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Continuing Piracy Coverage; Deadly Storms in the South; More Gun Violence

Aired April 11, 2009 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: A standoff at sea reaching a new level this hour. We are live.

Deadly storms are pounding the U.S. A second round could be on the way soon. Are you in the path?

Deadly home invasion: A mother and children gunned down. One child survived and we have just got an update on how she is doing.

All of that happening right now.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

We start with a developing story out Tracy, California: The arrest of the Sunday schoolteacher now accused in the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. The little girl's body was found on Monday stuffed in a suitcase and submerged in a pond.

Twenty-eight year old Melissa Huckaby, a local minister's granddaughter is in jail tonight. She faces charges of kidnapping and murder. And get this -- Huckaby knew Sandra Cantu well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. TONY SHENEMAN, TRACY, CALIF. POLICE: Sandra was very close friends with Melissa's daughter. They used to play together frequently at Melissa's home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We'll go live to where all of this is happening now. Joining us now with the very latest is Sharokina Shams from our Sacramento affiliate KCRA. She is in Tracy right now.

We heard that Ms. Huckaby knows this little girl. Explain to us the situation behind this.

SHAROKINA SHAMS, KCRA REPORTER: Yes, Don, she knows the little girl pretty well because her daughter played with the victim, Sandra Cantu, at the same mobile home park where they both live. And so, Melissa Huckaby is a neighbor actually across a pathway and just five doors down from where the victim lived. Sandra used to come over to their mobile home and play with Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter.

And so, that's one reason why people in this community are so shocked to learn the identity of the alleged killer. And then, of course, there's just this general sense in the community of Tracy, too, that the killer's identity -- it is a woman. We're talking about a woman who's being accused of a crime that even veteran law enforcement officials have told us they were quite surprised over.

The community here was expecting to learn that this killer might be a child predator, a male. And so, that's been the general reaction here today, is that they have learned it's a woman, a local Sunday schoolteacher and a neighbor.

LEMON: Hey, Sharokina. Will you guide us through this because there was some sort of conflicting statement that she possibly gave about a suitcase? The little girl was found in a suitcase -- tell us how that came about.

SHAMS: Yes. That's right. Huckaby says that the suitcase of the little girl was found in was stolen from her. Now, we don't know that she said this to the police department. But she said this to a local newspaper.

She told the "Tracy Press" that that suitcase was stolen from her that same day that Sandra disappeared. She said it was sitting in her driveway. She was getting ready to take it to a rummage sale. The next thing she knows, as she comes out of her home -- her mobile home and she sees that the suitcase is gone.

Now, at the same time, we learned yesterday that she also reported or at least she claimed she reported to police that some days after Sandra's disappearance, she found a note at her mailbox with some interesting language and pretty mysterious language, saying the words: Sandra, suitcase and water -- and then naming two road names. So, she had claimed yesterday before her arrest that if police had followed up on this, they would have found the real killer.

But then, of course, it was just hours after that that she was arrested. And so, clearly, investigators in this community did not give a lot of weight to her story either that the suitcase was stolen or this note that she found -- Don?

LEMON: Sharokina Shams, we appreciate it. Thank you very much. As soon as you get more information, please let us know.

In the meantime, we want to move on because we have new information now on another disturbing story, this one out of Louisiana. An 11- year-old girl's condition is improving tonight after a horrific shooting in New Orleans. Police are looking for the gunman who killed a woman and two children early this morning in a Jefferson Parish apartment. Police say two men in dark clothes kicked in the door of the home and began shooting.

The fourth victim, that 11-year-old girl we mentioned was shot multiple times. She is in stable condition now. Obviously, neighbors are just outraged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It don't make sense at all, especially when you're killing children now. The person who did this, they need to -- they need to get them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shouldn't have happened. It was -- it was just babies. And whoever did this, he needs to be caught. They're animals. They need to be caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We'll continue to follow that story as well. But the woman who was killed, aged 19, was the mother of one of the children, a 23- month-old boy. No word on the motive here. And police say they found pot and crack inside the apartment. We'll continue to follow this story.

We're following this as well. Dangerous wildfires are again flaring up tonight as firefighters battle a string of wildfires in Oklahoma. Meantime, officials say at least one of the devastating wildfires that ripped across the state this week was intentionally set. But they are stopping short of calling it arson, saying it's unclear if malice was intended.

No arrests have been made, dozens of homes and businesses burned down in a series of Oklahoma fires and more than 60 people were injured. Wildfires in neighboring Texas are being blamed for three deaths there.

Dangerous weather, including tornadoes, took lives and homes as it rolled through the south and a second round is on the radar. Are you in the path?

I want you to take a look at these pictures now. In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, damage as far as the eye can see. That city near Nashville got hammered by up to five reported tornadoes. The storms are part of a vicious weather system that also caused damage in several other southern states.

In Murfreesboro, though, one of the two twisters killed a woman and her 9-week-old daughter at home. Her husband was seriously hurt as well. The baby was found in a car seat where her parents had put her, thinking it would be safer there. At least 250 homes in the city were damaged or destroyed.

And, you know, our iReporters are weighing in. They're sending us pictures of that storm that pounded the southeast. These scenes are from Brittany Vaughn in Madison, Alabama, near Huntsville. The area was pelted with hail as a severe storm swept through.

And check out this frightening scene in Eubank, Kentucky. Ireporter Sasha Osterloh took this video of an apparent tornado about to drop from the sky -- amazing. She says she heard a roaring noise and looked outside to see the funnel cloud there and she quickly grabbed her video camera to take pictures.

I want to go now to our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis. Karen, a very dangerous storm or storms rolled through last night and a second possibly just as dangerous is on the radar.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're going to talk about that one. It shifted a little bit more towards the west. But we have a supreme iReporter. Ireport.com, that's where you can go and take a look at these incredible pictures. This is posted by Josh Bellingsly (ph).

Now, he was in the Murfreesboro area. He was driving along a portion that's a little industrial. There you can see the broken telephone line and this container truck that just been knocked over.

They're saying it was an EF-3. That is the enhanced Fujita scale. Three being about midway, indicating winds of 136 to 165 miles an hour.

All right. Let's show you what's going on right now. Big thunderstorms are rumbling across west Texas.

This is where we have that severe thunderstorm watch until 11:00 o'clock tonight. And what we're seeing right now -- we'll zoom in a little bit closer across this area -- and it is generally in the Hobbs area, Midland, Texas. A lot of these are moving up towards the northeast, at just about 15 miles an hour or so, already have produced golf ball-sized hail, and we've also seen some reports of 60-mile-an- hour winds.

Now, this storm system has been responsible for the thunderstorms that are picking up across west Texas. But, it is going to make its way towards the east. Now, I've seen one report that indicates that we will see and expect the heaviest precipitation in the next 24 hours, right around this Ark-La-Tex region. But you can see this particular computer model goes out to 48 hours and puts between three and five inches of rainfall in the lower Mississippi River Valley.

So, Don, a lot of weather to tell you about. And you can see some of the images coming out of the tornadic area yesterday, Murfreesboro, from the iReporters, and they are incredible.

LEMON: Yes. And we -- so, you're watching to see just how severe that second round might be, right, Karen?

MAGINNIS: Exactly. Yes.

LEMON: All right. Karen, thank you very much for that.

Shots fired at the U.N. Navy, pirates are still holding the captain of the Maersk Alabama hostage. We'll have the latest on that. Some new information for you.

And next hour, a CNN special investigation, "Somali Pirates: Can they be stopped?" CNN takes you inside a story that's captured the world's attention. That's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Also, tell us what's on your mind tonight -- Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We'll get your comments on the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon.

We're following breaking news tonight: Gun fire in the pirate standoff near the Somali coast. CNN has learned that Somali pirates holding an American sea captain hostage fired on the U.S. Navy. Now, the Navy had sent U.S. sailors in a small boat, but as they approached the pirates, they were fired on and retreated.

We're also told a tiny lifeboat is now within 20 miles of the Somali coast. The Navy says it will not let the pirates reach the shore.

The freighter that Phillips was piloting when he was hijacked on Wednesday arrived in Mombasa, Kenya, several hours ago. The Maersk Alabama is loaded with African relief aid.

Shortly after the ship docked, it's owner held a news conference about what happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN REINHART, PRES. & CEO, MAERSK LINE LTD.: Because of the pirate attack, the FBI has informed us that this ship is a crime scene. Therefore, we have to allow the FBI to begin the process to investigate the crime of the pirate attack. Therefore, the crewmembers will have to stay on board the vessel.

We will make sure they're safe. We know what food they want. We'll get the food to them. But they will not be able to have -- you will not be able to have access to the crew during the investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Stan Grant was in the port of Mombasa when the Maersk Alabama docked. He had a chance to speak briefly with a couple of crewmembers before they were whisked away.

Stan, they are keeping these guys, you know, as far away from the press as possible. But they did step up and they spoke very briefly.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Don. They are now off limits to the media. There is very tight security around the men. Of course, as you just reported there, the ship itself is now a crime scene, and the FBI continuing its investigations.

But as the ship came in to dock at the port, we did get an opportunity to get close enough to shout some questions to the crew. And we were able to glean some more information about what exactly happened on board the ship. What happened when the pirates boarded? How did the members -- the crewmembers regain control of the ship from the pirate?

I asked one of the crewmembers, he said that the pirates arrived in the early hours of the morning. He said that they were armed, he admitted to being scared. Asking a couple of other crewmembers, they then indicated that there was some type of a scuffle on board, that some of the crewmembers managed to hide out in a secure area of the ship and then later jumped the pirates in the engine room.

Now, there was a scuffle. We were told by one of the members that a scuffle broke out between the crewmembers and pirates. This is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy's a hero. He's our chief engineer. He put down the pirates. (INAUDIBLE). He led them down into the engine room and then he jumped at them. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now, the crewmembers are telling us that one of the pirates was stabbed through the hand in that scuffle. So, slowly, we are starting to pull more information together and try to get a picture of what went on out at sea as the pirates took control of the ship.

Now as I said, this is a crime scene. The FBI investigation is continuing. But the men themselves look to be in good spirits. They look to be in good health, but they have all said that they are desperate to get home. They won't be able to get home to their families until the investigation is concluded -- Don?

LEMON: Let's hope the captain is able to get home soon as well. Stan Gant, thank you.

The first officer of the Maersk Alabama is Shane Murphy. He was in charge as his ship steamed to Kenya. His father Joe was an instructor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. We heard from Joe Murphy just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MURPHY, FATHER OF FIRST OFC. SHANE MURPHY: We know the difficulties that the Phillips family is going through, and we continue to support them. And we believe that Captain Phillips will survive this situation. We want him to know that he has the support of all of us, the American people, and people around the world. We appreciate his courage. We know that he will survive because he will never give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And this standoff with pirates in the Indian Ocean is now four days old, and so far, no public comment from President Obama.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is at the White House.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, the latest from the White House, as an administration official tells us, the president has received multiple updates on the situation, both on paper and on the phone. This is similar to what we heard yesterday, that the president was receiving continuous updates by his national security team. But since first learning of this situation upon returning to U.S. soil Wednesday morning after his European trip, the president has not commented publicly on the pirate situation.

And when asked by a reporter if the extent of the president's involvement goes beyond staying apprised of the situation, this is what Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had to say Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, THURSDAY)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: At this point, he's staying apprised of the situation, and obviously, the interagency maritime group has been -- has had a number of meetings and conference calls about this. Obviously, the Navy and the FBI are, to some degree, on the scene. With their resources and so the resources of our government are deployed in ensuring the safety and the security of the captain and the crew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And while we haven't heard from the president himself, we have heard from some of the top members of his administration, Vice President Biden saying they are, quote, "working around the clock." Both secretaries of defense and state are saying separately that they are considering the options out there and doing what they have to do to protect American life, American interests, and bringing the pirates to justice -- Don?

LEMON: All right, Kate, thank you very much.

Do you know what sexting is? Unfortunately, your kids might, and we'll tell you what you need to know about it. You have to pay attention to this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: They call it sexting and many teens do it, parents. So, take a listen. It's called -- it's sending news pictures or photographs of themselves over their phone.

And as CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports, sexting could be a police matter, a serious police matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Vanessa Hudgens naked photos hit the Internet, the "High School Musical" star was quick to apologize. But sending nude or seminude pictures, phenomenon known as "sexting," is a fast growing trend among teens. One in five is saying they've done it, even though it could be a crime.

PHILLIP ALPERT, CONVICTED AFTER SENDING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: You will find me on the registered sex offender's list, next to people who have, you know, raped children, molested kids, things like that because I sent child pornography. FEYERICK: For 18-year-old Phillip Alpert, the pornography was a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend which she sent him and which he then sent to friends and family after an argument.

ALPERT: It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired. It was in the middle of the night and I was an immature kid.

FEYERICK: Police didn't see it that way. Alpert was charged with a felony, sending child pornography.

GEORGE SKUMANICK, JR., DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WYMOMING COUNTY, PA.: An adult would go to prison for this.

FEYERICK: George Skumanick, Jr. is a district attorney near Scranton, Pennsylvania. After 20 high school students were caught allegedly "sexting," he gave them a choice -- take classes or be charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

(on camera): Critics say these are just kids, they have no criminal intent. They're just doing stupid things. What is your response?

SKUMANICK: You can't call committing a crime fun, you know, or a prank.

FEYERICK (voice-over): But that's exactly what Marissa Miller thought when she and her friend snapped pictures of themselves at age 12 wearing training bras.

MARISSA MILLER, TEEN CAUGHT IN SEXTING INCIDENT: I wasn't trying to be sexual, I was having fun with my friends at a sleepover.

FEYERICK: Melissa's mom saw the picture and said the prosecutor crossed the line.

(on camera): "Possession and/or dissemination of child pornography." What goes through your mind at that moment as a parent?

MARY JO MILLER, MARISSA'S MOTHER: I was floored. She would have been the victim in this case.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Miller is suing the D.A. to stop him filing charges against her daughter.

As Phillip Alpert who e-blasted his ex-girlfriend's nude photo, he was kicked out of school and is now a registered sex offender.

ALPERT: I've been punished for the rest of my life for something that took probably two minutes or less to do.

FEYERICK (on camera): Alpert's lawyer is fighting to get the sex offender charges dismissed, arguing child pornography laws were never meant for teen sexting.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Thanks, Deb.

I want you to look at this -- it's a dramatic rescue at the Berlin zoo after a woman jumped into the polar bear enclosure. That's an actual picture of a woman being attacked. A bear bit her several times on the arms and the legs but the zookeepers managed to push it away and pull the woman out.

She was taken to a hospital for treatment. We don't know why and they don't know why she jumped in that enclosure. But she is very lucky to be alive. That's her attack caught on tape after she jumped in.

You're weighing in. Here's what Mysskay says, "I think the only people who will have a problem with it will be parents." I'm not sure what they're responding to. What are they responding to there? Do you guys know? Not sure.

OK. KissmetJ (ph) says, "It's a bit absurd to charge teens as sexual offenders when they are exchanging pics among themselves. That is a bit extreme." That first one must have been about sexting.

Ailiathena says, "I think that the puritan criminalization of sexters and even of the people policing of sexters is deeply disturbing."

A lot of you are paying attention to that story and many others. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We'll get it on the air for you.

And make sure you stay with us. We'll have the latest developments out of Somalia and the dramatic standoff that took place today, shots were fired.

And, on a new front -- the fight over same-sex marriage. We'll take a look at some provocative new ads hitting the airwaves. Do they go too far?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, here's the latest on the standoff with pirates in the Indian Ocean. Sources say the Somali pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat fired on U.S. sailors trying to reach the boat today. The sailors who did not return fire retreated.

The captain's boat, the Maersk Alabama docked safely in Kenya today with the remaining crewmembers. And you heard our Stan Grant spoke with some of them a little bit earlier. FBI agents plan to interview the crewmembers as efforts continue to free the ship's captain.

So, my guest tonight is to talk about this and other subjects. Jay Dedapper, a 22-year veteran reporter who has spent the last decades covering politics in New York. Ben Ferguson is the youngest nationally syndicated talk show host in the country.

Ben, you're that young?

(LAUGHTER) BEN FERGUSON, SYNDICATED TALK SHOW HOST: Don't go hard at me (ph).

LEMON: And David Sirota, a political journalist, nationally syndicated weekly newspaper columnist and best-selling author.

Thank you all for joining us. Even the young one.

And Jay Dedapper is new. So, don't be too hard on him, OK, Ben and David?

So, listen, David, did it have to come to this? And, you know, we certainly hope that Captain Phillips is OK. Did it have to come to this to get people's attention, our nation's attention? Because this has been happening for a very long time.

DAVID SIROTA, AUTHOR, "THE UPRISING": Well, look, the problems on the Horn of Africa are real problems, and you're right, they have been happening for a long time. I think it is unfortunate that it had to come to this for our country to probably focus on this. The question now is, what do we do?

I think that what you've seen the Obama administration say is that what we need to do is work multilaterally to deal with this region of the world after this immediate crisis is over. The hope is -- my hope is that after this crisis is over, and God willing it will be over without a loss of life, that we will deal more holistically and systemically with this national security issue as a multilateral issue.

LEMON: And Jay Dedapper, you have been blogging about this. What's your blog again?

JAY DEDAPPER, JAYDEDAPPER.COM: Get Real, it's at JayDedapper.com. Spell my name, you got the blog.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Yes, D-E-D-A-P-P-E-R. Just like it sounds.

DEDAPPER: Yes.

LEMON: So, listen. You've have been blogging about this and I'm surprised about the viewer response and just how much people are paying attention to this. And also, Jay, sort of becoming angry saying -- why can't the U.S. do something? Why is it taking so long to get to this captain? And they get angrier and angrier with every minute as this goes on.

DEDAPPER: Right. Well, that's, Don, that's the natural reaction. I mean, we all want to go "Rambo," you know? You want to act out the movie and you want to blow up the boat, nuke them.

And I think it's interesting though that two editorial pages today that are usually right in line with each other, the "New York Post" and "The Wall Street Journal," both papers own by Rupert Murdoch, both reliably conservative, took absolutely opposite tacks today. "The Wall Street Journal" said, "Patience." "The Wall Street Journal," patience.

LEMON: Right.

DEDAPPER: "The Post" said, "Rambo, nuke 'em." I think it is easier for us, as armchair generals, to say, "Let's go in and blow them up."

LEMON: Yes.

DEDAPPER: That's a very difficult thing to do. It's something that the Bush administration and the Obama administration have been trying to deal with off the horn of Africa, in Somalia, the problems with the piracy. And there is no easy answer. The easy answer isn't simply to blow up the boat.

LEMON: Hey, hold that thought because I want to talk about the administration. We get to Ben first. Ben, with this question, you know, we've been wondering, you can see in people's homes, they say that they have these helicopters with the scopes and you can look through walls, infrared and all of that. Well, can't they see through this boat that's out there and pick off the right person?

BEN FERGUSON, ICON RADIO NETWORK: I think we have watched a lot of really cool movies, but the reality is I talked to a sniper earlier this week and he said look, the reason why we can't shoot from the air is because with the helicopter, you've got too much wind differential coming from the blade. And so the reality is you can't just shoot down like that, otherwise, I think we obviously would have. What worries me more about this is the fact that this is the first time in 200 years that a boat like this that was flying an American flag has been attacked and part of that is because as everybody knew, you do not mess with America. You can go mess with other country's flags on their boats, but you don't go with ours.

LEMON: But then it's not the first time.

DEDAPPER: Two U.S. Navy ships were attacked two years ago.

FERGUSON: I'm not talking about Navy ships. I'm talking about cruise ships, I'm talking about ships that actually have stuff on there like these ships have. It's been 200 years.

LEMON: But he does present a very good point, if they will attack two U.S. Navy ships, you know, they're pretty ballsy(ph).

FERGUSON: I think what we have to do afterwards is we have to look at this and go what is our response after whatever happens with this captain happens. I obviously hope we get him back, but afterwards we have to send a very strong response and go after these pirates. Everybody knows where they are, we know where they're coming from. We know where they live and we know which villages over there allow them to come in there and they're based out of there so we have to have a strong response.

LEMON: David, I'm going to get to you in a second but I want to ask Jason. You've been covering politics, some people are wondering why the administration or I should say why the White House hasn't responded to this. But isn't there a response in secretary of state Hillary Clinton's statement? Isn't that a response from the administration?

DEDAPPER: I think it is, but also the response is to let General Petraeus figure out what to do here. He's the one in charge of Afghanistan and Iraq which means he's in charge of this operation. Whatever's going to happen, Petraeus is somebody respected by the Bush administration, and people supported, respected now. This is the guy who's going to be in charge and who's going to try to figure out what to do. And I think as a political item, there's no win here for the Obama administration to jump in right now and start saying anything. Let the military professionals handle it.

LEMON: I think David, hang on. David Sirota with every minute that goes by, you know, you think that they're trying to wait these guys out, food, water, what have you, they're waiting it out. But don't you think the Somali pirates are giving them the chance to band together and maybe go in to try to help their brother in there?

DAVID SIROTA: It's not clear that it's that well coordinated. I mean Somalia is a failed state, it's a chaotic nation. There's no real functioning government. I think the administration needs to, I think deal with this as both a diplomatic issue in terms of getting a coalition together to deal with this region and the military. So I don't buy the idea they couldn't do anything, or that they should defer all judgments to the generals on the ground. The president is the commander in chief. But again, this is a more multi-lateral issue and I have to say that the fact that the Bush administration, I think, blew apart all of our multilateral or many of our multilateral coalition efforts in the past is going to make it hard to martial a multilateral force.

FERGUSON: I disagree with that. I think the Somalis are very smart -

LEMON: Ben, five seconds.

FERGUSON: And they knew they wanted to test this administration to see what this administration would do. They didn't mess with Bush over there. They didn't go after American -

SIROTA: This is not the government -

FERGUSON: They are smart enough to take over these massive tankers.

SIROTA: They are dealing with a civil war in Somalia.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Ben and David, I have to separate you two. Can we move them on the screen, we'll have to put David where Ben is or something or Jay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the Brady bunch, right?

LEMON: Hay, how does it feel your maiden voyage here? DEDAPPER: No problem, I just got to repeat, though, that they did attack two U.S. destroyers. Now if that's not attacking America and testing the Bush administration, I don't know what it is. They also took on an Israeli cargo ship last week -

LEMON: All right.

DEDAPPER: You go after Israel, you're testing somebody's mettle.

LEMON: All right. Jay Dedapper, David Sirota, Ben Ferguson. Hey, thanks, guys, appreciate it.

Coming up at the top of the hour, a CNN special report, "Somali Pirates, can they be stopped?" Who are the Somali pirates hijacking ships and capturing Americans and how can we take them on. CNN takes you inside a story that has captured the world's attention. Tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

LEMON: The White House has no plans to push significant immigration reform through Congress this year, even though voters say they want it. We'll talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Here's what the polls show that you the voter wants, but the White House has no plans to push significant immigration reform through Congress this year, but the voter wants immigration reform. The concern is that a controversial immigration bill could detract from the president's plan to pass health care and energy reform. White House spokesman Nick Shapiro tells CNN the president wants to begin discussions on immigration later this year, but the economy comes first.

In February, pollsters at a house democratic retreat said 47 percent of voters believe immigration should be a high priority and 80 percent of swing district voters polled say illegal immigration is a very serious problem. OK. My guests are joining us again, Jay Dedapper, a veteran political reporter, David Sirota who is a writer, author, radio host, everything and Ben Ferguson, the same thing, a jack of all trades, master of anything?

FERGUSON: Now, now, Don, be nice.

LEMON: So, listen, the president, there was - he's - it appears that the administration or the spokespeople are saying he is going to attack it, but the economy comes first. But even when people start hearing about some sort of immigration plan that allows amnesty and people getting in, Jay, they're not happy about it?

DEDAPPER: You know, I was giving a speech in one of these swing districts, the 20th here in New York. This is the one that still isn't solved the house race that special election of the new year. And I was giving a speech up there in a little town in a library, and taking some, you know, talk, speech, taking some questions from people. And several people went off on immigration. This is an issue that if you cover the campaign, you were around during the campaign, obviously it was a big deal, but I think a lot of us, I mean, myself thought it had gone away.

So it's a little peculiar that Obama would bring this up now because it's obviously a hot issue especially for people who oppose the idea of giving amnesty or legalizing some of the people that are here illegally. It's a little odd but it's a campaign promise to a huge group of voters that went for him in a huge way and that -

LEMON: Who was it that said, was it Ben or David, that said that many people look at it as a free ride?

FERGUSON: I mean, it's buying votes is what this is. You look at Nancy Pelosi two weeks ago, this is a very, very planned attack to go out there on the issue of immigration and let it be known what they believe. And if you look at what she said two weeks ago to a private group of a lot of people - there were illegal immigrants in California, she says it's un-American for us to kick you out of this country in the middle of the night as she put it. And that was laying the groundwork for what this White House is going to do. You don't go out there and talk about something unless you're going to push it forward.

This administration is going out there and most congressmen out there, especially democrats are saying, look, we need this as a voting issue in the midterms. We have to let illegal immigrants know that we're on their team and we're going to give all of them citizenship if we have our way. And that's the reason why he's going to talk about next month.

LEMON: David, it's really interesting because it could set a precedent, you know, because people broke the law to get into the country but I mean there is no practical way to boot people out of the country once they're here and I don't even know if we have the infrastructure to do that or the resources at this moment.

SIROTA: You're right, I don't think we do and I think that it's inhumane to do it, frankly. I think that what the administration is doing is realizing that if you don't deal with immigration in a humane way that the right wing will use the issue to demagogue through the economy. In other words the economy and immigration are not separate issues, they're one and the same. And look, I'm out here in Colorado and in Denver we just had a big debate in our legislature about immigration and I'll tell you one thing, the idea that the right is going to go away and not demagogue this issue.

FERGUSON: It's not demagoguing, if you want to talk about the economy, the fact of the matter is illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from people. Now more than ever American citizens that need jobs in America. To say it's inhumane to endorse.

SIROTA: That's absolutely absurd.

FERGUSON: It's not absurd at all.

SIROTA: What undocumented workers are doing and I agree with this, what undocumented workers are doing is they're forcing American workers and undocumented workers - FERGUSON: To lose their jobs.

SIROTA: Into a wage race to the bottom.

LEMON: OK. Let's talk about -

SIROTA: The way to deal with that is to get some sort of reform.

LEMON: All right. We're done with this topic. All right. Enough.

Just getting the information over here, Arizona State, did anybody write this week about Arizona State, the flap there, and the apology, no I can't, no I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lived in Arizona for four years.

LEMON: It almost sounded something like hey, I'll do this and then they went back and apologized and it was a big uproar. So Arizona state apologized to the president saying, you know, about the honorary degree. What did you have to say about that, Ben? I'm sure somebody brought that up on your radio show though.

FERGUSON: I mean, if you want to give the guy, the president of the United States of America an honorary degree, go ahead and do it. But it looks really bad, it's bad PR for any campus. Yes, no, we don't know. We're not sure. I think you had some pressure there from some alumni that maybe didn't like the idea.

LEMON: That's it?

FERGUSON: Yes.

LEMON: As simple as that. That's the end of that question, nobody's arguing it over it?

FERGUSON: No, I mean, a lot of people say that the president of the United States of America, you know, in general, anywhere you go speak, if they're asking the president to come, give him an honorary degree. I personally think honorary degrees are a little bit ridiculous. What does it mean? It's nothing. It's like getting a key to the city.

LEMON: All right. Go, David.

SIROTA: They said that he wasn't experienced. I mean, if you get elected president, that's a lot of experience, I think.

DEDAPPER: And they gave an honorary degree to like the trade minister from China a few years ago.

FERGUSON: It's like a key to the city. Getting elected president does not mean you've accomplished a lot. It's a popularity contest nowadays.

LEMON: Hey, guys, thank you so much.

SIROTA: Getting elected president isn't a lot of experience?

FERGUSON: What did he do before president, seriously, besides miss votes.

SIROTA: The guy was a United States senator for 12 years.

FERGUSON: Did he ever vote?

LEMON: OK, guys.

SIROTA: You're kidding, right? You got to be kidding.

LEMON: Hey, stop. I'm going to cut your mics off. I'm going to separate you two guys. We know what he is. Actually, I was in Chicago when he was a state senator, very popular, a politician. Then he became a U.S. senator, very popular, politician, and then he became the president of the United States. That's what he's done, OK, Ben? We'll talk again.

FERGUSON: I hear you.

LEMON: Here's what you guys are saying about this, (inaudible) this is about the pirate standoff, Navy S.E.A.L.S at night, underwater sneak attack, we asked about that, don't think it's safe though. Billiegirl says why are we acting as if we can't pinpoint the pirates location? They're pirates. They're at sea in a very bad location.

Mrsw64(ph) says these criminals need to face some severe consequences for what they're doing. Send a message to anyone thinking about doing it. We want you to be part of our community. You can weigh in just like these guys are, we can get your picture on, we can't get you on live like that, twitter, Facebook, myspace, ireport.com. We'll get your responses on the air.

The new front in the fight over same-sex marriage.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Provocative new ads are hitting the airwaves but do they go too far. And at the top of the hour, CNN investigates, "Somali pirates, can they be stopped?" Who are they? And how can we beat them? We're delving deeper into the story that has captured the world's attention. That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. This is really been getting heated up, to push and legalize same-sex marriage is gathering momentum all across the country. But opponents call it a gathering storm. Our Randi Kaye looks at the latest tactics to keep such marriages off the books.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, the battle over same-sex marriage has been heating up in recent months and weeks, a growing number of states have moved toward making those marriages legal which has prompted a new advertising campaign by opponents, hoping to stop anymore from doing so. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): One way to keep same-sex marriage illegal may be to paint its impact on those who oppose it as dark and scary. That's the latest tactic from the National Organization for Marriage which just released this $1.5 million ad campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a storm gathering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clouds are dark and the winds are strong.

KAYE: Do you acknowledge that the ad is dark and scary and paints this picture of this gathering storm?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think there is a gathering storm, unless we act to protect marriage, we're going to see more and more moves to overturn the roles of people.

KAYE: But Evan Wolfson, an advocate for same-sex marriage calls the ad an assault on gay people that undermines civil rights.

EVAN WOLFSON, ADVOCATE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Everything in these ads is phoney, from the scary zombie special effects to the actors reading the lines, to the arguments they're making to try to try to scare people into thinking that allowing gay people to marry is somehow a threat to everyone else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we have hope.

KAYE: The ad was supposed to be released late spring but recent decisions by Vermont and Iowa to legalize same-sex marriage prompted the group to act now. Connecticut and Massachusetts already allow it. But Vermont is the first state whose legislature approved same-sex marriage and not a court. In fact, legislators overrode the governor's veto.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have voted to override the veto. The house will come to order.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the people don't want this, this is being forced by both the courts and by out-of-touch legislators.

KAYE: Brown wants to create an army of marriage activist in every state to put a stop to whatever momentum gay couples are gaining.

KAYE (on camera): In California, there's the petition to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage. Governors in both New York and New Jersey say they will sign same-sex marriage bills and Maine, later this month will hold hearings on the issue. New Hampshire's House of Representatives has approved it and even the District of Colombia is moving towards recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When gay people marry they don't use up the marriage licenses. The idea that somehow treating gay people as equal under the civil rights laws of this country is a threat to other people is as bogus as it was when they made this claim in other civil right chapters in American history.

KAYE (voice-over): In the last CNN opinion research poll, 55 percent did not want to legalize same-sex marriage. But Wilson hopes the more time people have to think about it, the more they'll be able to ignore what he calls "the scary ad campaign."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The National Organization for Marriage is quick to point out that 30 states have voted to protect marriage as that between a man and woman including California, Oregon, Michigan and Hawaii. Don?

LEMON: All right. Thank you for that, Randi Kaye, for that reporting.

OK. David Sirota, Jay Dedapper, Ben Ferguson, thank you very much. Ben.

FERGUSON: Yes.

LEMON: If the guys or girls next door who are minding their own business have a great house, keep up their lawn, pay their taxes, why do you mind if they get married?

FERGUSON: Well, I think a lot of it comes down to - for many its religious issues. The same way that abortion is a religious issue in many ways. The fact of the matter now is what you see -

LEMON: Hang on. Hang on. The argument for abortion is that it's taking a life, correct?

FERGUSON: Again, it comes back down to the issue of religious -

LEMON: Hang on. Answer my question. The argument about abortion is that its taking a life?

FERGUSON: Correct.

LEMON: Gay marriage, nobody is dying. OK.

FERGUSON: No but I think a lot of people believer that the bible says marriage between a man and woman. And I think the other -

LEMON: I got that. So -

FERGUSON: But here's my main point. In 2004, every state where they had same-sex marriage on the ballot, it failed. And these were states who were supposed to win. And I think what you see now as you have people that say, we want the people to be able to speak on this. They realize it's not working when people walk into a voting block. It's many other people everywhere it was on the ballot. So now they are going to the courts and the legislature.

LEMON: I get that. I get that. But even when its a civil right's debate and that's what everyone said but even when it was married between races, we're all the same race, of course. FERGUSON: Don.

LEMON: Hang on. Much of the country did not want a black person, a white person, a black person, a Hispanic person and a white person to get married. It's the same argument. But here's what I'm asking, OK, so let there be a compromise. If it's not same-sex marriage don't let people get married in the church. If it's a religious don't let people get married in the church. Let them go to a justice of the peace, that way you solve both problems?

FERGUSON: I don't-

SIROTA: You're making the right point. It's a legal issue. That's the issue here. It's a legal issue. And let me just say as a happily married man to my wife, Emily, for the last four years, I think anybody who says that anybody else's marriage threatens their own marriage needs to seek a marriage counselor. Gay marriage should be legal because it's as a matter of law. We're talking about making laws here, not religious doctrines.

LEMON: The reason I'm asking this is and I said that because every - it seems like during the election this issue comes up and it is often viewed as a distraction. It's not a distraction this time because you can see that it's law in certain states and provinces already. And it seems to be growing.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Jay, go ahead.

DEDAPPER: You mentioned the interracial thing. I don't think that's a minor point. In 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled that Loving versus Virginia, an interracial marriage that bans against interracial marriage was unconstitutional. 72 percent of people in the Gallup poll, 72 percent of Americans said that they didn't think that two people of different races should get married. Now if you left it up to voters and referendum that would have not passed in almost any state in America. Would anyone here argue today that that was the right decision for the people?

LEMON: OK. So we're doing all this talking back and forth and, you know, some of your views, liberal, Ben as a conservative - but I don't believe he's a true conservative.

FERGUSON: I'm a conservative realist.

LEMON: But you know, I'm the only one who seems in this to have offered a solution. Let people who want to get married in a church and let the others go to the justice of the peace. Anybody has a solution, David, you have one?

FERGUSON: I trust that we have come a lot farther than what we're talking about when it came to race relations. We have the first African-American president of the United States of America, which I was thrilled about, especially coming from Memphis, Tennessee. But the reality is, I have a huge problem when what happens is the people's word - and I think we're a lot more progressive than we've ever been are saying, OK, we didn't like what you did. So -

LEMON: Finish, go ahead.

SIROTA: People elect their legislatures. So if the legislature takes an issue and decide on it, people have a right to throw out their legislatures or not. A legislature is elected by the people.

FERGUSON: So why not let people vote on it.

LEMON: We're out of time, Ben and David! I'm going to get you some boxing gloves.

All right, guys. Thank you.

SIROTA: Thanks.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

LEMON: Lots of provocative stories tonight. We'll find out what you have to say.

And at the top of the hour, a CNN special investigation, "Somali pirates: can they be stopped?" We're diving deeper into the story that has captured everyone's attention. Tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. That's in about four minutes, right at the top of the hour. Lots of you are weighing in on our coverage. We're going to get your comments on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. A lot of you are weighing in and here's what you are saying. Amoore01 says the United States is not negotiating with terrorists. Pirates fall under that title, I think. Moondrops194, teens don't often think of the consequences of their actions, how about a law that doesn't classify them as sex offender. They are talking about sexting there in part of our community in twitter, Facebook, myspace, i-report.com.

We will get your responses on the air. We had a pretty heated discussion here tonight. We try to have no holds barred conversations. And we want you to be a part of it. Not so much concerned about being left, right, liberal or conservative. We try to get solutions here on the air. And that's what we do in our 7:00 hour. We have those interesting guests on because of their diverse opinions and we want yours as well. I'm Don Lemon in Atlanta.

Our special investigation "SOMALI PIRATES: CAN THEY BE STOPPED?" begins right now.