in Atlanta and the rest of the country August 24th. I had play in Broadway. My first play in Broadway and I directed Mike Tyson in "undisputed truth."
LEMON: How did you get involved with Mike Tyson?
LEE: Well, he did in Las Vegas. I know Michael for 25 years. And Mike was doing, you know, with Broadway, he said fine. Every show he gets a standing ovation. I've also just finished a documentary the 25th anniversary, a documentary on the making of Michael Jackson's "Bad" album. August 21th would be the anniversary and the world premier is going to be at the Venice Film Festival.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: That was Don Lemon with filmmaker Spike Lee.
Ahead tonight, a homeless man shot dozens of times by police. The whole thing caught on tape. Did officers overreact some we are about to show it to you and let you decide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So you're out and about and not in front of a television to stay connected to CNN. You can. Pull it up on your cell phone like I do or you can watch it from your computer even at work. Just go to CNN.com/TV. Tell them Don Lemon sent you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Coming up on half past the hour now. Let's get you up- to-speed on the headlines.
For the first time in 45 years Dallas county, Texas, is spraying mosquitoes pesticides from the air trying to end the deadly outbreak of west Nile virus. The virus is already claimed 21 lives in Texas and made at least 550 others sick.
Many in Dallas are oppose to the spraying. The EPA says the pesticide isn't harmful to humans or pets.
At least, 172 people were killed across Syria today in street fighting, bombings, and shelling. That is according to an opposition network based in Syria. Witnesses say the Syrian military attacked one city using war planes.
The great recession is officially over but the aftershocks are still hitting schools across the country. A new White House report finds 300,000 education jobs have been lost since the end of the recession in June of 2009. The cuts have also led to fewer school days and larger class sizes.
Thousands of people protested outside a mine in South Africa today, two days after police opened fire on strikers. South Africans are outraged over the violence that left 34 people dead. The country's police commissioner says officers were, quote, "forced to utilize maximum force to defend themselves."
We want to tell you off the bat what we're about to show to graphic and disturbing. It is a video of police insider in Michigan shooting a homeless man multiple times. The man's family says he suffered from a mental illness. And now, the justice department is involved. CNN's Jason Carroll has the story you will only see on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A joint investigation into underway into the shooting. Amateur video details what happened during the final moments. I do have to warn you the video is graphic.
This amateur video purchased by CNN and not made public until now captured the confrontation between six Saginaw police officers and Milton Hall, a 49-year-old man who his family says suffered from serious mental health issues.
Hall, seen in the middle of your screen who he say had just a run-in with the convenience store clerk. He was in a standoff with police and holding some sort of knife, a female officer is heard shouting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE OFFICER: Put the knife down! Put the knife down!
HALL MILTON, 49-YEARS-OLD: I'm not putting (bleep) down.
CARROLL: If you listen carefully, Hall is then heard continuing to yell at police.
MILTON: I just called 911. My name is Milton --
CARROLL: Hall seems agitated, but not intimidated by a police dog.
MILTON: Let him go. Let him go. Let the mother (bleep) dog go.
CARROLL: Heard on the tape, a witness describes what he sees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karate stance --
CARROLL: Then, as Hall appears to take a few steps, everything comes to a head. Local media report 46 shots were fired. CNN counted the sounds of at least 30 shots on the videotape.
Anthony Baber witnessed the shooting.
ANTHONY BABER, SHOOTING WITNESS: All of a sudden, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. And he drops, you know? Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, and he drops. I was about where that blue van is. I was parked in my van.
CARROLL: Tabitha Perry saw it too.
TABITHA PERRY, SHOOTING WITNESS: I heard one of the officers say something to the fact where -- put the knife down, or I let the dog go.
CARROLL: And do you believe the officers were justified in what they did? PERRY: No, I don't. No, I don't. Because what they did, there was a better way to do it. I think their judgment was off.
CARROLL: Perry is not alone. Hall's mother says Saginaw police overreacted.
JEWEL HALL, MOTHER OF MILTON HALL: Emotionally, I have a lot of pain, and I'm stunned that six human beings were standing in front of one human being and fired 46 shots. I just don't understand that.
CARROLL: On the day of the shooting, July 1st, the Saginaw police chief defended his officers' actions.
GERALD CLIFF, SAGINAW POLICE CHIEF: He's someone, from our understanding, has a long history, not only with police from our department, but with the county, known to be an assaultive person.
CARROLL: Over the last month, members of the community have voiced outrage about the hall shooting. Not satisfied with the police investigation into the officers' response.
We showed the video of the shooting to city councilman Norman Braddock.
NORMAN BRADDOCK, SAGINAW CITY COUNCIL: I can see why people are traumatized at looking at something like that. And we need answers.
CARROLL: Braddock has been critical of what he calls the slow phase of the shooting investigation.
Could it be the investigators are trying to make sure they're doing a thorough job and that's why the investigation is --
BRADDOCK: I'm sure that has something to do with it but at the same time it should be a top priority.
CARROLL: Where you are in terms of the investigation?
The Michigan state police lead investigator would not discuss the case. Instead, referring us to the Saginaw county prosecutor who told us, "I can't tell you when the investigation will be completed. The matter is being thoroughly investigated by an independent police agency, the Michigan state police along with Michigan attorney general's office."
Hall's mother already feels she knows the answer to the question of whether police used too much force.
JEWEL HALL: It appeared to be a firing squad dressed in police uniforms and there was another way. They did not have to kill him.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Saginaw, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Now that the justice department has launched its investigation into the shooting, the question is did the officers respond appropriately?
Earlier, I spoke with behavioral scientist Doctor Bill Lewinsky. He trains law enforcement agencies on how to handle the mentally ill and says the Saginaw reaction is not that unusual.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOCTOR BILL LEWINSKI, BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST AND POLICE PSYCHOLOGY EXPERT: The duration of firing is for very short period of time. And with today's gun, the average officer is going to fire a quarter of second rounds. So in one seconds, you have five bullets and the duration of shooting was very short period of time. You had six officers firing.
Usually, in this type of situation, each officer is making their judgment individually and so each officer is going to be starting to fire and then ending firing individually. As a group, it is a large number of rounds. We will see what the investigation comes up with for each officer shooting time duration and frequency of shot, but that's not uncharacteristic of the response of a group of officers firing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Police that have last seen with guns drawn in a high school campus, we have got the video and why this crusade is all needed to be done in the first place.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: A school apparently under siege by a gunman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, guys. People dying in here!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Most of us have played our part in a fire drill or two but as shooting incidents become more commonplace, Watkins Memorial High School in Ohio decided to prepare its students for the worst. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies were involved in the drill saying education is the first step to surviving what is known as an active shooting.
Canadian police are continuing to scour wooded areas and water waste in a park west of Toronto. Search teams were called in this week when hikers made a grisly discovery, a right foot. A day later a severed head spotted nearby, then, two hands were found in a river.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEANT PETE BRANWOOD, PEEL REGIONAL POLICE: Conclusion that they are most likely associated to the - sorry, the foot and the head that was found yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Today, other remains were found in a ravine east of Toronto but it's unclear at this stage whether they are human or animal.
And in flight emergency forced an airline pilot to quickly return to Newark airport this evening. Investigators say a tire on united flight 96 blew apart on takeoff. And the piece damaged an engine. The pilot managed to land without a problem. One hundred seventy three people were on board. Everybody is safe and making new travel plans tonight.
As crimes fuel by hate become more common, communities draw together, finding strength where they can. Muslims in Joplin, Missouri, know that better than most. Their mosque was burned to the ground this month. They will mark the end of holy month of Ramadan at their homes or at a convention center rented by the mosque's leaders. Certainly not how they expected to honor this time.
Of course, the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin two weeks ago showed how terrible these crimes can be, even more troubling. Groups motivated by hate appear to be on the rise.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti looks at a troubling trend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a disturbing trend. Hate groups are on the rise, the consequences, violent and deadly. One of the latest examples, white supremacists Wade Page targeting Sikhs at a temple in Wisconsin killing six worshipers.
HEIDI BEIRICH, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: The hate movement has been basically rapidly rising for a little over a decade.
CANDIOTTI: In 2000, the southern poverty law center was tracking just over 600 hate groups. By 2011, that number dramatically increased to 1,018.
What changed, some say the changing face of America starting with the 2000 census which predicted by 2055 less than half of the country would be white.
BEIRICH: And if you're a white supremacist and you find that out, it's pretty terrifying because that puts an end of your dreams to creating a white nation in the United States.
CANDIOTTI: Hate groups and hate crimes are mainly motivated by race and religion.
2009, in a battle of white supremacist arrested for fatally shooting a secured guard at Washington's Holocaust memorial. He died while awaiting trial. 2011, at a Martin Luther King parade in Spokane, Washington, the FBI finds a backpack loaded with explosives. This man identified as a white supremacist pleads guilty to a federal hate crime.
This year, 14 alleged members of the anarchist group American front are arrested on charges including anti-American paramilitary training and planning an attack in central Florida. Prosecutors say their ultimate aim is race war against Jews, immigrants and other minorities. Trials are scheduled for later this year, which brings us back to Sikh temple shooter Wade Page. How do you stop an apparent lone wolf?
BEIRICH: The sad fact is that Wade Page is just one of thousands of people who are involved in the skinhead movement, the neo-Nazi movement who look like him with the racist tattoos, who say vile things about killing Jews or blacks or whatever the case might be. But he decided to step over violence, most of these people won't. And it's very, very hard to know when that is happens.
CANDIOTTI: The FBI says unless a threat of violence, agents cannot arrest them, no matter how hateful the speech.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Paul Ryan out with his mom? And what President Obama is calling snake oil.
Next, a busy day in politics today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Mitt Romney's running mate Paul Ryan has released his tax returns the past two years. His most recent return shows he and his wife made more than $323,000 in 2011 and paid close to $65,000 in taxes and that is 20 percent of his income. That 20 percent is higher percentage than his running mate Mitt Romney paid in 2011. Romney paid 14.5 percent of his income in taxes that year.
And what about 2010, Ryan also paid higher percentage of his income in taxes, 16 percent to Romney's 14.5 percent.
Mitt Romney took a day off the campaign trail and no public event. But behind the scenes he held private meetings and fund- raisers in Boston.
In Florida Paul Ryan tackled the Medicare issue head-on before Florida retirees and his own mom. Ryan said he will provide better care for future generations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is what Mitt Romney and I will do. We will end the raid of Medicare, we will restore the promise of this program, and we will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's health care or your mom's health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: President Obama is talking Medicare as well with a very different view, of course. He made two stops in the small, but critical state of New Hampshire telling audiences that Romney and Ryan's plans for Medicare will cause seniors to pay more for less coverage and that their budget would benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Governor Romney's tax plan would actually raise taxes on middle class families with children by an average of $2,000. Ask Governor Romney and his running mate when in New Hampshire on Monday, they are coming here on Monday, ask them if that's fair. Ask them how it will grow the economy. Ask them how it will strengthen the middle class. They have been trying to sell this trickle down snake oil before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Today marked the president's third visit to New Hampshire this year. Romney and Ryan will campaign there on Monday.
We're working around the clock to bring you the latest news. Here is Fredricka Whitfield what we are working for you on tomorrow.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: Hi Alison.
Coming up on the CNN Newsroom on Sunday, a controversial new policy at a Denver University where undocumented immigrants can get a reduced tuition. Also, we are seeing a lot of negative presidential campaign ads. How do they stack up to some of the more notorious campaign ads of the past? And a talk with singer/song writer Macy Gray, working hard to maintain her individuality. All that and more coming up Sunday - Alison.
KOSIK: Thanks, Frederica.
American troops being killed by the very people they are helping to train. We will look at sweeping new changes being implemented in Afghanistan to protect the troops who are there to help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: NATO commanders making big changes in the way troops at Afghanistan conduct themselves and protect themselves that after a string of attacks. A number of Afghan security officers and policemen violently turning on NATO forces, details now from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least 24 American troops in Afghanistan attacked and killed by Afghan forces this year. The top commander general John Allen is ordering massive new security measures.
Starting with his own headquarters in Kabul, Allen has ordered all troops to carry their weapons loaded at all times. It's a headquarters visited by defense secretaries diplomats and journalists and until now it's only been protected by security forces ready for instant combat as they were in September of last year when insurgents attacked from outside the base.
But now across the country, Afghan forces are turning their weapons on NATO and U.S. troops.
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our enemies have attempted to undermine the trust between the coalition and Afghan forces. And, in particular, they have tried to take credit for a number of so-called green on blue or insider attacks that have taken place this fighting season.
STARR: Since 2007, 69 Americans have been killed by Afghan forces according to the Pentagon. The military already is using so- called guardian angels, a service member designated to stand watch over others while they eat and sleep. Anywhere they might come into contact with Afghan forces.
Defense secretary Leon Panetta is calling, once again, for better intelligence and better screening of new Afghan recruits. But the Pentagon is emphasizing the attacks are still relatively small in number.
PANETTA: I want to stress that these incidents, which have now involved 31 Afghans, do not reflect the pride and dedication of the 350,000 soldiers and police of the Afghan national security forces.
STARR: Small numbers or not, the attacks are taking their toll. One U.S. military official in Afghanistan, who is now carrying his weapon around the clock, told me "everyone is watching everyone else just in case."
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: Many of us have had fender benders.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)
KOSIK: But full-blown wicked rollovers like that? Not many can say they have walked away from something like this, but the two guys inside that car can.
But first, a woman who experienced her own tragedy and went on to become a CNN hero.
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CATALINA ESCOBAR, CNN HERO: Teen pregnancy in Cartagena is a very big issue. When you go to the slums, it is unbelievable what you see. Many of my girls live here. It's just so wrong. You see these girls, they're babies holding babies.
About 10 years ago I was volunteering at this maternity hospital and I was holding this baby, and he passed away with me. The teen mother failed to raise the money for our treatment. Four days later, my own son passed away in an accident. I realized I didn't want any mother to feel the same grief that I went through.
My name's Catalina Escobar and I'm helping teen moms get a healthy and productive life for them and for their babies.
When we first started at the maternity hospital, we reduced dramatically the infant mortality rate. But the real problem, it was much bigger than that. My girls end up being pregnant because they don't have sexual education and many of my girls are sexually abused.
When my girls come, they drop their babies in the daycare center. We have different workshops so they can develop their skills.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dream has always been to have my own restaurant. Now I know to never give up in life.
ESCOBAR: We are changing the lives of these girls, if you give them the right tools, they're capable of moving forward.
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KOSIK: Curiosity now has us seeing red and a lot of it. NASA is showing off pictures snap by the Curiosity rover on the red planet. NASA says they believe the picture shows proof of hydrated minerals in the landscape. They also say the landscape is similar to the four corners region of the western United States, dry and rocky like areas around Arizona and New Mexico.
For all intents and purposes, these next two guys, they shouldn't even be alive.
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KOSIK: Yes. That is going to leave a mark. This is what happened with when a driver missed the turn during the pikes' peak international hill climb in Colorado and if that isn't bad enough the first time around, here it is again in slow motion.
Amazingly, both the driver and the passenger survived. Asked by CNN Piers Morgan if the two would ever race again some both said "time will tell."
Keeping cool in summer is easier said than done especially for anyone working outside or in a building without air-conditioned. So, one bold auto-mechanic found his own way to chill out.
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DAVID O'BRIEN, AUTO-MECHANIC: This is the manualliest (ph) man where you can wear!
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KOSIK: David O'Brien n says he won't work another summer day in pants. He prefers kilts until it cools down in October. Hey, they are functional. But O'Brien admits that he has certain kilt rules for his shop.
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O'BRIEN: Keep your knees down and your feet crossed and everybody is happy and safe then. This is much cooler physically cooler than shorts. Now I understand the female skirt theory.
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KOSIK: Check this out. A restaurant in L.A. is offering guests a five percent discount if, if they leave their phones with the hostess. Eva Restaurant wanted customers to feel like they are at home having dinner with the family. And since you know your mother would never ever allow the phone at the dinner table, the restaurant is hoping for the same. And it looks like it is working. The restaurant estimates about 40 to 50 percent of its customers have opted to ditch their cell phones.
Thanks for joining us this evening from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
I'm Alison Kosik.
