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Did South Carolina Pay for Tryst?; Inside Story on Media Crackdown in Iran; Ponzi Scheme Victims About to Lose Condo; Supreme Court Rules Against Strip-Searching in Schools; Farrah Fawcett Dies; How to Get Faster Care in the ER; KKK Stirring Up Concerns in Tennessee Town
Aired June 25, 2009 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thanks.
Who pays when a governor cheats? We're pushing forward on the scandal in South Carolina. We want to know about the finances behind the philandering. Did Mark Sanford betray the taxpayers, too?
The president of Iran in the spotlight. Reformers, opponents, demonstrators back in the shadows but not backing down. We've got the inside story from our correspondent, just back from Tehran.
And the Arizona middle school that strip-searched a girl for ibuprofen gets a lesson in constitutional rights from the Supreme Court of the United States.
Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips, live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
OK. We all know of the sins of the flesh. So, let's push forward and talk about the potential sins of the finances. That's what really affects the people of South Carolina anyway, right?
You've got Governor Mark Sanford taking a trade trip to Argentina, paid for by the taxpayers, exactly one year ago. When did he tell the world his love affair with the woman from Argentina began to heat up? What do you know? One year ago. So, what's the big deal? If he used taxpayers' money to help pay for an affair, that's a whole new can of worms beyond cheating on the missus.
Meanwhile, back in South Carolina, there's no money to waste. So, why should Sanford refuse a huge chunk of stimulus money?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: If you borrow from Peter to pay Paul, you still owe Peter. There is no free lunch. We don't think it's a good idea to spend money that you don't have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, well, no big deal. It's not like there's a need. Just ask Tysheoma Bethea of Columbia what school -- shape her school it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYSHEOMA BETHEA, MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT: I'm almost certain (ph) when the train comes back and teachers have to stop teaching. And we -- usually when it's time to catch up on the lesson, we forget what we were learning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Jessica Yellin, the South Carolina school story has been all yours from the very beginning. You actually introduced us to Tysheoma. What do you think about the financial hypocrisy that could be at work here?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I think you've nailed the biggest problem for Governor Sanford going forward in his political career. Because he has staked his national reputation on his commitment to reducing state use of taxpayer money, to be responsible about the way the state spends money.
And if it turns out that he really was on the taxpayers' dime, visiting a mistress in Argentina, it's going to be really ugly for him going forward. The hypocrisy is not pretty.
PHILLIPS: And of course, a lot of people are talking about the hypocrisy and the criminal charges that could come forward here.
YELLIN: Right. I doubt that there would be criminal charges unless we find something really egregious. In these instances, usually there's a slap on the wrist.
I think the price he'll pay is political more than anything else, because he has been such a champion in the Republican Party of redirecting the party away from its big-spending ways. So he is a hypocrite because he has said in the past that, you know, he was so critical of Bill Clinton for his affair. And now adding onto it, the money issue just makes people in the party a little uncomfortable with Governor Sanford as a standard bearer for the Republican brand.
PHILLIPS: We'll follow the fallout. Jessica Yellin, thanks.
Let's go to Iran now, where the winner of this month's incredibly controversial election is speaking out, and the movement that's risen up against him is lying low, at least for now.
Re-elected president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned up today at the opening of this petrochemical plant, accusing President Obama of interfering in Iran's affairs, and suggesting he apologize. Well, a demonstration planned to honor those brutalized or killed by government forces in earlier protests has been postponed. And a source in Tehran tells CNN the mood there is defiant but nervous.
Well, we tried to be transparent about Iran's near-total ban on foreign news gathering, as well as our determination to gather the news anyway. And one man who's been indispensable to CNN's coverage is Reza Sayah, who saw much of that turmoil firsthand. He joins me now at the CNN Center with stories that he couldn't report until now.
And bless your heart, you've been on our air every single news program since you got back yesterday. And I know there's so much going through your mind as a journalist, as an Iranian. You've got family there. So why don't we start with that sort of gradual process where we saw less and less of you. Who actually came up to you and said, "We need to talk to you?"
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This happened Tuesday, and it happened very suddenly. There was already a ban on international media from covering, broadcasting images of these protests, including CNN. And we were trying to be creative in getting as much eyes and ears out to report the facts without being on air.
All of a sudden, Sunday, we get a call that somebody wants to meet me at 4 p.m. We didn't know who it was.
PHILLIPS: Who was it that called you initially?
SAYAH: The Ministry of Guidance.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SAYAH: Which is the ministry responsible for giving CNN and other international media press credentials.
PHILLIPS: Got it.
SAYAH: We've had a good rapport with them, but this was an unusual call. We usually call them, asking, get us on air. But this time they called us: somebody wants to meet you at 4 p.m. I went there, I got there at 4 p.m.
PHILLIPS: You went to this building?
SAYAH: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SAYAH: With a producer, by the way, who's still there. But they said, "This meeting is just you." And I walk in...
PHILLIPS: Were you a little nervous, wondering, oh, boy, they could do something, and no one's going to know where I am?
SAYAH: I wasn't nervous.
PHILLIPS: OK.
SAYAH: I'm an optimist by nature. And I thought this was our opportunity to convince them...
PHILLIPS: Got it.
SAYAH: ... that it would benefit them, the government, for CNN to be there. Because I got to tell you, day after day after day we tried to convince the Iranian government to allow us to get their word out. To provide some officials to us to get some balanced reporting out, but they denied us every time.
So, I was optimistic: maybe this is my opportunity to be able to convince someone, whoever this person was, to allow to us report. So, I went in there. It was a very large, burly man, sitting with a briefcase. And after I gave...
PHILLIPS: Were you in a closed room?
SAYAH: Yes, it was a closed room. They closed the doors.
PHILLIPS: You go behind closed doors and it's just you and this burly man?
SAYAH: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: Did he identify himself?
SAYAH: No, he doesn't. He gives me a name. But he doesn't tell me where he's from. But eventually, I do find out where he's from. After I gave my spiel, and he said, "Are you finished?" He proceeds to tell me that he has information that I've violated the ban.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
SAYAH: Even though we hadn't been on air. He said...
PHILLIPS: Was he armed, by the way?
SAYAH: He's not.
PHILLIPS: So, you don't see any weapons.
SAYAH: No.
PHILLIPS: OK. All right. But he says you violated the ban.
SAYAH: "You violated the ban." And then he proceeds to tell me, "Let's let bygones be bygones. And here's what I want you to do." He slides a blank piece of paper and a pen. He said, "I want you to write down on this piece of paper that you will no longer do any more reports here in Iran unless they are positive reports."
And then he tells me, "If you don't agree to do this, you have 24 hours to leave. If you don't leave within 24 hours, we can't guarantee your safety or guarantee that you'll come back and report in Iran."
Obviously, it was a very unusual request. I immediately contacted the bosses at CNN, which he didn't like. He said, "There's no need to contact CNN. This is just between us. This is between us. You don't have to let the bosses know, and we'll be done with it." But I -- but it was my responsibility to notify.
PHILLIPS: Did he at any moment pull the Iranian card: "Come on, you're Iranian and you're a journalist"?
SAYAH: Of course.
PHILLIPS: "You feel for the people here, Reza?" I mean, did he try to go there?
SAYAH: You know Iranians well, apparently.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I do.
SAYAH: Yes. He did. He did do that. He goes, "Look, this is just between us. It's not about CNN. It's not about your bosses back there. Just do this. I'll put it in your file. And we'll be done with it, and you can stay here." And he said, "If you don't do this, your reputation, your standing will be tarnished here."
But after I contacted the bosses at CNN, for them the decision was easy. I mean, if you ask any journalist, writing...
PHILLIPS: Yes.
SAYAH: ... a declaration, signing it.
PHILLIPS: There's no way you're ever going to do it.
SAYAH: Especially with a government that has a reputation of, you know, suppressing journalists. There was no way we were going to do that.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, tell me what you saw. Because for days and days and days we were trying to confirm pictures, video, testimony, that it was getting really violent there. Did you see shootings? Did you see beatings? Did you see military personnel go after innocent people for protesting?
SAYAH: I did. I heard gunshots. I wasn't at any location where I actually saw gunshots and saw people getting shot. But I saw plenty of beatings. I mean, we all know the Rodney King incident here in Los Angeles. What I saw in Iran was one Rodney King after another.
PHILLIPS: Wow.
SAYAH: And these are plainclothes people that are not accountable to anyone. These are government-hired thugs. I mean, that's the only way you can -- you can put it. Given a baton and told to go out there and just crush this -- these protesters.
And these protesters, I got to tell you, I mean, to me, it was seeing the best of Iran and the worst of Iran. Because at the height of the silent protest, I mean, there were so many people out there, different ages, different walks of life.
PHILLIPS: This was uncharted territory. This is...
SAYAH: It was. When is the last time you saw so many people, this sustained type of dissent, against the Islamic Republic? And we got a glimpse of what the Islamic Republic does when its stranglehold on power appears to be in jeopardy. They cracked down. And they cracked down brutally.
PHILLIPS: So, what's your -- what's your take? Is this going to get worse? Is your sense, is your gut, telling you that this will get more violent, that this could become a lot bigger than...
SAYAH: I'll be honest. I don't know.
PHILLIPS: It's so hard to tell.
SAYAH: This has been an unpredictable set of events. I challenge you to find any analyst, any expert that will say, "I predicted for us to be here."
PHILLIPS: Right. Because we never expected to see what we're seeing now.
SAYAH: Exactly.
PHILLIPS: Let me ask you this. Because I haven't heard much from your -- kind of your personal perspective. I mean, you fled before the revolution. You're Iranian. You have friends and family there. How did that play into all this? Were they worried about you?
SAYAH: Of course.
PHILLIPS: Did you get a chance to talk to them? Was that a risk to them if you were to talk to them?
SAYAH: They were definitely worried about me. They wanted me to contact them every day. Not just my family in Iran, my family in America, as well. Just as well as the colleagues here at CNN. But some of them, I sensed, that they were concerned. Because everybody there is convinced that the government is listening on every conversation.
PHILLIPS: What an awful way to live. You're so paranoid.
SAYAH: Yes. And I was aware of that, contacting them, as well. So, I didn't do it frequently. I just called in to say, "I'm OK." But certainly they were concerned about me. I mean, I was concerned about them, as well.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's going to be fascinating for all of us to follow this. Are you going back? Quickly, yes, no?
SAYAH: I would get a plane ticket right away. It's good to see everybody here. But it was very difficult for me to leave. It's such a crucial juncture, and -- but it was a decision that was made, I understood it. But I would get back on a plane this afternoon and go. I hope to do that.
PHILLIPS: We know you will. Reza, thanks. Great to see you. Well, she was jailed in Iran, accused of spying for the U.S., then freed before all hell broke loose. American journalist Roxana Saberi tells Anderson Cooper if the Iran she left will ever be the same.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROXANA SABERI, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: I don't think Iran can ever go back to the way it was before June 12, the day before the presidential elections.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You don't think it could ever go back?
SABERI: No.
COOPER: The changes there.
SABERI: The changes, the mentality of a lot of people, who have been upset and angered and now have an increased distrust of not only the president, but also the supreme leader, I think has lost support.
COOPER: So, you think something fundamental has changed?
SABERI: I think the gap between the state and a large part of the society has increased. And also we've seen a lot of divisions within the regime itself being exposed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And more dramatic details of reporting injustice in Iran straight from Roxana Saberi straight on "AC 360's" original report. That will be tonight, 10 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
And this news reported just a short time ago, Farrah Fawcett succumbing to cancer less than an hour ago. Longtime partner, Ryan O'Neal, and best friend Alana Stewart at her hospital bedside. You know, her beauty made her a pop culture icon of the '70s and '80s, and her brave battle with cancer showed just how tough she was on the inside.
Farrah Fawcett was 62 years old.
The verdict is in. Strip searches at middle schools, out. The Supreme Court sides with an Arizona student who wanted to teach administrators a lesson.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The oldest cars and D.C. Metro trains were involved in Monday's deadly crash. What's being done right now to make the Metro safer? We're going to hear from the mayor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The D.C. Metro train cars must be upgraded and replaced. That's the word today from the D.C. mayor as Metro officials began moving the oldest and structurally-weakest cars to the middle trains.
Some of the system's older cars were involved in Monday's crash, which killed nine people. And investigators are now inspecting the system's 3,000 track sensors. Those sensors tell train computers when to go faster or slower. And a sensor near the scene of Monday's crash, rather, had what investigators are calling abnormalities.
Well, the bodies of the chief pilot and a male flight attendant have been recovered from Air France Flight 447. The airline has not identified the two, but a pilots union says that the captain was a Frenchman Marc Dubois.
Fifty bodies have been recovered, 11 identified, most of them from Brazil. Two hundred and twenty-eight people were killed when that plane crashed on a flight from Rio to Paris. And as for the flight data recorders, well, they're still deep in the Atlanta. The batteries that power their locator beacons could die within a week.
Investors swindled out of $40 billion. One victim calls it financial terrorism. CNN broke the story of the scheme last year, and now one couple caught up in the lies could lose their home. Last indignity for people who thought they had done enough to secure their future.
Here's special investigations correspondent Abbie Boudreau.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBET LABARBERA, PONZI SCHEME VICTIM: And he did this painting of me in my wedding gown in Bali.
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Barbet LaBarbera is used to a lavish lifestyle.
LABARBERA: A beautiful view of Miami.
BOUDREAU: With a $2 million penthouse condo overlooking Miami.
LABARBERA: This is no longer a place where one would find stone crabs and jumbo shrimp.
BOUDREAU: Now, she's worried she won't even be able to afford the basics.
LABARBERA: I see them everywhere I go. They are homeless people behind viaducts, with signs that say "will work for food." And every single one of them has my face.
BOUDREAU: LaBarbera worked in the insurance business. Her husband was a banker. They invested their life savings, $1.7 million, with this man, Andreas Pimpstein (ph). They say Pimpstein (ph) promised them an 18 percent return.
When I requested it back, he came back immediately, so I put more in.
BOUDREAU: But after 3 1/2 years, their money was gone. Federal prosecutors charged Pimpstein (ph), a University of Miami graduate, with running a Ponzi scheme.
(on camera) Here's how prosecutors say it worked. Pimpstein (ph) told investors he was running a company that would sell iPods to a big department store chain in South America. He promised them returns of 18 to 36 percent. But that didn't happen. Instead, prosecutors say Pimpstein (ph) was paying off old investors with new investors' money.
(voice-over) Unbeknownst to officials we talked to at the University of Miami, he was operating the scam using university computers and offices.
LABARBERA: All of a sudden nobody was there. My phone calls weren't returned.
BOUDREAU: LaBarbera's husband had lost his banking job. So with no more income and no savings, they say they cannot afford to make payments on their condo. They now face foreclosure.
LABARBERA: My credit is trashed. My life is trashed. My home will be foreclosed upon. I stand nothing to lose. I've already lost.
BOUDREAU: Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the condo association's expected to foreclose on the LaBarberas' home tomorrow. They say they have no idea where they're going to go. Both of them are looking for jobs but are having no luck so far.
CNN did request an interview with Andreas Pimpstein (ph), who was convicted of fraud earlier this year. But he turned us down. He's serving 17 years in prison.
A high-school coach and a community leader, shot dead. Now, disturbing new questions about why his accused gunman had been released from psychiatric treatment. We're going to dig deeper on this tragic story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Relentless heat and there's no end in sight. Much of the nation's midsection still in the grips of some sizzling temperatures. In Houston, look at this, a record, 104 degrees, actually. And with the air so hot and stagnant, the nation's fourth biggest city is under a Code Red alert now. And that means that the air quality is extremely bad.
Chad Myers watching those temperature rise. When is it going to end? And what do you do when you go Code Red?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you stay inside, especially if you have asthma, especially if you are sensitive, one of those sensitive groups. The air conditioner inside helps a little bit. But it's the ozone and the smog. And you know about the ozone air. Remember, we saved the ozone layer by taking fluorocarbons out of the spray cans out of deodorant back in the '60s and '70s. Different kind of ozone. That's a good ozone. That's the ozone layer that's way up in the sky that stops all the UVB and UVA rays from coming down from the sun.
The ozone that's down here is produced by cars and by all kinds of things, by -- it's an ozone molecule that you don't want to have in your system, you don't want to have in your lungs. And this is part of the problem. It's part of the smog. That's the word that we've used for so, so long. Misused a little bit, but that's OK.
Ninety-eight degrees right now in Houston. That is just the air temperature. It feels like 107. And we always use this feels-like temperature. It's a matter of sweating. It's a matter of sweat getting on your skin, the skin and the sweat evaporating. When that sweat evaporates, you feel cooler. If it can't evaporate because of the humidity, that's why that number goes up. That's why it feels like 107 when, in fact, it really is only 98.
I have a picture right outside the CNN studios here. This is the old centennial Olympic Park made famous in the 1996 Olympics here in Atlanta. Those are all fountains. You can actually still see the rings of the Olympic circles. In those rings there are fountains. You don't want on get too close, because woo, you can get a little water up your sleeve, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: How is that, Chad?
MYERS: Woo-hoo!
PHILLIPS: OK. What are you wearing when you go around? Or are you going commando when you..?
MYERS: I would not -- I would highly not recommend that.
PHILLIPS: OK. Well, that's pretty cool. But check out this cool picture. Have you seen this? It's the erupting volcano that NASA took a shot of there from space. Isn't that cool?
MYERS: That is from the space station, yes. This -- you see the cloud on top of this erupting volcano. That's a pileus cap from the ISS, International Space Station. What an amazing picture. If you Google it, there's just a stream of people talking about this photo and how amazing it is.
PHILLIPS: It's one of the most active, right?
MYERS: Yes, absolutely. Although right now they're seeing that it's turning less ashen and more gray, which means a lot of the ash or a lot of the steam plume is actually water vapor and not ash. But planes have been moved around it. You can't fly here and there because you don't want to have, obviously, that ash in the jet engine. That would be bad. PHILLIPS: Yes. We wouldn't want that.
MYERS: No.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Well, the verdict is in: strip searches at middle schools, out. The Supreme Court settles a fight over privacy rights and school responsibilities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, eight of nine Supreme Court justices agree, strip searching a middle-school student for ibuprofen is just plain wrong.
CNN's Kate Bolduan joins me now from our D.C. bureau with a high court lesson in privacy rights. You've been following this for a long time.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Hey, there, Kyra.
It's a partial victory here for a former middle-school student who was strip-searched by school officials six years ago, about six years ago. At issue here was whether privacy trumps safety or vice versa.
The case has to do with 13-year-old Savanna Redding. She's from Arizona. She was pulled from class and strip-searched by school officials, suspecting she was handing out ibuprofen, the pain reliever. According to court records, Redding was ordered to strip down to her underwear and pull out the elastic so any hidden pills might fall out.
Well, no drugs were found. Redding, now 19, says she was traumatized by the experience. The school, though, had a zero- tolerance policy and argued it was an issue of safety and security for the school campus.
The high court, the Supreme Court, is now saying that strip search went too far and school officials acted illegally. But the court also ruled -- and here's the split here -- that individual school officials could not, cannot be sued, held responsible for this or held liable.
The larger issue of what amount of leeway schools should have to ensure safety on campus was not fully addressed by the court's decision, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Kate, thanks.
BOLDUAN: Of course. PHILLIPS: Well, defiant but nervous. That's the word from Tehran as reported by a resident who said security forces are everywhere and protesters, for a change, are not. These pictures are not from today because of restrictions on foreign reporting. We don't know when this footage was shot, actually. We do know, though, that a gathering is planned to honor protesters who have been attacked or killed in earlier rallies that have been postponed.
Also, the world heard from Iran's re-elected president accusing the U.S. of meddling in Iran's affairs and asking President Obama to apologize.
Let's see what's coming in right now from the Iran desk. It's nearly 10:00 p.m. in Tehran. Ivan Watson is keeping watch for us just behind me there in the Iran desk. What's happening, Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we got defiant statements coming from two opposition candidates whose supporters have been beaten and detained over the course of the past several days in Iran. One of these people is Mehdi Karroubi.
Let's take a look at his newspaper here. This is his newspaper, and the front line here today, the headline says Karroubi's new suggestion to Ahmadinejad. Now, this is a cleric here, and he's a former speaker of parliament. What he has to say is he's challenging Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the official winner of the election, to hold parallel demonstrations. Ahmadinejad's demonstrators in one part of Tehran, his demonstrators in another part of Tehran, and we'll see who has a bigger group of people out on the streets. But he needs permission first. And, of course, all of these opposition rallies have been banned.
The second man, Mir Hossein Mousavi, his Web site has published a statement where he says he's going to keep demanding his rights and the rights of the Iranian people. He's ready to prove that those responsible for electoral fraud took side with the main elements of the recent violence, unrest and spilled the blood of the people. So, still standing up to the -- to the -- the statements being made by the Islamic regime.
PHILLIPS: Well, any sense for how intense the government has been with regard to this continued crackdown? More vocal than physical? Can we get any sense of that?
WATSON: Well, we're not seeing protests in the street. This is coming -- this is a different form of struggle going on right now, Kyra. From this article, this gentleman who ran in the elections, he's calling for the release of his newspaper editor, who he says has been detained. In addition to that we have the parents of a Greek- British freelance reporter who sometimes wrote for "The Washington Times," they are calling for his release right now. His name is Yassan Afiniades (ph).
And let me direct you now to Reporters Without Borders. It's a Paris-based organization that has been very critical of Iran, calling it the world's biggest prison for journalists. Let's listen to what they have to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN-FRANCOIS JULLIARD, REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS: Actually, the situation now is that 59 Iranian journalists have been arrested. Fifty-nine journalists are currently detained in Iran. And the situation is -- is getting worse for freelance journalists as well, because most of the freelance journalists have already left Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: And as you heard from our colleague, Reza Sayah, you got a sense of this climate of fear that was on the ground there, not only for the people, but also for the reporters trying to bring this story to the world. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, no surprise, we're hearing from Ahmadinejad again, once again, strong words for the West.
WATSON: Absolutely. He spoke to a meeting of petroleum workers. And this is what he had to say, not only to Western governments, but also to Barack Obama in particular. He said, quote, "We don't expect much from British government and other European governments whose records and background are known for everybody and have no dignity. But I wonder why Mr. Obama, who has come with the slogan of change, has fallen into this trap and has taken the same route that Bush took and experienced its consequences."
Tough words for Barack Obama, who he's accusing of meddling in Iran's interior affairs when Obama criticized the iranian regime's bloody crackdown on these demonstrators. Now, we've seen on Iranian state television as well, Kyra, that they're showing funerals for some of the eight, they say, Basij militiamen, who were killed in clashes over the course of the past week. This is an important point that they're trying to bring out. And Iran's ambassador to Mexico recently spoke with CNN Espanol. He called these demonstrators who have been out on the streets at some point in millions, he called them basically terrorists. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED HASSAN GHADIRI: Of course, we respect their rights. The minority has rights, but the minority has to recognize the right of the majority to govern. In Iran, they show through election with figures and numbers as to who is the minority and who is the majority. Some say a fraud has occurred. Well, should they prove their has been a fraud or just the mere allegation is sufficient?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Well, the power struggle continues, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow it, Ivan. Thanks.
A household name and a household face. The 1970s belonged to Farrah Fawcett. In recent years, she showed her inner toughness as she bravely battled cancer, a battle she lost about an hour ago. CNN's A.J. Hammer looks back at her career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We proudly welcome to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Miss Farrah Fawcett. Farrah, baby.
A.J. HAMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Farrah Fawcett will be remembered as one of the sexiest women of the 1970s. Her poster hung in the bedrooms of teenage boys around the country.
FARRAH FAWCETT, ACTRESS: Hi, fellas. What are you playing?
HAMMER: And her break-out role as one of Charlie's Angels made her a star. Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1947 and made her way to Hollywood as a 21-year-old. The blond beauty was soon dating TV star Lee Majors and appearing in commercials and on various TV shows.
UNIDENTIFED MALE: This is my secretary.
HAMMER: She married and became Farrah Fawcett-Majors in 1973. And then she had her first big break.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once upon a time, there were three little girls who...
HAMMER: In 1976 stick, Charlie's Angels made its debut, and she was the blond. The top-rated Aaron Spelling show about three female private detectives grabbed the nation's attention. Farrah's face started showing up on magazine covers and even lunch boxes. And a poster of her in a swimsuit sold millions of copies, becoming one of the iconic images of the '70s.
Then, just as suddenly as her rise to fame, she made a stunning choice, deciding to leave the Angels after just one season to focus on a movie career. Her popularity immediately went on the wane.
FAWCETT: We need him, Victor.
HAMMER: The next few years saw several forgettable movies like "Logan's Run" in 1976. She got better box office with "Cannonball Run" in 1981. The following year, she and Lee Majors divorced.
But she proved that she could be a serious actress in 1984's "The Burning Bed." Fawcett took the role as a battered wife who kills her husband, a true story based on a landmark legal case. The role earned her an Emmy nomination, one of three in her career, though she never got home to take home a statue.
She also became involved in the longest romantic relationship of her life. She dated Ryan O'Neal for 15 years before the relationship ended in 1997. And although they never married, they did have a son, Redmond O'Neal. Fawcett continued to turn heads well into middle age. She continued to get roles on TV and in the movies, and shocked many by posing nude as she neared the age of 50. The magazine was one of Playboy's best sellers. But as Fawcett approached her 60s, the spotlight turned away from Farrah the sex symbol to Farrah the celebrity battling cancer in 2006.
FAWCETT: The disease has spread. Suddenly, there were nine tumors in my liver.
HAMMER: The documentary, "Farrah's Story" which aired in May of 2009, focused on Fawcett's battle to beat cancer and stay alive. Her courageous journey was cathartic in allowing Fawcett to finally tell her story in her own words to the world.
A.J. Hammer, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: And we just got a couple statements in from her fellow angels. Jaclyn Smith said, "Farrah had courage, she had strength and she had faith, and now she has peace as she rests with the real angels." And then Cheryl Ladd sent in this statement a minute ago. "I'm terribly sad about Farrah's passing. She was incredibly brave and God will be welcoming her with open arms."
Well, Farrah Fawcett was definitely an incredibly empowered patient. And up next, tips how to be one in an emergency as well. We're going to tell you how to get ER care ASAP.
(COMMECIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Rallying for reform and universal health coverage, celebrities and labor leaders and others who support President Obama's call for health care reform rallied this morning in Washington and they're holding town hall meetings this afternoon. Actress Edie Falco actually spoke at the event, but first she stopped by CNN to explain why she got involved.
EDIE FALCO, ACTRESS, "NURSE JACKIE": It seems at a time such as this, in a country such as this with the resources, the intelligence, the finances that there are still people who can't afford to take care of themselves, is sort of preposterous. What I'm glad about is that it's not my job to figure out how to make it happen. That in fact, I'm here just to say it is really is the time.
PHILLIPS: The rallies are sponsored by Health Care for America now, which says it's launching a million-dollar ad campaign to push for health care reform.
With so many people losing their jobs and health insurance, emergency rooms are swamped. A new report shows the average wait time jumped to four hours last year. With this week's empowered patient CNN's medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has tips for all of us about how to get the care you need. What else did the report find?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What emergency room doctors tell me, Kyra, it's gotten worse from last year because of the recession. People lose their insurance, they can't go to the doctor, so where do they go for care? The emergency room. PHILLIPS: So, you know, are there ways to shorten your wait? Besides, you know, trying and pull a fast one and get creative like mention you know the president of the hospital?
COHEN: Right, well, actually, that sometimes works. I talk about that in my column that is up right now on CNN.com/health. But there are things you can say and some things you shouldn't say. First of all, you should trust that the emergency room has triaged you correctly. I want to make it clear. But if you really feel you're not getting the help you need, you should say, for example, "My wife is not acting normally. This is not normal for her." And that would alert the staff that something is going on.
Also you can say "I'd like to speak to the charge nurse." That's a legitimate thing to ask for. Also, you can say "Please re-evaluate my husband, he's gotten worse since we've been sitting here in the emergency room."
And here are a few things not to say. Do not use threatening language. Do not become belligerent. And do not swear. Those things might get you escorted out by security.
PHILLIPS: All right. And I think you and I know the truth behind this. VIPs get special treatment. They do.
COHEN: They do. And I'll tell you, Kyra, I was surprised. I asked ER docs "Do VIPs get special treatment?" and they said, "Yes, they do." So, if you've got to pull the card, pull the card. If you really are a VIP. A friend of mine just mentioned the name of the president of the hospital. She didn't know the guy, she read his name in the newspaper. But it worked. The three-hour wait became a three- second wait. Now, if you're not really a VIP and you pretend to be, and they see through you, it might backfire.
PHILLIPS: Yes, it's true. I'd rather go for it and get the help.
COHEN: Yes, if you feel you're not getting the help you need.
PHILLIPS: Farrah Fawcett was definitely an empowered patient.
COHEN: Yes, we learned she passed away this morning and she was the epitome of an empowered patient. She did her own research, assessed whether she was getting the care she need, and she on her own went to Germany for several times for care. She sought out alternative treatments.
Now, whether those treatments ended up helping her is open to debate, but she did it her way. She took matters in to her own hands, and I will say that more and more patients, especially cancer patients, are doing that. They're not just doing what their doctor tells them. They are doing their own research as well.
COHEN: Elizabeth, thanks.
PHILLIPS: Well, avoid pregnancy and get paid. It's a program for at-risk teens that's birthing a bit of controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Marilyn Monroe had the 50s, Jayne Mansfield and Raquel Welch had the '60s, the '70s were all about Farrah Fawcett. Next hour, we look into the beauty that bedazzled us and the bravery that inspired us.
Plus, when he talks, people listen. Next hour, Warren Buffett's talking and we're listening.
Well, if you're not a fan of paying kids to do the right thing, go to school, get good grades, whatever, you probably won't like what's going on in North Carolina. Girls ages 12 to 18 earning a dollar a day for not getting pregnant. Yes, it grabbed our attention, too, but I've got to say, there's more to the program, College-Bound Sisters, than meets the eye. It was started by a maternity nurse and she does this as the monetary incentive because she says the girls will stay in school and they'll attend weekly meetings, and the cash will go into a college fund released only upon enrollment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE SMITH, DIRECTOR, COLLEGE-BOUND SISTERS: We noticed that younger sisters of teen moms were getting pregnant, too. And we wanted to stop that trend.
HAZEL BROWN, FOUNDER, COLLEGE-BOUND SISTERS: Our three goals are that they avoid pregnancy, graduate from high school and enroll in college.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're just really nice and caring. There teach us a lot of life lessons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Director says close to 100 percent of her girls have gone on to graduate from college. If someone does drop out or get pregnant, her money is divided up and deposited in the other girls' accounts.
Members. They have always been ignorant, uneducated, scared and hiding in the shadows. Thank God you don't see thousands of these bozos marching through the streets anymore. But unfortunately, a small group of these clowns still see the word through the small holes of a white hood. Watch this story out by our WJHL affiliate reporter, Nate Moribito out of Greeneville, Tennessee. The absurdity of the Klan is a given. Watch and see if you can spot the absurdity behind the law.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATE MORIBITO, WJHL-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His hands shaking, Edward Reed recites the KKK's message. It doesn't take long for the words to strike a chord. EDWARD REED, HOMEOWNER, GREENVILLE, TN: Certain things on here that really upset me. The first thing was interracial marriages. I have been married to a Caucasian woman for 13 years.
MORIBITO: You will find similar frustrations among others in this neighborhood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not living in the '60s anymore.
MORIBITO: Especially when they read the last line. It calls for securing the KKK's existence for white, Christian children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They perpetrate hate. It is obvious they don't understand God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am just upset, ticked off about it, and won't stand still for it.
MORIBITO: Neither will the Johnson City NAACP.
JOYCE GOINES, NAACP, JOHNSON CITY: Why are you hating someone you don't even know? You are upsetting people. They may not know what's going to happen when they leave their home or coming in at night.
MORIBITO: The group is standing behind these neighbors, arguing the KKK, which listed state headquarters as a P.O. Box in Kingsport, broke the law.
(on camera): But Greeneville police say the people responsible for this letter may not be guilty of any crime.
TERRY WEBB, GREENEVILLE POLICE: The only actual crime that occurred in this situation would be possibly littering.
MORIBITO: Although investigators alerted the FBI about these fliers, they say it would be difficult to prosecute the KKK. After all, its members were just practicing free speech.
WEBB: People may not agree with what they're saying, but there were no threats of violence.
MORIBITO: Still...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a crime to me.
MORIBITO: ... that's a hard sell for this crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to stand up and fight this hate.
MORIBITO: Especially when the memories of burning crosses are seared in their minds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Littering, are you kidding me? Here we are in 2009. We have a black president, gay leaders, successful interracial marriages. We have come a long way, folks. Still, in this country, you can spew hate, make innocent black residents fearful to come out their doors, and all these punks get busted for is littering. It's the 100th anniversary for the NAACP. And if you were on the side that believes this organization is not relevant today, a century later, post-Rosa Parks and MLK, just ask the black homeowners in Greeneville, Tennessee what they think, as they are now scared to walk out their front doors.
All this brings me to a story we will bring next hour on hate crimes and federal law. The Senate is taking up a bill expanding hate crime protection to gays and the disabled. Attorney general says it is about time. Critics say it is unequal justice. I will talk live with the parents of Matthew Shepard, for whom the legislation is named.
A beloved coach shot and killed on campus. Painful questions about the man accused of killing him. The suspect accused of killing him had just been released from psychiatric treatment. Police say they should have been told.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A few questions today about how Iowa police and a hospital handled the man accused of killing long-time high school football coach, Ed Thomas. Police say Mark Becker led them on a high- speed chase Saturday, and they took him in for psychiatric treatment on the condition they get a call before he was released. Well, he got out Tuesday. Police say they never got that call.
In a statement issued today, Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo says its staff was not asked to notify authorities before releasing Becker. Police say Becker shot Coach Thomas yesterday inside the high school weight room in front of all the boys. We are going to keep an eye on this story and follow up on these conflicting stories.
In the meantime, we are learning that Coach Thomas was a lot more than a coach. He was a teacher, church elder, true community leader. On the field, he led Parkersburg High for more than two years, winning two state titles and 300 games. A lot of his players went on to play pro football. In 2005, the NFL named him as National High School Coach of the Year.
