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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Hastert Gives 9/11 Commission 60-Day Extension; Victims Skeptical of Newly Released Priest Sexual Abuse Report

Aired February 27, 2004 - 22:00   ET

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

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


AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Call this outrage part two. Today, as we'll report in some detail, the independent commission investigating 9/11 received the 60 extra days it says it needs to finish its work. Those of you with us last night know I have somewhat of an opinion on that.

All of us should thank the families of the victims who spoke with such a clear voice on this, a voice that could not be ignored. We should also thank Senators Lieberman and McCain who forced the issue. And we should thank the distinguished co-chairman of the commission who refused to back down.

The Speaker of the House deserves some credit as well, credit for backing down, not an easy thing to do in such an emotional public fight if the fight itself was a losing proposition and we think it was.

We move on now to the most important matter learning as much of that truth of that horrible day as we can and drawing the best lessons possible to prevent another. We may never know everything we need to know about 9/11 but thankfully tonight we have a much better chance. The speaker's decision leads the program and the whip.

CNN's Joe Johns starts us off with what headline is left, Joe, good evening.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, House Speaker Dennis Hastert relents. The speaker voiced his opposition to an extension for the report of the commission for 9/11 and then gets talked out of it by some of his friends and some of his foes -- Aaron.

BROWN: Joe, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

On to the priest sex abuse investigation, two long-awaited reports came out today. CNN's Jason Carroll has been covering this now from the early days, so Jason a headline from you tonight.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the results left one researcher saying that church leaders acted more like risk assessment managers rather than shepherds of their own flocks -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jason, thank you.

Finally, a worsening situation in Haiti, CNN's Lucia Newman is on the phone tonight from Port-au-Prince, Lucia the headline from there.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the situation here is spiraling out of control. Armed gangs are burning, looting and killing and there is no one to stop them.

BROWN: Lucia, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight on the program we'll meet the biggest little man in the NBA. This story is so good. Lawrence Frank, who went from being cut by his high school basketball team to the hottest coach in the NBA.

We'll also look at a very big year for actors with some great performances as we approach the Academy Awards this weekend.

Later our own star performer, of course, the rooster with morning papers and, it being Friday, a check of the tabloids too and we got one dandy tabloid story, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the change of mind and policy. I think it was that great American philosopher Kenny Rogers who said, "You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them," that in a line seems to be what caused the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to relent and give the 9/11 commission 60 extra days to do its work.

He was holding bad cards, an unwinnable hand in a poker game where the stakes were far more than momentary political advantage, reporting the story from the Hill CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): Pressure on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to reverse himself built throughout the day from the chairman of the 9/11 commission.

THOMAS KEAN, CHAIRMAN, 9/11 COMMISSION: The speaker is a reasonable man and I think it was a reasonable request. The American people need it.

JOHNS: From the Senate floor...

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Are we going to abandon the families of 9/11?

JOHNS: From the campaign trail, pressure on the speaker and the White House.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, stop stonewalling the commission and stop hiding behind excuses. Pick up the phone, call your friend Denny Hastert and tell him to let the commission finish its job so we can make America safer.

JOHNS: But for the second day in a row the White House was arguing it was not trying to have it both ways by supporting the commission's request for two more months to complete its work but allowing the Republican speaker to run interference.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This president has publicly stated that he is for an extension of the 9/11 commission at their request. Not only have we stated it publicly but we've stated it privately as well. Our views are very well known.

JOHNS: One administration official said by midday Friday it was pretty clear the debate over the extension "was not a winner for the speaker or the White House." Hastert threw in the towel. After opposing an extension saying he feared the report would become a political football if it came out too close to the election, he told the commission he would support an extension until the end of July.

He wrote: "I want your commission to do a thorough job but I also believe that we must have your recommendation soon."

With that, commission backers said the deadline extension should never have been in question.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: We've reached a just result. I'm grateful to the speaker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: The chair and vice-chair of the commission issued a statement tonight saying they welcomed the speaker's decision. They also indicated there are some unresolved issued, including extra time to phase out their office. They plan to meet with the speaker next Tuesday -- Aaron.

BROWN: I apologize if this is unanswerable, I really do. Is there -- do you have any sense of how the speaker got into this mess because honestly from the get-go this was a bad hand to be dealt and to try and play out?

JOHNS: Well, I did ask that question of one of his allies and that ally said he was very concerned about the politics of all of this and what might happen if this report came out right around the time of the conventions.

On the other hand, behind the scenes a lot of the speaker's allies suggest they were concerned that the president was not fighting for himself because something bad could happen to him. Hastert may have felt he needed to step into the breach -- Aaron.

BROWN: Joe, thank you for your work the last couple of nights. Thank you very much, Joe Johns on the Hill.

Other news now, the lay panel investigating sex abuse in the American Catholic Church published a pair of reports today, one explaining how the cancer grew, the other dealing with the numbers. Ten thousand claims of abuse from 1950 to 2002 implicating 4,300 priests, which represents about four percent of the clergy during the period in question.

Because the reports were commissioned in effect by the church itself they are being received with a degree of skepticism in certain quarters tonight, understandable we guess given the history but that said, the authors claim to have pulled no punches.

Here again, CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): While the numbers from the report are staggering so too are the unsettling details emerging about the victims. Most were young boys, their average age just 12 years old.

Many were enticed with alcohol or drugs, the most common form of abuse touching under a victim's clothes but also included oral sex, masturbation, and penetration, much of the abuse taking place in a parish or a cleric's home.

BISHOP WILTON GREGORY, PRESIDENT, U.S. CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS: On behalf of the bishops and the entire church in the United States, I restate and reaffirm our apologies to all of you who have been harmed by those among us.

CARROLL: The financial fallout more than half a billion dollars in settlement fees and counseling. Another report explored the causes behind the abuse. Among the new findings clergy didn't do enough to screen candidates for priesthood, nor was there enough preparation for a life of celibacy.

ROBERT BENNETT, NATIONAL REVIEW BOARD MEMBER: Many bishops, certainly not all, breached their responsibilities as pastors, breached their responsibilities as shepherds of the flock and put their head in the sand.

CARROLL: Recommendations better screening and training in the seminary, more outreach to victims, many of whom are critical of the report's numbers because they're based on information provided by the church.

BARBARA BLAINE, VICTIM: We just have to be skeptical. We have -- it would be naive to believe that this is complete and accurate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: What is painfully clear is that church leaders did not do enough to protect children. What is unclear is whether or not those same church leaders will somehow be reprimanded for their actions -- Aaron.

BROWN: We'll pick that up with Mr. Bennett in a moment. On the question of the numbers, the victims, the incidents there was, stop me when I get this wrong or just help me out here, it sort of peaked in the '70s is that what happened and then started to fall?

CARROLL: It seemed to peak -- it seemed to peak sometime in the '70s, started to fall off a little bit more in the '80s and in the '90s and, of course, after that period of time. And in terms of an explanation as to why that happened, and I'm sure that's your next question, that is something that researchers say they're going to have to look into a little bit more before they can find an answer to that.

BROWN: Jason, nice work this week too. Thank you very much, Jason Carroll on this.

We heard from Bob Bennett a bit in Jason's report a moment ago. Mr. Bennett is a distinguished attorney in Washington, never far from the public eye and by all accounts no shrinking violet either. Mr. Bennett joins us now from Washington on an important day. We're glad to have him with us.

On this question of incidents and why they happened when they happened, this does I think in the reports you have something to do with what was going on in seminaries in the '50s doesn't it?

BENNETT: Yes. I think so. I think that what those numbers show is that the seminaries admitted many men who were really dysfunctional people, sexually immature, psychologically immature. They were not formed properly within the seminaries and the certainly were not educated well or guided well on how to live a celibate and holy spiritual life.

BROWN: Was the notion when these young, and they were young men as they came into the seminaries, was it that well if they are there they were called by God to be there and who are we to challenge them?

BENNETT: Yes. I think that was a big part of it and then I think in conjunction with that feeling there was a feeling that if they were called in and if they were ordained they were in the words of the church ontologically changed and so all of the presumptions were in their favor and not in the favor of the victim.

BROWN: Help me with ontologically changed.

BENNETT: Well, it's a part of the belief of the church that when the bishop lays his hands on the individual and makes that person a priest that person is, in effect, changed. They are Jesus Christ on earth and so if they deny an allegation, the presumptions were in their favor.

BROWN: The report also dealt with another uncomfortable aspect of this. You talk about a gay culture that existed in the seminaries. By and large, the incidents that were talked about were not incidents of pedophiles really because the victims were older than that and that straight men were discouraged, I guess, from joining, fair?

BENNETT: Well, that's fair as to only a few instances, only a couple of seminaries. I don't think it's fair to conclude, we certainly don't have the evidence to conclude that that was pervasive in most seminaries.

I think you're quite right that the numbers do show that this is not really a problem of pedophilia, although some of the most extreme cases, like Father Geoghan, certainly were that. But really what they call ephebophilia, which was sexual abuse of teenage boys.

BROWN: I think one of the questions, Mr. Bennett, that comes up all the time is the degree to which the bishops who had management responsibility, if you will, and obviously didn't do a particularly great job in some instances are being held accountable. Are they being held accountable?

BENNETT: Well, I mean that remains to be seen. I mean that's a problem that the bishops now have. We have spoken loudly and clearly in our report and have emphasized the failure of some bishops, not all bishops but some bishops, to deal appropriately with these problems.

Now there may be many explanations for why they didn't deal with the problems but the fact remains is that there was a failing and we spelled that our in our report.

BROWN: Mr. Bennett, thank you for your work and thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you very much.

BENNETT: You're welcome, Aaron. Good night.

BROWN: Good night, sir, Bob Bennett in Washington tonight.

On now to gay marriage, today the California Supreme Court declined to stop what is becoming known now as San Francisco's winter of love, the court refusing a request from the state's attorney general to block the city of San Francisco from issuing marriage license to same-sex couples.

More than 3,400 couples have gotten married since the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom gave the go ahead two weeks ago.

Meantime, 2,500 miles away just north of New York City, another locality is getting into the act, so from New Paltz, New York tonight CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HINOJOSA (voice-over): This time it's a tiny town in upstate New York joining the ranks of San Francisco and other cities in defiance of existing marriage laws.

MAYOR JASON WEST, NEW PALTZ, NEW YORK: It was obviously the national conversation has moved up our time table. The inspiring events of San Francisco and Massachusetts and New Mexico really made it clear to me that I have a moral obligation to raise my voice in this course for civil rights that we're seeing all across the country.

HINOJOSA: But the aggressive strategy, some gay activists acknowledge, may also hurt the cause.

ARLEEN ISAACSON, MASSACHUSETTS GAY AND LESBIAN POLITICAL CAUCUS: Well, at the end of the day this is after all a civil rights movement and civil disobedience can be a component of that as it has been in many others before this. But the fact of the matter is, if our running off and marrying in other states is scaring people, obviously it could have some negative effect.

HINOJOSA: Case in point, the president again today.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe it is important to affirm that, that marriage between a man and a woman is the ideal and the job of the president is to drive policy toward the ideal.

HINOJOSA: The president's call for a Constitutional amendment was on the minds of Jeffrey McGowan (ph) and William Van Rostenburg (ph) when they exchanged their vows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All that Jeff and I are doing is taking advantage of this window of opportunity. We're just here in a moment of time that gives us possibly a few moments to make it legal and that's all we want.

HINOJOSA: But was this all part of a preconceived, organized and calculated strategy by gay rights supporters to place marriage rights for gays on the national agenda?

EVAN WOLFSON, FREEDOM TO MARRY: People are organizing to try to make some of this happen but much more of what this is about is real people feeling an opportunity and a need to speak out and get involved and it's a stage in a civil rights struggle.

HINOJOSA (on camera): A struggle that faces 37 state bans on gay marriage, just as gay people in places like San Francisco and upstate New York are rushing to say I do.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on this Friday night, good news for Martha Stewart in court. A judge in her case throws out a major charge against her.

Later, the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, we'll tell you who's going to win, well we actually won't do that but we will talk about the movies and more as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Until today, the case against Martha Stewart consisted of five charges, four of them routine as these things go, one quite novel. Simply put, or simply as we can, the government contended that in proclaiming her innocence on charges she lied about her sale of the shares of ImClone she owned, Ms. Stewart was defrauding the investors in her own company. It sounded to a number of legal experts like a catch-22 or at least a stretch and today the judge in the case agreed.

Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart on her way to a celebratory lunch in China town. Judge Miriam Cedarbaum had just tossed out the most serious charge against Stewart ruling: "The evidence and inferences the government presents are simply too weak to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal intent."

(on camera): Mr. Morvillo, your reaction to the throwing out of the securities fraud charge?

ROBERT MORVILLO, ATTORNEY FOR MARTHA STEWART: We are pleased and we think the judge has made the right decision. End of answer.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Prosecutors had charged Stewart with trying to defraud investors in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by claiming she did nothing wrong in selling her ImClone stock.

Stewart claims she had an agreement with stockbroker Peter Bacanovic to sell ImClone if the price fell under $60 a share. That issue is still before the court. Prosecutors charge Stewart sold after getting a tip that ImClone chief Sam Waksal was trying to dump his stock.

(on camera): That allegation underlies the four criminal charges Martha Stewart still confronts, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, after which the case goes to the jury.

Allan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few more items from around the country that made news today. Authorities from six states from Mississippi to Oklahoma met to consider today the possibility they've got a serial killer making the rounds.

They're comparing notes on at least seven murder cases, possibly as many as ten, all committed in the last two years. All the victims were either prostitutes or have a history of prostitution. Most were last seen at truck stops along I-40 in Oklahoma.

Colorado's governor today appointed a special prosecutor to look into allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding the University of Colorado's football program.

The governor promised no spin, no whitewash and no excuses. Six women have come forward in the last four years claiming they were raped by football players. The program itself is also under fire for allegedly using sex parties and strippers as recruiting tools.

And a date has now been set for the trial of Carlton Dotson. Mr. Dotson, you'll recall, is the former Baylor University basketball player charged with murder in the shooting death of his teammate Patrick Dennehy. The trial is set to begin on the 8th of August.

Politics now and the question of the back story, does it matter in picking a president or even a candidate for president whether he's from hard times or easy street? Is biography destiny? Did Abraham Lincoln grow up in a log cabin?

Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the trial, two sons of America lay claim to the same family that once dominated Democratic politics and an era once called Camelot.

KERRY: If the qualification is sort of where are you born or whether you can feel things we'd have never had a great president in Franklin Roosevelt. We'd have never had a great president in John Kennedy.

CROWLEY: In ways both subtle and not the two make their case on the biggest difference between them, who they are and from whence they come.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I grew up the son of a mill worker.

KERRY: When I came back from Vietnam, I spent a lot of my years fighting for those people to be able to get ahead.

CROWLEY: Beyond his initials, which he's been known to point out, John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts has a heroic tale of military exploits, much like the PT-109 stories of JFK lore.

Kerry has a pedigree with JFK like bloodlines. Their social circles overlapped enough that a teenage J. F. Kerry once sailed with J. F. Kennedy, his political hero. Both JFK's were Ivy League educated and well versed.

KERRY: His administration set up an equation. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have and they approached this so that the insurgents were given, empowered by this administration.

CROWLEY: The Massachusetts Senator also shares the Kennedy state but lacks the Kennedy touch. This JFK has the demeanor and speaking style of a Boston patrician enhanced by decades in the Senate, the world's most deliberative body, which is to say that Kerry may take a while to get to the point.

KERRY: My regret is this president chose the wrong way, rushed to war, is now spending billions of American taxpayers' dollars that we didn't need to spend this way had he built a legitimate coalition and has put our troops at greater risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cast the same vote, Senator, is that the way you see it? EDWARDS: That's the longest answer I ever heard to a yes or no question.

CROWLEY: Eight years ago, national Democratic circles were buzzing over a Senate candidate, the next RFK, a southern Bobby Kennedy, with charm, youthful good looks and despite being a "have" able to reach out and touch a chord in the "have nots."

EDWARDS: Tonight there will be some 10-year-old little girl going to bed somewhere in America hungry, worried that tomorrow is going to be colder than today because she doesn't have the clothes to keep her warm.

CROWLEY: Unlike R. F. Kennedy, J. R. Edwards comes by his populism naturally. A multimillionaire now, Edwards had a modest upbringing in a small mill town and exactly like New York Senator Bobby Kennedy, Senator John Edwards was a freshman Senator when he decided to run for president, a brash career jump that sometimes shows.

The U.S. has a proposal, I think, on the table for Aristide to stay in office but put a prime minister in that's acceptable to opponents. How do you view the situation?

EDWARDS: I think for the time being that's the correct approach. For the time being that is the correct approach. That's what we should be doing.

CROWLEY: John Edwards or John Kerry will be the Democratic nominee. Either way expect to hear mention of the name Kennedy.

Candy Crowley CNN, Claremont, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight, the latest from Haiti as the rebels draw closer to the capital and mounting pressure on President Aristide to step down.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The news tonight from Haiti is grim. U.S. defense officials are now considering stationing three Navy ships off the coast of Haiti, not to help restore order in the tiny country but rather to evacuate the U.S. Embassy or repatriate fleeing Haitians or provide refuge to President Jean Bertrand Aristide should he decide to step down and flee, something he has vowed not to do despite the widening crisis.

The rebels behind the uprising have yet to penetrate the capital where the president is holed up but today the chaos they've unleashed exploded nonetheless.

We warn you now some of the pictures you're about to see are quite graphic, reporting the story, CNN's Lucia Newman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWMAN (voice-over): Truckloads of armed thugs patrolling the street, ransacking and shooting whom they please, people looting warehouses at the port, the police nowhere to be seen, the rebels fast approaching the capital.

The brutality so many feared is here, execution style killings like these two men found shot through the head with their hands tied behind their backs, another man castrated with a machete. A seasoned photographer familiar with Haiti calls it anarchy.

RON HAVIV, "NEWSWEEK" PHOTOGRAPHER: This is sort of a combination of political vendettas, as well as just very basic vandalism, looting, and people thieving and taking advantage of the lawlessness that exists here today.

NEWMAN: At the airport despair. This Canadian missionary inconsolable when told he can't leave Haiti. Virtually all international flights canceled because of the unrest, leaving hundreds, if not thousands, stranded.

GUY PHILLIP, REBEL LEADER: It shouldn't be. Because, you know, this is the last place that should be shut down, if anything. Because this is the only way for anybody to be able to do anything, whether to escape.

NEWMAN: With Haiti in chaos, the U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 531 Haitian boat people picked up trying to get to Florida. With armed rebels now taking over more and more towns, insurgent leader Guy Phillip says he plans to encircle the capital and choke off supplies, instead of attacking right away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be very hard to take it, a lot of fights, a lot of death. So what we want is desperation first. And that's what we are doing now, closing the circle.

NEWMAN: Residents are scrambling to stock up on food and water from the few shops still open, anticipating the worst.

(on camera): The situation is spiraling out of control. And with no one here really in control, it's the guys with the gun whose seem to be in charge.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few other stories that made news around the world today, starting with some fence mending.

At a meeting today in the Oval Office, President Bush and Germany's President Gerhard Schroeder said their differences over the war in Iraq are in the past. Time to move on. It was Mr. Schroeder's first visit to the White House in two years. In Iraq, nearly 100 Japanese troops arrived at their new camp in the southern part of the country today, the largest contingent Japan has sent so far. The troops will not have a combat role. They will focus on humanitarian and reconstruction work.

And in Japan, a court today sentenced Shoko Asahara, the leader of a cult which launched that deadly sarin nerve gas attack in a Tokyo subway in 1995; 12 people died. Thousands were hurt. The trial lasted eight years, prompting critics of Japan's complex legal system to call for reforms.

Still to come NEWSNIGHT, the little coach who could. Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets, from unknown to record setter in the space of a month. You'll love this.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Friday seems a perfect time for the classics to bump into the NBA. The great Roman philosopher Seneca is credited with saying luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. That's a rough translation, anyway. Seneca, of course, didn't know basketball at all. It would take a millennia for the sport to catch on.

But the philosopher and his wisdom could not have found a better poster boy than Lawrence Frank. Four weeks ago, after more than a decade of preparation, Mr. Frank got his opportunity and overnight the New Jersey Nets became nearly unbeatable, this one for every water boy and bat girl who dreams big and works harder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): By now, he has heard all the comparisons and most of them come down to this. He looks totally out of place, adrift in a sea of giants, like a high school English teacher who took a wrong turn and somehow wound up on a basketball court.

LAWRENCE FRANK, INTERIM HEAD COACH, NEW JERSEY NETS: You have to be able to laugh at yourself. Hey, it's flattering to say high school English teacher. I'm not smart enough to be able to be an English teacher.

BROWN: But he is smart enough to do this, win 13 games in a row as the interim head coach of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. No other professional coach in any major sport in the United States has ever gotten off to such a fast start.

IAN EAGLE, TELEVISION ANNOUNCER, NEW JERSEY NETS: Lawrence Frank has been preparing for this his entire life. Nobody else knew about it, but when the situation came up that he had a chance to coach, he was as ready as anybody has ever been for that moment.

BROWN: He had never played on his high school basketball team, cut, he says, by a coach who couldn't see past his lack of size. But he was driven to be in basketball somehow, to be a coach, a coach who could see the intangibles.

FRANK: I went to Indiana University specifically to learn from Coach Knight. And, obviously, I wasn't good enough to play there, so I went there as a student manager.

BROWN: That would be for the legendary college coach Bobby Knight and he wasn't even the only manager.

FRANK: He didn't need to have as many managers as he did, but he did it because he gave people like myself an opportunity. And there were several of us who wanted to get into coaching and he knew that.

BROWN: Along the way, he earned a reputation, first in college, then as an assistant in the pros, an absolutely tireless worker. Sleeps, he reasons, is overrated.

BRIAN SCALABRINE, NEW JERSEY NETS: I heard it's three hours a night. That's the rumor.

FRANK: But, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. I'm the head coach. So it's not a contest of who puts in more hours. It's about results.

BROWN: At 33, he is the league's youngest coach. And so far, the results are glorious, 13 wins, one loss. That came just a few days ago. He may still look out of place, but don't tell that to his players.

JASON KIDD, NEW JERSEY NETS: What he's done is not a fluke or it's not luck. It's just, you know, a matter of being able to handle that 18-inch move from being assistant to a head coach. And he has done a great job with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: If you don't love that guy, you can't love anything.

The "Moneyline Roundup" starts tonight with more headaches for Disney CEO Michael Eisner. It seems nobody loves him these days. Another state pension fund has said it will withhold a vote of confidence in Mr. Eisner at the annual board meeting next week. North Carolina now joins at least seven states, including the biggies, New York and California, with a bone to pick. Disney is bracing for 30 percent of its shareholders to oppose Mr. Eisner.

However, reelection of the board is guaranteed because all 11 members, including Mr. Eisner, are running unopposed. Funny how that works, huh?

Dick Grasso apparently hanging on to his millions with both hands. In a letter obtained by "The Washington Post," a lawyer for the former head of the New York Stock Exchange says his client will not return any part of the $139 million he received last year. The stock exchange wants at least $120 million of it back.

New figures out today show the nation's gross domestic product grew at a rate of a little more than 4 percent at the end of last year. That's a bit higher than expected. The question now, of course, is when it will translate into jobs. The markets were mixed today, up a smidge, down a skosh, nothing to write home about for the last trading day of a short month.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Oscar time with some tough choices to make, especially in the acting categories. We talk with Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Tonight" after the break.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Regular viewers -- and you all are regular viewers, aren't you? -- know that segment seven is often where we step back from the big questions of the day and turn to the smaller ones.

The Oscars are this Sunday. And that means many questions, from the perennial who will win and what will they wear, to the specific. Will the Hobbits and Middle Earth sweep the night this year? And here's another. Are there more great performances than prizes to go around? Put another way, are we in the golden age of acting?

We talked to Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Was this a year of great movies or great performances within some very good movies?

LISA SCHWARZBAUM, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": I think we're going to talk more about the performances than we are about the movies now.

Now, having made that general statement, of course, there were some great movies. But what jumped out were certain performances, for instance, Charlize Theron in "Monster," who I think was much better than the movie. She was phenomenal. You can break down "Mystic River," which was also a really good movie and also had phenomenal performances throughout.

I think people tend to look at movies in a kind of cut-up way now. A lot of people like to follow what the star is doing and see what is that great person I can watch. Some people, I think, are attuned to watching performances and to want to see something big.

BROWN: Do audiences -- is there a difference here between great actors -- we'll talk about some of them, Sean Penn and others in this year -- and movie stars?

SCHWARZBAUM: Yes. You have hit on one of my favorite themes.

I think one can be a really good actor and not be a great star. One can also be a great star and not be a good actor. There's a certain persona that comes with movie stardom. Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, they light up a room. You want to see whatever they do. They may not be doing the greatest acting in the world. Somebody like Russell Crowe is a star and also I think a great actor. When you see him in a role, he completely loses himself in that role. And I don't think, oh, that's Russell Crowe playing the leader of a ship. I think he really is playing the leader of a ship, as opposed to Tom Cruise, who looks like he's playing a samurai.

BROWN: Somebody like Bill Murray, who I don't think of as a -- in the sort of big sense, a big movie star, but he turned a wonderful performance this year.

SCHWARZBAUM: That's right. He did.

One thing that happened with Bill Murray, I think, is that he has deepened. We tend to think he's funny. He's casual. He's lovely. He's casual. He's kind of riffing.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: Which of course he is. He has that.

But, I think, if you trace it, ever since "Rushmore," he has gotten deeper and more mature in his acting. A lot of actors this year I think have gotten more mature.

BROWN: I was going to say, I wonder if that's true of some of the others that we have kind of skimmed over briefly. Sean Penn turned, to me -- and I didn't see all these movies, but I saw that one, "Mystic River" -- just an incredibly powerful performance, as did Tim Robbins in that movie.

SCHWARZBAUM: That's right. I think so.

And you could actually, I suppose, throw in Diane Keaton.

BROWN: Absolutely.

SCHWARZBAUM: Who, in her 50s, has reached a new level of, we could say, sexiness and maturity and a certain actress level that we haven't seen before.

BROWN: Is this by design? Is this something that's sort of accidental. Next year, it will be something else? Next year, it will be special effects that we talk about? Is there something that happened this year that made it so?

SCHWARZBAUM: That's a good question.

I think special effects have hit their peak. We have seen "The Lord of the Rings." And what could be greater than that? I'm a huge "Lord of the Rings" fan. So -- but when it comes back down to is that people want to hear a story. And for all of the explosions and all of the great computer graphics that you see, you want to see somebody interrelating with somebody else. And that, only an actor can do.

Even Gollum, which was in "Lord of the Rings," which was a computerized guy, was based on a real person making these movements. So special effects, I would like to think, have hit a certain kind of peak and we can come back to some more storytelling, which involves good performance.

BROWN: People expect this question. And every now and then, I try and do what people expect. Best movie, best actor, best actress?

SCHWARZBAUM: Now -- and I answer by saying I'm not a prognosticator and I don't do horse races.

BROWN: To you.

SCHWARZBAUM: But for my choices?

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: It's easy. And, actually, I think they might actually correlate this year.

"Lord of the Rings," it has to be, it has to be honored for what it did in the past three years, an incredible, incredible work, and Peter Jackson as director. Best actress, Charlize Theron I would go with, because you cannot take your eyes off her. She is just amazing.

Best actor, I would go with Bill Murray. I know that there are many people who love Sean Penn. And that's fine. I would not be unhappy. I think Bill Murray deserves an Oscar and has been waiting for it. And I would love to see it. It would be very cool, because the academy is generally very square.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: And it would be very cool if he won.

BROWN: I actually hope he gets it, too.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHWARZBAUM: It would be great just to hear his speech, you know?

BROWN: Yes. Thanks. It's nice to meet you.

SCHWARZBAUM: It's a pleasure. Thanks.

BROWN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: I talked to Lisa earlier tonight.

We'll check the morning papers, Friday, a tabloid or two. It's a dandy tabloid story.

But we'll take a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT..

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: OK, time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world.

We'll begin around the world with "The International Herald Tribune." They lead with Haiti. Whoops. It would probably helped if I showed it to you, huh? They lead with Haiti. "Panic Hits Capital of Haiti as Chaos Rises." Down here, an Oscar story. I like this story, too. "An Oscar Chase Without the Mud. Shorter Campaign Is Also More Subdued," a story written by Sharon Waxman, who has been very busy for "The Times" writing out on the West Coast. She has done a lot of their Michael Jackson stuff as well.

"The Boston Herald," that would be back in this country. "Get Out: U.S. Pressures Aristide to Leave" is the headline there.

"The Guardian," a British paper. This is a spinoff of yesterday's story about the bugging or the alleged bugging, I guess, of Kofi Annan at the U.N. "Blix" -- as in Hans Blix, you remember him, a name from the past, the recent past -- "I Was Target, Too, Suspected That Both Home and Office in New York Were Bugged. Employed Surveillance Teams to Protect Him From His Own Side." It's a tough world these guys operate in.

"The Oregonian" out in Portland, Oregon, leads local, mostly. "Rose Garden Enters Bankruptcy." The Rose Garden is the basketball arena, the sports arena out there. It's own by Paul Allen, as I recall. It's the Rose Garden because it's the Rose City. And like most American papers, the sex abuse story is on the front page. "Abuse Costs Archdiocese Millions." The Archdiocese of Portland has paid $53 million in little Portland, Oregon, second only to Boston, it turns out. Thank you, one minute and 30 seconds.

"San Francisco Chronicle" leads local, too. "Lockyer" -- that's the state attorney general -- "Asks State's Top Court to Step In." Actually, they do have an early deadline, because the court said it wouldn't, at least not yet, and asked for more legal briefs there.

All right, let's do -- oh, let's do this one. Then we'll do a tabloid or two.

"The Times Herald Record" in Upstate New York. We told you about this. "Married in New Paltz" is the headline, a couple pictures of that. Actually, we saw that couple earlier. That's big story there.

OK, a couple of tabloid stories from "The Weekly World News," my favorite newspaper. Well, it's a magazine, I guess. "OK, Batboy, He's 50 Percent Bat" -- I'm sorry" -- "And 100 Percent Amazing." That's just like an appetizer, OK? So is this one. "Hell Has a Pain Free Zone For Masochists." So, if you're a masochist and you're bad, you are in trouble. OK, but here's their lead.

How we doing on time, Terry (ph)? OK, that's the perfect amount of time to tell you -- and here's their big story that we've been withholding. We knew about this, but we didn't want to report it. "Osama's Secret Surrender. Lovesick bin Laden Lays Down His Arms to Join Sweetheart Saddam in Jail." OK? That's a true story. We're not making that up.

And, actually, they have pictures of them together with their child, Robert. Can you get a shot of that? Can you see that? Can you imagine how much fun -- there's Robert over there -- how much fun it would be to work there?

We have a bonus story coming up in rhyme. I would probably tell you the weather in Chicago if I could remember it. There it is. It's "glory be."

But we'll take the break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Some stories, it seems, have neither rhyme, nor reason. This one has both, rhyme for a reason. It's a birthday card.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Know who was born a century ago come Tuesday next, sunshine or no?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Green Eggs and Ham." "If I Ran the Zoo." "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew."

BROWN: The 2nd of March, 1904, in Springfield, Mass. Here is his front door.

He was Theodore Geisel at that time, before picking up pen and setting to rhyme "Horton," "The Grinch," "The Cat in the Hat," "Yertle the Turtle," books just like that. "Green Eggs and Ham" and four dozen more, full of foxes and "Sneetches" and creatures galore, "Thing One/Thing Two," "Gertrude McFuzz," most were as odd as odd ever was. His inventions wore feathers, had trunks and had tails and sometimes had fins sometimes and sometimes had scales.

They hopped and they ran and they swam and they mooed. They went about barefoot or were festively shoed. But they all gave delight and taught kids to read by making them laugh and by filling their need, for rhymes that were bouncy and silly and fun and had a punchline per page or more than just one.

The past had Hans Christian and the Brothers Grimm. Pity the past, though, because we had him. And no other writer ever let loose a world like the world of our friend Dr. Seuss. He would be 100 now if he were alive. As for his books, they will always survive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you on Monday. Good night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Skeptical of Newly Released Priest Sexual Abuse Report>


Aired February 27, 2004 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again everyone.
Call this outrage part two. Today, as we'll report in some detail, the independent commission investigating 9/11 received the 60 extra days it says it needs to finish its work. Those of you with us last night know I have somewhat of an opinion on that.

All of us should thank the families of the victims who spoke with such a clear voice on this, a voice that could not be ignored. We should also thank Senators Lieberman and McCain who forced the issue. And we should thank the distinguished co-chairman of the commission who refused to back down.

The Speaker of the House deserves some credit as well, credit for backing down, not an easy thing to do in such an emotional public fight if the fight itself was a losing proposition and we think it was.

We move on now to the most important matter learning as much of that truth of that horrible day as we can and drawing the best lessons possible to prevent another. We may never know everything we need to know about 9/11 but thankfully tonight we have a much better chance. The speaker's decision leads the program and the whip.

CNN's Joe Johns starts us off with what headline is left, Joe, good evening.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, House Speaker Dennis Hastert relents. The speaker voiced his opposition to an extension for the report of the commission for 9/11 and then gets talked out of it by some of his friends and some of his foes -- Aaron.

BROWN: Joe, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight.

On to the priest sex abuse investigation, two long-awaited reports came out today. CNN's Jason Carroll has been covering this now from the early days, so Jason a headline from you tonight.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the results left one researcher saying that church leaders acted more like risk assessment managers rather than shepherds of their own flocks -- Aaron.

BROWN: Jason, thank you.

Finally, a worsening situation in Haiti, CNN's Lucia Newman is on the phone tonight from Port-au-Prince, Lucia the headline from there.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the situation here is spiraling out of control. Armed gangs are burning, looting and killing and there is no one to stop them.

BROWN: Lucia, thank you. We'll get back to you and the rest shortly.

Also coming up tonight on the program we'll meet the biggest little man in the NBA. This story is so good. Lawrence Frank, who went from being cut by his high school basketball team to the hottest coach in the NBA.

We'll also look at a very big year for actors with some great performances as we approach the Academy Awards this weekend.

Later our own star performer, of course, the rooster with morning papers and, it being Friday, a check of the tabloids too and we got one dandy tabloid story, all that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin with the change of mind and policy. I think it was that great American philosopher Kenny Rogers who said, "You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them," that in a line seems to be what caused the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to relent and give the 9/11 commission 60 extra days to do its work.

He was holding bad cards, an unwinnable hand in a poker game where the stakes were far more than momentary political advantage, reporting the story from the Hill CNN's Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): Pressure on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to reverse himself built throughout the day from the chairman of the 9/11 commission.

THOMAS KEAN, CHAIRMAN, 9/11 COMMISSION: The speaker is a reasonable man and I think it was a reasonable request. The American people need it.

JOHNS: From the Senate floor...

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Are we going to abandon the families of 9/11?

JOHNS: From the campaign trail, pressure on the speaker and the White House.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, stop stonewalling the commission and stop hiding behind excuses. Pick up the phone, call your friend Denny Hastert and tell him to let the commission finish its job so we can make America safer.

JOHNS: But for the second day in a row the White House was arguing it was not trying to have it both ways by supporting the commission's request for two more months to complete its work but allowing the Republican speaker to run interference.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This president has publicly stated that he is for an extension of the 9/11 commission at their request. Not only have we stated it publicly but we've stated it privately as well. Our views are very well known.

JOHNS: One administration official said by midday Friday it was pretty clear the debate over the extension "was not a winner for the speaker or the White House." Hastert threw in the towel. After opposing an extension saying he feared the report would become a political football if it came out too close to the election, he told the commission he would support an extension until the end of July.

He wrote: "I want your commission to do a thorough job but I also believe that we must have your recommendation soon."

With that, commission backers said the deadline extension should never have been in question.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: We've reached a just result. I'm grateful to the speaker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: The chair and vice-chair of the commission issued a statement tonight saying they welcomed the speaker's decision. They also indicated there are some unresolved issued, including extra time to phase out their office. They plan to meet with the speaker next Tuesday -- Aaron.

BROWN: I apologize if this is unanswerable, I really do. Is there -- do you have any sense of how the speaker got into this mess because honestly from the get-go this was a bad hand to be dealt and to try and play out?

JOHNS: Well, I did ask that question of one of his allies and that ally said he was very concerned about the politics of all of this and what might happen if this report came out right around the time of the conventions.

On the other hand, behind the scenes a lot of the speaker's allies suggest they were concerned that the president was not fighting for himself because something bad could happen to him. Hastert may have felt he needed to step into the breach -- Aaron.

BROWN: Joe, thank you for your work the last couple of nights. Thank you very much, Joe Johns on the Hill.

Other news now, the lay panel investigating sex abuse in the American Catholic Church published a pair of reports today, one explaining how the cancer grew, the other dealing with the numbers. Ten thousand claims of abuse from 1950 to 2002 implicating 4,300 priests, which represents about four percent of the clergy during the period in question.

Because the reports were commissioned in effect by the church itself they are being received with a degree of skepticism in certain quarters tonight, understandable we guess given the history but that said, the authors claim to have pulled no punches.

Here again, CNN's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): While the numbers from the report are staggering so too are the unsettling details emerging about the victims. Most were young boys, their average age just 12 years old.

Many were enticed with alcohol or drugs, the most common form of abuse touching under a victim's clothes but also included oral sex, masturbation, and penetration, much of the abuse taking place in a parish or a cleric's home.

BISHOP WILTON GREGORY, PRESIDENT, U.S. CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS: On behalf of the bishops and the entire church in the United States, I restate and reaffirm our apologies to all of you who have been harmed by those among us.

CARROLL: The financial fallout more than half a billion dollars in settlement fees and counseling. Another report explored the causes behind the abuse. Among the new findings clergy didn't do enough to screen candidates for priesthood, nor was there enough preparation for a life of celibacy.

ROBERT BENNETT, NATIONAL REVIEW BOARD MEMBER: Many bishops, certainly not all, breached their responsibilities as pastors, breached their responsibilities as shepherds of the flock and put their head in the sand.

CARROLL: Recommendations better screening and training in the seminary, more outreach to victims, many of whom are critical of the report's numbers because they're based on information provided by the church.

BARBARA BLAINE, VICTIM: We just have to be skeptical. We have -- it would be naive to believe that this is complete and accurate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: What is painfully clear is that church leaders did not do enough to protect children. What is unclear is whether or not those same church leaders will somehow be reprimanded for their actions -- Aaron.

BROWN: We'll pick that up with Mr. Bennett in a moment. On the question of the numbers, the victims, the incidents there was, stop me when I get this wrong or just help me out here, it sort of peaked in the '70s is that what happened and then started to fall?

CARROLL: It seemed to peak -- it seemed to peak sometime in the '70s, started to fall off a little bit more in the '80s and in the '90s and, of course, after that period of time. And in terms of an explanation as to why that happened, and I'm sure that's your next question, that is something that researchers say they're going to have to look into a little bit more before they can find an answer to that.

BROWN: Jason, nice work this week too. Thank you very much, Jason Carroll on this.

We heard from Bob Bennett a bit in Jason's report a moment ago. Mr. Bennett is a distinguished attorney in Washington, never far from the public eye and by all accounts no shrinking violet either. Mr. Bennett joins us now from Washington on an important day. We're glad to have him with us.

On this question of incidents and why they happened when they happened, this does I think in the reports you have something to do with what was going on in seminaries in the '50s doesn't it?

BENNETT: Yes. I think so. I think that what those numbers show is that the seminaries admitted many men who were really dysfunctional people, sexually immature, psychologically immature. They were not formed properly within the seminaries and the certainly were not educated well or guided well on how to live a celibate and holy spiritual life.

BROWN: Was the notion when these young, and they were young men as they came into the seminaries, was it that well if they are there they were called by God to be there and who are we to challenge them?

BENNETT: Yes. I think that was a big part of it and then I think in conjunction with that feeling there was a feeling that if they were called in and if they were ordained they were in the words of the church ontologically changed and so all of the presumptions were in their favor and not in the favor of the victim.

BROWN: Help me with ontologically changed.

BENNETT: Well, it's a part of the belief of the church that when the bishop lays his hands on the individual and makes that person a priest that person is, in effect, changed. They are Jesus Christ on earth and so if they deny an allegation, the presumptions were in their favor.

BROWN: The report also dealt with another uncomfortable aspect of this. You talk about a gay culture that existed in the seminaries. By and large, the incidents that were talked about were not incidents of pedophiles really because the victims were older than that and that straight men were discouraged, I guess, from joining, fair?

BENNETT: Well, that's fair as to only a few instances, only a couple of seminaries. I don't think it's fair to conclude, we certainly don't have the evidence to conclude that that was pervasive in most seminaries.

I think you're quite right that the numbers do show that this is not really a problem of pedophilia, although some of the most extreme cases, like Father Geoghan, certainly were that. But really what they call ephebophilia, which was sexual abuse of teenage boys.

BROWN: I think one of the questions, Mr. Bennett, that comes up all the time is the degree to which the bishops who had management responsibility, if you will, and obviously didn't do a particularly great job in some instances are being held accountable. Are they being held accountable?

BENNETT: Well, I mean that remains to be seen. I mean that's a problem that the bishops now have. We have spoken loudly and clearly in our report and have emphasized the failure of some bishops, not all bishops but some bishops, to deal appropriately with these problems.

Now there may be many explanations for why they didn't deal with the problems but the fact remains is that there was a failing and we spelled that our in our report.

BROWN: Mr. Bennett, thank you for your work and thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you very much.

BENNETT: You're welcome, Aaron. Good night.

BROWN: Good night, sir, Bob Bennett in Washington tonight.

On now to gay marriage, today the California Supreme Court declined to stop what is becoming known now as San Francisco's winter of love, the court refusing a request from the state's attorney general to block the city of San Francisco from issuing marriage license to same-sex couples.

More than 3,400 couples have gotten married since the Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom gave the go ahead two weeks ago.

Meantime, 2,500 miles away just north of New York City, another locality is getting into the act, so from New Paltz, New York tonight CNN's Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HINOJOSA (voice-over): This time it's a tiny town in upstate New York joining the ranks of San Francisco and other cities in defiance of existing marriage laws.

MAYOR JASON WEST, NEW PALTZ, NEW YORK: It was obviously the national conversation has moved up our time table. The inspiring events of San Francisco and Massachusetts and New Mexico really made it clear to me that I have a moral obligation to raise my voice in this course for civil rights that we're seeing all across the country.

HINOJOSA: But the aggressive strategy, some gay activists acknowledge, may also hurt the cause.

ARLEEN ISAACSON, MASSACHUSETTS GAY AND LESBIAN POLITICAL CAUCUS: Well, at the end of the day this is after all a civil rights movement and civil disobedience can be a component of that as it has been in many others before this. But the fact of the matter is, if our running off and marrying in other states is scaring people, obviously it could have some negative effect.

HINOJOSA: Case in point, the president again today.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe it is important to affirm that, that marriage between a man and a woman is the ideal and the job of the president is to drive policy toward the ideal.

HINOJOSA: The president's call for a Constitutional amendment was on the minds of Jeffrey McGowan (ph) and William Van Rostenburg (ph) when they exchanged their vows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All that Jeff and I are doing is taking advantage of this window of opportunity. We're just here in a moment of time that gives us possibly a few moments to make it legal and that's all we want.

HINOJOSA: But was this all part of a preconceived, organized and calculated strategy by gay rights supporters to place marriage rights for gays on the national agenda?

EVAN WOLFSON, FREEDOM TO MARRY: People are organizing to try to make some of this happen but much more of what this is about is real people feeling an opportunity and a need to speak out and get involved and it's a stage in a civil rights struggle.

HINOJOSA (on camera): A struggle that faces 37 state bans on gay marriage, just as gay people in places like San Francisco and upstate New York are rushing to say I do.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Still ahead on this Friday night, good news for Martha Stewart in court. A judge in her case throws out a major charge against her.

Later, the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, we'll tell you who's going to win, well we actually won't do that but we will talk about the movies and more as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Until today, the case against Martha Stewart consisted of five charges, four of them routine as these things go, one quite novel. Simply put, or simply as we can, the government contended that in proclaiming her innocence on charges she lied about her sale of the shares of ImClone she owned, Ms. Stewart was defrauding the investors in her own company. It sounded to a number of legal experts like a catch-22 or at least a stretch and today the judge in the case agreed.

Here's CNN's Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart on her way to a celebratory lunch in China town. Judge Miriam Cedarbaum had just tossed out the most serious charge against Stewart ruling: "The evidence and inferences the government presents are simply too weak to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt of criminal intent."

(on camera): Mr. Morvillo, your reaction to the throwing out of the securities fraud charge?

ROBERT MORVILLO, ATTORNEY FOR MARTHA STEWART: We are pleased and we think the judge has made the right decision. End of answer.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Prosecutors had charged Stewart with trying to defraud investors in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by claiming she did nothing wrong in selling her ImClone stock.

Stewart claims she had an agreement with stockbroker Peter Bacanovic to sell ImClone if the price fell under $60 a share. That issue is still before the court. Prosecutors charge Stewart sold after getting a tip that ImClone chief Sam Waksal was trying to dump his stock.

(on camera): That allegation underlies the four criminal charges Martha Stewart still confronts, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, after which the case goes to the jury.

Allan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few more items from around the country that made news today. Authorities from six states from Mississippi to Oklahoma met to consider today the possibility they've got a serial killer making the rounds.

They're comparing notes on at least seven murder cases, possibly as many as ten, all committed in the last two years. All the victims were either prostitutes or have a history of prostitution. Most were last seen at truck stops along I-40 in Oklahoma.

Colorado's governor today appointed a special prosecutor to look into allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding the University of Colorado's football program.

The governor promised no spin, no whitewash and no excuses. Six women have come forward in the last four years claiming they were raped by football players. The program itself is also under fire for allegedly using sex parties and strippers as recruiting tools.

And a date has now been set for the trial of Carlton Dotson. Mr. Dotson, you'll recall, is the former Baylor University basketball player charged with murder in the shooting death of his teammate Patrick Dennehy. The trial is set to begin on the 8th of August.

Politics now and the question of the back story, does it matter in picking a president or even a candidate for president whether he's from hard times or easy street? Is biography destiny? Did Abraham Lincoln grow up in a log cabin?

Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the trial, two sons of America lay claim to the same family that once dominated Democratic politics and an era once called Camelot.

KERRY: If the qualification is sort of where are you born or whether you can feel things we'd have never had a great president in Franklin Roosevelt. We'd have never had a great president in John Kennedy.

CROWLEY: In ways both subtle and not the two make their case on the biggest difference between them, who they are and from whence they come.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I grew up the son of a mill worker.

KERRY: When I came back from Vietnam, I spent a lot of my years fighting for those people to be able to get ahead.

CROWLEY: Beyond his initials, which he's been known to point out, John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts has a heroic tale of military exploits, much like the PT-109 stories of JFK lore.

Kerry has a pedigree with JFK like bloodlines. Their social circles overlapped enough that a teenage J. F. Kerry once sailed with J. F. Kennedy, his political hero. Both JFK's were Ivy League educated and well versed.

KERRY: His administration set up an equation. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have and they approached this so that the insurgents were given, empowered by this administration.

CROWLEY: The Massachusetts Senator also shares the Kennedy state but lacks the Kennedy touch. This JFK has the demeanor and speaking style of a Boston patrician enhanced by decades in the Senate, the world's most deliberative body, which is to say that Kerry may take a while to get to the point.

KERRY: My regret is this president chose the wrong way, rushed to war, is now spending billions of American taxpayers' dollars that we didn't need to spend this way had he built a legitimate coalition and has put our troops at greater risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You cast the same vote, Senator, is that the way you see it? EDWARDS: That's the longest answer I ever heard to a yes or no question.

CROWLEY: Eight years ago, national Democratic circles were buzzing over a Senate candidate, the next RFK, a southern Bobby Kennedy, with charm, youthful good looks and despite being a "have" able to reach out and touch a chord in the "have nots."

EDWARDS: Tonight there will be some 10-year-old little girl going to bed somewhere in America hungry, worried that tomorrow is going to be colder than today because she doesn't have the clothes to keep her warm.

CROWLEY: Unlike R. F. Kennedy, J. R. Edwards comes by his populism naturally. A multimillionaire now, Edwards had a modest upbringing in a small mill town and exactly like New York Senator Bobby Kennedy, Senator John Edwards was a freshman Senator when he decided to run for president, a brash career jump that sometimes shows.

The U.S. has a proposal, I think, on the table for Aristide to stay in office but put a prime minister in that's acceptable to opponents. How do you view the situation?

EDWARDS: I think for the time being that's the correct approach. For the time being that is the correct approach. That's what we should be doing.

CROWLEY: John Edwards or John Kerry will be the Democratic nominee. Either way expect to hear mention of the name Kennedy.

Candy Crowley CNN, Claremont, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up on NEWSNIGHT tonight, the latest from Haiti as the rebels draw closer to the capital and mounting pressure on President Aristide to step down.

Around the world this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The news tonight from Haiti is grim. U.S. defense officials are now considering stationing three Navy ships off the coast of Haiti, not to help restore order in the tiny country but rather to evacuate the U.S. Embassy or repatriate fleeing Haitians or provide refuge to President Jean Bertrand Aristide should he decide to step down and flee, something he has vowed not to do despite the widening crisis.

The rebels behind the uprising have yet to penetrate the capital where the president is holed up but today the chaos they've unleashed exploded nonetheless.

We warn you now some of the pictures you're about to see are quite graphic, reporting the story, CNN's Lucia Newman.

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NEWMAN (voice-over): Truckloads of armed thugs patrolling the street, ransacking and shooting whom they please, people looting warehouses at the port, the police nowhere to be seen, the rebels fast approaching the capital.

The brutality so many feared is here, execution style killings like these two men found shot through the head with their hands tied behind their backs, another man castrated with a machete. A seasoned photographer familiar with Haiti calls it anarchy.

RON HAVIV, "NEWSWEEK" PHOTOGRAPHER: This is sort of a combination of political vendettas, as well as just very basic vandalism, looting, and people thieving and taking advantage of the lawlessness that exists here today.

NEWMAN: At the airport despair. This Canadian missionary inconsolable when told he can't leave Haiti. Virtually all international flights canceled because of the unrest, leaving hundreds, if not thousands, stranded.

GUY PHILLIP, REBEL LEADER: It shouldn't be. Because, you know, this is the last place that should be shut down, if anything. Because this is the only way for anybody to be able to do anything, whether to escape.

NEWMAN: With Haiti in chaos, the U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 531 Haitian boat people picked up trying to get to Florida. With armed rebels now taking over more and more towns, insurgent leader Guy Phillip says he plans to encircle the capital and choke off supplies, instead of attacking right away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be very hard to take it, a lot of fights, a lot of death. So what we want is desperation first. And that's what we are doing now, closing the circle.

NEWMAN: Residents are scrambling to stock up on food and water from the few shops still open, anticipating the worst.

(on camera): The situation is spiraling out of control. And with no one here really in control, it's the guys with the gun whose seem to be in charge.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A few other stories that made news around the world today, starting with some fence mending.

At a meeting today in the Oval Office, President Bush and Germany's President Gerhard Schroeder said their differences over the war in Iraq are in the past. Time to move on. It was Mr. Schroeder's first visit to the White House in two years. In Iraq, nearly 100 Japanese troops arrived at their new camp in the southern part of the country today, the largest contingent Japan has sent so far. The troops will not have a combat role. They will focus on humanitarian and reconstruction work.

And in Japan, a court today sentenced Shoko Asahara, the leader of a cult which launched that deadly sarin nerve gas attack in a Tokyo subway in 1995; 12 people died. Thousands were hurt. The trial lasted eight years, prompting critics of Japan's complex legal system to call for reforms.

Still to come NEWSNIGHT, the little coach who could. Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets, from unknown to record setter in the space of a month. You'll love this.

A break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

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BROWN: Friday seems a perfect time for the classics to bump into the NBA. The great Roman philosopher Seneca is credited with saying luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. That's a rough translation, anyway. Seneca, of course, didn't know basketball at all. It would take a millennia for the sport to catch on.

But the philosopher and his wisdom could not have found a better poster boy than Lawrence Frank. Four weeks ago, after more than a decade of preparation, Mr. Frank got his opportunity and overnight the New Jersey Nets became nearly unbeatable, this one for every water boy and bat girl who dreams big and works harder.

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BROWN (voice-over): By now, he has heard all the comparisons and most of them come down to this. He looks totally out of place, adrift in a sea of giants, like a high school English teacher who took a wrong turn and somehow wound up on a basketball court.

LAWRENCE FRANK, INTERIM HEAD COACH, NEW JERSEY NETS: You have to be able to laugh at yourself. Hey, it's flattering to say high school English teacher. I'm not smart enough to be able to be an English teacher.

BROWN: But he is smart enough to do this, win 13 games in a row as the interim head coach of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. No other professional coach in any major sport in the United States has ever gotten off to such a fast start.

IAN EAGLE, TELEVISION ANNOUNCER, NEW JERSEY NETS: Lawrence Frank has been preparing for this his entire life. Nobody else knew about it, but when the situation came up that he had a chance to coach, he was as ready as anybody has ever been for that moment.

BROWN: He had never played on his high school basketball team, cut, he says, by a coach who couldn't see past his lack of size. But he was driven to be in basketball somehow, to be a coach, a coach who could see the intangibles.

FRANK: I went to Indiana University specifically to learn from Coach Knight. And, obviously, I wasn't good enough to play there, so I went there as a student manager.

BROWN: That would be for the legendary college coach Bobby Knight and he wasn't even the only manager.

FRANK: He didn't need to have as many managers as he did, but he did it because he gave people like myself an opportunity. And there were several of us who wanted to get into coaching and he knew that.

BROWN: Along the way, he earned a reputation, first in college, then as an assistant in the pros, an absolutely tireless worker. Sleeps, he reasons, is overrated.

BRIAN SCALABRINE, NEW JERSEY NETS: I heard it's three hours a night. That's the rumor.

FRANK: But, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. I'm the head coach. So it's not a contest of who puts in more hours. It's about results.

BROWN: At 33, he is the league's youngest coach. And so far, the results are glorious, 13 wins, one loss. That came just a few days ago. He may still look out of place, but don't tell that to his players.

JASON KIDD, NEW JERSEY NETS: What he's done is not a fluke or it's not luck. It's just, you know, a matter of being able to handle that 18-inch move from being assistant to a head coach. And he has done a great job with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: If you don't love that guy, you can't love anything.

The "Moneyline Roundup" starts tonight with more headaches for Disney CEO Michael Eisner. It seems nobody loves him these days. Another state pension fund has said it will withhold a vote of confidence in Mr. Eisner at the annual board meeting next week. North Carolina now joins at least seven states, including the biggies, New York and California, with a bone to pick. Disney is bracing for 30 percent of its shareholders to oppose Mr. Eisner.

However, reelection of the board is guaranteed because all 11 members, including Mr. Eisner, are running unopposed. Funny how that works, huh?

Dick Grasso apparently hanging on to his millions with both hands. In a letter obtained by "The Washington Post," a lawyer for the former head of the New York Stock Exchange says his client will not return any part of the $139 million he received last year. The stock exchange wants at least $120 million of it back.

New figures out today show the nation's gross domestic product grew at a rate of a little more than 4 percent at the end of last year. That's a bit higher than expected. The question now, of course, is when it will translate into jobs. The markets were mixed today, up a smidge, down a skosh, nothing to write home about for the last trading day of a short month.

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, Oscar time with some tough choices to make, especially in the acting categories. We talk with Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Tonight" after the break.

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

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BROWN: Regular viewers -- and you all are regular viewers, aren't you? -- know that segment seven is often where we step back from the big questions of the day and turn to the smaller ones.

The Oscars are this Sunday. And that means many questions, from the perennial who will win and what will they wear, to the specific. Will the Hobbits and Middle Earth sweep the night this year? And here's another. Are there more great performances than prizes to go around? Put another way, are we in the golden age of acting?

We talked to Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly."

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BROWN: Was this a year of great movies or great performances within some very good movies?

LISA SCHWARZBAUM, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": I think we're going to talk more about the performances than we are about the movies now.

Now, having made that general statement, of course, there were some great movies. But what jumped out were certain performances, for instance, Charlize Theron in "Monster," who I think was much better than the movie. She was phenomenal. You can break down "Mystic River," which was also a really good movie and also had phenomenal performances throughout.

I think people tend to look at movies in a kind of cut-up way now. A lot of people like to follow what the star is doing and see what is that great person I can watch. Some people, I think, are attuned to watching performances and to want to see something big.

BROWN: Do audiences -- is there a difference here between great actors -- we'll talk about some of them, Sean Penn and others in this year -- and movie stars?

SCHWARZBAUM: Yes. You have hit on one of my favorite themes.

I think one can be a really good actor and not be a great star. One can also be a great star and not be a good actor. There's a certain persona that comes with movie stardom. Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, they light up a room. You want to see whatever they do. They may not be doing the greatest acting in the world. Somebody like Russell Crowe is a star and also I think a great actor. When you see him in a role, he completely loses himself in that role. And I don't think, oh, that's Russell Crowe playing the leader of a ship. I think he really is playing the leader of a ship, as opposed to Tom Cruise, who looks like he's playing a samurai.

BROWN: Somebody like Bill Murray, who I don't think of as a -- in the sort of big sense, a big movie star, but he turned a wonderful performance this year.

SCHWARZBAUM: That's right. He did.

One thing that happened with Bill Murray, I think, is that he has deepened. We tend to think he's funny. He's casual. He's lovely. He's casual. He's kind of riffing.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: Which of course he is. He has that.

But, I think, if you trace it, ever since "Rushmore," he has gotten deeper and more mature in his acting. A lot of actors this year I think have gotten more mature.

BROWN: I was going to say, I wonder if that's true of some of the others that we have kind of skimmed over briefly. Sean Penn turned, to me -- and I didn't see all these movies, but I saw that one, "Mystic River" -- just an incredibly powerful performance, as did Tim Robbins in that movie.

SCHWARZBAUM: That's right. I think so.

And you could actually, I suppose, throw in Diane Keaton.

BROWN: Absolutely.

SCHWARZBAUM: Who, in her 50s, has reached a new level of, we could say, sexiness and maturity and a certain actress level that we haven't seen before.

BROWN: Is this by design? Is this something that's sort of accidental. Next year, it will be something else? Next year, it will be special effects that we talk about? Is there something that happened this year that made it so?

SCHWARZBAUM: That's a good question.

I think special effects have hit their peak. We have seen "The Lord of the Rings." And what could be greater than that? I'm a huge "Lord of the Rings" fan. So -- but when it comes back down to is that people want to hear a story. And for all of the explosions and all of the great computer graphics that you see, you want to see somebody interrelating with somebody else. And that, only an actor can do.

Even Gollum, which was in "Lord of the Rings," which was a computerized guy, was based on a real person making these movements. So special effects, I would like to think, have hit a certain kind of peak and we can come back to some more storytelling, which involves good performance.

BROWN: People expect this question. And every now and then, I try and do what people expect. Best movie, best actor, best actress?

SCHWARZBAUM: Now -- and I answer by saying I'm not a prognosticator and I don't do horse races.

BROWN: To you.

SCHWARZBAUM: But for my choices?

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: It's easy. And, actually, I think they might actually correlate this year.

"Lord of the Rings," it has to be, it has to be honored for what it did in the past three years, an incredible, incredible work, and Peter Jackson as director. Best actress, Charlize Theron I would go with, because you cannot take your eyes off her. She is just amazing.

Best actor, I would go with Bill Murray. I know that there are many people who love Sean Penn. And that's fine. I would not be unhappy. I think Bill Murray deserves an Oscar and has been waiting for it. And I would love to see it. It would be very cool, because the academy is generally very square.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHWARZBAUM: And it would be very cool if he won.

BROWN: I actually hope he gets it, too.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHWARZBAUM: It would be great just to hear his speech, you know?

BROWN: Yes. Thanks. It's nice to meet you.

SCHWARZBAUM: It's a pleasure. Thanks.

BROWN: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: I talked to Lisa earlier tonight.

We'll check the morning papers, Friday, a tabloid or two. It's a dandy tabloid story.

But we'll take a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT..

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BROWN: OK, time to check the morning papers from around the country and around the world.

We'll begin around the world with "The International Herald Tribune." They lead with Haiti. Whoops. It would probably helped if I showed it to you, huh? They lead with Haiti. "Panic Hits Capital of Haiti as Chaos Rises." Down here, an Oscar story. I like this story, too. "An Oscar Chase Without the Mud. Shorter Campaign Is Also More Subdued," a story written by Sharon Waxman, who has been very busy for "The Times" writing out on the West Coast. She has done a lot of their Michael Jackson stuff as well.

"The Boston Herald," that would be back in this country. "Get Out: U.S. Pressures Aristide to Leave" is the headline there.

"The Guardian," a British paper. This is a spinoff of yesterday's story about the bugging or the alleged bugging, I guess, of Kofi Annan at the U.N. "Blix" -- as in Hans Blix, you remember him, a name from the past, the recent past -- "I Was Target, Too, Suspected That Both Home and Office in New York Were Bugged. Employed Surveillance Teams to Protect Him From His Own Side." It's a tough world these guys operate in.

"The Oregonian" out in Portland, Oregon, leads local, mostly. "Rose Garden Enters Bankruptcy." The Rose Garden is the basketball arena, the sports arena out there. It's own by Paul Allen, as I recall. It's the Rose Garden because it's the Rose City. And like most American papers, the sex abuse story is on the front page. "Abuse Costs Archdiocese Millions." The Archdiocese of Portland has paid $53 million in little Portland, Oregon, second only to Boston, it turns out. Thank you, one minute and 30 seconds.

"San Francisco Chronicle" leads local, too. "Lockyer" -- that's the state attorney general -- "Asks State's Top Court to Step In." Actually, they do have an early deadline, because the court said it wouldn't, at least not yet, and asked for more legal briefs there.

All right, let's do -- oh, let's do this one. Then we'll do a tabloid or two.

"The Times Herald Record" in Upstate New York. We told you about this. "Married in New Paltz" is the headline, a couple pictures of that. Actually, we saw that couple earlier. That's big story there.

OK, a couple of tabloid stories from "The Weekly World News," my favorite newspaper. Well, it's a magazine, I guess. "OK, Batboy, He's 50 Percent Bat" -- I'm sorry" -- "And 100 Percent Amazing." That's just like an appetizer, OK? So is this one. "Hell Has a Pain Free Zone For Masochists." So, if you're a masochist and you're bad, you are in trouble. OK, but here's their lead.

How we doing on time, Terry (ph)? OK, that's the perfect amount of time to tell you -- and here's their big story that we've been withholding. We knew about this, but we didn't want to report it. "Osama's Secret Surrender. Lovesick bin Laden Lays Down His Arms to Join Sweetheart Saddam in Jail." OK? That's a true story. We're not making that up.

And, actually, they have pictures of them together with their child, Robert. Can you get a shot of that? Can you see that? Can you imagine how much fun -- there's Robert over there -- how much fun it would be to work there?

We have a bonus story coming up in rhyme. I would probably tell you the weather in Chicago if I could remember it. There it is. It's "glory be."

But we'll take the break first.

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BROWN: Some stories, it seems, have neither rhyme, nor reason. This one has both, rhyme for a reason. It's a birthday card.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Know who was born a century ago come Tuesday next, sunshine or no?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Green Eggs and Ham." "If I Ran the Zoo." "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew."

BROWN: The 2nd of March, 1904, in Springfield, Mass. Here is his front door.

He was Theodore Geisel at that time, before picking up pen and setting to rhyme "Horton," "The Grinch," "The Cat in the Hat," "Yertle the Turtle," books just like that. "Green Eggs and Ham" and four dozen more, full of foxes and "Sneetches" and creatures galore, "Thing One/Thing Two," "Gertrude McFuzz," most were as odd as odd ever was. His inventions wore feathers, had trunks and had tails and sometimes had fins sometimes and sometimes had scales.

They hopped and they ran and they swam and they mooed. They went about barefoot or were festively shoed. But they all gave delight and taught kids to read by making them laugh and by filling their need, for rhymes that were bouncy and silly and fun and had a punchline per page or more than just one.

The past had Hans Christian and the Brothers Grimm. Pity the past, though, because we had him. And no other writer ever let loose a world like the world of our friend Dr. Seuss. He would be 100 now if he were alive. As for his books, they will always survive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you on Monday. Good night.

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