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Lockerbie Terrorist Given Hero's Welcome; Health Care Debate Continues Through Congressional August Recess; Taliban Threatening Afghanistan voters

Aired August 22, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM. It's Saturday, August 22nd, one of the last weekends to enjoy the fun in the sun before the kiddos go back to school. But Hurricane Bill, he may throw a kink in those plans.

But good morning, you know, anyways ...

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: After all that ...

NGUYEN: After all that, good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: All right, Dr. Doom. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for being here with us. It's 10:00 a.m. where we sit in Atlanta, Georgia. It's 7:00 a.m. out in Los Angeles.

Let's show you some video you may remember. If you didn't see that this week, well, what does it look like? This is a hero's welcome for someone who is a convicted terrorist. Yes, that man, the only one convicted of terrorist attack on a plane that crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland.

NGUYEN: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is getting some heat for the man's release from prison. In fact, he talks exclusively to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee-wee-d up.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Wee-we'd up? What does that mean?

HOLMES: I'm scared to say yes or no. I don't know what it is. What in the world was the president talking about? Please, help us out on this one.

NGUYEN: Plus this, this is talker this morning. We've really enjoyed it so far -- the most annoying people on Facebook. You know who we're talking about. You know the ones who tell you about things like, "I'm going to the bathroom now," and "I'm hungry." Really? Do we need to know that? Who really cares?

Well, we're going to list the most annoying people on Facebook. See if you have any friends that fall into that category t.

HOLMES: I'm actually both of those things right now. But we're going to continue with the show anyway.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: The president taking on what he's calling "outright distortions" of his health care overhaul. He is starting, however, a vacation today. Still he's keeping his eye on the reform.

NGUYEN: No doubt he is still working. Our Elaine Quijano joins us from Washington. And Elaine, the president is attacking what he labels as "phony claims." Explain how he's going about that.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty, that's right. The president is trying to hit back and debunk what the administration says are myths about health care reform. In his weekly address he ticked through the criticisms including one that's fueled the passion at the confrontational town hall meetings recently.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The source of a lot of these about government-run health care is confusion over what's called the public option. This is one idea among many that provides more competition and choice, especially in many places around the country where just one insurer thoroughly dominates the marketplace. This alternative would have to operate as any other insurer on the basis of the premiums it collects.

And let me repeat. It would just be an option. Those who prefer their private insurers would be under no obligation to shift to a public plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, the president also pushed back against the notion of so-called "death panels," an idea that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin mentioned and her Facebook page weeks ago. President Obama called that notion offensive to him and the American people -- Betty and T.J.?

NGUYEN: All right, so Elaine, how are Republicans actually responding this morning? What is their argument?

QUIJANO: Republicans in their weekly address said that the president was not being straight-forward about his proposals. GOP Congressman Tom Price of Georgia said the president is playing "fast and loose with the facts."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. TOM PRICE, (R) GEORGIA: We all know that when the government is setting the rules and it's backed by tax dollars, it will destroy, not compete with the private sector. The reality is whether or not you get to keep your plan or your doctor is very much in question under president's proposal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Congressman Price, a physician himself, said based on his experience trying to navigate federal health care programs, he believes Washington is incapable of processing the personal and unique circumstances that patients' and doctors face every day.

NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Elaine Quijano joining us live this morning. Thank you, Elaine.

HOLMES: And as we've been saying, August a make or break month for health care reform. The president goal is to seal a deal with the American people.

Instead, though, some feel he's lost control of this whole debate. Deputy political director and friend of our show here on CNN Saturday and Sunday morning, Paul Steinhauser in Washington for us this morning. Paul, hello to you, again.

All right, what is helping or hurting the president, I guess, and helping him to move control of this debate? Does it have to do with some of these town halls?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, T.J. A lot of people are pointing to these because there's been so much coverage in the media of the protests at the town halls that lawmakers are holding on health care reform, the lawmakers back from Congress in their home districts, their home states.

And a lot of shouting, as you know, is against the president's plans on health care.

Take a look at this, this is a question everybody's asking -- are these town halls making a difference for the vast majority of Americans who aren't going to them? You can see here. This is an NBC poll out a couple days ago. Six in ten say no, that this is making no difference, the coverage of the protests on their opinions on health care.

You can say about 16 percent say the town hall protests are making them more favorable towards the president's health care proposals, and about one in five, 19 percent, say the protests are making them less favorable towards what the president is trying to do.

T.J., the other thing is, is this democracy in action or is this not a good thing? Check out this other number just out yesterday. This is from "ABC News" and "The Washington Post," another national poll here. And the question is "Are these protests appropriate or inappropriate?" It appears like Americans are divided slightly more in this survey suggests that these protests are appropriate, 45 percent say they are inappropriate -- T.J.?

HOLMES: All right. Now we need to see what the president thinks about some of these town halls. We're going to play this, and then we're going to you have interpret it for us. All right, let's take a listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There's something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We're been trying to figure that out. We googled it, we did a little dictionary search.

NGUYEN: And we're pretty hip.

HOLMES: And we're fairly hip, but we're here in Atlanta and we don't speak Washington. So, we got poll up in Washington for us. Paul, what is he talking about?

STEINHAUSER: You put me on the spot. I have never heard a president use the term "wee-weed" before. I may have missed one. Maybe Bill Clinton or George Bush snuck one in there and I didn't hear.

(LAUGHTER)

Yesterday, everybody's been talking about this, talk radio, the media here in D.C. So Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary was asked about this yesterday at the briefing. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What is wee-weed up?

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't know if I should do that from the podium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: What's he talking about?

(LAUGHTER)

STEINHAUSER: Yes. T.J., he went on to be a little more serious. And he said what the president really means is, come late summer, the chattering class, the pundits here in D.C. often may place things out of proportion as they did when Hillary Clinton was up in the poll in the race for the Democratic nomination, and he said that maybe they did last year as well after John McCain and Sarah Palin this running mate and they rose in the polls, that maybe the media played too much out of it, maybe they're playing too much out of it this time. That was Gibbs serious explains.

NGUYEN: That's a long definition for the word wee-wee.

STEINHAUSER: Did that help at all?

HOLMES: Yes. Sure. All right, well, nothing to get us all wee- weed up about this morning.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Always good to see you, my man. We will talk to you again soon.

And if you want to know more about the health care debate and how the reforms could affect you and your family, you can check out the special health care in American website on CNN.com, and you can also get the latest from town hall debates, factcheck.com, iReports, other health care news. Again that's CNN.com/healthcare.

NGUYEN: All right, we want to take you to Afghanistan now because the Taliban vowed to disrupt national elections, OK, vowed to do it. And there is word today that it is making good on those threats.

A monitoring group says, get this, the Taliban sliced off the index fingers of at least two voters in one province. Our Atia Abawi is in Kabul. And, Atia, explain the significance of cutting off a person's index finger.

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Betty, when the Afghan people go out to vote here, they have to dip their finger in ink so they don't revote. They can't come again. It's a way of preventing some fraud.

So they made that threat prior to the election, saying that if you do go vote, if we see ink on your index finger, we will chop it off.

We heard afterwards a Taliban spokesperson saying, no, we won't do that. We won't chop index fingers off. But obviously this is also sign that the Taliban, they are not a cohesive group anymore. They have different subgroup, splinter groups.

And definitely in Kandahar, in a district here, we have heard of those two voters, their index fingers were chopped off. And even this monitoring group who told us -- they are afraid to even tell us district because they're afraid it will happen to more of those voters.

And some voters are afraid to come out when that happens because they fear the Taliban sometimes more than they even fear their own government -- Betty?

NGUYEN: Just an indication how much people risk when they went to the polls to vote on Thursday. Any idea, though, Atia, when those first preliminary results will be released?

ABAWI: We expect results to start trickling in on August 25th. We hear that we'll get preliminary results September 5th, final results, September 17th.

But again, this Election Day is full of allegations of fraud at the moment, and what many fear is when the results do come in, if there is a winner, that violence might be sparked by the other groups, the supporters of the candidates who lost. The fear at the moment is postelection violence.

When I spoke to a government official here in Kabul on Election Day, he told me his biggest fear was not Election Day violence as much as it was when the results come in -- Betty?

NGUYEN: There's a lot still to come on this. Atia Abawi joining us live today from Afghanistan. Atia, thank you so much for that.

And still ahead, this story got you talking this morning. Facebook, all right, you've got a lot of friends, a lot of family, a lot of people on there. But what annoys you the most? You know, those comments that are being made, and people chime in every now and then.

HOLMES: Usually just the ones from the friends and family annoy me.

NGUYEN: That would be all of us, right?

HOLMES: But we are looking into that this morning, some of the most annoying Facebookers out there. Josh Levs ...

NGUYEN: We're calling you out today.

HOLMES: What kind of Facebooker you are. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you guys. We're thinking of it as a public service, right, trying to get the world talking to people to stop this.

NGUYEN: Or you can scare people and they won't want to write anything on a Facebook pages.

LEVS: We'll tell you the stuff we like, hopefully.

Look at this one. This is on CNN.com. This is a good example. You might get this sometimes. What kind of animal are you? Take the quiz. Or we have a picture for you. Take a look at this one, just one of the many we'll show you about what not to do on Facebook.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: So are you saying too much? You know, people who join Facebook, they want to keep in touch with the friends and family. But some people feel the need to bombard you with every little detail of their daily lives. HOLMES: What have you tweeted this morning in Facebook, seriously?

NGUYEN: I talked about this story, I talked about your good story and the fact that I'm not actually wearing a weave.

HOLMES: OK.

NGUYEN: And the bizarre debate over the sex of an international track star.

HOLMES: OK, you did pretty good this morning.

NGUYEN: I haven't said I'm hungry, which I am, or I'm sleepy, which I am. And plenty of people have done that.

HOLMES: You just did it.

NGUYEN: Not on Facebook.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: CNN.com hoping to change all of that annoying stuff out there by naming the most annoying type of Facebookers. Josh Levs is looking into it. So who are they?

LEVS: We love Facebookers.

NGUYEN: We love it. It's just so funny when you read these comments, and we read all of the comments that come in. For a lot of people that wonder if we actually post, that's us, yes. And we read them.

LEVS: Oh, yes. No people I haven't heard of here. We're doing it.

What the thing is, this is a good thing, right? Let's weed out some of the annoying.

Anyway, CNN.com wrote this story and it took off huge. It was number one for like 48 hours running. And we put together a list of what the most annoying things you can do on Facebook are.

Keep this in mind, this are what not to do. First of all, the detailer. You don't have to tell everybody what you had for breakfast or what you're doing next.

The next one here, really good example, the inviter. You know these chronic inviters? Sign my petition, play mafia wars with me. In fact, you know what? Let's take a moment, come back to me for a second. Let's take a moment to tell people, do you get these, too, Betty and T.J., you're looking at this and it says "I just shot you with water gun full of pickle juice," and you have no idea what they're talking about?

NGUYEN: Yes. I don't really know what the mafia war thing is, but I get a lot of those.

LEVS: I never know what you're talking about. I'm sure it's nice, but we don't know what you're talking about.

More from the couch woman, what not to do. You got this one, the town crier. "Jeff Goldblum fell off a cliff!" That's an actual example of a rumor, people were hearing it, a million people Facebooked about it, and it turned out not to be true.

A couple more here, these are fun. Keep in mind, the TMI-er, too much information. "Going to the bathroom now." I love the pictures graphics gave us.

And I think we've got two more here. You got the "can't speller." I'm not that annoyed by this one. Some people are annoyed by this one. And that's an actual tweet received by our CNN.com writer. He's just picking one random one to say, hey, take a look at what you're writing.

Finally this one, which really is annoying to a lot of people, "the obscurist." For example, an actual tweet "If not now, when?" A lot of the time people are saying I checked my Facebook and have no idea what everyone is referring to.

And we talked about this a few hours ago on the show. I'll show you an example of what one person wrote us over here about the most annoying things you can hear on Facebook. Kenneth Gibson wrote this here, "I don't care what application you work with you took today." Think about what you care about.

As you want to see the rest of it, all right here, CNN.com. Take a quiz that tells it you what kind of Facebooker you are to make sure you aren't doing the annoying things. And we want to hear from you. What we're hearing from you. Josh Levs, CNN. We have a whole list of it going.

Whatever annoys you on Facebook, let us know. If you have good examples we'll share it right here and Betty and T.J. will pop back pretty soon and we'll share some of those because we want everyone to have a whole discussion to weed out that bad stuff and focus on the good even more, right?

NGUYEN: The discussion has already begun, because a lot people on our Facebook pages have said, yes, I love that list. One guy says "I have all 12 types of those friends in my Facebook page."

But here's one that I haven't heard you say. This is from Andrew Michael who says "I can't believe they didn't include the cupcakers."

LEVS: What is that?

NGUYEN: These are Facebook users that express affection toward each other every hour of the day.

LEVS: Oh, you mean those things on Facebook where it's like, I just sent you a hug or ... NGUYEN: I suppose.

LEVS: I don't know what those are either. We put up stories and stuff.

NGUYEN: We're all learning something new.

HOLMES: We are all learning something new. I think we'll get all sorts of ...

LEVS: We're going to get a lot.

HOLMES: So by all means, we'll show you how to get a hold of us. We're on Facebook and we're on twitter. You can send us your message, the non-annoying variety.

NGUYEN: Oh, just go ahead and sent them. That's fine.

HOLMES: No. Send them to Betty at CNN.com/betty. I won't give you mine.

(LAUGHTER)

NGUYEN: That's not true. You can find T.J.'s right up there.

We want to hear from you. What annoys you on Facebook? And I know some people say it's not really you guys, and why don't you respond?

HOLMES: We get that a lot. Sorry.

NGUYEN: It's hard. There's a lot of people to respond to.

HOLMES: And speaking of, there was somebody, there's one here that says we're at the hotel at dinner.

NGUYEN: Thanks, appreciate it. What do you want from us?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right. We're going to move on to the next topic here you want to stick around for. Telling about a woman who's pretty much been there and done that.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes. She is helping, though, people without health insurance get them the medical attention that they need.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Let's talk about hurricane Bill. It could put a crimp in your plan for the beach this weekend if you're on the eastern seaboard.

Warnings, they are up along the east coast for rip currents and high surf. Surfers may love it, but it can be dangerous. About 100 swimmers a year drown from rip currents. And parts of Massachusetts are under a tropical storm warning.

Here's some other news to tell you about today -- President Obama trying to clear the air on this overhaul of health care laws. And in his weekly address today, the president called all the chatter about death panels offensive and phony.

And Muslims begin celebrating the holy month of Ramadan today. In Cairo, Egypt, fruit sellers named their best dates of the year after President Obama. And dates are a traditional treat during Ramadan. Naming the best dates after the U.S. president recognizes him for reaching out to Muslims during his June trip to Cairo.

All right, so time no for you to meet another CNN hero nominee.

HOLMES: And her name is Faith Coleman. She was one of the estimated 46 million Americans without health insurance until she turned a crisis into a career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN heroes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been completely denied all insurances.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been unemployed and basically have no income.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they told me I had breast cancer. And I did not have any insurance, so I came here.

FAITH COLEMAN, MEDICAL MARVEL: If they have no insurance, and they have no money, what's going to happen to them?

In 2003, I discovered that I had kidney cancer. I am a nurse practitioner but I have no health insurance. I was able to mortgage my house to pay for the surgery.

If it could happen to me, than certainly it could happen to anybody.

I'm Faith Coleman. I cofounded a free clinic for Americans who don't have health insurance. We welcome every patient here who is uninsured and who meets the federal poverty guidelines.

We usually see 80 patients every other weekend. We have what I call controlled chaos. It is busy, busy, busy, go, go, go.

Having kidney cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to me, for the one main reason is I can truly empathize with patients.

Any questions at all? Nothing you can think of? I'm going to see you back in here in two weeks. OK, awesome. Good.

I'm so proud of you. We are treated equally, and we all have the same rights. I'm sorry the right to have care is just right up there with the rest of them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, you can follow "CNN Heroes" any time on Facebook and twitter. We were just discussing some of these Facebook and twitter we have been getting, a little shocking, some of them, actually.

Find out more about Faith Coleman, though, and all of our CNN heroes on our Web site. You can logon to CNN.com/heroes.

Stay tuned. In just a few minutes we'll be announcing the top ten CNN heroes of 2009. Don't go too far away. We'll have that for you soon enough.

Well, there's no DNA evidence, just his word. Legal experts help us sort out the likelihood that a death row inmate can prove he's not a killer.

NGUYEN: And a convicted killer goes home a hero. How this humanitarian release is really testing diplomatic relations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. So every single day for the past 20 years Troy Davis has said the same thing, he is innocent.

HOLMES: And this week the Supreme Court took Davis' argument to heart and they cleared the way for the condemned killer to have a new day in court, 20 years now, almost to the day, that he was arrested for murdering a Georgia police officer.

Our Gary Tuchman explains what's different now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It took a jury only a few hours to decide Troy Davis was guilty of murdering a police officer in Savannah, Georgia, and a few more hours to send him to death row. Brenda Forrest was one of the jurors.

BRENDA FORREST, JUROR AT TROY DAVIS' TRIAL: He was definitely guilty. All of the witnesses were able to I.D. him as the person who actually did it.

TUCHMAN: The primary reason he was convicted, the witness testimony. The slain police officer's wife agrees.

JOAN MACPHAIL, WIDOW OF OFFICER MARK MACPHAIL: They were just so adamant about what they saw, when they saw it.

TUCHMAN: But this is how the juror feels now.

FORREST: If I knew then what I know now, Troy Davis would not be on death row. If the -- the verdict would be not guilty

TUCHMAN: What she knows now is this -- almost all of the prosecution star witnesses have changed their stories, some saying police pressured them to say Troy Davis did it.

Darryl Collins, one of the prosecution witnesses who signed a police statement implicating Troy Davis.

DARRELL COLLINS, WITNESS AT TROY DAVIS'S TRIAL: And I told them over and over that I didn't see this happen. They put what they wanted to put in that statement.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Twenty years ago this summer Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail was working an off-duty job here providing security at night for this bus station and for this Burger King restaurant that is currently out of business.

There was a homeless man in this parking lot who was being harassed and intimidated. He yelled for help. The officer ran over, and seconds later the Officer Mark MacPhail was shot and killed. It was tragic, horrifying, and chaotic, and two decades later it all still is.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The man who admitted to harassing the homeless person went to police the next day and told them he saw Troy Davis shoot the officer. Wanted posters went up all over Savannah, a reward to catch the so-called dangerous cop kill per. Racial tensions inflamed.

After the shooting, Troy Davis was in Atlanta four hours away, his sister says, scared for his life.

MARTINA DAVIS-CORREIA, SISTER OF TROY DAVIS: So when my brother decided to turn himself in, they already had a shoot to kill order on him.

TUCHMAN: This man, Derrick Johnson, a pastor, got in touch with Davis. He volunteered to pick him up and drive him back to Savannah to surrender. He said Troy Davis insisted he was innocent. The pastor was never told the story to a reporter before and was stunned the D.A.'s office never questioned him.

TUCHMAN (on camera): You're with this man for four hours. You're bringing him back to Savannah to police custody. They never interviewed you?

PASTOR DERRICK JOHNSON, CONVINCED TROY DAVIS TO SURRENDER: Never talked to me.

TUCHMAN: Never asked you a question about your journey?

JOHNSON: Never.

TUCHMAN: What he said, if he had a weapon, if admitted to the crime, if he didn't admit to the crime? JOHNSON: Nothing. Nothing. And this is the one case where nobody wanted to know. And I don't think now, looking back, that anybody cared.

TUCHMAN: The pastor is one of many who now believe facts be damned, Troy Davis was going to be arrested for murder. As for the Savannah police, they have always said there witness interviews were taken properly, no coercion, and prosecutors have stood by the conviction.

Yet a number of witnesses have signed affidavits changing their original testimony.

This week another twist -- the U.S. Supreme Court granted Davis' request for a new hearing, meaning a Georgia federal judge must now decide if there is enough new evidence that wasn't available at the time of the trial to show he is innocent.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right, so where do we go from here? What does this mean for Troy Davis and the efforts to spare his life and clear his name?

Let's bring in Avery Friedman, civil rights attorney law professor and CNN legal analyst. Sir, good to see you here with us on our show. We don't get to talk to you often here. We know you do some other CNN shows, but that's OK, as long as you're on our air. Good to have you with us this morning.

We want to make this clear for a lot of people listening that yes, this is good news for Troy Davis, but this does not mean he is a free man or even going to be a free man. He's actually still on death row.

But what exactly does this mean? He gets a chance now to prove what he's been saying all of these years?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: That's exactly right, T.J. The big deal here is we have seen something that the U.S. Supreme Court did that it hasn't done in 50 years. It has given an opportunity for a convicted defendant to introduce evidence of actual innocence.

And the amazing thing about this is that it goes to the Supreme Court with the support with the support of 27 former and present federal prosecutors as well as a former U.S. district judge and head of the FBI William Sessions, who said it's time to get it back into federal court. Let's hear the evidence.

HOLMES: And you said the Supreme Court did something they haven't done 50 years. So why did they do it now? Did they succumb to some of the public pressure? I'm sure they read the newspapers and they see this has been a drumbeat of support for Troy Davis, or did they just take this case on its merits?

FRIEDMAN: You know, I think they took it on the merits. I have such great faith in our federal court system. But I have to tell you, the dissent in this case, T.J., was very, very powerful. Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas basically said, this case is a "sure loser," and that by sending it back to the federal court, it's a "fool's errand."

So there are people that actually believe he's had his day in court, form over substance. It's time for the government to take Troy Davis' life.

HOLMES: So what does he do now? I guess the process now moving forward, I goes, how much time does he have? When will he be or his attorneys be before a judge again? And this evidence we're talking about is ostensibly just seven of the nine witnesses coming back and changing their story. Is that going to be enough?

FRIEDMAN: We don't know. The fact is that I've heard a lot of commentators say he's going to be a free man, and I think your initial statement is absolutely correct. There's no certainty he's going to be acquitted.

The MacPhail, family, many of whom are suffering greatly because they think he did it, the truth is this will be a day for justice. Let's find out once and for all whether Troy Davis is the murder.

HOLMES: What can we -- finally here, Avery -- what can we learn about this case moving forward? This -- you know, maybe -- who know what'll happen when he gets in front of the appeals court, who knows? But still, is it worth it to always just be sure?

FRIEDMAN: Well, the value of certainty, I think, is everything. I think what the majority in the Supreme Court did this week said that when Congress pass as law cutting off judicial remedies, that may be unconstitutional. That's another issue our federal judge will have to resolve in the Troy Davis case.

HOLMES: So this could open up a whole new can down the road.

FRIEDMAN: You bet. You bet.

HOLMES: Avery Friedman, my man, it's always, always good to see you. We're going to get you back more often.

FRIEDMAN: I want to be with you, T.J., thank you.

HOLMES: Just realized how much I missed you talking to you right now.

FRIEDMAN: Feeling is mutual.

NGUYEN: Wow. You need a minute?

HOLMES: I haven't talked to him in a while.

(WEATHER BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Now in the news, an election monitoring group says the Taliban made good on a threat of Election Day violence in Afghanistan.

Listen to this, folks. At least two people had been index fingers cut off by the Taliban. Voters there get an ink spot on an index finger showing that they voted, so it was a form of retaliation by the Taliban.

All right, in other news, President Obama says opponents are deliberately distorting his plan for health care changes. In this weekly address today the president call all the chatter about those death panels both "offensive and phony."

And the world's 1.5 billion Muslims are marking the holy month of Ramadan. It is a time of prayer, fasting, and charity. President Obama restated his hope for, quote, a new beginning between the U.S. and the Muslim world.

Take a look at this, hurricane Bill not a direct threat to the east coast, but it raised warnings for rip currents and high surf. And that can be dangerous, even deadly.

HOLMES: And speaking of that, 100 people die every year from rip currents.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: A convicted killer is welcomed home a hero.

NGUYEN: Yes. So why his humanitarian release is now testing diplomatic relations.

And we want to tell you about this -- the price of renting a car on the rise. But you don't have to give in to those astronomical fees. CNN Richelle Carey has tips to help you save money so you can spend it on the fun instead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're likely to find a cheap flight and hotel room these day, but renting a car is no deal.

CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: Due to the recession, demand for car rentals is down by about 15 percent. But car rental companies have been reducing the size of their fleets even faster than that. So they're essentially creating their own shortage and then increasing rates.

CAREY: And prices jump with last-minute reservations. McGinnis said you can spend nearly $100 a day for a compact car in some areas.

But there are some ways to escape those high prices. MCGINNIS: You get your very best deal on car rental by booking as far in advance as possible.

Second, consider booking a package deal from an online travel agency where you buy your airline tickets and rental car in the same transaction.

If you have the time and flexibility in travel plans, try to book your rental car for pick up in a downtown or suburban location. Not at the airport.

CAREY: And save more returning the rental with a full tank of gas.

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NGUYEN: All right. The welcome home celebration for the Lockerbie bomber is sparking a whole lot of rage all across the globe, but especially in Britain.

HOLMES: The ITB's Lucy Manning tells us the government is furious in part because the former prime minister specifically asked Libya to tread lightly.

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LUCY MANNING, ITB NEWS: A mass murder getting a hero's welcome -- not just how the Lockerbie relatives see it but how the government views it, too. Rose petals, cheering crowds, flags, hugs from the leader's son, a world away from acting with the sensitivity the prime minister had requested in a letter sent Colonel Gaddafi yesterday.

ALASTAIR DARLING, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER: I think all of us seeing those scenes on the television last night found them pretty distasteful, frankly. People should remember this man is convicted of a very, very serious crime and please remember the feeling of the families and friends of all of those who died.

MANNING: Relations with Libya were supposed to be improving, but the prime minister's letter, described as very short and to the point, was obviously pointless. In it Mr. Brown reiterated that it was a Scottish decision to release Al Megrahi. But even there, there was dismay at Libya's behavior.

ALEX SALMOND, FIRST MINISTER OF SCOTLAND: I don't agree with the reception that Mr. Megrahi was given. I think he was insensitive. It was certainly poorly advised.

But we can't control what the Libyan government and Libyan people do. All we are in control of is what the Scottish government and the Scottish justice system can do.

MANNING (on camera): Colonel Gaddafi's son thanked Britain for Al Megrahi's release despite number ten (ph) trying to distance itself from that decision.

But Downing Street has now weighed in, warning Libya that how it handles his release will be looked at by everybody and will influence what countries think.

MANNING (voice-over): But today the conservative leader wrote to Gordon Brown criticizing his failure to say what he thought of Megrahi's return to Libya, writing "It is curious that while others have commented, Britain's own Prime Minister has not. I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi."

One man who is unlikely to be heading to Libya, the Duke of York. His plans to visit Tripoli on a trade mission next month are now being reconsider.

Libya might have its man back, the U.K. might have hoped this would improve relations and trade, but it's turned into a diplomatic mess.

Lucy Manning, ITB News, Westminster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: OK, so talk about just a diplomatic mess with the story. In a CNN exclusive interview, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair tells us our John Vause that no deals were made at all to release him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Let me just make one thing absolutely clear. The Libyans, of course, were raising the case of Megrahi all the way along, not just with me, but with everybody. It was a major national concern for them.

But as I used to say to them, I don't have the power to release Mr. Megrahi and, indeed, the release that's taken place is a decision by the Scottish executor, which has taken place on compassionate grounds, and those compassionate grounds didn't even exist a few years back.

So yes, of course, it's absolutely right. The Libyans were always raising this issue. But we made it clear the only way this could be dealt with was through the proper procedures.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So the deal that Shell announced in 2004 for the $900 million oil and gas deal with the Libyans had nothing to do with it?

BLAIR: How could it? I wasn't in a position to say so and so should be released. That's not the way the British system work.

And the release of Mr. Megrahi as I understand it, has been done by the Scottish executor, which, obviously, not only myself, but my successor has no influence over, on compassionate grounds, applying the normal rules to the Megrahi case. I think it's confusion of two separate things. Were the Libyans always raising it? Of course they always raised it. It's a major issue.

Let me just make one other point, however, is that I actually think it is good, though, that we have a situation today in which Libya has come back in from the cold into the community of nations.

You know when I came to power back in 1997, Libya was still affectively a pariah nation, and not just sanctions applied against it, notably by the United States of America, but also pursuing an active chemical and, indeed, nuclear program.

So the fact that we have hanged the relationship with Libya is a good thing.

But this fire that's being talked about, as I've just explained, two completely separate questions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now I want to let you listen to and let you hear what the son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi told AFP. That's a French press group, and this is what he said on Thursday. And I'm quoting here, "All British interest was linked to the release," end quote, of the bomber. So let diplomatic mess continue.

NGUYEN: You decide.

OK, coming up on our 11:00 hour, though, how does a helicopter, you've got to see this video, land on the ledge of a rocky canyon? Look at this. It's quite amazing. The answer is very carefully, obviously. We're going to tell you why this is happening, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Today begins Ramadan, which is a holy month in the Islam world. And in fact, President Obama is offering his greetings to Muslims all around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: On behalf of the American people, including Muslim communities in all 50 states, I want to extend best wishes to Muslims in America and around the world. Ramadan Kareem.

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HOLMES: As you heard there, "Ramadan Kareem." That is how Muslims greet each other during the holy month. And this is Muslims, their most important religious period right now.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. And a key part of Ramadan is fasting during daylight hours. Our Arwa Damon has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty, T.J.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, and it is a time when Muslims throughout the entire world fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food, drink, smoking, and other physical needs.

It is meant to be a time of purification of the soul, a time for Muslims to feel closer to god, a time of sacrifice.

It is also meant to be a time of giving. For example, if a person is ill or traveling or unable to fast, they are encouraged to give money and food to the poor.

Now, during this time period, there are also a number of very special traditions, meals that are prepared to break one's fast. You will also see families getting together before sunrise to have a final meal before they have to fast for the rest ever the day.

It is also very much one of the five pillars of Islam.

And while this is very much intended to be a time of peace, where one not only abstain from food and drink, but also from all sort so negative emotion. Muslims are meant to try to control things like anger, envy, bad thoughts about other people.

Unfortunately, over the last few years in places like here in Iraq, it has also become a period of increased violence because those fundamentalists extremist ideals believe that carrying out attacks, suicide attacks at a time like this gives them even more credibility in the eyes of their god when, in fact, it is quite the opposite.

Back to you guys in the studio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)