Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Genetically Altered Foods; More Parents Choose to Homeschool
Aired September 21, 2010 - 09:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: First, at 10:00, it's a balancing act that affects all of us, more people filling the planet and that means less room and resources to feed them. That's part of the argument for genetically engineered food.
Right now the FDA is looking at the benefits and possible dangers of a new type of salmon created in a lab. Scientists would borrow genes from other fish so the salmon could grow twice as fast and require 25 percent less food. That could make it a cheaper source of high-quality protein.
But the danger is still unknown. Critics warn that this so- called frankenfish could trigger allergies or have health risks that we don't even know about yet.
And you are already eating genetically-altered food. In fact one group estimates that 70 to 75 percent of all processed foods contains ingredients that have been tweaked somehow in a laboratory. Now, modified foods aren't just hidden in some indecipherable list of ingredients. They can also appear as wholesome as fruits and vegetables.
Consider Dennis Lang, a skeptic. He's a restaurant owner here in Atlanta, Five Seasons, Sandy Springs and he's pretty passionate about fresh, natural foods.
I know your restaurant. I've been to your restaurant and I remember -- that's one reason why I return is because you are organic and you don't choose genetically altered food. Why is that? Why have you chosen not to go there?
DENNIS LANG, RESTAURANT OWNER: Well, it's kind of funny, I mean when you think -- we think about the gas we put in our cars -- some people think more about the gas they put in their cars than the food they put in their body. We just as a restaurant have chosen to try to selects foods that we think come from good sources. Try to source things locally and choose good quality because that's what I want to eat.
PHILLIPS: But it's more expensive, right? A lot of people go the genetically-altered route because it's cheaper?
LANG: That's absolutely right and that's a point, I think, that we have to balance out. I'm not opposed to someone making genetically-altered foods. I just want to make sure that they label it. PHILLIPS: So you know --
LANGE: So I know. So I can make that choose. We are an educated public, and we should be able to choose. I think that maybe we don't know what the food is going to do to us long term.
PHILLIPS: No, we don't know.
LANGE: And therein lies the problem.
PHILLIPS: Right. And I got a couple more questions about that. In how restaurants don't have to say that they're serving genetically altered food. We'll talk about that in a minute. But let's start with the salmon here. Obviously, I'm not going to taste test it.
LANGE: You're more than welcome to.
PHILLIPS: Sushi this time in the morning, I don't know, Dennis. But explain to me how would I know which one has been genetically altered and which one hasn't?
LANGE: You know, and from the outside here, how could anybody tell?
PHILLIPS: Right.
LANGE: That's the reality. Because you have two salmon. Now, they are different species. This one here is actually a king salmon and this is an Atlantic salmon.
PHILLIPS: OK.
LANGE: They're similar, at least close enough and that's why I brought them together. The difference here is you got a salmon here that's about eight or nine months old versus one that's about three years old. Now, why is that? And therein lies the real question. This one is actually farm raised and it's fed a diet that is not a natural diet for a salmon, but it contains effectively stimulants that help it grow faster, and that gets it to market faster and keeps the price less because in actuality, this salmon, even though they are roughly the exact same size, is about half the price.
PHILLIPS: So the altered one is half the price.
LANGE: This is a wild caught salmon.
PHILLIPS: OK.
LANGE: And it is more expensive.
PHILLIPS: How much? How much is the altered one? How much is the -
LANGE: Wholesale about 44 versus 88.
PHILLIPS: Oh my gosh, twice the price. LANGE: Really twice the price.
PHILLIPS: OK. Now, can we open them up? Is there a difference in the color or what they look like?
LANGE: I mean, you're going to have some slight differences obviously because they are a little different in species. However -
PHILLIPS: I hope this doesn't gross anybody out this early in the morning.
LANGE: That's right.
PHILLIPS: Sorry to our viewers, if it does, but hey, this a good show and tell.
LANGE: So when you look at the color of the farm-raised one and you sort of see it has almost a milkiness to it.
PHILLIPS: Right.
LANGE: It still looks very fresh.
PHILLIPS: Right. But it's a lighter color.
LANGE: Correct.
PHILLIPS: OK, got it. All right. Now, compare the -
LANGE: We will move this guy away so that we can gracefully behead the king salmon.
PHILLIPS: I didn't know you could actually gracefully behead. Oh, wow, that's a brighter one.
LANGE: Much, much brighter color.
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes, much brighter.
LANGE: And if you can taste it, you're going to have a much silkier, softer flavor in the wild caught one.
PHILLIPS: OK.
LANGE: Now, is that worth twice the price? I mean that's something as a consumer -
PHILLIPS: I don't know.
LANGE: That's something as a consumer I think that we have to ask ourselves because obviously, if price is critical, which, I mean, let's face fact, it's tough times.
PHILLIPS: Right. You want to save money.
LANGE: So it is going to be an issue. So- PHILLIPS: OK. Now, do you want to do edamame, peppers, grapes. And don't tell me which is altered and which is not altered. I want to see if maybe I can taste the difference.
LANGE: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Which should I start with?
LANGE: I mean, why don't we start with the edamame because that won't require me cutting them with this lovely salmon flavored knife.
PHILLIPS: That now smells like fish.
LANGE: We have them on both sides.
PHILLIPS: OK.
LANGE: Edamame grow kind of like green beans, but they grow on very tall stalks, and the color when they're picked - these were picked yesterday about two miles from here. So you can sort of see that the color naturally is kind of that lighter green. Now, when you steam them, they're going to brighten a little bit but you can see the difference between this one just in color alone, but taste them and tell me which you think tastes more like an edamame.
PHILLIPS: OK, that's good. Let me find a thick one here. Oh, this one is sweeter. This tastes more natural. This tastes better.
LANGE: And there's a reason why?
PHILLIPS: Is that the real deal?
LANGE: Well, they're both real.
PHILLIPS: Right.
LANGE: But these haven't been played with.
PHILLIPS: As in not altered. I should be clearer with my language. Wow, I can totally taste the difference.
LANGE: Enormous. Even when you look at them, look at the size of the pods. These are so much larger. Why are they larger? Well, because they're engineered to hold water, and in holding water, that makes them hold weight, and, therefore, they can charge more for them.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Because you would look at this and go, oh, this is thicker, better, it looks more yummy but actually the one that's not altered actually tastes better.
LANGE: Similarly, look at the green peppers here. These were peppers that were picked yesterday at the same little farm. These are both green peppers, there's no difference in the species. But these peppers here, look at the size of these and the weight of -
PHILLIPS: Yes, obviously, they've been altered because they are heavier and they're a lot of bigger.
LANGE: And then thickness of the wall. If you cut into it, and you look at how thick the actual - look at the difference there.
PHILLIPS: As in - is that the best way to hold this up like this? This is the natural one.
LANGE: This is the natural one, right, where it hasn't been monkeyed with to create not only larger and thicker, but all they are doing is they're just jacking water. I mean, they're filling it with water. So the flavor, if you are to cut this and taste this, and if it tastes like salmon, I apologize.
PHILLIPS: That's all right.
That's like got a good - this one is - now let me taste the genetically altered one.
LANGE: That's right.
PHILLIPS: Wow, the natural - the one that has not been altered has a better flavor to it. That's what I'm seeing. I'm seeing a better flavor in the one that isn't altered.
LANGE: Absolutely right.
PHILLIPS: In both of these. What about the grapes?
LANGE: Well, this is a little unfair because the species of grapes are completely different. They are both green grapes. These (INAUDIBLE) are grown, they are indigenous to Georgia, where these are, you know, seedless Thompsons that are not necessarily grown more up in the northeast. So you are going to have a different flavor profile, but when you look at how this bunch is all packed together and every one is all equal size. There are very few blemishes. They are beautiful. They look appetizing.
PHILLIPS: The color is the same, right. They look good.
LANGE: Very appetizing, as opposed to the natural ones that are going to have sun spots and changes in size and what-not, but then when you taste them - which I mean, once again, it's a little unfair in the taste because they're a different variety of grapes.
But natural grapes are going to have these variations on them and they're going to be smaller and larger. The smaller ones tend to have the more intense flavor, which makes for better wine if they are for wine grapes.
PHILLIPS: Right.
LANGE: They just taste better across the board.
PHILLIPS: So let me get back to restaurants not having to say whether the food has been altered or not. What do you think about that? Do you think restaurants should put that on the menu? LANGE: Well, I think responsible restaurants are beginning to do that. You're beginning to see a trend in that where they do explain on menus where things are coming from. Maybe they're using a locally raised beef or pork from a farm not far away or vegetables from a specific farm. I think that we're seeing that more and more.
Whether should it be mandated or required? You know, that's a good question. I mean, obviously, we don't want to have to read a telephone book every time we go out to have dinner, but I think that if you go to a responsible restaurant that you will find, that they will take the time to know where their ingredients are from.
PHILLIPS: I met your chef and I know you even go out and pick your produce, and I think it's fantastic that you stick to that, even in this tough economy, you're very committed to natural foods. I appreciate you coming on and showing us the difference. This has been a great education for me.
LANGE: Well, I'm pleased to be here this morning, and if anybody wants some sushi and edamame -
PHILLIPS: You're going to fire it up.
LANGE: Right now.
PHILLIPS: Is it the altered stuff or the natural stuff? Dennis Lange, owner of Five Seasons in Sandy Springs. Check out the restaurant if you live in Atlanta or if you are not far, drive in and taste his food. You will definitely be able to taste the difference.
So what's your opinion? Genetically engineered food, good idea or something that should be thrown back? Tell us what you think. We got a lot of responses yesterday. I'm going to try to read some of those but now that you've seen the segment, let me know what you think if it has changed your mind. Cnn.com/kyra.
And we're keeping our eyes on Capitol Hill this morning, a key vote on the defense bill is scheduled. It's not just about funding the troops but about don't ask, don't tell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A key hurdle to the repeal of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy comes up in Congress today. A vote is scheduled on whether to begin debate on the Defense authorization bill, which don't ask, don't tell is part of. Lawmakers who want to keep the ban on openly gay military members say a final decision must follow the ongoing Pentagon review.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The study assumes that repeal will take place. So, for all intents and purposes, there is no study as to the impact on battle effectiveness and moral, a repeal of this legislation. So I continue to urge my colleagues to reject this effort to short-circuit the process endorsed by Department of Defense leaders, not by the service chiefs, a process that was supposed to inform us with one that merely ratifies a politically driven decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, those who want to repeal held a rally in Portland, Maine Monday and they called on the states' two GOP senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, to join Democrats in stopping a filibuster of the bill. Pop star Lady GaGa added her voice to the cause.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LADY GAGA, SINGER: I'm here because they inspire me. I'm here because I believe in them. I'm here because don't ask, don't tell is wrong. It's unjust. And fundamentally, it is against all that we stand for as Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the outcome of the Senate procedural vote, which could come this afternoon, is just too close to call. Don't ask, don't tell isn't the only thing in the Defense bill, either. It also includes $159 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and 1.4 percent pay raise for troops and funding for the Dream Act, and the Dream Act is controversial, and it's high stakes. Some see it as just what a great many young people need in this country. Others call it a reward for illegal behavior.
Josh Levs here to talk about what the Dream Act is and what it would do. Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And Kyra, it's interesting how things get packaged together in Congress in a given year. This debate has been going on for years now and this one, in particular, resonates right now against the immigration battle going on in America.
Let me give you a basic primer on what the Dream Act is. This stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. And here's how it works. It would effectively offer students a path to citizenship, but there would be certain conditions. These are students, young people who are in the country illegally, would get a path towards citizenship if they did certain things and among those things you have these. They have to graduate from a U.S. high school. They have to have lived in the United States for at least five years, and, finally, they have to attend college or the military after high school.
Now, this is why we're seeing the debate. I know we have some video here of some people who are pushing for it, and what we're seeing in recent days as more and more people on both sides speaking out a lot. A lot of people saying "hey, this is what we need right now. This would be good for the country. The better that we can educate our young people, the stronger a nation we are."
You have people on the other side who are saying this is a reward for illegal behavior. These people are here illegally because of what their parents did. Why offer amnesty? Why come along now and say "hey, we are just going to give you something, the students that grew up here legally and that are here legally are getting?" And I tell you, Kyra, at this point, the bill has about 40 co-sponsors. Almost all are Democrats, just a couple of Republicans in there.
PHILLIPS: So how many young people would be effected by this, Josh?
LEVS: We know that when it comes to numbers of illegal immigrants in this country, you never get totally harsh statistics but there's a really good study from a group, we called the Migration Policy Institute. They are estimating that 2.1 million young people would be eligible to take advantage of this but they're estimating only about 800,000 of them would ultimately become legal citizens, get that full path to citizenship, from this, Kyra, if it were to be enacted.
PHILLIPS: Josh, thanks.
LEVS: You got it.
PHILLIPS: And more parents are pulling their kids out of school to teach them at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Do you like being taught by your mom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I get to be with my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Carol Costello joins us live with more on why parents are going to the home school route.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. A quick check of the big board right now. Down, oh, boy - it went down much farther than the last time we checked. Now it's going up a little bit. We'll keep monitoring it for you.
All right. Let's check our top stories real quickly.
NATO says that a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan this morning killing nine American soldiers. The number of fallen heroes so far this year, more than 500.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wraps up speaking at the United Nations. Right now, protesters are outside the U.N., not happy about the fact that he's here in the United States. And a crucial day in Washington for don't ask, don't tell, the debate on whether to repeal it actually gets under way in the Senate. Yesterday pop sensation Lady Gaga weighed in on the military policy banning openly gay service members. More than 200,000 people rallied with her in Maine as she urged lawmakers to repeal it.
Southern rock veteran Lynyrd Skynyrd are eulogizing the man who actually inspired the band's name. This is 77-year-old Lynyrd Skynyrd. He passed away early yesterday. He was actually a hard nose P.E. coach at the Jacksonville, Florida high school that the band members attended. And according to the group, Skynyrd was the school's disciplinarian for long hair. You can bet he sent (INAUDIBLE) and company a few times to the principal's office, but somewhere along the way, it's all right. They formed the band and their jams withstood the test of time. Plenty of replays, of course, like "Saturday Night Special" and they thank their buddy Lynyrd Skynyrd from high school for it all.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS (on camera): Home schooling is really taking off across the country. In the last 10 years, the number of American kids being taught at home by their parents has nearly doubled. Carol Costello talks with some families changing the way their kids are learning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isabelle (ph), you're next. What card do you need?
COSTELLO (voice-over): It's not your normal classroom and if you ask these parents, that's a good thing.
PASCHA FRANKLIN, HOMESCHOOLING PARENT: When your kids are saying, I want to do this, and it's some kind of lesson, you smile, because you're like, yes, they like learning.
COSTELLO: Pascha Franklin of Stillwater, Oklahoma is homeschooling her kids and they love it.
(on camera): Do you like being taught by your mom?
PARKER FRANKLIN, HOMESCHOOLING STUDENT: Yes, I do.
COSTELLO: Why?
PARKER FRANKLIN: Because I get to be with my family.
COSTELLO: How does your mom make it fun to learn?
PARKER FRANKLIN: She does activities, cool activities.
COSTELLO (voice-over): And it seems Parker is not alone. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 1.5 million kids are taught by mom and dad. That's up 74 percent since 1999. What do you think the biggest misconception people have of home schoolers?
JESSICA HANNON, HOMESCHOOLING PARENT: Besides being weird and wearing your hair in a bun and denim jumpers? We're just like everybody else. We're not super moms. You know, it's a decision just like public school, private school.
COSTELLO: A lingering misconception is that the main reason most parents decide to home school is for religious reasons. That's not quite true anymore. 36 percent of parents do home school primarily to teach their kids religious and moral values but 38 percent home school because they don't like the school environment or the way teachers teach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) flexibility.
COSTELLO: Just ask the Sobral's. They're home schooling five children.
ALEX SOBRAL, HOMESCHOOLING PARENT: Just that you are taught. You know, you have to go to A, B, and C, and if you are not excelling here, you must have something wrong with you.
COURTNEY SOBRAL, HOMESCHOOLING PARENT: What we've learned now is a very unnatural putting 20 children in a room learning with one teacher on the same schedule, the exact same material in the same way is actually quite unnatural.
COSTELLO: What is natural for these parents, home schooling communities. In effect, shadow schools where their kids can socialize and parents can share learning techniques.
JESSICA HANNON, HOMESCHOOLING PARENT: There's more resources available today. You don't have to be a scholar, you know, to teach your children. There's tons of resources out there to help you.
COSTELLO: Like nonprofit groups that provide an overall curriculum, for-profit groups that provide weekly lesson plans for groups of parents. Still, that doesn't mean that it's a cinch.
Laura Brodie wrote "Love in the Time of Homeschooling" after homeschooling her daughter for one year.
LAURA BRODIE, AUTHOR, "LOVE IN A TIME OF HOMESCHOOLING": We had a very good experience. A lot of successes, but also a lot of fights and power struggles. And I didn't find homeschooling books anywhere that were talking about that. They talked about the advantages of homeschooling, but not so much about the bad days.
COSTELLO: Or the fact homeschooling is a 24/7 job.
COURTNEY SOBRAL, HOMESCHOOLING PATIENT: Everything is educational and it's 365 days a year. And of course we take breaks, we have fun, we do watch cartoons. We don't just have a time where we turn learning on and learning off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we know where we get volcanic ash? COSTELLO: But for a growing number of families, home schooling is the best way to raise, as these parents would say well-rounded kids who will not become just smart adults, but good people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Carol joining us now live from Washington. So Carol, are there any qualifications parents have to have before they can actually home school their kids?
COSTELLO: That's something Laura Brodie is really concerned about because it varies from state to state but the way these parents kind of get around it because they're not scholars. They're not trained teachers. They can't teach calculus and physics but what they can do is bring in a trained teacher to help their children at home. What they can do is go on line and there are programs that are written up by trained teachers or professors from local universities who can come to wherever the kid is being home schooled and help teach some things like physics and calculus.
PHILLIPS: What happens, though, if they don't do that? I mean, I'm just throwing this out. I don't know if you know the answer to this, but this is what I think a lot about as people home school their kids. What if they don't know their kids are behind or not keeping up with what they should know at a certain age, right? Or that certain grade level and then it's time to apply to college, and, you know, it's too late?
COSTELLO: You're right about that, but, again, when you look at teachers in school, some teachers are good, some teachers are not. When you look at a parent teaching kids at home, some parents are good teachers, and some parents are not. It holds true in both places.
What these parents do is they test their children. You know, when they come to the end of first grade, they give their kid a test to see if they're all caught up. These parents say their kids are ahead of where normal kids are at the end of first grade. But these parents do test their kids through the years to see if they're caught up.
And let's face it, to get into good schools like Harvard and Yale, you have to take S.A.T. tests and A.C.T. tests like any other kids that went to private or public schools. I called Harvard, by the way, I was interested to see if they had any home schooled kids enrolled in the university? And emphatically, yes. Many of these kids do really well on the S.A.T. tests and they get into schools like Harvard and Yale and Loyola.
PHILLIPS: Well, can you imagine if we were home schooled?
COSTELLO: I don't think my mother could do it exactly.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. My poor mother would have pulled her hair out.
COSTELLO: Exactly. It takes so much patience and so much time. And I'm with you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Got to have a break from your kids, man.
COSTELLO: Not everyone can do it.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Carol. Some moms can. They're blessed with more patience.
All right. Well, changing the impression of Islam, we're having a conversation about that with Deepak Chopra up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: There are more than a billion Muslims worldwide. Millions of them are American, but the controversy over the Islamic center near ground zero seems to have touched off a national conversation about Islamaphobia, and whether Americans need to change their perceptions of Muslims.
Consider this. A recent "Time" magazine poll asked if people believed Islam was more likely than other faiths to encourage violence against nonbelievers. Forty-six percent of those polled said yes. It's opinions like these that prompted the grassroots American-Muslim group My Faith, My Voice and it put out this PSA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In recent weeks -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- a lot of people have been telling you
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- what to think about Muslim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say you should fear me -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- suspect me -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hate me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the truth is
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to impose my faith on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to take over this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I don't support terrorism at (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Islam teach me to -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- respect all people --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: improve society --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and stand up for justice for all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am here -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and have been here for generations --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- wanting the same thing you do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chance to pursue -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: life -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: liberty, peace --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and happiness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am an American.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a Muslim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my faith.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my voice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH).
GROUP OF CHILDREN: I'm an American. I'm a Muslim. This is my faith. This is my voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, who better to give us more perspective on this than world renowned spiritual leader Deepak Chopra, joining me live from New York on the day his new book comes out.
Now, Deepak, "Mohammed: The Story of the Last Prophet" is in bookstores, but it was actually released as early as a week ago as an eBook. It's unprecedented. Why did you and your publisher make that choice?
DEEPAK CHOPRA, AUTHOR/SPIRITUAL LEADER: Well, there is a lot of buzz on the Internet, on Twitter, on Facebook. A lot of conversations going on and in places like Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, and it's getting a lot of attention. The book is getting a lot of attention.
A few people are worried that, in fact, it may enflame tensions. I don't think so. My book is about more awareness. You know, 63 percent of Americans say they know nothing about Islam or Mohammed, and yet they have all of these perceptions, as you just saw.
Perception is reality, Kyra, and if you want to dislike someone, are you going to be violent against someone, you have to demonize them in your head. And you demonize them in your head as well. If you don't demonize them, you can't be violent, and the demonization occurs because we are not aware of who the other person is. When we are, as your PSA showed, they're just like us.
PHILLIPS: What's interesting is that -- I remember when the war in Afghanistan began, you know, talking nine years ago. I remember just this flurry of education that took place, and so many people were wanting to learn more about Islam, and there was so much more talk about how we need to have better relations with Muslims.
And, you know, now here we are, nine years later, and you look at everything that's been happening in the Middle East and then you look at these controversies here in the United States from the pastor in Florida wanting to burn the Koran to the animosity about the Islamic center to be built near ground zero. You know, and it still seems like all these years later, we're so immersed in ignorance still. And why is that?
CHOPRA: Again, ignorance comes from lack of knowing the other, and lack of awareness. I was with President Clinton the other day at a private function, and he said this Islamic center could be actually a creative opportunity. Let's dedicate this Islamic center not only to interfaith dialogue, but to the memory of and in honor of all of the victims who died, including the Muslims. Sixteen Muslims were killed in that terrorist attack.
So, you know, just like the Ku Klux Klan is Christian but not all Christians are Ku Klux Klan, or Timothy McVeigh was Christian but not all Christians are like Timothy McVeigh, we should realize that the majority of Muslims are just like us.
For me, the great thrill in writing this book was the mystery of Revelation. You know, all scriptures, revelatory scripture. So, how does an illiterate person like Mohammed, who knows nothing about reading and writing, sitting in a cave suddenly hear the angel Gabriel say, "Recite in the name of the Lord who created human life from congealed drops of blood. Recite in the name of the Lord who writes by the book, who dictates by the book, and who reveals to mankind what was not known before?"
I think just the awe and the mystery of revelation and scripture shows there are certain universal truths. That the universal truths can download (ph) through a human (INAUDIBLE), even though it doesn't know how to read and write. That's the mystery of the prophet of Islam.
PHILLIPS: Interesting. I want to get back to that point in a minute, but as you talk about prophet Mohammed, and you wrote the trilogy. You wrote a book on Buddha, you wrote a book on Jesus. Were you surprised by anything that you learned about Mohammed? What's different from the prophet of Mohammed you know - from - when you look at the life of Jesus, or the teachings of Jesus, and the life and teachings of Buddha?
CHOPRA: Well, Jesus is the Son of God and he says, I'm the Son of God. Buddha says I'm the Enlightened One, I'm awake. Mohammed says I'm a man among men. I'm just like you. Everything that happens that is good in life comes from Allah. And everything that is not good, I take the responsibility. That's a great leader.
Mohammed is more like you and me, Kyra. He has paradoxes. He has contradictions. He has questioning. He questions his own motives, and ultimately, he has the ability to listen to a universal domain of consciousness. But he's struggling all the while. You know, he's a married man. He has children. He's a very ordinary person and to boot, he's illiterate. And yet, he has revelation coming to him. That's what surprised me about Mohammed.
PHILLIPS: And the fact that you point out that he was illiterate, and you also point out the fact that, you know, he has this six-year-old wife. Are you concerned about a backlash because of those type of details that you write about when it comes to the prophet Mohammed?
CHOPRA: Those are well-accepted details even in the Muslim culture and Muslim world. And, you know, we cannot judge across the abyss of time. In those days, in that culture, in Arabia, marriage was often a way of preserving lineage. And cementing alliances between tribes. And, in fact, Ayikha, his wife, was betrothed to someone else before she married him and ended up being his greatest champion. She was responsible for 2,225 hadits (ph) or messages or opinions of divine law after he died, and is regarded by Muslims as the mother of the believers.
PHILLIPS: It really is an important time to know more about Mohammed right now, isn't it?
CHOPRA: Yes, of course. And I think this is a very crucial time where we need to come up with creative solutions, and not keep demonizing people. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "an eye for an eye will render us all blind."
PHILLIPS: Deepak Chopra. The book is "Mohammed: A Story of the Last Prophet." Always good to see you, Deepak. Thank you so much.
CHOPRA: Thanks, Kyra. Thank you very much for having me.
PHILLIPS: More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Checking top stories.
A security bug has hit thousands of Twitter users. A security company researcher says the bug causes potentially dangerous content to appear on computer screens without warning. The researchers say the bad links may have also been retweeted, causing the flaw to spread.
NATO says a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan this morning killing nine American soldiers. The number of fallen heroes so far this year, more than 500.
And Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at the U.N. this morning. He's among the world leaders taking part in a summit on ways to fight poverty, hunger and disease.
And on that note, we all know what a loose cannon Iran's president can be. You just never know what he's going to say, how outrageous his interviews are going to be, or who he is going to offend. He just finished speaking at the U.N. summit, and believe it or not, he did stay on topic.
Well, until the end. They actually stopped the translation. As you know, he usually goes off on another tangent, and so we're trying to find out exactly what was said.
Meanwhile, remember the last time that he spoke in New York? He claimed Iran was seeking nuclear power for peaceful purposes only. He said that he thought more research is necessary to determine facts from the Holocaust. He also said there's no oppression of women in Iran and no suppression of free speech. And then of course, there was this memorable gem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (via translator): In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country.
(LAUGHTER)
AHMADINEJAD: In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK, you see the point I'm making here. Sometimes his statements are so ridiculous, so out there, that you just can't do anything but laugh. "Saturday Night Live" knows exactly what I'm talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY SAMBERG, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE CAST MEMBER (singing): The only threat I see is the threat of you not coming home with me. Our love for each other is like when planets collide. Can't express how I feel (INAUDIBLE).
ADAM LEVINE, LEAD SINGER OF MAROON 5: Iran! Now you're so far away. It's your home but in my heart, you'll stay.
SAMBERG: I'm crazy for you, Mahmoud. You can deny the Holocaust all you want. But you can't deny there's something between us. I know you say there's no gays in Iran, but you're in New York now, baby.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Ahmadinejad, you are back in New York's spotlight right now, and believe me, we're listening to every word you say.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is in some hot water for some questionable praise that he directed at a fellow senator. That story and other news from the Political Ticker, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In Washington this hour, a major Tea Party group just announced it is getting $1 million from a yet to be named donor. The Tea Party Patriot is a coalition of more than 2,500 local Tea Party groups, and the big donation will be split up among the groups that need it most. Coordinators hope to hand out the money by October 4th, just under a month to the midterm elections. Keep in mind, the average Tea Party donation is around $80. This is a significant cash infusion.
Time now for other stories crossing our Political Ticker. Let's go to Capitol Hill. Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash with the latest. Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, sometimes people don't see what we see behind the scenes here, and often when the Senate majority leader Harry Reid comes before the cameras, you can see his aides kind of hovering and almost hold their breath until he's done speaking because they're afraid he might say something to get him in trouble. Well, he did maybe do something like that yesterday at a fundraiser, private fundaiser in New York. This is first on our Ticker. He called the New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand "the hottest senator."
Now, this is something that you know, maybe he didn't make up out of thin air. She has been called one of the 50 most beautiful people by "The Hill" newspaper. That's certainly getting a lot of buzz up here.
And secondly, Joe Miller. He was somebody who was a guest on "JOHN KING U.S.A.," and he came from behind, from nowhere, really, and beat the Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski just a few weeks ago. And he is somebody calls Lisa Murkowski a hypocrite because he says that she is bemoaning the Tea Party activists when she, in fact, has gotten money from outside Alaska, from lobbyists.
And, lastly, all eyes here are on a crucial vote on "don't ask, don't tell." That is, of course, the effort to repeal the policy of gays in the military. That is something that is too close to call right now. We are watching that very carefully, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Dana Bash from the Hill. Dana, thanks. And we will have your next political update in an hour, and a reminder. For all the latest political news, you can also go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.
Witchy woman. It's more than a popular Eagles' song these days after Delaware's Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate stirs the pot of controversy with a decade-old admission to witchcraft.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING) PHILLIPS: Every day at this time, we honor service members who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call it "Home and Away."
And today, we lift up Corporal Jason John Hernandez. His mother, (INAUDBLE) Hernandez, sent us these pictures. Jason was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Mosul in September 2007. His mom wants Jason to be remembered for his courage and trying to make the world a better place. She says Jason could make you laugh on your worst day. He had a huge heart and was a great friend.
And here's what his platoon leader said about Jason. He truly loved being a soldier and would not have wanted the events that transpired to occur any differently. I know that part of him will always be a part of us, whose lives he touched both as a soldier and human being.
If you have a loved one or a comrade you would like to honor, here's all you have to do. Just go to CNN.com/homeandaway. Type in your service member's name in the upper right-hand search field, pull up the profile, send us your thoughts, your pictures, and we will keep the memory of your hero alive.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's all over -- the recession, that is. A group of economists that decides such things made actually that official announcement yesterday, and stocks rallied in response. So, where the heck do we go from here? Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.
Alison, do tell.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's a really good question, Kyra. I'll go at it as best I can.
You know, it's true, though. Just because the recession is over, it really doesn't mean that we feel like it's over or that the economy is really healthy. Now, the group that decides when a recession begins or ends is called the NVR.
Now, it never said conditions are favorable. It only said that the economy stopped falling. Because there is a big thing hanging over the economy. It's called unemployment. Economists are saying that the jobless rate isn't going to drop to pre-recession levels for years.
Also, stocks could be vulnerable to a pull back because the Dow is up almost 30 percent since the recession ended, and some are saying that the markets could be oversold and could be ripe for another sell- off. But most economists think we are going to avoid a double-dip recession. That's good news.
We are seeing some pickup in the economy, albeit very slowly. We're seeing merger activity. That's really increasing lately. Corporate earnings have been strong, manufacturing, housing. Those areas are recovering, albeit very slowly.
And today, we got a new report sewing that new home construction surged. That's a really good sign. So, we're really seeing that push and pull play out on Wall Street as investors wait to hear from the Fed this afternoon. We're not expecting to have any change in interest rates, though investors are waiting to see what the Fed says in its statement, if the Fed will take action to pump any more money into the economy to really rev it up to get it going.
All right. Let's take a quick look at the numbers. Dow Industrials down about seven. The NASDAQ is off about 3. Bottom line, with the recession, though, the worst may be over, but we have a long haul ahead. More coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's doubtful that Eagles' song will be on any GOP play list in the coming six weeks, especially in Delaware where the newly minted Republican nominee for U.S. Senate is rocking from a decade-old admission of dabbling in witchcraft. Of course, CNN's Jeanne Moos stirs a cauldron of controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Nancy Pelosi's opponent presented her as the wicked witch, little did we know that yet another witch would bewitch the media.
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I dabbled in witchcraft. I never joined the coven.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONNELL: I dabbled in witchcraft and hung around people who were doing these things.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BILL MAHER, HOST, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": Sarah Palin is mean, and Christine is not.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MOOS: The press may be laughing, but the witches aren't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via phone): She was ill informed then, and it appears that she continues to be ill informed.
O'DONNELL: One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar.
MOOS: Wiccan reverend Selena Fox says hers is a nature religion.
SELENA FOX, WICCAN REVEREND: Witchcraft is not Satanism. It's not hocus-pocus.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MOOS: How about this defense from a supporter online? "Well, I used a Ouija board once. So what?"
Here was Christine's O'Donnell defense as seen on "The View."
O'DONNELL: I was in high school. There's been no witchcraft since. If there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter.
JOY BEHAR, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: I don't' really understand. What does that mean?
STAR JONES, "THE VIEW" CO-HOST: She's saying that if she was a witch, she would have cast a spell on Karl Rove.
BEHAR: Ohhh!
MOOS: Sure stirred up a cauldron on "The View."
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW: OK, OK! There are people listening to us who think, why don't those witches shut up!
MOOS: If Sarah Palin became known for her wink, will Christine O'Donnell become known for her nose twitch? More than a decade ago, Christine O'Donnell was a frequent guess on Bill Maher's show. Now, if she won't come on, he's threatening to release more old clips.
MAHER: It's like a hostage crisis. Every week you don't show up, I'm going to throw another body out.
MOOS: Hey, Bill Maher has his own skeletons from the past.
MAHER: Art thou a witch?
Well, it depends on how you define art.
MOOS: And among those old clips, we found this.
MAHER: Thanks for the underwear.
MOOS: Maher says he doesn't remember what "thanks for the underwear" was a reference to. Do witches even wear underwear?
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: That does it for us. Thanks for joining us. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning. Brooke Baldwin in for Tony Harris today. Brooke?
