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Oil Spill Setback; Aid for Flood-Ravaged Tennessee; Mourning Slain UVA Lacrosse Player; Wolf Blitzer: 20 Years with CNN
Aired May 08, 2010 - 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: It seems like there's always something when it comes to stopping that giant oil leak on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico and it is never good. Today brings a new problem. Now what?
One of the more conservative voices in the country accused in a sex scandal of soliciting a young man over a Web site to accompany him on vacation. CNN investigates.
Our Soledad O'Brien has a ground breaking documentary that airs after this show about the orphans of Haiti. Finally, a reason for some hope in Haiti.
And just when you thought you had heard everything about the Sandra Bullock adoption, comes a new controversial twist. A whole lot of people aren't happy about it either.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
You know, hope for a quick fix of that huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico suffered a major setback today. A giant steel funnel was seen as the best chance to stop thousands of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Well, word came a short time ago that it wasn't going to work, at least not for now.
Five thousand feet under, the high pressure and the frigid water caused unexpected technical issues. B.P. and government officials held a news conference earlier today to explain what went wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG SUTTLES, B.P. CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: We were placing the dome over the leak source. A large volume of hydrates formed inside the top of the dome, requiring us to move the dome to the side of the leak point. The dome is currently is sitting on the seabed while we evaluate options to deal with the hydrate issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN's David Mattingly is in Venice, Louisiana, now with the very latest on that.
Tell us about this setback and how serious really is this, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these hydrates that they're talking about are actually formed -- they're sort of like ice crystals. This is when gas under pressure and those cold temperatures combine with water to form these crystals. They're lighter than water.
So, when they start to accumulate inside that dome, they were actually making this hundred-ton device buoyant. And they were clogging -- and was clogging it up as well. So, they had to set it to the side. And now, they're going to take the next couple days to figure out how to either bring a heat source down to the bottom of the ocean there, possibly pumping water from the top down to the bottom to warm that area up and prevent those crystals from forming, or perhaps pump some sort of ethanol down there to make the crystals dissolve.
Again, none of this has ever, ever been done before. This is a one of a kind experiment, a one of a kind mission. And right now, they're just stepping back to see: can we fix this new problem before we move on.
LEMON: All right. CNN's David Mattingly joining us from Venice, Louisiana. David, thank you very much.
And we turn now to that flood ravaged Tennessee that we have been telling you about all week, a promise of help today from the federal government.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured Nashville just today. A storm hit the region hard last weekend, causing more than $1.5 billion in flood damage in Nashville alone. More than 30 people died in Tennessee and Mississippi and Kentucky.
Napolitano says the government will do everything possible to help the victims and she is urging people to reach out to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I think FEMA will be here six months from now in terms of assisting with recovery efforts. But at some point in time, this will not be primarily FEMA, which, you know, their expertise is what do you do immediately, but it will be these other efforts that I described, you know, with housing and urban development -- and with business development and the like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The massive clean-up effort underway right now in Nashville and the surrounding areas. Fortunately, the victims are getting outside help from volunteers. That's the good side of this -- so much other bad news to report when it comes to this story.
And our Martin Savidge has been talking with some of the people who are helping out and some of the victims as well.
Martin, how is the clean-up going there?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of progress today, actually, Don. If you look at this debris pile that's scattered all around us, this is what is coming out of people's homes. It started initially with people bringing out the furniture and their personal items and then it's grown to ripping the insulation, bringing down the drywall, bringing out the flooring, bringing out everything, so that most of the homes now look very much like those homes did in New Orleans where you rip everything down to the studs and they've done that to just about this high, you know? So, that's how high the water was in many of these homes.
But they didn't do it alone. And as you say, that's really the success part of what has been a terrible week in Nashville. Is that you had a Saturday where just thousands and thousands of volunteers, some of them came out, organized by churches, some of them came out by themselves. You saw everything from little children all the way to -- well, senior adults that were helping out here.
And it made a big difference. Not only in the work that got done but it also made a big difference in the attitudes of the people who suffered this loss.
We talked to Russ Haselton and he spoke about what it meant when all of those people came knocking on his door. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSS HASELTON, FLOODING VICTIM: You know, I'm really not sure how it happened. They just started coming through the front door. It was church group after church group. Grace's school friends, actually the high school baseball team showed up this morning which was fantastic, about 10 strong guys. And we got a lot accomplished with them.
The day before that, there were three or four young people who worked very hard all day long. There was a family from Antioch across -- the other side of town that came and helped us.
All my friends and family have shown up. I haven't been able to return all the calls that I've gotten. And when I can't return their call, they just start coming through the front door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: And that's what everybody says when you talk to them here though, instead of had suffered a loss, is how they've been buoyed by the help of all the volunteers that have come forward. You can talk about what the federal government may bring as far as finance, but nobody delivered more than the people of Nashville to their own neighbors today -- Don.
LEMON: All right. Martin Savidge -- thank you very much, Martin.
We turn to another story now. Top American officials are warning Pakistan to take on the Taliban and al Qaeda now before the U.S. military has to do it themselves in Pakistan. "The New York Times" reports General Stanley McChrystal delivered the message to Pakistan's military chief. U.S. officials worry the Times Square car bomb was the first but not the last domestic terror plot with ties to Pakistan. Pakistan has warned the White House not to pressure them into hurrying an offensive against the Taliban.
A frightening accident in New York City this morning to tell you about. A Staten Island ferry boat crashed into the terminal. No one was killed but as many as 55 people were hurt, one of them seriously. A passenger says there was almost no warning before the crash. Officials say a mechanical failure prevented the crew from slowing the ferry. The same boat was involved in an accident back in 2003 that killed 11 people.
A long time Washington senator shown the door by his own party. That story is coming up.
Also, a leading opponent of gay rights finds himself right at the center of a gay scandal.
And more drama surrounding Sandra Bullock -- the public backlash over her recent adoption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Someone bought you for $12? Do you ever think about that?
MARC KENSON OLIBRIS, SOLD INTO SLAVERY: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Plus, children in crisis in Haiti. Orphaned by a devastating earthquake, many are now being sold into slavery. Those stories are just ahead.
I want to tell you this. Don't just sit there. Become part of the conversation.
And make sure you follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Send your comments.
Also, check out my blog at CNN.com/Don. I want to hear from you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Tonight, a leading opponent of gay marriage, and gays and lesbians adopting kids, and gay rights in general is now entangled in a sex scandal.
George Rekers helped found the socially conservative Family Research Council. He is accused of hiring a male prostitute who advertises on an explicit Web site and then taking him on a sexually charged European vacation. For the record, Rekers denies the sexual part. The allegations were first reported in Miami's "New Times," a local alternative newspaper.
I want to you decide for yourself whether to believe Rekers or whether to believe the young man in question here who spoke for the first time on camera to our Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He calls himself Lucien. He's a paid male escort who says he only advertises his services on the Web site Rentboy.com, where visitors can select among hundreds of male escorts who advertise in suggestive and revealing poses. That Web site is where Lucien said he was first contacted by George Rekers, a professor and Baptist minister who has weighed in on almost every peace piece of anti-gay legislation around the country.
What's not in dispute is that Rekers and Lucien just returned from a two-week European vacation and that Lucien was hired to help with the bags. This photo was snapped at Miami International Airport.
But Lucien also says, for the trip to Madrid and London, he was to give Rekers what Lucien called "sexual massages" every day.
"LUCIEN," MALE ESCORT: He basically got excited. That was the whole case.
KAYE (on camera): So, he wanted you to touch him?
"LUCIEN": Well, yes.
KAYE: Did you have sex with him on the trip?
"LUCIEN": No.
KAYE: Did he ask you to?
"LUCIEN": Not at all.
KAYE (voice-over): Lucien showed me the contract he signed with Rekers. For $75 a day, it says he must carry the bags, provide a massage for at least one hour every day of the trip in their shared room. Plus, spend at least eight hours a day with him, including two meals.
On Rekers' Web site, a very different account of how he met Lucien. "By interviewing different people who might be able to help, and did not even find out about his travel assistant's Internet advertisements offering prostitution activity until after the trip was in progress. There was nothing inappropriate with this relationship." And he emphasized he "was not involved in any illegal or sexual behavior with his travel assistant."
(on camera): Rekers is a board member for the NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a group that says it helps people with, quote, "unwanted homosexual attractions." He's also the co-founder of the Family Research Council, which promotes the traditional family unit.
(voice-over): And in 2008, here in Florida, George Rekers served as an expert witness in a case to uphold the law banning gays and lesbians from adopting. (on camera): In his writings, he called gays a, quote, "deviant segment of society." The state of Florida paid him about $120,000 for his testimony. Attorney General Bill McCollum's office told us Rekers was recommended after an exhaustive search, and because he had, quote, "exceptional credentials."
(voice-over): Wayne Besen is with Truth Wins Out, a group that exposes what it sees as hypocrisy in the anti-gay movement.
WAYNE BESEN, EXEC. DIRECTOR, TRUTH WINS OUT: He has helped create anti-gay attitudes and justified discrimination across the country. It seems Rekers doesn't think gay people should raise boys. He thinks he should rent boys. So, I think he's quite the hypocrite there.
KAYE: Lucien says Rekers knew he was gay before the trip because he had told him about his boyfriends.
(on camera): Does he still deny to you that he's gay?
"LUCIEN": Yes, yes. You know, I actually asked him over the phone, you know, "Do you think you're gay?" And he just said, "No."
KAYE (voice-over): Lucien told me Rekers had asked him not to share his story with the media.
"LUCIEN": He just didn't want me to mention the massage aspect, you know? That's what it really was.
KAYE (on camera): And he asked you not to.
"LUCIEN": Yes, he had asked me not to.
KAYE (voice-over): In response to the publicity, NARTH, where Rekers is a board member, released this statement saying it "takes seriously the accusations that have been made." In response to an e- mail from CNN, Rekers wrote, "I am retaining the services of a defamation attorney in this matter, because the fact is I am not gay and never have been."
Lucien, meanwhile, says he feels sorry for Rekers. He enjoyed their European vacation together and would like to be his friend. He wants him to stop making anti-gay statements.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: One final note for you. The Family Research Council which George Rekers helped found release a statement distancing themselves from Rekers. In fact, they say they had to check their historical records to verify that he was a member of the original board. They go on to say FRC has had no contact with Dr. Rekers or knowledge of his activities in over a decade. So, FRC can provide no further insight into these allegations. They add this: "While we are extremely disappointed when any Christian leader engages in the very activity that's they preach against, it is not surprising. The Scriptures clearly teach the fallen nature of all people. We each have a choice to act upon that nature or accept the forgiveness offered by grace through faith in Jesus Christ."
Conservatives take aim at a long time Senate Republican and they succeeded. The story is straight ahead.
And when does zero tolerance go too far? A young boy hauled off to jail for turning in a weapon?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's check the top stories right now.
Anti-Washington anger has claimed a long time U.S. senator. Three-term Republican Robert Bennett was eliminated from seeking another term today at Utah State GOP convention. He came in third in a three-man race in the second round of the convention balloting. His two challengers will face off to see who carries the Republican banner in November.
Bennett is known as a solid conservative, but his vote for the 2008 financial bailout stoked anger among fiscal conservatives back home.
There's been a major accident inside Russia's largest coal mine. Eight miners are dead and more than 60 remain underground. Russia's emergency ministry reports 359 people were working in the Siberian mine at the time of the accident, which local officials say was caused by a partial rock collapse. Early media reports blame the accident on a methane explosion, a relatively common occurrence inside Russian mines.
In the Middle East, a glimmer of hope for the peace process after 18 months of stalemate. Palestinian leaders today agreed to indirect talks with Israel's so-called proximity talks. A U.S. security -- a U.S. special envoy, George Mitchell, will act as a go-between. Hamas condemned the Palestinian decision, saying Palestinian leaders should, quote, "stop selling illusions to the Palestinian people."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading a congressional delegation to Afghanistan this weekend. The group met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai following a meeting with U.S. troops and top U.S. commander, General Stanley McChrystal. Now, according to a statement from Pelosi's office, the meeting with President Karzai focused on the political and security situation inside Afghanistan.
A Georgia eighth grader accidentally takes a knife to school in a bag he had taken on a fishing trip. The knife falls out. The boy turns it in to the principal's office, then finds himself handcuffed in a police car.
CNN education contributor Steve Perry examines the case and what's being done to prevent this in the future in this edition of "Perry's Principles."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELI MOHONE, ARRESTED UNDER ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY: I get to school. It's just like a regular day. I went to reading and I don't know, one of my friends told me, is that yours? And when I looked down, there was a knife on the ground and it was mine.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Following school policy, Eli says he voluntarily turned his own knife into school administration.
AIMEE HENSLER, ELI MOHONE'S MOTHER: At 8:34, I received a call saying, "Mama, the bag you gave me had a knife in it." It was a bag that he had taken fishing two weeks prior and I didn't look in it because we were so rushed. And it had fallen out in school.
MOHONE: Usually, when they find something like this, they send them to jail. And the parents don't know about it.
PERRY: Eli Mohone, a middle-schooler, a good kid, from a small town, had never been in trouble with the law, became a victim of Georgia's zero-tolerance weapons policy.
HENSLER: It was like standing outside your body watching as it was going on. I mean, I never imagined seeing him handcuffed and put in the back of a police car.
PERRY: Aimee Hensler was told that her son would stay in prison from Thursday through the weekend. With no money to hire a lawyer, Aimee contacted State Senator Emanuel Jones.
EMANUEL JONES, GEORGIA STATE SENATE: I spoke with the principal at the school who said this shouldn't have happened. Immediately, I started to get in with the sheriff's department, and I called -- eventually wound up calling the D.A.
PERRY: Originally created to protect students from violence inside schools, the zero-tolerance policy doesn't allow schools to make individual decisions based on context or intent. Jones pre-filed legislation in November 2009 to remove the zero from zero-tolerance. The Georgia House and Senate approved the bill. It awaits the governor's signature. The new law gives more latitude to schools and the legal system.
Steve Perry, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Four months after an earthquake devastated Haiti, its children are showing signs of real damage. And we'll show you what they're facing now and how one little girl was able to get out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know, it's been almost four months since Haiti's catastrophic earthquake. And while the story is gone from the headline, it's a story that we have never stopped covering here at CNN, especially its impact on Haiti's children. The quake left 380,000 of them without parents, a growing number are now being sold into slavery, a frightening prospect which really spurred someone who lived through that horror years before the earthquake to come to their rescue.
And our Soledad O'Brien has his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Marc Kenson Olibris works in the guest house here at the (INAUDIBLE) orphanage in Haiti. He is helping raise abandoned children just like himself. Marc Kenson was born in a rural Haitian village called (INAUDIBLE), a place with wrenching poverty. Life was so desperate that his father sold him and his sister to a stranger. They became child slaves, restaveks, literally the Creole words "for stay with."
(on camera): Were you a restaveks? A restaveks?
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
O'BRIEN: And your sister?
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Marc Kenson was 9 and his sister was 6.
(on camera): How much money did the woman who paid your parents, how much did she pay for you?
MARC ENSON OLIBRIS, SOLD INTO SLAVERY: Me and my sister?
O'BRIEN: Yes, you and Mona (ph).
OLIBRIS: One hundred twenty.
O'BRIEN: One hundred twenty Haitian dollars.
OLIBRIS: Haitian dollars.
O'BRIEN: Which is like $10, $12 U.S.
OLIBRIS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Someone bought you for $12? Do you ever think about that?
OLIBRIS: No. It doesn't make me mad.
O'BRIEN: It doesn't make you mad? Angry?
(voice-over): Marc Kenson is not angry because he says he understands his parents' desperation. Haiti had an 85 percent unemployment rate even before the earthquake. Marc Kenson's path to the lighthouse began in one of Haiti's worst slums.
OLIBRIS (through translator): This is where I used to live.
O'BRIEN: We are looking for the woman who kept him as a slave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, Marc Kenson survived his ordeal as an orphan, but thousands upon -- hundreds upon thousands of children are still in desperate need of rescue. So, see yourself -- see for yourself in Soledad O'Brien's documentary tonight. It's coming up immediately after this newscast, as well as tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. It looks like a really interesting documentary. So make sure you tune in right after this newscast, 8:00.
If there is a silver lining to the quake's aftermath. It is the impact of the adoption process. Families waiting to adopt orphans saw the red tape, disappear as officials rushed children out of the country. As you can tell, we've got a child here and she is having a great time. We're glad she's here.
Two-year-old Madison Jones is one of those lucky children. And we're joined tonight by her new mom. June Jones, who will be celebrating mother's day tomorrow with Madison and her six-year-old son. So how is Madison adjusting to America right now?
JUNE JONES, MOTHER: She is loving life.
LEMON: As you can see, she's beautiful. Who is the little one that matches Madison?
JUNE JONES: That's her baby doll.
LEMON: That's her baby doll. does she have a name for her?
JUNE JONES: Baby.
Baby doll.
LEMON: So listen, if it wasn't for what happened with the earthquake, would it have taken longer for you to adopt? Did that have an impact on the adoption process for you?
JUNE JONES: Yes. We wouldn't have had her for about another year.
LEMON: And I just want to go over there and just like hug her up and I'm sure people are watching at home. She's been here for how long?
JUNE JONES: Since January 23rd.
LEMON: January 23rd. Now, is she permanently now? The adoption process done or?
JUNE JONES: No. It's not done yet.
LEMON: So what happens next? Take us through what happens next for you.
JUNE JONES: We're waiting for Health and Human Services to determine the next steps and how to complete our adoption stateside.
LEMON: And do you want a rush on that process? What do you think about that process?
JUNE JONES: We want it done right. So we're comfortable knowing that it would have taken another year and at least she's home.
HOLMES: The hold-up here is what? What do you think?
JUNE JONES: Health and Human Services. They don't have a script to complete adoption stateside on international children that don't have legal status here.
LEMON: When you see stories like the ones we've been telling you about coming out of Haiti, you know, during the earthquake, directly after the earthquake, and now that has been, was back in January, but it has been the months following. You still see children who are still, you know, have problems and still held up there. What do you make of that? What does that do to you as someone who is really trying hard to complete an adoption?
JUNE JONES: It hurts. It really hurts us. We don't like to see that at all.
LEMON: How so? Explain that. And when you say it hurts.
JUNE JONES: It just hurts because there are so many children there that still need to be placed and adopted, and now that's all on hold.
LEMON: So many of those beautiful faces. He's smiling to the camera here. We're glad you guys are having a good time. Do you have a message to the people who are, who may be waiting for adoptions? Haitians? Because, you know people are anxious about that. What is your message?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just don't hesitate. Go for it. When the opportunity comes and when they lift the ban on it, you know, just like we did. And just go for it.
LEMON: Yes, but even when it is people who are waiting for children, or even babies or children from Haiti, Haitians. Or are you happy they are speaking out or do you think there should be more people speaking out in even stronger terms?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think so. you know, like you say, after this quake, you don't hear much about it anymore. And we just would like to say we haven't forgot about the Haitian people over there.
LEMON: Listen, thank you all. Madison is gorgeous. Thank you and happy mother's day to you.
JUNE JONES: Thank you.
LEMON: We appreciate you coming by and doing what you're doing for children. Not just in Haiti but this inspires people all over the world to adopt who are going to see this. Happy Mother's day. Thanks a lot.
JUNE JONES: Thank you.
LEMON: See you, Madison. See you as well.
JUNE JONES: Say bye-bye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say bye-bye.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye-bye.
LEMON: All right. And let's go talk about Hollywood. We're going to go to Hollywood where one high profile adoption is really under criticism. The controversy over Sandra Bullock's new baby. We're going to talk about that adoption process when we return.
Hey, Madison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: I want to tell you about a final goodbye to murdered university today. Funeral services were held in Baltimore for Yeardley Love who was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment on Monday. A player on the Virginia men's lacrosse team is charged with killing her. And our Sandra Endo tells us, hundreds gathered today to remember Yeardley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bright pink flowers decorated the casket of 22-year-old Yeardley Love for a celebration of her life in the wake of her tragic death.
STEPHANIE COLBY, YEARDLEY LOVE'S FRIEND: I was in her sorority. She was an incredibly sweet girl. Kind to everyone. And made everyone feel special.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought they did a beautiful job in representing her and what she meant to her school and to her family and what a tragic loss this is for everyone.
ENDO: Hundreds of friends, teammates and family members gathered to the University of Virginia lacrosse player who was found beaten to death in her off campus apartment last Monday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just senseless, shocking. That's all I have to say.
ENDO: On the cover of the funeral program, a quote from Love's high school year book saying, "truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget." But friends say it's her memory that will never be forgotten.
DANIEL EHRLICH, YEARDLEY LOVE'S FRIEND: I knew her from high school. And I mean, she was a great person. I wanted to come show my support.
ENDO: Love's ex-boyfriend 22-year-old George Huguely has been charged with first-degree murder. Huguely is also a UVA lacrosse player with a history of alcohol-related violence. His lawyers say Love's death was an accident.
(on camera): Her death brings renewed attention to the issue of abusive relationships, a reality the director of UVA's Women's Center says students should be more aware of.
CLAIRE KAPLAN, UVA WOMEN'S CENTER: Talk to your friends if you see them in an unhealthy relationship or you wonder about your friend who has been rude to his girlfriend or whatever. It is not just women. It's men who need to speak up. Tragically, no one spoke up for Yeardley Love who wrote, in a high school essay one of her dream was to have a happy and healthy family when she grew up.
(on camera): How do you think she'll be remembered?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Love. She was all about love.
ENDO: Sandra Endo, CNN, Baltimore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: For your top stories, no quick fix to the gulf oil spill. Officials revealed today that cold water and high pressure combined to cause a major technical problems as a large steel dome is lowered over the leak. BP says it could take several days to work out a possible solution. An estimated 5,000 barrels of oil have been escaping every day, fouling thousands of square miles of the gulf.
At least 19 airports are shut down in Spain today because of ash spewing from that volcano in Iceland. Now those closures include the country's second biggest hub in Barcelona. The ash plume extends up to 35,000 feet. Transatlantic flights are being rerouted north over Greenland and south, around Spain to avoid 1,200 miles of that ash cloud.
British voters are wondering this week, who will lead their government? The conservative party got the most votes in Thursday's national election. But not enough to govern without a partner. They would like the lure the liberal democrats into joining a coalition. But that party wants serious electoral reform. Something the conservatives have resisted. The Labour Party which finished second, is also trying to get the liberal democrats to join a coalition. You know what? It's been a week and a half since "People" magazine broke the story that Oscar winner Sandra Bullock who had adopted an African-American baby born in New Orleans. Now, since then, the web has been on fire. Most comments, you know, praising her for doing it. Some, though, are putting her town noting that once again, a white celebrity has adopted a black child.
So I want to read a comment. This is really a quote from people.com. It says, "I do not approve of white folks adopting black kids. What is the ulterior motive behind it? Are they trying to create a new class of confused little Oreo cookies? Black kids with white values who will value whiteness above all else and be ashamed or against blacks and blackness?"
OK. So what's wrong with mixed race or trans-racial adoption? What's wrong with it? So to talk it, we have Dr. Wendy Walsh, a former television journalist here. She is also a psychologist. And then we have Lisa Marie, the director of adopted and foster adults of the African-American Diaspora, a group that helps families with trans- racial adoptions.
So Miss Marie, both of you, thank you for joining us. You're also a scholar of mixed race adoption. So what is the case against it? What is the case here? You know, I know that the stand on national adoption for black social workers is that black children should go to black families. But what is the case against it?
LISA MARIE ROLLINS, TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION EXPERT/ADOPTEE: Well, one of the things that this case has me thinking about, it really revisits the black social workers' original 1970s stance and their revisitation of this stance in the 1990s where they talk about multiple things that they feel like are the issues for trans-racial adoption. One of them is definitely whether or not white families have the education and are capable of assisting black children in coping with racism.
But the other thing really is also, something larger that has to do with the preservation of black families. And the circumstances that allow children to be put up for adoption. And I think that a lot of people are angry. The reason why you're seeing some of this anger around it is because I think that there are actually African-American families that are available, but the social welfare system isn't really set up for them to adopt black children, or kinship, if there are aunts or uncles or extended family members who are available.
There is not financial resources for them. So I think that's also part of what people are upset about.
LEMON: Miss Walsh, what do you make of this? What is the case against it?
WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I think, you know, right away, people will see, oh, is this another Hollywood celebrity carrying a black baby instead of a white purse dog? So they're worried that it may be a fashionable trend. The truth is, you know, adoptions are color blind. You get what you get. If you say that you will take whatever, and thank goodness these liberal progressive wealthy people are able to take any child in need and shower them with love.
And I think race should really be only examined if you're over 40, you need to think about how you think about race. Because the younger generation doesn't see race the way perhaps my generation or older generation did. We live in a global world where we have a bi- racial president, where some of the most famous and wealthy celebrities in the world are people of color. You know, I happen to have bi-racial children. They don't self-identify black or white.
LEMON: That's what I was going to ask you. I was going to ask you this. Because children can be cruel. So when you're a child, you know, when you're in school, people make fun of you. Oh, you don't look like your mom or dad or they may call you names. They call you an Oreo cookie or whatever it is. Once you become an adult, you go thank goodness someone saved me. So my question is, then what is wrong - and I see you sort of cringing there, squinting a little bit, Miss Marie. You don't - do you not believe that's so?
ROLLINS: Yes. It's Miss Rollins but yes, I guess what I am responding to is the notion that adoption is color blind. And I think that's one of the things that they talk back to and actually really tries to support families in really thinking about, when they're adopting is that race really does matter. And it really does matter with the youth that I'm working with now even. I hear constant stories of when they're living in situations where they're isolated from the black community.
And they're, you know, adopted to places like Kansas or Iowa or a lot of the people where the Haitian adoptees are going. That they are called names in school. They are spit on.
LEMON: Would you rather them be in foster care instead of a loving home?
ROLLINS: Well, you know, what I think the issue with that is that there is an assumption that that is the only option. And I think that there are multiple options other than just a child living in foster care.
LEMON: I think there are probably multiple options but I mean, I've seen a number of children who are up for adoption and who end up in foster homes. Some of them and then others don't. And then you become adults and a lot of them become adults and don't have any parents. They have no rearing and no upbringing. Go ahead, Dr. Walsh.
WALSH: Well, yes. I've heard that there are 31 percent of children in foster home are African-American and yet that represents only 15 percent of the general population. So yes, they're definitely proportionately more children of color in foster care. Now, you know what, you have to think - I understand what you're saying, Miss Rollins about zip code being important.
If you live in a homogenous place, you're going to have to make some life changes to make sure that your child is exposed in some kind of diversity. I've move around the world with my children actually. And we lived in two homogenous places. One happened to be Boca Raton, Florida where we went to a small little Lutheran school and I felt that my family was more of a welcome curiosity. Everyone was very kind to us and I loved it.
The other place was Florence, Italy, by the way, a very homogenous place where only the African street merchants had not problems, but a lot of great curiosity. Where did you get that black baby, they would say to me.
ROLLINS: Right. Right.
WALSH: Thinking I had adopted it. But I really think that you know, if you live in a zip code that's very diverse, I live in Venice Beach, California, which we call Berkeley on the beach.
ROLLINS: Actually - I actually disagree. I think that I live in San Francisco.
LEMON: You get the last word. Go ahead.
ROLLINS: I live in San Francisco and I live in Oakland where it is extraordinarily diverse. It's one of the most diverse cities in the nation and I am constantly bombarded with white families who have adopted black children who lived completely culturally isolated lives. It's not just about geography. It's about whether or not you're connecting your child to the black community.
LEMON: Here's the thing. I understand what you're saying. We got to move on. When you say culturally, you know, what does that mean? There are things that were cultural back in the 1940s and the 1950s and the 1960s that aren't necessarily cultural now. Maybe a new culture is a culture of people who are Americans, who are of all races instead of just black, white. We had this whole issue when we talk about census.
ROLLINS: Right.
LEMON: There are so many things, so many differences in people these days that it doesn't, I mean, I don't think that there are very few people here in this country who are truly African-American, because most of us are mixed. And there are very few people in this country who are truly European or truly white. Because most people are mixed again. And I think that's, we're heading towards that. I understand what you're saying but I think you have to sort -
ROLLINS: And I don't disagree.
LEMON: Hang on one second, let me finish.
ROLLINS: Sure, sure.
LEMON: I think we have to define what is cultural. I think we need a new definition of that. Go ahead. I'll let you finish.
ROLLINS: Yes. And actually I don't disagree with what you're saying. I absolutely believe that there are new ways to redefine race. There are new ways to define culture that are happening now and that communities are much more multi-cultural now than they were. But I also argue that if you are a white parent and have a child of color and you are living a life that doesn't include people of color, either as an adult or if your community is only children of color with other trans-racial adoptive families.
There is a message that that sends to your children about your comfort level with people of color. I think that's really the point that we're talking about.
LEMON: You have a point with that. You have to be realistic about how the world sees you and how the world treats you. Yes.
ROLLINS: Exactly.
LEMON: Thank you both. A very interesting conversation. Look, all of this because of Sandra Bullock. My goodness.
WALSH: Absolutely.
LEMON: Have a good evening. Thank you guys.
ROLLINS: Thanks for having me.
WALSH: Thank you.
LEMON: All right. We appreciate it.
ROLLINS: Thank you.
LEMON: All right. Still ahead here on CNN, the wolf man. 20 years at CNN. But he also shows up on other channels. There he is. We're talking about Wolf Blitzer.
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LEMON: So you could walk up to anyone on the street, and say Wolf Blitzer, who is that? And they would go, "oh, Wolf Blitzer the guy from CNN, right?" Because Wolf Blitzer is a varietiable (ph) institution. This weekend marks his 20th anniversary with CNN, and as our Jeanne Moos reminds us, it's been a wild ride.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For now 20 years we've been listening to the call of the wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer.
I'm Wolf Blitzer.
I'm Wolf Blitzer.
MOOS: The real Wolf Blitzer used to be a newspaperman, but when he came to CNN -
BLITZER: Senator said he will support the plan.
MOOS: He turned over a new leaf, getting into TV as CNN's military affairs correspondent.
BLITZER: But here's Pete Williams, let's listen.
PETE WILLIAMS: Well, thank you very much, Wolf.
MOOS: He went from the Pentagon to the White House -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The normally suave, unflappable Wolf Blitzer suffering technology breakdown.
MOOS: Wolf became a household name covering the first gulf war.
JOHNNY CARSON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": There's probably nobody in the country who doesn't know who he is, would you welcome, please, Mr. Wolf Blitzer.
MOOS: Here's Wolf - on "Johnny" in those pre-Blackberry days, he described how he found out that Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait when his beeper went off.
BLITZER: I had put it on the vibration part, not on the beeping part.
Right.
BLITZER: And I had never experienced that vibration along here. I thought I had gas or something. I didn't know what -
MOOS: Since then Wolf has interviewed everyone who's anyone, he's faced some tough customers.
BLITZER: They said that the president listened too much to the vice president, that was John McCain.
So.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So for me to sit here and listen again to more crap about socialized medicine --
MOOS: And sometimes Wolf wanted to talk about one thing and the guest another, Lynne Cheney wanted to discuss her book.
BLITZER: We're going to talk about this excellent new book, our "50 States." Well, talk about your (inaudible) and then we'll get to the book.
LYNNE CHENEY: Do you promise, Wolf, that we're going to talk about my book?
BLITZER: I do promise.
CHENEY: Wolf, could we talk about a children's book for a minute? BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about your book. We can agree that this is a beautifully done book.
MOOS: Wolf has gone -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scotty, beam me up.
MOOS: - where no anchor has gone before.
BLITZER: You've never seen anything like this on television.
MOOS: He was the first to welcome a hologram. Corresponded Jessica Yellin reporting from Chicago.
BLITZER: We've beamed you into here.
MOOS: - to CNN's election's center in New York. The hologram even ended up on a Beastie Boys' song.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a hologram on the wall of Wolf Blitzer.
MOOS: And Wolf moves to the music.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MOOS: Remember when he danced onto "Ellen DeGeneres' Show."
An anchor not afraid to weigh anchor, or sit on a camel.
BLITZER: Hold on.
I'm on a camel, on a camel. Oh, my god. Hold on, hold up. Hold on.
MOOS: For two decades, he's been riding the bucking camel that is cable news -
BLITZER: Tonight "The Situation Room" -
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only other man in America with his own "Situation Room."
MOOS: And that unforgettable name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a German name, isn't?
BLITZER: Wolfgang. But it's not Wolfgang, it's just Wolf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. So just Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raised by -
MOOS (on camera): Actually, Wolf was his grandfather's name and don't you forget it, although some do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first of all, Blitz. Thanks, Chris. Wolf.
BLITZER: I don't know who Chris is, but it's Wolf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, hi, to Wolf. His name is Wolf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.
BLITZER: Hi, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who in the hell is Wolf?
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you ever go on "Dancing with the Stars"?
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Wolf Blitzer, class-act. He's a good dancer. He's one of the nicest people you've ever met. Hey, look, this is what we like about our new digs here. My team back there working. They can throw spitballs at me if I do something wrong, which they often do, yes. They're a great team, though.
Hey, we're back in a moment here on CNN. And I want to tell you, coming up Soledad O'Brien's documentary "Rescued."
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