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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

50 House Republicans Break Rank, Pass Embroynic Stem Cell Bill

Aired May 25, 2005 - 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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We're focused again on life and death and politics and a question -- is there room in the debate for compromise? When senators agreed on Monday to back away from a showdown over judicial nominees, a lot of people wondered if this spirit of moderation might also touch the debate over stem cell research. So far the answer is yes and no.
Yes, lawmakers in the House have crossed party lines to pay for new research. No, the president isn't budging. And yes, people of good conscience have decisions to make. Here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jenny Brown Weight is a mother of three, a healthcare expert and self-described pro life Republican.

REP. GINNY BROWN-WAITE, (R) FLORIDA: I have a very strong pro life voting record.

BASH: Yet she was one of 50 GOP House members to defy the president, voting to lift limits on taxpayer funded embryonic stem cell research. She says constituents with an ill child came to her about a wrenching decision to give their leftover frozen embryos to science and that guided her vote.

BROWN-WAITE: They came to the very clear distinction, both parents, the mother and the father, that using the embryonic -- the embryo to allow stem cell research was long-term in the very, very best interests of mankind.

BASH: She asked if they considered donating their unused embryo to another couple. The woman's response...

BROWN-WAITE: It would kill me to see a child that I'd look at and say, my God, she looks just like my daughter. I wonder if, I wonder if.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The use of federal moneys that end up destroying life is not positive, it's not good.

BASH: This anti-abortion Congresswoman disagrees with the president about what constitutes a life.

BROWN-WAITE: Only when it is implanted in the uterus of a woman does it grow into a human being. BASH (on camera): So you don't believe that a frozen embryo is a life.

BROWN-WAITE: I do not believe that.

BASH (voice-over): In fact, a nationwide poll of Republicans last month showed only 40 percent described embryonic stem cell research as a right to life issue. And 54 percent said they considered it a scientific one. GOP Congressman Dan Lundgren calls those Republicans short-sighted.

REP. DAN LUNDGREN, (R) CALIFORNIA: Science tells us what can be done. But our system of ethics and morality must tell us what should be done.

BASH: His brother, a student of philosophy and theology, suffers from Parkinson's disease. They both want a cure, but not if that means medical research with embryos.

LUNDGREN: You have to be true to yourself and be true to what you believe and what your brother believes. And we've always believed that you can't divorce the moral dimension.

BASH: Despite the passions, Brown-Waite does not see this as a test of party loyalty.

BROWN-WAITE: I don't see it as a vote against the president. I see it as a vote of conscience.

BASH (on camera): The president's aides say he views destroying embryos as destroying life, period. But they're breathing a sigh of relief, not enough House Republicans defied him to override a veto. Bush officials understand, however, that this issue isn't going to go away. So they're questioning alternatives, like broader access to umbilical cord research.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Now, imagine handing a prescription from your doctor to a pharmacist and being told it cannot be filled, not because the pharmacist does not have the drug, but because the pharmacist is morally opposed to the drug that you need -- morally opposed. In four states this is perfectly legal. Four others have passed an act to make a law of conscience a crime. Like the story before it, this is another part of what seems to be a never ending story from the intersection of faith and biology and the law. And this chapter of it began about a year ago reported tonight by Aaron Brown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As a mother and first grade teacher, Julie Lacey is already ready for the expected. But she didn't expect the unexpected when she went to the drugstore for birth control pills. JULIE LACEY, DENIED CONTRACEPTIVES: The pharmacist came to the window and she said, I'm so sorry, but I'm not going to be able to fill your prescription. And I said, oh, really? And I couldn't believe, you know what she was saying, because I thought something was wrong with the prescription or, you know, my doctor maybe made a mistake or something.

BROWN: Not a medical issue. To the druggist, a moral one.

LACEY: She said, nothing's wrong with your prescription. I just personally do not believe in any kind of birth control and therefore, I will not fill your prescription.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You go over there and let me pitch to you.

BROWN: The results were no better when her husband tried.

LACEY: He said, we need our prescription. And she said, well, you know, I've already said I'm not going to fill it. I don't believe in birth control.

BROWN: Pharmacists denying to fill legitimate prescriptions is becoming more common all the time. Birth control pills sometimes, the morning after pill sometimes, anything the druggist might oppose.

MARSHA GREENBERGER, NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER: We have even seen over the last several years 28 bills being introduced all around the country to give pharmacists the right to refuse to fill any prescription if in the pharmacist's view it's in opposition to that pharmacist's moral belief.

BROWN: The policy at the American Pharmacists Association that is that pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription only if the pharmacist refers the customer to somewhere else. And refrains from making moral lectures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask you to help us to bless those that you sent to us. Help us to be a blessing to them. And help them to be a blessing to us.

BROWN: Lloyd Pulaintis, a devout Catholic, starts the day at his pharmacy in Gray, Louisiana, with a pray.

LLOYD DUPLAINTIS, JR: PHARMACIST OPPOSED TO CONTRACEPTION: I don't have any contraceptives here. I specifically opened up the store so I could avoid that area of practice.

BROWN: He is a member of the Pharmacists for Life, an advocacy group supporting this issue. He says that based on his own research, he believes contraceptives are dangerous and that's he's obliged to protect his clientele.

DUPLAINTIS: We are the bottom line. We have to make the final decision, because it's our name that goes on that label.

BROWN: And the Julie Laceys of the world are right in the middle of the never ending right to life, abortion, birth control debate.

LACEY: You know, I trust my care as well as my family's care to our physicians. And I think that's important to be able to -- for any American that has a prescription to be able to confidently walk into a pharmacist and know that their prescription will be filled.

BROWN: CVS eventually delivered Julie Lacey's birth control pills to her home the next day and delivered an apology as well. But Ms. Lacey continues to speak out on the issue. Just as Lloyd Duplaintis continues not to prescribe contraception. Distinct voices in the debate that show no sign of ending. Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we asked CVS to comment on the case and a spokesman told us that what happened to her was an isolated incident. And that it did not reflect CVS policy in Texas or nationwide.

Now, to prescription drugs and advertising. How much are we as consumers influenced by the constant stream of ads for prescription medication that we see on television? After all, it is hard not to notice that so many of those characters in those ads are smiley and happy. But what relationship do they have on the doctor and patient relationship. Reporting for us tonight Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready to make the move to Levitra for a strong, lasting experience?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are bombarded with ads...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Problems like these could be signs of Alzheimer's Disease.

BUCKLEY: That tell us what drugs our doctors can prescribe for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to your doctor.

BUCKLEY: Are the doctors influenced by us when we ask for those drugs that we see on TV? That's what UC Davis researcher Dr. Richard Kravitz wanted to find out.

And in California, where everyone would really rather be directing, Kravitz literally directed the study, Hollywood style. He directed actresses to pretend to be patients, to go undercover to real doctor's offices to ask for drugs.

(on camera): You were the director?

DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ, UC DAVIS: I was. I was. It was a good opportunity for a stodgy academic. BUCKLEY (voice-over): He advertised for actresses who would play the role of someone with either major depression or a far less severe condition of adjustment disorder.

NISA DAVIS HAYDEN, ACTRESS: I got good and depressed and got a call back.

BUCKLEY: Actress Nisa Davis Hayden was one of the leading ladies.

HAYDEN: You know, I used to be quite the player.

BUCKLEY: As a professional actress, she's been in movies and plays and instructional videos.

HAYDEN: Believe it or not, she's right.

BUCKLEY: She's even played a doctor.

HAYDEN: After flexible sigmoidoschopy (ph), you might also have increased gas for several hours.

BUCKLEY: But she never played a patient under cover. Her mission, to ask for the drug Paxil even though her mild condition didn't necessarily call for the drug.

HAYDEN: My role was to ask for the Paxil.

BUCKLEY: How would you do that?

HAYDEN: You know, I just haven't been feeling like myself lately. And I saw this ad on TV for a medication Paxil. And I thought, well, it sounded a little like me. And I thought it might help.

BUCKLEY: Hayden and the other actress patients secretly recorded their sessions with doctors who'd agreed in advance to participate in the study. They just didn't know which patients were only acting.

ACTRESS: I'm wondering if that's something that I could use or something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. Yep. Definitely. It is not unusual for sleep disturbances to be one of the first symptoms or signs of a depressive disorder.

HAYDEN: I was surprised at how easy or how willing people were to prescribe based on -- I was a new patient and I'd been laid off my job for a month, which kind of seems like a no-brainer, if you're down and you've been laid off your job, that it's not true depression, you know? So...

BUCKLEY: So you felt that they gave it away too easily?

HAYDEN: I did. Absolutely I did, yes. BUCKLEY: Dr. Kravitz agrees. He says doctors prescribe anti- depressants five times more often when someone with a mild adjustment disorder requested an anti-depressant by brand versus not making a request at all.

DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ: What our findings suggest is that there may be clinical areas in which over-prescribing occurs as a result of these ads.

BUCKLEY: In part, he says, because doctors were eager to please their patients. They didn't want to say no.

KRAVITZ: The gatekeeping wasn't as effective as many would hope, nor as effective as the drug companies would claim.

BUCKLEY: Dr. Gregory Redmond was one of the doctors who saw patients during the study. He admits, doctors do sometimes overprescribes to the patients, but he blames drug company TV ads.

DR. GREGORY REDMOND, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: They just want to try it because they've seen it on television, and its certainly not necessarily the best option for them at all.

BUCKLEY: He says the ads also hurt the patient/doctor relationship.

REDMOND: And that sort of interaction becomes very difficult when a patient comes in with sort of the idea, I'm going to get this medication and if the doctor doesn't give it to me, then they're not being good to me, and our relationship is poor and so it's in my interests and in the patient's interests to have a good relationship, and so, just human nature is to give them the medication.

BUCKLEY: The drug companies believe differently, saying, "Consumer advertising empowers patients to learn about diseases and the medicines that treat them; helps fight the fact that millions of Americans suffer from diseases that go undetected and untreated; and still leaves the prescribing of life-saving therapies to doctors."

To that end, the study also showed that among the actresses who played patients with major depression, requesting drugs helped prevent under-treatment, which many psychiatrists say is a chronic problem for depressed people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's back. Ask your doctor...

BUCKLEY: Dr. Kravitz hopes that drug companies will move towards making their ads more educational in the future and less commercial.

KRAVTIZ: It's really impossible to convey to consumers what they need to know in order to have a truly productive conversation with their doctors in a 30-second spot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask your doctor if Levitra's right for you.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Sacramento, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, in a few moments, one man's message of love to his family in case he didn't survive. It is a remarkable story.

First, let's check in with Erica Hill at about 13 past the hour with the headlines. Erica?

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson.

One of the judges at the center of the filibuster fight was confirmed today by the Senate. Judge Priscilla Owens' nomination to the court of appeals was approved by a vote of 55 to 43. Earlier this week a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise that defused a standoff between Republicans and Democrats, and will allow some of President Bush's nominees to get a full vote in the Senate.

Document released today by the FBI show prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay complained as early as 2002 that military guards mistreated copies of the Koran. One inmate told officials a guard flushed a copy of the Muslim holy book down a toilet. Inmates also complained they were physically abused. The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The defense rested today in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial. The pop star did not take the stand. Prosecutors are presenting rebuttal testimony. Jurors could be in deliberating the case next week. By the way on the stand today, comedian Chris Tucker, who said he warned Jackson to be wary of the family of his teenage accuser.

Anderson, that's the latest from Headline News at this hour. Back over to you.

COOPER: Erica Hill, thanks very much. We'll see you again in about a half hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: There's more to come tonight, starting with what a father expected to be his final act of love. There he was in the wreckage with so much left to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I reached out and I wrote I heart Leslie. I heart my kids.

COOPER: Love letters home written in the only ink he had.

Also, is he diplomatic material?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Mr. Bolton needs anger management at the minimum. COOPER: Or is the president's nominee for the U.N. a boss from hell?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, you're fired!

COOPER: So, does being a boss from hell actually pay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet. $1 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

COOPER: Come again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet. $1 million?

COOPER: We'll talk home-buying and what $1 million will buy you these days.

And later, from Main Street, USA, to Broadway, NYC, a sidewalk fairy tale. This is, on the other hand, is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: It started just like any other day, but one Wednesday morning the routine for John Phipps shattered. Suddenly, he was trapped in one of the deadliest train wrecks in the country. But John is a survivor, and not just a survivor, he now gets back on that same train almost every morning to commute to work.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CORRESPONDENT: The train's whistle, a routine call to commuters, but not for John Phipps.

JOHN PHIPPS, SURVIVOR: Sometimes, I just jump out of my seat. It's kind of scary.

GUTIERREZ: Scary because the sound brings back memories.

Do you remember who you were...

PHIPPS: See, that stuff. That horn? That just creeps me out.

GUTIERREZ: John Phipps is an aerospace engineer. Last January, John was about to catch a commuter train to work. Less than 20 minutes into the ride, everything would change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a horrible accident.

PHIPPS: I was asleep. I remember them calling Glendale station.

GUTIERREZ: John was sitting in the front car of the 901 MetroLink.

The two of you work together?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GUTIERREZ: His coworkers, Stephanie Davenport (ph) and Ray Bitkas (ph) were in the car behind John.

PHIPPS: Pulling into Glendale station's the last thing I remember.

GUTIERREZ: About the same time a commuter train heading toward them slams into a jeep parked on the tracks by a man wanting to commit suicide. That train then jackknifes and collides into the train John and his colleagues are riding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I kind of opened my eyes and saw all this debris flying at myself.

GUTIERREZ: The passenger car is ripped open like a tin can and flipped over on its side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the next thing I know I was facing in the opposite direction and watching the gravel go by really fast like a big cheese grater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could hear crying, people moaning. And it was very scary. We didn't know if he made it or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe as many as 10 to 15 people may still be trapped.

GUTIERREZ: John Phipps (ph) sitting on the top level is knocked unconscious, thrown down the stairs and across the train.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I woke up, it was sort of gray like it is today. You know, the sky was gray. And the mist was falling down on my face. I was stuck there alone and bleeding and trapped.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): What was going through your mind at that time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was creepy. I mean, it was scary.

GUTIERREZ: Rescuers searched through a debris field of twisted metal and shattered glass. John was trapped inside one of the cars lying on its side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, why me? And I just started singing -- why me, Lord what have I ever done to deserve even one.

GUTIERREZ: John was bleeding from a long gash in his head and didn't know if he'd make it out alive. All he could think of was his wife and three kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was praying that I'd get to see them again. I reached out with this hand, and it had blood on it. And I wrote -- I heart Leslie (ph). And then there was a bar across the top of the chair that was nice and shiny. I can't leave my kids out. So I wrote I heart my kids.

GUTIERREZ: John's declaration of love written in his own blood was found by his rescuers who managed to pull John out of the wreckage. Nearly 200 people were injured that day, 11 killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm lucky to be alive. I mean, they told me later that they found a body in the car less than 15 feet from where I was.

GUTIERREZ: The ordeal was life affirming for the Phipps. Leslie said she wasn't surprised by the now infamous message in blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was creative, it was unusual, it was heart felt. And that's the types of things that he would do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess I've always believed in God, but I've never had any firsthand experience, really. Praise ye the lord

GUTIERREZ: Now, John Phipps is convinced someone was watching over him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, all I did was survive. I just laid there and let the fire department pull me out. I didn't do anything heroic or anything. I was lucky enough to survive.

GUTIERREZ: Every day John Phipps is back on the metro link to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And half of my brain was going, this is a nice ride. It's normal and nothing's wrong. And the other half was going, get me off this train.

GUTIERREZ: John says the train still is the best way to work.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, on the day that yet another small plane wandered into the no-fly zone around Washington, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a proposal to allow private aircraft to use National Airport once again. Not for the kind of Mooneys and Cessnas in the news lately, however, we're talking business jets, the kind that lawmakers fly. Which is music to the ears of a man who has, ever since 9/11, been about as busy as the Maytag repairman and just as lonely. Here's CNN's Jeanne -- Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tell me what this looked like before 9/11?

BOB HAWTHORNE, MARTINAIR JET CHARTER: Well, there were about 200 to 250 planes out here on the ramp, that would go all the way down on the far end. This hangar was full, sometimes within two feet of wing span from one wing to another. This was the business aviation hangar for some of the biggest corporate clients in Washington. We were hopping.

MESERVE (voice-over): That was before 9/11, before general aviation at Reagan National Airport was shut down to protect the capital city. Before corporate and charter aircraft were forced to go to other Washington area airports. At Reagan National, 300 people lost their jobs. And Bob Hawthorne who manages a charter jet company here is amazed he wasn't among them.

HAWTHORNE: Never did I ever expect it to be four years. I personally am surprised I'm still doing this business.

MESERVE: But in about 90 days corporate and charter aircraft will again fly in and out of Reagan under extraordinary security.

DAVID STONE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: The plan exceeds the level of security required for commercial aviation.

MESERVE: At first, 48 daily flights will have to come through so-called gateway airports, equipped to screen crews, passengers and aircraft. Passenger and crew lists will have to be submitted 24 hours in advance for security checks. Flight crews will have to undergo fingerprint-based criminal history checks. And on board, a law enforcement officer trained to use force on aircraft.

The announcement comes just weeks after the Capitol and White House were evacuated because a small plane violated air restrictions and came within three miles. One security experts says that incident raises questions about response time if something goes wrong.

MICHAEL WERMUTH, RAND CORPORATION: That plane was coming from well outside of the Washington area and was picked up on radar with some time to spare to be able to launch aircraft to move it away from significant assets in the capitol region. In this case planes will be taking off and landing within that circle, and there's not much room for mistake.

MESERVE: But members of Congress who pushed hard for this reopening say the security measures are, if anything, too harsh.

REP. HAL ROGERS (R), CHMN., HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: It is very restrictive, as you've seen.

MESERVE: Clearly Congress and the well heeled who can afford the cost of additional security will be the principal beneficiaries of this reopening, along with people like Bob Hawthorne.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up on the program tonight, if you want to get ahead, does it help to be a bully. Do SOBS really finish A-OK? And later, are middle class home buyers being priced out of the housing market? See how little a lot of money buys you these days. From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, debate began today in the Senate on John Bolton, the president's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. Now barring surprise, he'll be nominated -- or he'll be confirmed, I should say. Only one Republican says that he will vote no. But for the hearings and now the debate have raised questions about Mr. Bolton's fitness for the job. And whether, to get all technical for a moment, he's a real jerk. So got a problem with that? Here's Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But is John Bolton the right man for this job, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations? The debate touches on many points. Is he out to reform the U.N., or to undermine it? Did he demand accurate intelligence or intelligence that just reinforced his policy views? But then there's this issue about temperament or, more accurately, temper.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: I think Mr. Bolton needs anger management at the minimum.

GREENFIELD: Democratic senator Barbara Boxer is no fan of Bolton's view of the U.N., but her words also reflect criticism aimed at Bolton's behavior, not just disagreeing with subordinates, but allegedly blowing up at them, demanding they be removed from their posts. His supporters, in turn, say he's just a man of strong conviction.

(on camera): All of which raises a question, is a short fuse the sign of a powerful leader of conviction or the sign of a hot headed bully? And how do we tell the difference?

(voice-over): To judge by popular culture, the boss as human hand grenade is a very familiar icon. Baby boomers may remember Mr. Honeywell, Earn Albrights choleric boss on "My Little Margie" who was always seconds away from detonation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. You're fired!

GREENFIELD: And apparently, this character trait will be with us far into the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, get out before I lose my temper. You're fired!

GREENFIELD: And in the testosterone drenched world of sports, there seems to be a direct connection between leadership and red-faced rage. Even owners, like Yankee boss George Steinbrenner, had been known to lose their cool for a few moments.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER, YANKEE'S OWNER: What? God, get out of the way.

GREENFIELD: Or decades. Aides to President Clinton often spoke in wonder at his explosive outbursts that passed like tropical storms. And as the Watergate waters rose, President Nixon physically expressed his impatience with Press Secretary Ron Ziegler.

But given how many esteemed leaders -- Winston Churchill among them -- were capable of temper outbursts, could this in fact be a sign of leadership? John Gartner says yes. His book "The Hypomatic" is subtitled "The Link Between Craziness and Success in America."

JOHN GARTNER, AUTHOR: These are people who are incredibly driven, incredibly impatient, aggressive, ambitious. Anything that slows them down, any opposition that they come to just causes them to just want to explode, to just blow past it.

GREENFIELD: And Gartner says that drive among some hypomanics, founding father Alexander Hamilton, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, Hollywood impresario David Selznick, that same drive often blinds them from seeing the impact of their behavior on others.

GARTNER: They really don't perceive themselves as being bullies. They really have sort of -- an actually, almost neurologically based lack of empathy for how their actions affect people.

GREENFIELD: Ultimately, John Bolton's fate will depend less on questions about his temper and more about what senators come to believe about his judgment and candor.

(on camera): As for those of us in the media, it is just awfully difficult for us even to cover a story like this coming as we do from a business where reporters, anchors, executive producers and our bosses act with such absolute serenity at each and every moment.

HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: Do it! Do it or I'll fry your fat (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Absolute serenity.

Back now to stem cells and the president's commitment today to stand firm against research that would use embryos. In this, he's got company, if not the support of many Republicans, or even a majority of Americans. Certainly a passionate minority.

Earlier tonight, we talked with Ann Graham-Lotz. She's the daughter of the Reverend Billy Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Ann, supporters of the Castle bill say why should the president stand in the way of legislation which the Congress, the Senate and it appears the majority of Americans want?

ANN GRAHAM-LOTZ, ANGEL MINISTRIES: You know, the president, of course, will make his decisions based on his own conviction and what he feels is right for the country. And for me, when it comes to embryonic stem cell research, I have to draw the line because embryos are tiny little human lives. And to destroy a tiny little human life to benefit the life of someone else I think is wrong.

And Anderson, you know, my father has Parkinson's disease. He's also very deaf. My mother has macular degeneration. She can hardly see. She has degenerative arthritis, she can no longer walk. My husband has Adult I diabetes. He's insulin dependent. And my son has cancer.

And those are four very precious family members to me. And as much as I would love to see them well, I would love to see my father strong again and my mother be able to read again, but at the same time I don't want them to benefit at the expense of another innocent human life being taken. It's not right.

COOPER: But is it that clearly drawn, though? What the supporters of this say are, look, the vast majority of these embryos are being discarded, that only a very tiny percentage actually end up being adopted and grow into children. The vast majority are literally thrown out or just frozen for all of time. So it's not -- I mean, is it better to throw them out than it is to devote them to research?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: Well, actually, in both cases to throw them out, or to devote them to research, they're going to both be destroyed. And I think they should not be destroyed in a lab for research. And I think, the other question of what to do with them, to discard them, that needs to be a national debate. Because I think that's a very serious thing. And, of course, they have the potential to be a viable human being or they wouldn't be there. They wouldn't have been created. They wouldn't be frozen, they wouldn't be preserved. So, nobody knows, you know, if they would actually become a child because there's so many other factors involved in that when you implant one.

COOPER: Is it OK, though, you are for the taking of life in some cases if there's a greater good in case the death penalty, I think you would argue that the death penalty is OK. Why is it OK, some would argue, to take human life for the death penalty, but if it is in fact taking life for these embryo's research, why is that not OK?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: It would be very difficult to make a case that a human embryo is the equivalent of a murderer or a rapist or someone who has been convicted of some heinous crime for which he's received the death penalty.

COOPER: But it's OK to take some life?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: You know, Anderson, I base what I believe on the scripture. And the Bible indicates clearly that when it comes to someone who has willfully taken another person's life in a first degree offense, because life is created in the image of God -- the Bible says that that life is required by society -- just for the right running of society. The reason give is not as a deterrent to crime, but that that person has created an image of God and to respect the king's image, so to speak.

COOPER: It is a debate, no doubt we will be having on many nights and perhaps years to come. Ann Graham-Lotz, appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. Appreciate your perspective.

GRAHAM-LOTZ: Anderson, thank you. God bless you, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And still to come ahead on NEWSNIGHT, your home might be worth a lot more than it used to be. But is that a good thing?

And a new Broadway star straight out of Disneyland. This is NEWSNIGHT in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: More warnings today that many of us just may be betting our financial future on a bubble. New home starts hit a record in April. Home prices are soaring. The question is, what does it all mean? For starters $1 million will not buy you what it used to, and if the housing market is indeed a bubble, a burst could leave a lot of us out in the cold.

More from CNN's Gerri Willis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a terrific one bedroom, totally renovated, move-in condition, one bedroom apartment. The kitchen, as you can see, fabulous countertops, state-of-the-art appliances, and it even has a washer and drier which, for us in New York, is a big treat. One of the wonderful features of this apartment is clearly the view.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the square footage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 822 square feet, and very well used square footage. Every single part is well-used.

WILLIS: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet, $1 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.

WILLIS: Prices in Manhattan have risen 20 percent in the last year, and the Big Apple is not the only city overheating. Some 66 metro areas posted double-digit price increases this year, and many of them are in unexpected places like Bradenton, Florida, a baby boomer retirement mecca where prices spiked 45 percent. West Palm Beach and Boca Raton make the top five list, too.

The boom is making it tough for middle income Americans to land a home. Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says 25 percent of middle class home owners -- that's 9.3 million -- are spending more than they should on housing.

Take a look at this home on the market for $989,000 in Chicago's exclusive Lincoln Park. For the money, you get three bedrooms, two baths and 2,500 square feet of space, but if you want a garage, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Don't look for easy pickings once you retire either. This Miami condo on the market for $1.1 million has ocean views but with just 1,400 square feet of space, it will be tough to accommodate the grandkids.

One house on the list delivered value for the money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Gerri, this is what $1 million buys you in Monroe, Connecticut.

WILLIS: It's pretty nice. Let's take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

WILLIS: So, this is a pretty nice kitchen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, beautiful. The home owners here did a lot of custom work, including the cherry cabinets, beautiful granite countertops, and as you can see, gourmet Wolf range with hood.

WILLIS: Very high end, and naturally, the sub-zero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High-end appliances throughout.

WILLIS: Four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, 3,800 square feet on one acre of level land. Price tag, $979,000. But even here where values appear to be better, D'Ausilio says the market has gone too far. This man, who makes his living selling homes, is a renter.

DAVID D'AUSILIO, REAL ESTATE AGENT: We decided to rent for a few years. We think this housing market's going to cool down a little bit and we'll be able to find a better value perhaps 24 months from now.

WILLIS: Experts warn in the metro markets where prices have gone up the most, prices could fall, and fall hard. That means for some people, they could end up owing more than the house is worth if they had to sell.

In most of the rest of the country, though, the likelihood is that prices might flatten but not collapse.

Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the runaway bride. Remember her? The district attorney certainly does. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, in a moment we're going to look forward at a new rising star and a look back at a Russian who made history and wasn't a half-bad dancer either. Now, it's about 13 to the hour. Let's check in with Erica Hill of Headline News. Hey, Erica.

HILL: Hey, Anderson.

A thousand U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a new offensive in Western Iraq in the city of Haditha, on the road from Baghdad to Damascus. U.S. forces say the offensive, called "new market" has killed at least 10 insurgents and unearthed caches of weapons. So far, two Marines have been wounded.

New tensions, meantime, over a war fought long ago. The Pentagon has suspended U.S. efforts to recover the remains of soldiers missing since the Korean War. Pentagon officials say it is unsafe to operate inside North Korea because of strains between the U.S. and North Korea.

And, the Georgia woman known as the "runaway bride" has been charged with lying to police and falsely reporting a crime. If convicted, Jennifer Wilbanks could face up to six years in prison. Last month, just days before her wedding, she hopped a bus to New Mexico. Police say Wilbanks initially told them she'd been abducted and sexually assaulted, but then recanted. An attorney says Wilbanks is receiving treatment.

And, that's the latest from Headline News at this hour. Anderson, have a good night.

COOPER: That story seemed so long ago.

HILL: The runaway bride? It does. But we can't get away from it.

COOPER: I know. It keeps coming back. Erica, thanks very much. Have a good evening.

COOPER: Boris Yeltsin, you know, was often called unpredictable when he served as Russia's president. He was also known for his sometimes, how shall we say, colorful behavior? Tonight, he's the focus of our anniversary series "Then & Now."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'll always be the man astride a tank, facing down a hardline coup in 1991. Boris Yeltsin remains a creature of contradiction: a communist who helped destroy communism, a Democrat who opened fire on his own parliament, a man who seemed on the verge of dying so many times, who nowadays looks healthier than ever.

In 1980, Yeltsin was a Communist party boss in the Urals mountain city of Svedlosk (ph). Ten years later, he was the president of the Russian Republic. The Soviet Union was about to collapse and when it did, Yeltsin moved into the Kremlin. At the height of his powers he told CNN...

BORIS YELTSIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I am not thinking about history at all and I'm not planning on thinking about it. I'm thinking about deeds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But in 1999, in the new year's address, Boris Yeltsin shocked the world, announcing he was stepping down as Russian president, handing the reins of power to Vladimir Putin. Years of heavy drinking and heart attacks took their toll, but in retirement, Yeltsin is following a healthier lifestyle, surprising the world once more with his resilience and unpredictability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Well, just ahead on NEWSNIGHT, from Pocahontas to Brooklyn to the great white way. A young women's dream come true. A break first, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So, it used to be, you hit it big and then you went to Disneyland. Not this time. In this story our heroine starts in Disneyland and then goes to Broadway by way of Brooklyn, but always on the rise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDEN ESPINOSA, LEAD ROLE IN "BROOKLYN": Hi. Welcome to Brooklyn, the musical. We're at the Plymouth, soon to be Shonethal (ph) Theater. Come on inside, I'll show you around.

My name is Eden Espinosa, and I'm currently starring in the musical "Brooklyn." "Brooklyn" is a five-person show. We are suit performers that spin the -- we call it a side walk fairy tale -- about a girl named Brooklyn searching for her father and using her fame to find who she is and where she's from. Just basically her journey.

Brooklyn is very wide-eyed and she's very optimistic, always looks at things in a rosy hue. So I think there are a lot of similarities between her and I. But at the same time, I'm a little more rough around the edges than she is. I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I remember grabbing anyone, mom, parents, friends, whoever was over at the house. And just being a hammy little girl and performing, playing the piano, playing my violin or singing songs, doing numbers from musicals.

I started working at Disneyland in Anaheim when I was 17. My first solo singing part was Pocahontas. And then soon after that, I played Ariel. I look back on it with a lot of good memories. Opening night for "Brooklyn," it was hard to keep it together at times in the show. It really was. Just like looking at the other cast members and just kind of being like, my gosh, you guys, we're here, we're doing it. It was a dream come true.

As far as theater's concerned, this is it. Broadway is the biggest thing. Now that I have this check mark off my list of things. There are other things I'd like to tackle. But singing will always be number one for me. Live theater, I don't think there is anything like it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. We'll be right back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And that's it for NEWSNIGHT have a great evening.

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


Aired May 25, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We're focused again on life and death and politics and a question -- is there room in the debate for compromise? When senators agreed on Monday to back away from a showdown over judicial nominees, a lot of people wondered if this spirit of moderation might also touch the debate over stem cell research. So far the answer is yes and no.
Yes, lawmakers in the House have crossed party lines to pay for new research. No, the president isn't budging. And yes, people of good conscience have decisions to make. Here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jenny Brown Weight is a mother of three, a healthcare expert and self-described pro life Republican.

REP. GINNY BROWN-WAITE, (R) FLORIDA: I have a very strong pro life voting record.

BASH: Yet she was one of 50 GOP House members to defy the president, voting to lift limits on taxpayer funded embryonic stem cell research. She says constituents with an ill child came to her about a wrenching decision to give their leftover frozen embryos to science and that guided her vote.

BROWN-WAITE: They came to the very clear distinction, both parents, the mother and the father, that using the embryonic -- the embryo to allow stem cell research was long-term in the very, very best interests of mankind.

BASH: She asked if they considered donating their unused embryo to another couple. The woman's response...

BROWN-WAITE: It would kill me to see a child that I'd look at and say, my God, she looks just like my daughter. I wonder if, I wonder if.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The use of federal moneys that end up destroying life is not positive, it's not good.

BASH: This anti-abortion Congresswoman disagrees with the president about what constitutes a life.

BROWN-WAITE: Only when it is implanted in the uterus of a woman does it grow into a human being. BASH (on camera): So you don't believe that a frozen embryo is a life.

BROWN-WAITE: I do not believe that.

BASH (voice-over): In fact, a nationwide poll of Republicans last month showed only 40 percent described embryonic stem cell research as a right to life issue. And 54 percent said they considered it a scientific one. GOP Congressman Dan Lundgren calls those Republicans short-sighted.

REP. DAN LUNDGREN, (R) CALIFORNIA: Science tells us what can be done. But our system of ethics and morality must tell us what should be done.

BASH: His brother, a student of philosophy and theology, suffers from Parkinson's disease. They both want a cure, but not if that means medical research with embryos.

LUNDGREN: You have to be true to yourself and be true to what you believe and what your brother believes. And we've always believed that you can't divorce the moral dimension.

BASH: Despite the passions, Brown-Waite does not see this as a test of party loyalty.

BROWN-WAITE: I don't see it as a vote against the president. I see it as a vote of conscience.

BASH (on camera): The president's aides say he views destroying embryos as destroying life, period. But they're breathing a sigh of relief, not enough House Republicans defied him to override a veto. Bush officials understand, however, that this issue isn't going to go away. So they're questioning alternatives, like broader access to umbilical cord research.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Now, imagine handing a prescription from your doctor to a pharmacist and being told it cannot be filled, not because the pharmacist does not have the drug, but because the pharmacist is morally opposed to the drug that you need -- morally opposed. In four states this is perfectly legal. Four others have passed an act to make a law of conscience a crime. Like the story before it, this is another part of what seems to be a never ending story from the intersection of faith and biology and the law. And this chapter of it began about a year ago reported tonight by Aaron Brown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As a mother and first grade teacher, Julie Lacey is already ready for the expected. But she didn't expect the unexpected when she went to the drugstore for birth control pills. JULIE LACEY, DENIED CONTRACEPTIVES: The pharmacist came to the window and she said, I'm so sorry, but I'm not going to be able to fill your prescription. And I said, oh, really? And I couldn't believe, you know what she was saying, because I thought something was wrong with the prescription or, you know, my doctor maybe made a mistake or something.

BROWN: Not a medical issue. To the druggist, a moral one.

LACEY: She said, nothing's wrong with your prescription. I just personally do not believe in any kind of birth control and therefore, I will not fill your prescription.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You go over there and let me pitch to you.

BROWN: The results were no better when her husband tried.

LACEY: He said, we need our prescription. And she said, well, you know, I've already said I'm not going to fill it. I don't believe in birth control.

BROWN: Pharmacists denying to fill legitimate prescriptions is becoming more common all the time. Birth control pills sometimes, the morning after pill sometimes, anything the druggist might oppose.

MARSHA GREENBERGER, NATIONAL WOMEN'S LAW CENTER: We have even seen over the last several years 28 bills being introduced all around the country to give pharmacists the right to refuse to fill any prescription if in the pharmacist's view it's in opposition to that pharmacist's moral belief.

BROWN: The policy at the American Pharmacists Association that is that pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription only if the pharmacist refers the customer to somewhere else. And refrains from making moral lectures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask you to help us to bless those that you sent to us. Help us to be a blessing to them. And help them to be a blessing to us.

BROWN: Lloyd Pulaintis, a devout Catholic, starts the day at his pharmacy in Gray, Louisiana, with a pray.

LLOYD DUPLAINTIS, JR: PHARMACIST OPPOSED TO CONTRACEPTION: I don't have any contraceptives here. I specifically opened up the store so I could avoid that area of practice.

BROWN: He is a member of the Pharmacists for Life, an advocacy group supporting this issue. He says that based on his own research, he believes contraceptives are dangerous and that's he's obliged to protect his clientele.

DUPLAINTIS: We are the bottom line. We have to make the final decision, because it's our name that goes on that label.

BROWN: And the Julie Laceys of the world are right in the middle of the never ending right to life, abortion, birth control debate.

LACEY: You know, I trust my care as well as my family's care to our physicians. And I think that's important to be able to -- for any American that has a prescription to be able to confidently walk into a pharmacist and know that their prescription will be filled.

BROWN: CVS eventually delivered Julie Lacey's birth control pills to her home the next day and delivered an apology as well. But Ms. Lacey continues to speak out on the issue. Just as Lloyd Duplaintis continues not to prescribe contraception. Distinct voices in the debate that show no sign of ending. Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, we asked CVS to comment on the case and a spokesman told us that what happened to her was an isolated incident. And that it did not reflect CVS policy in Texas or nationwide.

Now, to prescription drugs and advertising. How much are we as consumers influenced by the constant stream of ads for prescription medication that we see on television? After all, it is hard not to notice that so many of those characters in those ads are smiley and happy. But what relationship do they have on the doctor and patient relationship. Reporting for us tonight Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready to make the move to Levitra for a strong, lasting experience?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are bombarded with ads...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Problems like these could be signs of Alzheimer's Disease.

BUCKLEY: That tell us what drugs our doctors can prescribe for us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to your doctor.

BUCKLEY: Are the doctors influenced by us when we ask for those drugs that we see on TV? That's what UC Davis researcher Dr. Richard Kravitz wanted to find out.

And in California, where everyone would really rather be directing, Kravitz literally directed the study, Hollywood style. He directed actresses to pretend to be patients, to go undercover to real doctor's offices to ask for drugs.

(on camera): You were the director?

DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ, UC DAVIS: I was. I was. It was a good opportunity for a stodgy academic. BUCKLEY (voice-over): He advertised for actresses who would play the role of someone with either major depression or a far less severe condition of adjustment disorder.

NISA DAVIS HAYDEN, ACTRESS: I got good and depressed and got a call back.

BUCKLEY: Actress Nisa Davis Hayden was one of the leading ladies.

HAYDEN: You know, I used to be quite the player.

BUCKLEY: As a professional actress, she's been in movies and plays and instructional videos.

HAYDEN: Believe it or not, she's right.

BUCKLEY: She's even played a doctor.

HAYDEN: After flexible sigmoidoschopy (ph), you might also have increased gas for several hours.

BUCKLEY: But she never played a patient under cover. Her mission, to ask for the drug Paxil even though her mild condition didn't necessarily call for the drug.

HAYDEN: My role was to ask for the Paxil.

BUCKLEY: How would you do that?

HAYDEN: You know, I just haven't been feeling like myself lately. And I saw this ad on TV for a medication Paxil. And I thought, well, it sounded a little like me. And I thought it might help.

BUCKLEY: Hayden and the other actress patients secretly recorded their sessions with doctors who'd agreed in advance to participate in the study. They just didn't know which patients were only acting.

ACTRESS: I'm wondering if that's something that I could use or something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. Yep. Definitely. It is not unusual for sleep disturbances to be one of the first symptoms or signs of a depressive disorder.

HAYDEN: I was surprised at how easy or how willing people were to prescribe based on -- I was a new patient and I'd been laid off my job for a month, which kind of seems like a no-brainer, if you're down and you've been laid off your job, that it's not true depression, you know? So...

BUCKLEY: So you felt that they gave it away too easily?

HAYDEN: I did. Absolutely I did, yes. BUCKLEY: Dr. Kravitz agrees. He says doctors prescribe anti- depressants five times more often when someone with a mild adjustment disorder requested an anti-depressant by brand versus not making a request at all.

DR. RICHARD KRAVITZ: What our findings suggest is that there may be clinical areas in which over-prescribing occurs as a result of these ads.

BUCKLEY: In part, he says, because doctors were eager to please their patients. They didn't want to say no.

KRAVITZ: The gatekeeping wasn't as effective as many would hope, nor as effective as the drug companies would claim.

BUCKLEY: Dr. Gregory Redmond was one of the doctors who saw patients during the study. He admits, doctors do sometimes overprescribes to the patients, but he blames drug company TV ads.

DR. GREGORY REDMOND, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: They just want to try it because they've seen it on television, and its certainly not necessarily the best option for them at all.

BUCKLEY: He says the ads also hurt the patient/doctor relationship.

REDMOND: And that sort of interaction becomes very difficult when a patient comes in with sort of the idea, I'm going to get this medication and if the doctor doesn't give it to me, then they're not being good to me, and our relationship is poor and so it's in my interests and in the patient's interests to have a good relationship, and so, just human nature is to give them the medication.

BUCKLEY: The drug companies believe differently, saying, "Consumer advertising empowers patients to learn about diseases and the medicines that treat them; helps fight the fact that millions of Americans suffer from diseases that go undetected and untreated; and still leaves the prescribing of life-saving therapies to doctors."

To that end, the study also showed that among the actresses who played patients with major depression, requesting drugs helped prevent under-treatment, which many psychiatrists say is a chronic problem for depressed people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's back. Ask your doctor...

BUCKLEY: Dr. Kravitz hopes that drug companies will move towards making their ads more educational in the future and less commercial.

KRAVTIZ: It's really impossible to convey to consumers what they need to know in order to have a truly productive conversation with their doctors in a 30-second spot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Talk to your doctor. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask your doctor if Levitra's right for you.

BUCKLEY: Frank Buckley, CNN, Sacramento, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, in a few moments, one man's message of love to his family in case he didn't survive. It is a remarkable story.

First, let's check in with Erica Hill at about 13 past the hour with the headlines. Erica?

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson.

One of the judges at the center of the filibuster fight was confirmed today by the Senate. Judge Priscilla Owens' nomination to the court of appeals was approved by a vote of 55 to 43. Earlier this week a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise that defused a standoff between Republicans and Democrats, and will allow some of President Bush's nominees to get a full vote in the Senate.

Document released today by the FBI show prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay complained as early as 2002 that military guards mistreated copies of the Koran. One inmate told officials a guard flushed a copy of the Muslim holy book down a toilet. Inmates also complained they were physically abused. The documents were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The defense rested today in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial. The pop star did not take the stand. Prosecutors are presenting rebuttal testimony. Jurors could be in deliberating the case next week. By the way on the stand today, comedian Chris Tucker, who said he warned Jackson to be wary of the family of his teenage accuser.

Anderson, that's the latest from Headline News at this hour. Back over to you.

COOPER: Erica Hill, thanks very much. We'll see you again in about a half hour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: There's more to come tonight, starting with what a father expected to be his final act of love. There he was in the wreckage with so much left to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I reached out and I wrote I heart Leslie. I heart my kids.

COOPER: Love letters home written in the only ink he had.

Also, is he diplomatic material?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Mr. Bolton needs anger management at the minimum. COOPER: Or is the president's nominee for the U.N. a boss from hell?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, you're fired!

COOPER: So, does being a boss from hell actually pay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet. $1 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

COOPER: Come again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet. $1 million?

COOPER: We'll talk home-buying and what $1 million will buy you these days.

And later, from Main Street, USA, to Broadway, NYC, a sidewalk fairy tale. This is, on the other hand, is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: It started just like any other day, but one Wednesday morning the routine for John Phipps shattered. Suddenly, he was trapped in one of the deadliest train wrecks in the country. But John is a survivor, and not just a survivor, he now gets back on that same train almost every morning to commute to work.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CORRESPONDENT: The train's whistle, a routine call to commuters, but not for John Phipps.

JOHN PHIPPS, SURVIVOR: Sometimes, I just jump out of my seat. It's kind of scary.

GUTIERREZ: Scary because the sound brings back memories.

Do you remember who you were...

PHIPPS: See, that stuff. That horn? That just creeps me out.

GUTIERREZ: John Phipps is an aerospace engineer. Last January, John was about to catch a commuter train to work. Less than 20 minutes into the ride, everything would change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a horrible accident.

PHIPPS: I was asleep. I remember them calling Glendale station.

GUTIERREZ: John was sitting in the front car of the 901 MetroLink.

The two of you work together?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GUTIERREZ: His coworkers, Stephanie Davenport (ph) and Ray Bitkas (ph) were in the car behind John.

PHIPPS: Pulling into Glendale station's the last thing I remember.

GUTIERREZ: About the same time a commuter train heading toward them slams into a jeep parked on the tracks by a man wanting to commit suicide. That train then jackknifes and collides into the train John and his colleagues are riding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I kind of opened my eyes and saw all this debris flying at myself.

GUTIERREZ: The passenger car is ripped open like a tin can and flipped over on its side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the next thing I know I was facing in the opposite direction and watching the gravel go by really fast like a big cheese grater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could hear crying, people moaning. And it was very scary. We didn't know if he made it or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe as many as 10 to 15 people may still be trapped.

GUTIERREZ: John Phipps (ph) sitting on the top level is knocked unconscious, thrown down the stairs and across the train.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I woke up, it was sort of gray like it is today. You know, the sky was gray. And the mist was falling down on my face. I was stuck there alone and bleeding and trapped.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): What was going through your mind at that time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was creepy. I mean, it was scary.

GUTIERREZ: Rescuers searched through a debris field of twisted metal and shattered glass. John was trapped inside one of the cars lying on its side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, why me? And I just started singing -- why me, Lord what have I ever done to deserve even one.

GUTIERREZ: John was bleeding from a long gash in his head and didn't know if he'd make it out alive. All he could think of was his wife and three kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was praying that I'd get to see them again. I reached out with this hand, and it had blood on it. And I wrote -- I heart Leslie (ph). And then there was a bar across the top of the chair that was nice and shiny. I can't leave my kids out. So I wrote I heart my kids.

GUTIERREZ: John's declaration of love written in his own blood was found by his rescuers who managed to pull John out of the wreckage. Nearly 200 people were injured that day, 11 killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm lucky to be alive. I mean, they told me later that they found a body in the car less than 15 feet from where I was.

GUTIERREZ: The ordeal was life affirming for the Phipps. Leslie said she wasn't surprised by the now infamous message in blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was creative, it was unusual, it was heart felt. And that's the types of things that he would do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess I've always believed in God, but I've never had any firsthand experience, really. Praise ye the lord

GUTIERREZ: Now, John Phipps is convinced someone was watching over him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, all I did was survive. I just laid there and let the fire department pull me out. I didn't do anything heroic or anything. I was lucky enough to survive.

GUTIERREZ: Every day John Phipps is back on the metro link to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And half of my brain was going, this is a nice ride. It's normal and nothing's wrong. And the other half was going, get me off this train.

GUTIERREZ: John says the train still is the best way to work.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, on the day that yet another small plane wandered into the no-fly zone around Washington, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a proposal to allow private aircraft to use National Airport once again. Not for the kind of Mooneys and Cessnas in the news lately, however, we're talking business jets, the kind that lawmakers fly. Which is music to the ears of a man who has, ever since 9/11, been about as busy as the Maytag repairman and just as lonely. Here's CNN's Jeanne -- Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tell me what this looked like before 9/11?

BOB HAWTHORNE, MARTINAIR JET CHARTER: Well, there were about 200 to 250 planes out here on the ramp, that would go all the way down on the far end. This hangar was full, sometimes within two feet of wing span from one wing to another. This was the business aviation hangar for some of the biggest corporate clients in Washington. We were hopping.

MESERVE (voice-over): That was before 9/11, before general aviation at Reagan National Airport was shut down to protect the capital city. Before corporate and charter aircraft were forced to go to other Washington area airports. At Reagan National, 300 people lost their jobs. And Bob Hawthorne who manages a charter jet company here is amazed he wasn't among them.

HAWTHORNE: Never did I ever expect it to be four years. I personally am surprised I'm still doing this business.

MESERVE: But in about 90 days corporate and charter aircraft will again fly in and out of Reagan under extraordinary security.

DAVID STONE, TSA ADMINISTRATOR: The plan exceeds the level of security required for commercial aviation.

MESERVE: At first, 48 daily flights will have to come through so-called gateway airports, equipped to screen crews, passengers and aircraft. Passenger and crew lists will have to be submitted 24 hours in advance for security checks. Flight crews will have to undergo fingerprint-based criminal history checks. And on board, a law enforcement officer trained to use force on aircraft.

The announcement comes just weeks after the Capitol and White House were evacuated because a small plane violated air restrictions and came within three miles. One security experts says that incident raises questions about response time if something goes wrong.

MICHAEL WERMUTH, RAND CORPORATION: That plane was coming from well outside of the Washington area and was picked up on radar with some time to spare to be able to launch aircraft to move it away from significant assets in the capitol region. In this case planes will be taking off and landing within that circle, and there's not much room for mistake.

MESERVE: But members of Congress who pushed hard for this reopening say the security measures are, if anything, too harsh.

REP. HAL ROGERS (R), CHMN., HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: It is very restrictive, as you've seen.

MESERVE: Clearly Congress and the well heeled who can afford the cost of additional security will be the principal beneficiaries of this reopening, along with people like Bob Hawthorne.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up on the program tonight, if you want to get ahead, does it help to be a bully. Do SOBS really finish A-OK? And later, are middle class home buyers being priced out of the housing market? See how little a lot of money buys you these days. From New York this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, debate began today in the Senate on John Bolton, the president's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. Now barring surprise, he'll be nominated -- or he'll be confirmed, I should say. Only one Republican says that he will vote no. But for the hearings and now the debate have raised questions about Mr. Bolton's fitness for the job. And whether, to get all technical for a moment, he's a real jerk. So got a problem with that? Here's Jeff Greenfield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is the right man at the right time for this important assignment.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But is John Bolton the right man for this job, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations? The debate touches on many points. Is he out to reform the U.N., or to undermine it? Did he demand accurate intelligence or intelligence that just reinforced his policy views? But then there's this issue about temperament or, more accurately, temper.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: I think Mr. Bolton needs anger management at the minimum.

GREENFIELD: Democratic senator Barbara Boxer is no fan of Bolton's view of the U.N., but her words also reflect criticism aimed at Bolton's behavior, not just disagreeing with subordinates, but allegedly blowing up at them, demanding they be removed from their posts. His supporters, in turn, say he's just a man of strong conviction.

(on camera): All of which raises a question, is a short fuse the sign of a powerful leader of conviction or the sign of a hot headed bully? And how do we tell the difference?

(voice-over): To judge by popular culture, the boss as human hand grenade is a very familiar icon. Baby boomers may remember Mr. Honeywell, Earn Albrights choleric boss on "My Little Margie" who was always seconds away from detonation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. You're fired!

GREENFIELD: And apparently, this character trait will be with us far into the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, get out before I lose my temper. You're fired!

GREENFIELD: And in the testosterone drenched world of sports, there seems to be a direct connection between leadership and red-faced rage. Even owners, like Yankee boss George Steinbrenner, had been known to lose their cool for a few moments.

GEORGE STEINBRENNER, YANKEE'S OWNER: What? God, get out of the way.

GREENFIELD: Or decades. Aides to President Clinton often spoke in wonder at his explosive outbursts that passed like tropical storms. And as the Watergate waters rose, President Nixon physically expressed his impatience with Press Secretary Ron Ziegler.

But given how many esteemed leaders -- Winston Churchill among them -- were capable of temper outbursts, could this in fact be a sign of leadership? John Gartner says yes. His book "The Hypomatic" is subtitled "The Link Between Craziness and Success in America."

JOHN GARTNER, AUTHOR: These are people who are incredibly driven, incredibly impatient, aggressive, ambitious. Anything that slows them down, any opposition that they come to just causes them to just want to explode, to just blow past it.

GREENFIELD: And Gartner says that drive among some hypomanics, founding father Alexander Hamilton, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, Hollywood impresario David Selznick, that same drive often blinds them from seeing the impact of their behavior on others.

GARTNER: They really don't perceive themselves as being bullies. They really have sort of -- an actually, almost neurologically based lack of empathy for how their actions affect people.

GREENFIELD: Ultimately, John Bolton's fate will depend less on questions about his temper and more about what senators come to believe about his judgment and candor.

(on camera): As for those of us in the media, it is just awfully difficult for us even to cover a story like this coming as we do from a business where reporters, anchors, executive producers and our bosses act with such absolute serenity at each and every moment.

HOLLY HUNTER, ACTRESS: Do it! Do it or I'll fry your fat (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Absolute serenity.

Back now to stem cells and the president's commitment today to stand firm against research that would use embryos. In this, he's got company, if not the support of many Republicans, or even a majority of Americans. Certainly a passionate minority.

Earlier tonight, we talked with Ann Graham-Lotz. She's the daughter of the Reverend Billy Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Ann, supporters of the Castle bill say why should the president stand in the way of legislation which the Congress, the Senate and it appears the majority of Americans want?

ANN GRAHAM-LOTZ, ANGEL MINISTRIES: You know, the president, of course, will make his decisions based on his own conviction and what he feels is right for the country. And for me, when it comes to embryonic stem cell research, I have to draw the line because embryos are tiny little human lives. And to destroy a tiny little human life to benefit the life of someone else I think is wrong.

And Anderson, you know, my father has Parkinson's disease. He's also very deaf. My mother has macular degeneration. She can hardly see. She has degenerative arthritis, she can no longer walk. My husband has Adult I diabetes. He's insulin dependent. And my son has cancer.

And those are four very precious family members to me. And as much as I would love to see them well, I would love to see my father strong again and my mother be able to read again, but at the same time I don't want them to benefit at the expense of another innocent human life being taken. It's not right.

COOPER: But is it that clearly drawn, though? What the supporters of this say are, look, the vast majority of these embryos are being discarded, that only a very tiny percentage actually end up being adopted and grow into children. The vast majority are literally thrown out or just frozen for all of time. So it's not -- I mean, is it better to throw them out than it is to devote them to research?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: Well, actually, in both cases to throw them out, or to devote them to research, they're going to both be destroyed. And I think they should not be destroyed in a lab for research. And I think, the other question of what to do with them, to discard them, that needs to be a national debate. Because I think that's a very serious thing. And, of course, they have the potential to be a viable human being or they wouldn't be there. They wouldn't have been created. They wouldn't be frozen, they wouldn't be preserved. So, nobody knows, you know, if they would actually become a child because there's so many other factors involved in that when you implant one.

COOPER: Is it OK, though, you are for the taking of life in some cases if there's a greater good in case the death penalty, I think you would argue that the death penalty is OK. Why is it OK, some would argue, to take human life for the death penalty, but if it is in fact taking life for these embryo's research, why is that not OK?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: It would be very difficult to make a case that a human embryo is the equivalent of a murderer or a rapist or someone who has been convicted of some heinous crime for which he's received the death penalty.

COOPER: But it's OK to take some life?

GRAHAM-LOTZ: You know, Anderson, I base what I believe on the scripture. And the Bible indicates clearly that when it comes to someone who has willfully taken another person's life in a first degree offense, because life is created in the image of God -- the Bible says that that life is required by society -- just for the right running of society. The reason give is not as a deterrent to crime, but that that person has created an image of God and to respect the king's image, so to speak.

COOPER: It is a debate, no doubt we will be having on many nights and perhaps years to come. Ann Graham-Lotz, appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. Appreciate your perspective.

GRAHAM-LOTZ: Anderson, thank you. God bless you, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And still to come ahead on NEWSNIGHT, your home might be worth a lot more than it used to be. But is that a good thing?

And a new Broadway star straight out of Disneyland. This is NEWSNIGHT in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: More warnings today that many of us just may be betting our financial future on a bubble. New home starts hit a record in April. Home prices are soaring. The question is, what does it all mean? For starters $1 million will not buy you what it used to, and if the housing market is indeed a bubble, a burst could leave a lot of us out in the cold.

More from CNN's Gerri Willis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a terrific one bedroom, totally renovated, move-in condition, one bedroom apartment. The kitchen, as you can see, fabulous countertops, state-of-the-art appliances, and it even has a washer and drier which, for us in New York, is a big treat. One of the wonderful features of this apartment is clearly the view.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is the square footage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 822 square feet, and very well used square footage. Every single part is well-used.

WILLIS: Eight hundred and twenty-two square feet, $1 million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yep.

WILLIS: Prices in Manhattan have risen 20 percent in the last year, and the Big Apple is not the only city overheating. Some 66 metro areas posted double-digit price increases this year, and many of them are in unexpected places like Bradenton, Florida, a baby boomer retirement mecca where prices spiked 45 percent. West Palm Beach and Boca Raton make the top five list, too.

The boom is making it tough for middle income Americans to land a home. Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says 25 percent of middle class home owners -- that's 9.3 million -- are spending more than they should on housing.

Take a look at this home on the market for $989,000 in Chicago's exclusive Lincoln Park. For the money, you get three bedrooms, two baths and 2,500 square feet of space, but if you want a garage, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Don't look for easy pickings once you retire either. This Miami condo on the market for $1.1 million has ocean views but with just 1,400 square feet of space, it will be tough to accommodate the grandkids.

One house on the list delivered value for the money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Gerri, this is what $1 million buys you in Monroe, Connecticut.

WILLIS: It's pretty nice. Let's take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

WILLIS: So, this is a pretty nice kitchen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, beautiful. The home owners here did a lot of custom work, including the cherry cabinets, beautiful granite countertops, and as you can see, gourmet Wolf range with hood.

WILLIS: Very high end, and naturally, the sub-zero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High-end appliances throughout.

WILLIS: Four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, 3,800 square feet on one acre of level land. Price tag, $979,000. But even here where values appear to be better, D'Ausilio says the market has gone too far. This man, who makes his living selling homes, is a renter.

DAVID D'AUSILIO, REAL ESTATE AGENT: We decided to rent for a few years. We think this housing market's going to cool down a little bit and we'll be able to find a better value perhaps 24 months from now.

WILLIS: Experts warn in the metro markets where prices have gone up the most, prices could fall, and fall hard. That means for some people, they could end up owing more than the house is worth if they had to sell.

In most of the rest of the country, though, the likelihood is that prices might flatten but not collapse.

Gerri Willis, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, ahead on NEWSNIGHT, the runaway bride. Remember her? The district attorney certainly does. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, in a moment we're going to look forward at a new rising star and a look back at a Russian who made history and wasn't a half-bad dancer either. Now, it's about 13 to the hour. Let's check in with Erica Hill of Headline News. Hey, Erica.

HILL: Hey, Anderson.

A thousand U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a new offensive in Western Iraq in the city of Haditha, on the road from Baghdad to Damascus. U.S. forces say the offensive, called "new market" has killed at least 10 insurgents and unearthed caches of weapons. So far, two Marines have been wounded.

New tensions, meantime, over a war fought long ago. The Pentagon has suspended U.S. efforts to recover the remains of soldiers missing since the Korean War. Pentagon officials say it is unsafe to operate inside North Korea because of strains between the U.S. and North Korea.

And, the Georgia woman known as the "runaway bride" has been charged with lying to police and falsely reporting a crime. If convicted, Jennifer Wilbanks could face up to six years in prison. Last month, just days before her wedding, she hopped a bus to New Mexico. Police say Wilbanks initially told them she'd been abducted and sexually assaulted, but then recanted. An attorney says Wilbanks is receiving treatment.

And, that's the latest from Headline News at this hour. Anderson, have a good night.

COOPER: That story seemed so long ago.

HILL: The runaway bride? It does. But we can't get away from it.

COOPER: I know. It keeps coming back. Erica, thanks very much. Have a good evening.

COOPER: Boris Yeltsin, you know, was often called unpredictable when he served as Russia's president. He was also known for his sometimes, how shall we say, colorful behavior? Tonight, he's the focus of our anniversary series "Then & Now."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He'll always be the man astride a tank, facing down a hardline coup in 1991. Boris Yeltsin remains a creature of contradiction: a communist who helped destroy communism, a Democrat who opened fire on his own parliament, a man who seemed on the verge of dying so many times, who nowadays looks healthier than ever.

In 1980, Yeltsin was a Communist party boss in the Urals mountain city of Svedlosk (ph). Ten years later, he was the president of the Russian Republic. The Soviet Union was about to collapse and when it did, Yeltsin moved into the Kremlin. At the height of his powers he told CNN...

BORIS YELTSIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I am not thinking about history at all and I'm not planning on thinking about it. I'm thinking about deeds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But in 1999, in the new year's address, Boris Yeltsin shocked the world, announcing he was stepping down as Russian president, handing the reins of power to Vladimir Putin. Years of heavy drinking and heart attacks took their toll, but in retirement, Yeltsin is following a healthier lifestyle, surprising the world once more with his resilience and unpredictability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Well, just ahead on NEWSNIGHT, from Pocahontas to Brooklyn to the great white way. A young women's dream come true. A break first, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: So, it used to be, you hit it big and then you went to Disneyland. Not this time. In this story our heroine starts in Disneyland and then goes to Broadway by way of Brooklyn, but always on the rise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDEN ESPINOSA, LEAD ROLE IN "BROOKLYN": Hi. Welcome to Brooklyn, the musical. We're at the Plymouth, soon to be Shonethal (ph) Theater. Come on inside, I'll show you around.

My name is Eden Espinosa, and I'm currently starring in the musical "Brooklyn." "Brooklyn" is a five-person show. We are suit performers that spin the -- we call it a side walk fairy tale -- about a girl named Brooklyn searching for her father and using her fame to find who she is and where she's from. Just basically her journey.

Brooklyn is very wide-eyed and she's very optimistic, always looks at things in a rosy hue. So I think there are a lot of similarities between her and I. But at the same time, I'm a little more rough around the edges than she is. I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I remember grabbing anyone, mom, parents, friends, whoever was over at the house. And just being a hammy little girl and performing, playing the piano, playing my violin or singing songs, doing numbers from musicals.

I started working at Disneyland in Anaheim when I was 17. My first solo singing part was Pocahontas. And then soon after that, I played Ariel. I look back on it with a lot of good memories. Opening night for "Brooklyn," it was hard to keep it together at times in the show. It really was. Just like looking at the other cast members and just kind of being like, my gosh, you guys, we're here, we're doing it. It was a dream come true.

As far as theater's concerned, this is it. Broadway is the biggest thing. Now that I have this check mark off my list of things. There are other things I'd like to tackle. But singing will always be number one for me. Live theater, I don't think there is anything like it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. We'll be right back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And that's it for NEWSNIGHT have a great evening.

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