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Rand Paul Filibusters Brennan, Drone Policy; "Skyfall" Director Moves Away from Bond Franchise; "Star Wars" Actress "Open" to Return; Mount Etna Erupts in Sicily; America's Most Reputable Companies

Aired March 07, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone I'm Don Lemon. Our top stories that we're following right now in the NEWSROOM, stock futures are up ahead of this morning's opening bell, that's after the Dow hit a second record high close in a row.

Let's bring in Alison Kosik at the New York stock exchange as the bell is ringing.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The bell has rung and the Dow continues rolling on higher Don. It looks like it's another positive open for stocks at this point. A lot of it is being helped a little bit by a bigger than expected drop in weekly unemployment claims showing that last week only, only I say that lightly 340,000 people filed for first time unemployment claims, that's a drop of 7,000 but even if the number was disappointing the market's been shrugging off any downbeat news lately.

One strategist puts it this way, there's more confidence that the economy is on firmer footing, it's not growing fast but it's not about to fall off a cliff either. Still it could be one of those cautious trading days today, Don, because Wall Street is really focusing on the big monthly jobs report that comes out before the opening bell tomorrow and the expectation there is that employers added 175,000 positions in February, that would be a solid gain but the reality is it's not enough to put a meaningful dent in the unemployment rate which is currently at 7.9 percent.

LEMON: Alison Kosik thank you very much. Other business new, Yahoo!'s new CEO getting a $1.1 million bonus for her five and a half months on the job last year. Melissa Meyer recently ruffled feathers when she ended Yahoo!'s popular work at home policy but shareholders won't balk at her extra pay. Yahoo!'s stock has jumped 46 percent since she took over.

Mitt Romney has another be job. The Republican nominee for president is going to work for his son Tag's private equity firm. He'll serve as chairman of Solamere Capital's executive committee after losing the race for the White House, Romney rejoined the board of directors at Marriott.

President Obama offering another olive branch to Congress as he tries to get a deal on spending cuts and CNN confirms that House budget committee members Paul Ryan and Chris Van Hollen will be invited to lunch today at the White House. Starts at 12:25. That follows a dinner date of sorts between the president and a group of Republican senators finding common ground on the nation's deficit, just one of the topics at a meal described by some of the senators as cordial and honest.

One politician not at last night's dinner was Rand Paul. As we have been telling you the outspoken Kentucky senator held court for nearly 13 hours as part of a filibuster to stall a vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL, ( R) KENTUCKY: I rise today to begin to begin to filibuster John Brennan's nomination for the CIA. I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes.

Has America the beautiful become Alice's wonderland? "No, no, said the queen, sentence first, verdict afterwards." "Stuff and nonsense," Alice said loudly. "The idea of having the sentence first?" "Hold your tongue, said the queen, turning purple." "I won't, said Alice." "Release the drones," said the queen, as she shouted at the top of her voice. Louis Carroll is fiction, right?

I have allowed the president to pick his political appointees but I will not sit quietly and let him shred the constitution. I cannot sit at my desk quietly and let the president say that he will kill Americans on American soil who are not actively attacking a country, which had previously brought a challenge in federal court to the legality of the authorization to target --

I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom Thurmond's records but I've discovered that there are some limits to filibustering and I have to take care of one of those in a few minutes here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: When you gotta go you gotta go. With that, Rand Paul brought his filibuster to a close so joining me now, CNN contributor and former Obama White House official, Van Jones and CNN Contributor and analyst for "The Blaze" Will Cain.

Okay, listen. It was very interesting to watch both you guys. I'll start with you, Will, it was interesting to watch, substantive or do you think just a stunt?

WILL CAIN, ANALYST, "THE BLAZE": Substantive yes. What you saw last night was one of the most patriotic things you're going to see in American government. It was the embodiment of democracy. This is Mr. Smith goes to Washington. This is the most important conversation going on in our country right now. What are the limits of the war on terror, what are the boundaries in a seemingly boundariless war. Does it encompass Americans on American soil, can they receive a hellfire missile in the face. That's a pretty important question. No, that wasn't theater. That was a substantive issue that needs a lot more conversation. Don?

LEMON: I want to read this from the "Wall Street Journal," Van, and I want to get your response. Tt's titled "Rand Paul's Drone Rant" summed it up, this way. It says, "Calm down, senator. Mr. Holder is right, even if he doesn't explain the law swell the U.S. government cannot randomly target American citizens on U.S. soil or anywhere else. What it can do under the laws of war is target an enemy combatant anywhere at any time, including on U.S. soil. If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do more than pull political stunts. He needs to know what he's talking about."

So similar question to you I asked Will, what do you make of that?

VAN JONES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well let me just say, I might shock a lot of people as somebody, you know I love this president and I respect this president, Rand Paul was a hero yesterday, and what I've been hearing is a lot of shame from liberals and progressives who felt like geez, we should be up there sticking up for civil liberties and we should be the ones asking thosetough questions.

I think that this is a very important watershed moment. We are in a situation now where we have new technologies, as Will said I'm agreeing with Will, put it in the newspaper, this undefined, ill- defined war and we have not had the conversation we need to have.

What Rand Paul did yesterday was he used the filibuster the way it's supposed to be used. It shouldn't just be a post-it you stick on a door someplace to gum up the government. You should stand there and do it the way he did it and this is an important issue. And we should be talking about it a lot more.

I don't think that the American public has a clear view of what this administration thinks is the limits of power are when it comes to drone strikes and it's important we have the conversation. It's wrong to call it a stunt. What's a stunt is when they put the post-it on the door and slip the thing under the table and you don't know who is filibustering. This was not a stunt. This was democracy.

LEMON: So, Van, then as a former White House official how would you advise the White House or the president to respond to this, if to respond at all?

JONES: I think we need to have a serious discussion. I think he should invite a public discussion about this. There is always a danger in any White House. This is not just about the Obama administration. When you're in the White House, you have so much more information than the public. And there's this tendancy, you've been briefed and briefed, and you tend to develop a view that is separate from the American people because you're having a different conversation and you can begin to develop delusions of god-head -- we know better and we must act, the responsibilities are crushing.

And so when you find yourself in a situation where the public, I say hold on a second. There are principles here. We want to make sure we're doing this the right way and I think that the shame is that liberals and progressives have given a pass to any administration on civil liberties issues and I see Rand Paul as a civil rights, villain. He has said he didn't think Dr. King was right to bring the federal government to the south. He's a villain on civil rights, but Rand Paul was a hero last night on civil liberties and liberals and progressives should be ashamed.

LEMON: So Will, listen, let's move on and talk about President Obama launching a serious, what some are calling a charm offensive in the last 24 hours, having lunch and dinner. As a matter of fact at 12:25 in a couple of hours having lunch, what do you think is behind this?

CAIN: I can only assume it's frustration with the lack of action over the last four plus years and finally reaching out and having a conversation as opposed to a one-way conversation from the stump or from a stage, hasn't been working so maybe reaching out works but I have to say listen, don, the more important issue is this Rand Paul issue and Van says we need to have a conversation. The conversation needs to be about the authorization for the war on terror, that's the seed kernel of this issue, what are its boundaries. Conservatives are pointing out due process. The constitution is intention within itself. The president has broad powers to conduct war. The only thing that limits him is the statutory authorization for the war, who is al Qaeda, where is al Qaeda, where is the limit of this war? That's the conversation.

LEMON: But one would think that the focus of the lunch is going to be on the forced budget cuts. Maybe they'll talk about it since Rand Paul did his thing last night. Van, can you still hear us? Van can't hear us. I was going to ask Van a similar question. That has to be it. Will Cain, Van Jones thank you very much, appreciate it.

CAIN: Thank you.

LEMON: Taking a break, after "Skyfall" find out why director Sam Mendez says he's backing away from the latest Bond thriller.

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LEMON: One reunion that won't be happening, Sam Mendez and James Bond. The "Skyfall" director says he won't be directing the next Bond film. "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer, he's the host of that show, has been following the story for us. A.J. Why not?

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Apparently because of a love of chocolate. Sam mendez gave an interview to "Empire" magazine and he says that he turned down the chance to direct the next Bond film because he has theater commitments and productions of "King Lear" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in the works. And this is a pretty big blow to Bond fans because "Skyfall" is now seen as one of the best Bond films ever.

In fact, Sid Lipsey, our Showbiz staff Bond expert, has it in the top five of all-time and it's practically brand new. Sam Mendez has had a wide ranging career with a background in theater, he has his academy award for "American Beauty." Mendez however did not close the door to coming back to the Bond franchise down the road. This is great news. He's quoted as saying he had a great time working on "Skyfall" and hopes to work with the team in the future. So, we can hope.

LEMON: I was wondering what with the chocolate think. I was like, what, he wants to go and like start a chocolate factor? I didn't know what was going on. What about Carrie Fisher reprising her Princess Leia role?

HAMMER: How great would that be? And the person to really ask at this point is J.J. Abrams. J.J. is directing the new "Star Wars" film. They haven't made any announcements about casting yet, but the speculation about Carrie Fisher putting on that gold bikini has been making the rounds since she told "Palm Beach Illustrated" that she's going to be an elderly Princess Leia in an intergalactic retirement home in the next "Star Wars" movie.

It turns out she was joking. Quite frankly, you hear her say that and it's pretty obvious that it sounds like the kind of thing she'd say as a joke. But "Star Wars" fans are eager about any hint about the new film. They are more than willing to spread any "Star Wars" related news around the world in a hurry. There have actually been some reports that Mark Hamill would be willing to come back as Luke Skywalker. But the real buzz out there right now is that Harrison Ford would be willing to risk the carbonite and come back as Han Solo.

The movie is tentatively to be released in 2015 Don. So there's plenty of time for plenty of "Star Wars" rumors to circulate around the planet.

LEMON: I think it would be nice to get a reunion of all three. It would be fantastic.

HAMMER: I agree.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you A.J.

Just ahead in the NEWSROOM -- thank you, we'll see you A.J. a little bit later -- just ahead in the NEWSROOM Mt. Etna putting on a another magnificent fireworks display. We'll have the latest on Europe's tallest active volcano.

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LEMON: Checking "Top Stories" right now.

Arkansas now has the most restrictive abortion ban in the country, the new state law takes effect this summer and prohibits abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. It includes exemptions for rape and incest, the life of the mother and lethal fetal disorders.

The ban became law after the State House and Senate overrode the government's veto. The ACLU and Center for productive rights say they'll challenge it in federal court.

People along the Connecticut coast are bracing for what could be significant flooding. A slow-moving storm over the Atlantic is expected to cause tides to rise. Local power companies have crews on standby in case strong winds topple power lines. The area was hit by hard -- hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.

And Europe's tallest active volcano putting on an extraordinary show, Mt. Etna spewing lava into the sky over Sicily.

CNN's Zain Verjee has the latest now.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey Don, a spectacular firework display. You could even see this from space, it was so huge. On earth in the dead of night, Mt. Etna spewed fire, hot lava, ash and smoke also flung up in the air.

Take a look at the best volcano video that we found. You can see the red hot lava just bubbling and exploding. The lava's 2,000 Fahrenheit. Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes and also one of the tallest. It might sound really scary but this actually happens all the time there. Luckily no one was hurt -- Don.

LEMON: All right, thank you Zain.

Turning now to your money and the most reputable companies in America, Alison Kosik is in the New York Stocks Exchange as she always is she joins us now with the winners. Who is on top of the list?

KOSIK: And the big winner this year is -- do I hear a drum roll? There thank you. This year the winner is Amazon. Thank you, Don you caught me. So Harris Interactive that's the group that puts this "most reputable company list" together every year. It actually sounds quite scientific. It's called the reputation quotient study. What they've essentially done though it looks at 60 companies based on six factors including their products and services, how employees are treated and if they support good causes.

And Amazon it moved up the list from being in fourth place last year. It scored high for emotional appeal, workplace environment and financial performance. Another tech giant made the top of the list as well, that was Apple. Although coming in at number two, it was at number one last year. But all that disappointing financial news this year offset some of the love people are feeling for Apple's products and services. Disney, Google, Johnson & Johnson they rounded out the top five -- Don.

LEMON: I guess if someone asked me when I got in this morning and I guessed Apple, and they said no, number two. So Amazon.

KOSIK: Yes.

LEMON: Yes that's cool. Ok all right so who is at the bottom?

KOSIK: Who is at the bottom?

LEMON: Yes.

KOSIK: I know this is a huge shocker. Are you sitting?

LEMON: Yes. KOSIK: Financial companies. Financial companies are in the caboose. AIG was at the bottom of the list winning the worst reputation race for the fifth year in a row. Consumers they are just aren't impressed that it paid back all of its government bailout money.

Goldman Sachs comes in a little better, but not by much in the 59th place there. It is the only other company on the list with a score below 59.

Halliburton, it looks like people Don aren't that crazy about how it's involved in the oil fracking industry. So it just goes to show that Americans are pretty harsh against companies that are viewed to be, quote, "Not moral companies". And you know this, reputation is everything -- Don.

LEMON: Absolutely. I want to see the full list. It's at CNNMoney I'm sure, right. You can go in there CNNMoney.com.

KOSIK: Yes we got it.

LEMON: Thank you. I appreciate it.

KOSIK: Sure.

LEMON: All right, up next, two of the hottest teams in sports put their streaks on the line and Lebron James needs some late game heroics in South Beach.

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LEMON: The Miami Heat and Chicago Blackhawks needed the game winning shots in the final seconds to keep their historic streaks going. Joe Carter has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Morning, sir.

JOE CARTER, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey top of the morning to you. Yes, Miami they almost blew that game last night. They had a 20 point lead in the second half they let it -- they let it go away. But like all good teams, they still managed to find a way to win. The streak now up to 16 straight and counting.

Only five other NBA teams in the history of the league have won 16 games in a row. Lebron James threw down that awesome dunk in the first half, but it was in the second half that his team needed him the most. With the game on the line, the king shredded the defense, the left-handed lay-up. That's it.

Miami they did struggle in the second half but still squeaked out the one point win. To put things in perspective the Heat have 45 wins on the season, Orlando 45 losses.

The Chicago Blackhawks also needed some magic at the end of their game. Dan Carcillo the unlikely hero scored his first score of the season. It was the game winner 49 seconds left in the game. Fans across Chicago is celebrating yet another great win for this team. It is certainly a magical run, a magical season. Halfway into this year, still unbeaten in regulation. In fact if you go back to last season, the Blackhawks haven't lost a game in regulation since last March.

Well the pressure to win seems to be getting to some of these college basketball teams. One day after St. John's and Notre Dame fought on the court, Stanford and Cal they got into it. The altercation stopped the game for nearly ten minutes. Six players received technical fouls, two coaches, excuse me three coaches, two players that left the bench all ejected from the game.

Now in my opinion, and it is a humble opinion the Clippers Blake Griffin threw down the dunk of the year last night. Watch this closely. Jamal Crawford, a nice feed between the legs. Griffin, the windmill's gone. Gets in. Let's watch it one more time. This is beautiful. Look at that. Between the legs and windmill finish.

Magic Johnson recently offered Lebron James $1 million to enter next year's slam dunk contest. Magic needs to call this guy.

All right NFL fans, listen up. DirecTV could be pulling the plug on the popular Sunday NFL ticket. The satellite provider says it's considering dropping the all-access pass to every NFL game because, yes, cash. They're losing money.

Read more about it at bleacherreport.com.

Don, you've got like a lot of options. They can watch that NFL rewind in the NFL network and then they can see Red Zone channel on cable, so that's why they're losing money.

LEMON: I like that dunk. What did you say, get some. It was pretty awesome. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it Joe Carter.

The next hour of "CNN NEWSROOM" begins after a break.

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LEMON: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, how did this happen? A 24- year-old woman mauled to death by a lion.