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Justice Department Argues Capture or Kill Order for an American Citizen with Terrorist Ties; Consumer Product Expert Gives Advice for Saving on Energy; Pastor of Mega Church to Address Charges of Sexual Abuse during Sermon
Aired September 25, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Seven steps to saving money. We start your home from your thermostat to your dishwasher.
A mirror mission goes viral, now in the running to become the most popular video in the world. We'll show you our other contenders in our 3:00 p.m. eastern hour.
And major changes in health care coverage went into effect this week. Coming up in our 4:00 p.m. eastern hour, we'll tell you how those changes could impact your next doctor's visit.
You're in the CNN Newsroom where the news unfolds live this Saturday, September 25th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
Up first, national security and the case of a Yemen-American cleric by the name of Anwar Al Awlaki. The Obama administration is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the father of the militant cleric, citing classified information would be revealed. He's suing to prevent the U.S. government from targeting Awlaki in a capture or kill order.
Awlaki has been linked to Al Qaeda. The U.S. believes he's hiding in Yemen. Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence has been following all of this from Washington. So Chris, what kind of military and intelligence information are we talking about?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, for obvious reasons, the government is not going to get an exact specifics. But a Justice Department spokesman said basically what they're talking about are military and intelligence operations going on overseas.
Their argument, the government's argument is they're not going to disclose to an active operational terror exactly when, how, and where the U.S. government is operating to fight terrorism around the world.
WHITFIELD: And he's an American citizen.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: His father is contending that he's on this kill list by the CIA, that they want to assassinate him. What kind of protections does this American have against being assassinated by his own government? LAWRENCE: Yes, it almost sounds kind of funny in an ironic way when you say that -- you have the right not to be assassinated. I think that's the argument from the ACLU and some of the other civil rights groups, they're saying, you know, how, when it comes to life or death decisions, can the executive branch of government just have sort of cart blanche to decide which of its citizens it targets for assassination.
They say there should be some judicial oversight over that, because Awlaki is placed on this list to be captured or killed. The federal government on its side is arguing the courts should have no place in putting legal decisions, injecting those into day-to-day decisions that the administration has to make on how to fight terrorism around the world.
Take a look -- or listen for a second at what a former government official says about this case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID RIVIKIN, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWYER: This is a war, the citizens of the individual is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether or not this individual is an enemy combatant that can be lawfully attacked with deadly force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: So we get on one side, have you people saying he's still an American citizen. You don't lose those rights. Others saying citizenship cannot be factored in when you're talking about an act of terrorist.
WHITFIELD: So the government officials believe he's been living in Yemen. Is his father saying yes, he is indeed in Yemen? If so, what is he doing there?
LAWRENCE: We believe that --
WHITFIELD: Besides potentially recruiting?
LAWRENCE: Most government officials believe that Awlaki came back to Yemen in 2004. He was believed to have been killed in an air strike last December. That was later proven not to be the case.
Back in March, he released a video urging Muslims to turn against their own country and rise up and attack the United States. And then just in July, the FBI warned a Seattle cartoonist that Awlaki had put out a death threat against her and several other cartoonists around the world.
So he's still out there, he's still obviously making public statements, and that's one of the reasons the U.S. government has him on this list. Fredricka?
LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence in Washington, thanks so much. Keep us posted on this. And coming up in the next hour, we'll talk to a constitutional law expert about the complex legal questions being raised by this case. Would a federal court side with the government's national security argument?
And in Yemen, security forces are touting a victory against Al Qaeda today. The brigadier general in charge of security says his troops are chasing down militants who flood one southern town to the mountains. Yemen's government has been intensifying efforts to combat terrorism, targeting a splinter group called Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
But there was violence in the capital of Sanaa. Al Qaeda militants attacked a busload of Yemeni security forces, wounding eight of them.
Freed American hiker Sarah Shourd finally got her wish. Some 14 months after pleading for a meeting with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, she actually spoke with him. Shourd spent the time pleading for the release of her fiancee Shane Bauer and her friend Josh Fattal still being held in an Iranian president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SHOURD, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: I want to be able to talk to the president. Something I prayed for a long time. It's a good feeling for me to be able to tell him my story directly. I'm thankful for this, and hope it will make a difference for Shane and Josh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Shourd met with Ahmadinejad in New York where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly this week.
And now the growing sex scandal involving well known Atlanta pastor Eddie Long. A fourth man has filed a lawsuit against Bishop Long, claiming the mega church leader coerced him into sex. Long is expected to respond during a church service tomorrow.
CNN's Marty Savidge is covering this story, join us now live. But we don't know exactly what the pastor's going to say, we just know that he'll be speaking publicly before his congregation for the first time since these allegations came to the surface.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll get to them in a minute. Since the first lawsuit came out, there had always been a kind of speculation going on that there were going to be more lawsuits to come. We eventually saw two of them, we saw three yesterday afternoon, late in the day. We saw suit number four.
This one comes from 22-year-old Spencer La Grande. He's a young man that was not actually a member of the congregation at the New Birth Church in Atlanta, but instead in Charlotte, North Carolina, where there is a satellite church for New Birth.
It was in 2005 he met Bishop Long. They initially started communicating over the telephone, but in a couple of months they started meeting apparently in person to the point where Bishop Long invited this young man to go on a trip to Africa.
The young man was 17 at the time. He accompanied Bishop Long on that trip, and that's when La Grande says the intimate sexual contact began, and then it went on for several years after that, all the way up until 2009.
And then like the previous lawsuits, he talks about how there's the exotic travel, shopping sprees, money, jewelry, there's all of this enticement, while at the same time Bishop Long is engaging with him in intimate sexual contact.
WHITFIELD: So in the first complaint it does name a number of other church members fairly higher up in the food chain, so to speak. Do these other complaints corroborate that there are other church members who knew about this activity, and may have been complicit in some way?
SAVIDGE: This is the point that the attorney for the plaintiffs is trying to make. We're not talking about one individual here, it's not all about Bishop Eddie Long in the accusations that are being made. It is that in many ways there were other members of the church that facilitated the wrongdoing, if in fact it did occur.
And that is they helped provide housing for the men, the money and transportation that allowed for all of this to happen. We have to point out that the attorneys and Bishop Long through statements have vehemently denied from the beginning all of these allegations that have been made.
I want to play to you a sound bite. It comes from Craig Gillen, the attorney for Bishop Eddie Long. He spoke out on a nationally syndicated radio show on Wednesday soon after the first suits had been announced. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG GILLEN, ATTORNEY FOR BISHOP EDDIE LONG: "Let me be clear, the charges against me and New Birth are false. I have devoted my life to helping others and these false allegations hurt me deeply. But my faith is strong and the truth will emerge."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: So there you hear the voice of Craig Gillen. He's the attorney who speaks out for Bishop Eddie Long.
As you point out tomorrow, we'll hear from the bishop himself as he talks about this directly to his congregation. A lot of rumors have been flying in anticipation of this event. And so there's been some damage control.
And in fact, let me give you this statement that actually came from Art Franklin, the spokesperson. He says the rumor that Bishop Long is stepping down on Sunday is absolutely false. Bishop Eddie Long is and will continue to be the senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
It shows you there are a lot of people, a lot of talk out there as to what's going to happen tomorrow. We won't know that until tomorrow.
WHITFIELD: And because this is an ongoing case, you would think his attorney is probably going to advise Bishop Long from saying very much about the case from the pulpit. So it will be intriguing to see what area he's willing to talk about.
SAVIDGE: You're right. It's different when you talk, I suppose, from the pulpit or to your congregation. Some people say it is not the appropriate place, perhaps, to talk about what they might consider ungodly things.
WHITFIELD: Thank you very much. Martin Savidge, appreciate that. We'll be checking in with you throughout the day, and tomorrow you'll be there at New Birth Church to witness firsthand what is and what is not said by Bishop Eddie Long. Thank you.
And of course we'll have live coverage of Bishop Long's address to the congregation tomorrow morning. It is scheduled for 8:00 eastern, 5:00 pacific. And he has a second sermon at 11:00 a.m. as well eastern time. Of course you can you keep your channel right here on CNN and we'll have full coverage of all the events surrounding this scandal.
Also, seven simple ways to save over $1,000 on your energy bill, that's straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, saving energy and money, that's a pretty good combination. Here are seven easy ways to do that. And your savings could add up to more than $1,000 a year, $1,000 in savings -- pretty impressive. Joining us now from New York, Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman. She is the deputy home editor for "Consumer Reports." Good to see you.
CELIA KUPERSZMID LEHRMAN, DEPUTY HOME EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Thank you for inviting me.
WHITFIELD: Well, it's a pleasure. One of the first things people need to do in their home is you have to get the temperature going just right, depending on the season, of course, in your home. It all boils down to your thermostat. Why is this still a key component to keeping your energy bill down?
LEHRMAN: Well, it's really important to program the thermostat, because you want to be sure that you're lowering the temperature in your home about five to 10 degrees at night and when you're not there. By getting a programmable thermostat, it will do that automatically, so you don't have to keep remembering to do it.
And that can really add up to a lot of money, about $200 a year. And if you don't have a programmable thermostat, you can buy one for about $50 to $80. And lots of utilities are offering rebates on them.
WHITFIELD: Wow, that's a great savings right there.
Now, when it comes down to your television set, apparently there's something you can do. There's something called a -- some sort of mode that you can adjust on your television set that might save energy. I have no idea what this is. Explain.
LEHRMAN: Most manufacturer's ship the TV's in retail mode. That's so it will look good under the bright lights in a retail store. You don't need at that mode, and it uses more energy. You can switch it to home mode. That's going to save you, depending on the size of the TV, about you $30 to $60 a year.
WHITFIELD: This is somewhere on the back of your television set?
LEHRMAN: No, it's in the setup menu. So you have to go in and program it. That's what you do.
And there are a lot of hidden energy costs in your home. There are about five percent to 10 percent of your energy is just from things that are drawing power when you don't have them on or when you don't have them in standby.
And one of the worst offenders is video games. The video games, if your kids aren't using them, whenever you can get them to not use them, turn them off. And that can save about you $125 a year, which is a pretty significant savings.
WHITFIELD: Yes. OK, and you can also save by not being so much of a lead foot too.
LEHRMAN: That's right.
WHITFIELD: Speeding means spending a lot more money.
LEHRMAN: It certainly does. And it's not just speeding. It's also those jackrabbit starts and the hard braking. If you request obey the speed limits and avoid those hard braking and quick starts, you can also save about $200 a year.
WHITFIELD: And a lot us may want to use hot water, warm water when we wash our clothes because we want to get all that dirt, really get that dirt out of there. And you say that is using up a lot of energy, just stick with the cold water, please.
LEHRMAN: That's right, you can you stick with the cold water. You can use the cold water formulations of detergent. Tide 2X Ultra did very well in our tests, better than lots of others on taking out tough stains. And you can save about $65 a year. Another way to save money with your water is to stop pre-rinsing your dishes. You really don't need to.
WHITFIELD: I don't want to see food particles in my dishwasher floating around, and then it ends up on the glass on the second rack because the piece of spaghetti has been splashing around in there.
LEHRMAN: You don't need to do that. It wastes about 6,500 gallons of water a year. Our tests have shown you don't need to. And can you save about $75.
WHITFIELD: And how do I know whether the ducts in my house, the air ducts streaming through the attic are leaky or not? You say that is an area can you save money, by repairing those leaky ducts.
LEHRMAN: Well, you can -- really the best way to do it is have a pro come in. It will be hard for you to tell if they're leaking. You'll be able to tell if they're disconnected. Really, most likely they're un-insulated. It's really the most common thing that people overlook, is making sure the ducts are sealed and insulated.
And it's something you really should try to do, because it's huge savings.
WHITFIELD: My goodness.
LEHRMAN: Yes. It's $400. So you can get the payback on that cost pretty quickly. And what's important is it's not just going to save when you the heat's on, it's going to save you when the air conditioning's on.
WHITFIELD: Who doesn't like to save money? Celia, thanks so much. Of course we're going to have some questions for you on the other side as well because we're getting questions from you at home on how to be more energy efficient. You're visiting my blog at CNN.com/Fredricka and sending some questions as well at Facebook. We'll get some of the questions answered by Celia right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Police say at least 12 people were shot at a house party in Los Angeles. One person is dead. The condition of the other victims is unknown. And it also isn't known whether the alleged shooter is at large. We'll bring you more details on this developing story when we get them.
And five people were wounded at a party near the Seton Hall University campus in New Jersey. The alleged shooter is still on the loose. Police say he was turned away from the party, but then came back with a gun. The wounded students are from Seton Hall and the nearby New Jersey Institute of Technology.
And federal agents raided homes and businesses in Chicago and Minneapolis as part of a terror investigation. The homes of anti-war activists were targeted. The FBI says it's part of an investigation into material support for terrorism. But a group affiliated with the investigation calls it harassment.
We're back talking energy saving with Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman, and she's the deputy home editor for "Consumer Reports" with some great tips you heard earlier, seven easy ways to save yourself money, it amounts to $1,000 in savings a year if you follow her steps. Josh Levs is also here. Folks want to know, how do I save more?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is a great angle too. We're getting into the months where it's going to start to get colder and colder. We've been going through all this stuff on natural gas lately.
So Celia I have a bunch of questions for you. I want to start off with Lori. Lori packed a few of them into this one page. She says, "How cost effective are solar panels as a viable alternative to traditional electric and gas companies. How much would the average consumer need to invest for a panel, and how much could they save? Are there group discounts?"
Within that list of questions, what can you tackle there?
LEHRMAN: Let's talk about the solar energy power. It depends on where you live. That's going to be the biggest thing. If you're in a very sunny, warm climate, you're likely to get a quicker pay back. But when we tested solar panels for water heating, we had them on our roof for about a year, and in the summer they were about 80 percent efficient. But that plummeted down to below 30 percent in the winter.
LEVS: That's a big loss.
LEHRMAN: So solar panels are not particularly the quickest way to pay back and get energy. There are a lot of other things that you can do, because they're going to be very expensive.
WHITFIELD: It's tough to hear this now.
LEVS: Me too. Solar panels are not going to be a panacea the way people describe them.
WHITFIELD: Right.
LEVS: But I'm surprised it drops down to 30.
And are there good group discounts out there? Can you get together with a bunch of other people say we all want to do this solar panel thing and hook up a deal?
LEHRMAN: You might be able to. But you have to think about the costs. The costs can be very high. For the hot water systems, they were anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. So even if you got a group discount. There are federal tax credits, local credits. So it's the kind of thing have you to go into with your eyes wide open.
You want to crunch the numbers, find out what all the rebates are, what all the costs are, and then really look at, and look at it as sort of a hard numbers kind of decision.
LEVS: I have limited time. I want to get to the next one. Let's get to this question from Laura. Laura is asking if she should close off a room. "I live in a home that's a bit larger than I need. I close the heating vent and the door. Is that a good idea?"
LEHRMAN: Well, not really.
WHITFIELD: I'm guilty. I've always done that. I thought that was smart.
(LAUGHTER)
LEHRMAN: It doesn't help as much as you think. It really is not going to help as much as you think because what's going to happen is there's going to be a gap under the door and the air is going to come in, and that room will be very cold. And it means the room next to it or surrounding it is going to have cold air leaking into it.
So even though it sounds like a good idea, you're not going to save as much energy. The better idea would be to have your setback thermostat. It's really not that great an idea.
LEVS: Really quickly, let's get to one from Angela.
WHITFIELD: I heard quickly.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: Angela -- "What are big ticket ways renters can save energy when they're not in a position to modify their own homes?"
LEHRMAN: You want to be able to control what you can control. You Can you control your lighting. I would say for the most part, you want to try to switch from regular incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents. They've done really well in our tests. The light quality is better. They don't flicker, they don't buzz. And it can save you about $6 per bulb.
So that can really add up. So that's something can you do. Do the things that you can control.
LEVS: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: Fantastic tips. Thank you so much, Celia, appreciate you coming to us from New York, "Consumer Reports."
LEHRMAN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, the U.S. is beefing up efforts to combat terrorism for one of the largest subway systems in the country. We'll tell you how.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: New York subway riders may feel safer these days. The city has expanded the camera surveillance system to the biggest subway stops, and these are smart cameras, capable of some pretty high tech functions. Here's our Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Underground at New York Times Square or Penn Station, two of the city's largest subway stations, cameras are now watching you, and police may be as well.
RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: This is a coordination in lower Manhattan where we bring in thousands, literally. of video feeds.
SNOW: This hub is where we met up with New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly. The goal here, prevent terror attacks and crime. Police in private companies monitor these surveillance cameras 24/7, and 500 new cameras have recently been added, watching subway stations in a system that has an estimated 5 million riders a day.
KELLY: Roughly 40 percent of the terror attacks in the world are focused on transportation systems. We have to make this a high priority.
SNOW: That priority has the NYPD learning lessons from cities like London, where Major Bloomberg inspected the thousands of cameras that make up the so called "right of steel." Surveillance cameras in London proved crucial in the 2005 bombings. The NYPD had detectives in London at the time.
MICHAEL RIGGIO, NYPD COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: And the room adjoining here are the two rooms in their apartment that they used to make their explosives.
SNOW: Michael Riggio is with NYPD's counterterrorism unit.
RIGGIO: You may think this is a narcotics lab. But, in fact, you may be right in the middle of an explosives lab.
SNOW: But as officers look to past attacks for clues they hope technology will help prevent future attacks. One sergeant explained how analytical software is programmed to seek out specifics.
MICHAEL JOY, NYPD COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: If this gentleman here was to drop his backpack and leave it against this pole, after a predetermined period of time, the system would alert users to bring this camera up for them.
SNOW: But the cities civil liberties union is raising concerns about privacy. The police commissioner tells us all the tapes are purged after 30 days unless they're part of an investigation.
RIGGIO: We're not looking at private spaces. We're looking at spaces where the public has no reasonable expectation of privacy.
SNOW: That doesn't satisfy Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
DONNA LIEBERMAN, NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: You don't expect, and you shouldn't have to expect that every move you make when you're in Times Square or Penn Station or Grand Central will be recorded perhaps forever by the government and distributed to who knows who.
SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And a big Christian concert for army troops tonight in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and it's drumming up a bit of controversy as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A federal judge in Tacoma, Washington is ordering the reinstatement of an Air Force nurse. Major Margaret Witt was dismissed under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy in 2007 on the grounds that she had a six-year relationship with another woman. Witt sued to get her job back. A judge ruled her discharge was unconstitutional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. MARGARET WITT, AIR FORCE NURSE: I'm absolutely thrilled. All I ever wanted to do was go back to my unit and do my job. So just for that chance I'm really excited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The Senate this week temporarily turned aside legislation to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" law.
And a Christian outreach concert tonight for soldiers and families in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina is creating a bit of controversy. Some critics say the "Rock the Fort" concert is preaching to our soldiers and they say it's going too far. Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Christian concert is called "Rock the Fort," and it's living up to its name.
LAWRENCE: The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is bringing Christian rock bands to worship at Ft. Bragg, and, some say, crossing a line.
MIKEY WEINSTEIN, MILITARY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOUNDATION: The express purpose of this event is to spread the gospel to all those who are lost. Soldiers being given pieces of paper with seven blank spaces on it to bring seven more people to Christ.
LAWRENCE: Ft. Bragg advertised the concert on its website, and Mike Weinstein says more than 100 soldiers there have complained to a military religious freedom group sending e-mails like, "Please help us, MRFF. This is wrong."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to give you a chance to make a decision. It's your choice.
LAWRENCE: "Rock the Fort" has been to several other bases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We pray that not only they become soldiers here in boot camp, we pray they'll come to god's army in the sense of giving their life over to Jesus Christ.
LAWRENCE: Critics say that's a dangerous mission for the military to bring into basic training.
WEINSTEIN: We're not supposed to be using the army to engender new soldiers for Christ.
CHAPLAIN COL. DAVID HILLIS: Our goal is not to proselytize anyone. And our goal is not to coerce anyone.
LAWRENCE: The event on the base is open to the public. No one has to come except the thousands of soldiers and their families who are excited to do so.
HILLIS: Really it's up to the individual. And people like any message or any faith can choose to accept or reject. We're offering an invitation, but that invitation is only voluntary and of the free choice of that particular individual.
LAWRENCE: The chaplain wrote to North Carolina churches on Ft. Bragg letterhead promoting the event. Billy Graham's website states right up front the "Rock the Fort" website is designed to channel new believers into your church.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote the secretary of the Army, urging him to stop the militaries endorsement of the event. They argue proselytizing is prohibiting and the army is breaking the law by endorsing religion.
The chaplain says the base is merely a host for anyone who wants to come. The chaplain also told me that sharing the faith is part of the Christian tradition, and he's not only obligated but happy to provide the same kind of support to other faiths on base if they wanted to put on a similar event.
Critics say when it comes to religion, all the army is supposed to do is officiate religious events and provide a place for soldiers to worship. And these concerts go way beyond that.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Police in one New England town are trying to take the stress out of getting a parking ticket by showing the person who's getting the ticket images of yoga positions. That story is coming up.
But first, students from Virginia Tech one year a solar decathlon competition, proving that a solar powered house can be comfortable and affordable. Our Rob Marciano shows us this state of the art home that's programmed to do almost everything on its own. It's this week's "Edge of Discovery."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Welcome to the home of the future. When you wake up, the cold concrete floor warms up. Your favorite music starts playing and coffee begins to brew. As you drive away, the house locks itself.
ROBERT DUNAY, VIRGINIA TECH: It's the solar house that gets all of its energy from the sun.
MARCIANO: A group of Virginia Tech students designed the house to be completely automated. It even has insulation panels that adjust on their own to the changing weather outside.
DUNAY: The house is autonomous so it operates on its own. It will main 100 percent energy efficiency. However, no one likes to be completely controlled by a computer.
MARCIANO: You can overwrite any command using an iPhone or iPad. Inside, the house is about 600 square feet.
DUNAY: You really have to convince people that they could live in here, so the space saving solutions are a big selling point for us.
MARCIANO: In the bedroom, the kitchen and the living room.
DUNAY: When these sliding doors are open, and you open the area up to the decks, you triple your square footage.
MARCIANO: Even the water can be reused using outside recycling ponds. Designers say homes like this could be on the market in just a few years.
Rob Marciano, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: We're making moves at the water cooler. First to Cincinnati, where it is Oktoberfest, which also means beer. And a lot of you drink a little too much and it makes you do the funky chicken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: All right Ultimate fighter in Cincinnati native Rich Franklin lead the festival goers in the chicken dance. This year was billed as the world's largest. They have a lot of fun out there.
And speaking of the world's largest, it may have looked like complete chaos, there was a method to this madness. Take a look, more than 1,700 students descended on the events center at the University of California at Irvine to do what? To play the world's largest dodge ball game.
They earned a spot in the "Guinness Book of World Records" by topping the previous mark set at the University of Alberta. Canada. The owner says he got the idea sitting around his dorm room. Who doesn't love dodge ball?
Angry about getting a parking ticket? The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts says just chill, in fact, just ohm. Tickets there come with envelopes that illustrate yoga positions so you can make that anger simply melt away. At least that's the theory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a waste of an envelope, because if I know it's a ticket, I'm not looking at the poses to relax.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely absurd.
SUSAN CLIPPINGER, TRAFFIC, PARKING, TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT: Generally there was not a lot of money associated with doing this. Most of the things are things we do anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: I guess the idea was to make you feel good. Officials hope to debunk the idea that parking tickets are a hostile action. Obviously not anyone is that convinced. They want to know why do I have to pay this $25?
Bonnie, how are you doing.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm doing well.
WHITFIELD: You had an interesting week, didn't you? We're seeing this eco-savvy economic figure. A lot of folks don't realize this is the invention of this man here, Ted Turner. You had a chance to sit down and talk to him about Captain Planet?
SCHNEIDER: Watch and see, Fredricka.
Ted Turner remains committed to fighting environmental problems as does his animated creation, Captain Planet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Eco superhero Captain Planet and his five planeteers have been fighting evil in the environment for 20 years. The cartoon was created by CNN founder Ted Turner in the fall of 1990.
TED TURNER, "CAPTAIN PLANET" CO-CREATOR: And hopefully, this program will make a big difference. If it doesn't, there isn't much future for the species.
SCHNEIDER: Ironically, the very first episode was about an oil spill.
TURNER: It was great 20 years ago, and it continues to be great. With Captain Planet teaches lessons with every episode.
SCHNEIDER: The cartoon featured five kid planeteers, each with their own eco superpower. Only when their powers are combined can they summit Captain Planet.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): They each have their rings for superpowers for wind, for earth, for heart, for water. If you, ted turner, were to have one of those rings yourself, which one would you want?
TURNER: Well, they're all equally important. The power of heart would be the one I would select if I had to select one.
SCHNEIDER: In your book, your biography "Call me Ted," you talk about nature and how it impacted you, ever since you were a child, it refreshed and recharged you. And that connection to nature for a lot of children today isn't happening because they're inside playing video games.
TURNER: Playing on video games.
SCHNEIDER: Is it your goal that captain planet and your other initiatives will get kids back outside?
TURNER: Absolutely, that's what we want to encourage them to do. Get them outdoors and turn over rocks and logs and seeing what's underneath them. There's a million things that can you do outdoors, the outdoors is unlimited.
SCHNEIDER: Isn't that how it is for you?
TURNER: Yes, that's exactly the way it started.
SCHNEIDER: Created in 1990, the Captain Planet cartoon was an overnight success. It was decided a year later that a percentage of the proceeds from licensing sales would go to create the Captain Planet Foundation. It's a nonprofit organization that educates and inspires kids to lead more eco-friendly lives.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Morehouse College student Clint Johnson is part of the new planeteers.
CLINT JOHNSON, CAPTAIN PLANET FOUNDATION: I hope the kids are spreading the word of making your community safe and clean. You feel better about where you come from and where you're going.
SCHNEIDER: Barbara Pyle, who co-created Captain Planet with Ted Turner, says the new planeteer movement is growing.
BARBARA PYLE, "CAPTAIN PLANET" CO-CREATOR: This is a voice this is a power to be reckoned with. We may not have heard of the planeteers yet, but you will hear from them.
SCHNEIDER: In the meantime, one question remains unanswered for over 20 years -- who is Captain Planet.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): A lot of people say that you really are captain planet?
TURNER: Well, you know, it's -- Captain Planet's more than just one person. But I really like him. He's my superhero, and has been ever since I conceived of him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Well, Captain Planet ran through 1996, that's when the last show was produced, it still runs in syndication. Now they have a huge online fan base. WHITFIELD: That's fantastic, all for the right reasons.
SCHNEIDER: Yes. Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: He was a lot of fun for you to interview. I love that his setting was kid friendly, wasn't it?
SCHNEIDER: That's right, captain planet. It was a good experience, a lot of fun.
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Bonnie. I appreciate that.
Well, they were fighting words in Fresno. A California candidate calls the city awful, but now says she didn't really mean it. Your CNN politics.com update next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCHNEIDER: Time now for our "CNN Equals Politics" update. We're keeping an eye on all the latest headlines on the CNN.com "Political Ticker." Here's what's crossing right now.
There's a question now about whether a brawl at a Nevada candidate forum was really sparked by voter anger. Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle says it was staged by supporters of her opponents Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Angle just wanted to get on the news. Reid's camp responded saying the allegation by Angle raises serious questions about her character.
And Mitt Romney is predicting a win for Republicans come November. During a speech at the New Hampshire Republican Party convention this morning he said the dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama would be seen in the midterm results.
And California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is trying to set the record straight about Fresno. This week she compared the California city to Detroit saying, it's, quote, "awful." Now Whitman says she only meant that Fresno is having a tough time like Detroit. Unemployment in Fresno is 16 percent, one point higher than Detroit.
In the meantime, people are scratching their heads over some very unusual testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday. Mock news commentator Stephen Colbert delivered a sarcastic statement about a very real issue. CNN's Senior Congressional Correspondent Dan Bash was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Sure, celebrities testify before Congress all the time, but not like this.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": When you're picking beans you have to spend all day bending over. It turns out, and I did not know this, most soil is ground level. If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we make the ground waist high? Come on, where is the funding? This is America. I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.
BASH: Congressmen in both parties were visibly surprised. Some tried not to giggle. Colbert's comedic in character opener was far different from the straightforward statement he told the committee he would deliver. It was a risk Chairwoman Zoe Laughgrin knowingly took inviting the comedian to testify about the plight of migrant workers.
COLBERT: Trying to pick these beans, you're on my turf here.
BASH: And talking about his day working on a New York farm this summer to see what it's like.
COLBERT: We have to do something, because I am not going back out there. At this point I break into a cold sweat at the sight of a salad bar.
BASH: At times the satirists was serious about the cause.
COLBERT: This seems like the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don't have any rights as a result. And yet we still invite them to come here, and at the same time ask them to leave.
BASH: There was lots of Colbert's trademark truthiness.
COLBERT: Maybe this Ag jobs bill would help. I don't know. Like most members of Congress, I haven't read it.
BASH: The top Republican openly questioned why Colbert was qualified to talk about farm workers and whether migrants are doing jobs Americans won't.
REP. LAMAR SMITH, (R) TEXAS: Does one day working in the field make you an expert witness?
COLBERT: I believe one day of me studying anything makes me an expert witness.
SMITH: How many of those individuals were legal and how many were illegal?
COLBERT: I didn't ask them for their papers, though I had a strong urge too.
BASH: But Republicans weren't the only skeptics. In an awkward moment, the Democratic chairman of the full committee was so worried about the event becoming a circus he tried to kick Colbert out even before he spoke.
REP. JOHN CONYERS (D) MICHIGAN: I'm asking you to leave the committee room and submit your statement instead.
REP. ZOE LOFGREN, (D) JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR: I think many are eager to hear his comments.
CONYERS: That's fair enough.
COLBERT: I'm only here at her invitation.
BASH: Conyers told me afterwards, despite initially worrying it would be a circus, he actually thought it went well, even calling Cobert "profound." As for the chair woman who invited Cobert, I'm told she says she has no regrets. She got what she wanted, attention on this issue. In fact the media did swarm the hallways and pack the committee room, she joked during the hearing that there hasn't been this much attention in the judiciary committee since Bill Clinton's impeachment.
Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
