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Terrorist Plot Traced Back to Germany; Whitman versus Brown; Reviewing your Rights; Verizon to Refund 15M Customers; Did Bullying Lead to Rutgers Student's Suicide; Interview with Google's Chief Technology Advocate; More Attacks on Truck Conveys in Pakistan

Aired October 04, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon, in today for Ali Velshi. Here's what I've got on the rundown for you. A new term, a new court. Never had women had so much influence on the highest court in the land, and they start with some big controversial cases on the docket. Our Jeffrey Toobin, of course, he wrote the book on all of this called "The Nine." He'll look ahead for us.

Plus, you know, it is not your old school bullying, the internet age taking it to an entirely new level leading to the ultimate tragedy really. We're talking about death here. How to stop it? How to save the victims? Our network focus this week.

Plus, the search engine that's become synonymous with internet surfing, you know we're talking about Google. A Google bigwig is here live. If you want to know where you and the internet are heading next, make sure you stay tuned.

We were going to start with this. We start with a still developing story now. We're learning some startling new details right now about an origin of an al Qaeda terrorist plot that triggered this weekend's European travel alert. Here's some of the details on that.

European intelligence says a group of Jihadists from the German city of Hamburg are at the heart of a plot to launch coordinated attacks on so-called soft targets in a number of European cities.

German officials say the Jihadists were all recruited from the Taiba Mosque in Hamburg, Germany, which officials there say shut down in August. Now they say it had become a recruiting center for Jihadists across Europe.

It is the same mosque, incidentally, attended by the lead hijacker in the 9/11 attacks named as Mohammed Akta that was back, of course, in '90s. German officials say the group behind the latest plot left Hamburg for the tribal areas of Pakistan back in 2009 and most of them joined an al Qaeda link group fighting U.S. and coalition forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Now here's what we're being told. We're being told one of those men was Shahab Dashti, a German citizen of Iranian descent. Late in 2009, Dashti appeared in a militant video wielding a knife and a gun and urging other Germans to join in a holy war against American forces in Afghanistan.

Several other Germans appeared in the video and were taped using weapons in what appears to be a live fire exercise. Several scenes featured what appears to be the group storming enemy positions with rockets and guns and the type of combat skills, which western counterterrorism officials fear could be used in western cities, much like the 2008 attacks that terrorized Mumbai, India.

Western intelligence officials say they learned about the recent plot from one of the Hamburg group members, Ahmed Sidiqi. Now he is a German citizen of Afghan descent who was arrested in Afghanistan in July.

Also, we're just now learning from Pakistani sources that eight German nationals have been killed in a suspected drone strike in northwest Pakistan, but we don't have any idea on these yet. We're going to work on that for you.

Sidiqi was taken to the U.S. Air Base at Bagram for questioning. He has not been charged with anything. He's not been with anything and intelligence sources in Germany say he is cooperating with the investigation and giving them new information every day.

The other thing that is worth noting here is that several alleged militants who failed to make it to Pakistan's tribal areas are now back in Germany and they're being watched by German intelligence services.

You know, all of this sparked a U.S. State Department security alert for Americans traveling to Europe. As you know, if you watched us over the weekend, the alert issued over this weekend is not suggesting Americans should cancel their travel plans. It's mainly urging them to be extra aware of what's going on around them, especially if they're near tourist areas or taking public transportation.

It doesn't go into specifics. Britain also told its citizens to be on alert when traveling in France and Germany, France and Germany especially, and Japan issued a similar alert today.

Now for a better understanding of the plot and how it's being dealt with, we have terrorist analyst and investigative reporter Paul Cruickshank. He is on the line with us now on the phone and he joins us now from Hamburg.

So listen, this is very interesting information. Where do you think the attackers are right now?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST (via telephone): We really don't know where they are right now. It's very difficult to tell whether this attack was imminent or whether it was just in the planning stages.

The German authorities we're talking to over the last couple days are saying they consider this plot was not imminent, but it is not entirely clear whether western security services have complete control over this plot at this stage, Don. LEMON: OK, what are they doing specifically? If you can talk about tracking these people down.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, what we do know is there is a strong Hamburg connection to this plot. Foot soldiers in the plot were from Hamburg, some of the planners were from the city of Hamburg. That in March 2009, a group of about 11 people left the city and went to Pakistan and joined up with al Qaeda and received some training.

A number of this group then became involved with this plot. That comes from Ahmed Sidiqi who was arrested in July and taken to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and interrogated by U.S. officials.

And he has provided details of this plot to officials, which we're hearing about now. Now three of these groups are still at large in the travel areas of Pakistan, we're being told. Three German national still at large in the travel areas of Pakistan unaccounted for.

Part of the investigation will be to try to figure out where these people are, Don.

LEMON: All right. Paul Cruikshank, we appreciate it and stand by, we may need to get back to you as this story keeps unfolding. Again, still developing this terror - alleged terror plot that's supposed to be unfolding in Europe.

You know, as campaign debates go, the one in California over the weekend was really a scalding hot one. Fireworks erupted when Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman attacked Democratic rival Jerry Brown over immigration policy.

But what really set off Whitman was Brown's comments on her illegal immigrant housekeeper. It is our "Sound Effect" today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEG WHITMAN (R) CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You should be ashamed, you and your surrogates put her deportation at risk. You put her out there and you should be ashamed for sacrificing Nicki Diaz on the altar of your political ambitions.

I took accountability. We hired someone who I thought was legally. She was not. We unfortunately had to let her go. What would you have had me do? Would you have had me call the attorney general's office to have her deported? What would you have had me do other than exactly what we did?

JERRY BROWN (D) CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet and say, hey, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, let's go on from here. You have blamed her, blamed me, blamed the left, blamed the unions, but you don't take accountability.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Whitman was hounded over her former housekeeper all last week when it was revealed she had worked for Whitman for nine years. Most polls show Whitman and Brown neck and neck in the race for governor. Both candidates are vying for the Latino vote, which 21 percent of California's electorate.

You know, summer is already a distant memory for some of us, but for the highest court in the land, summer vacation ends today. We'll look at the new term and the new court when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. You know this is the first Monday in October, the day by tradition that Supreme Court justices suit up for a new term of arguments, decisions and orders.

But this first Monday is really a first. Never before have three of the sitting justices been women. Former Solicitor General Elena Kagan, you see her right there, she takes her place today alongside Sonia Sotomayor who is starting her second term and veteran Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Kagan replaces Justice John Paul Stevens who retired in June at the age of 90 after 34 years on the court. And she'll had plenty really to keep her busy.

On Wednesday, the court hears Snyder versus Felps. It's a case arising from so-called religious protest at military funerals and then next week, a Texas death row inmate will try to force the state to run the DNA test on crime scene evidence.

And then next month, the court takes up a California law that bans the sale of violent video games installed to children, and then later an Arizona law requiring businesses to confirm their workers are in this country legally.

That's going to be a very big one. Our senior legal analyst, Mr. Jeffrey Toobin has been waiting for this all summer or maybe not.

Jeffrey, will any of these cases set the tone for the new court? Good to see you by the way.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Don. You know, I think the case that draws the most interest - certainly is the most interesting to me is this case involving the Westboro Baptist Church, because it really is a case about what the First Amendment is sometimes called freedom for the thought that we hate.

Because this behavior by the members of this tiny church is so awful and so painful, they're the ones who protest at the funerals of service members, most of whom have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. You've got this horribly painful time for their families, talking about anti-gay signs that they're holding, which obviously have nothing to do with the soldiers, but the question is, are their actions protected by the First Amendment? It's a really hard question. LEMON: Here's what I found very interesting about this. Even before she got started, Elena Kagan has already recused herself from a number of cases that she worked on in the solicitor general's office.

So that will make it a possible 4-4 tie when the court takes them on. That's a possibility, which means all their work might be for naught. What is it, like 25 or so cases that she may recuse herself from?

TOOBIN: I think it's 24 so far. You know, this is something that came up during her confirmation hearings. It's come up before when solicitor generals have been nominated to the Supreme Court.

There are good marshal, Robert Jackson, I mean, there have been solicitor generals, not Robert Jackson, others who have been appointed to the Supreme Court. You know, the justices serve for a long time.

Twenty four cases in the scope of a Supreme Court career is not very long. It is true that 4-4 ties may happen. There are 4-4 ties occasionally in the court because sometimes justices have to recuse themselves, sometimes justices are sick.

It happens, but I don't think it's going to loom very large in Elena Kagan's probably very long tenure in the court.

LEMON: You know, it's been a while since I have read your book "The Nine." I don't remember if you touch on this, I think maybe you do, but this is why I want to ask you because we say, there it is "The Nine."

Jeffrey Toobin wrote the book on the Supreme Court. Senator Patrick Leahy who is the chair of the Judiciary Committee has proposed a law asking that retired -- one of those other justices to step in when other justices is recused. It seems to be fairly sensible, but is that a possibility? Is it viable?

TOOBIN: It's certainly a possibility. That's how appeals courts work. All the circuit courts of appeals when a judge recuses him or herself, they have a substitute judge. The Supreme Court has never worked that way.

It does seem like a suggestion, but the Supreme Court operates very much according to tradition, moves slowly when it comes to changing its procedures. That's why I think there will be cameras in the Supreme Court when hell freezes over.

I just think stuff doesn't happen very fast. The Congress doesn't really like to tamper with the Supreme Court's procedures. I think it's a reasonable suggestion by Senator Leahy, but I'm not holding my breath when it actually happens.

LEMON: It's going to be interesting, Jeffrey, to see women - their influence on the court especially unprecedented three women now. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much. Unfortunately, it's all we have time for the book is called "The Nine," and it's about this very issue, the Supreme Court. Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you, sir.

Verizon refunding almost $90 million to customers past and present. You might be one of them. We've got the details for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The company may not be happy about this, but I'm sure some customers are because Verizon says it will be doling out millions of dollars in refunds over the next couple of months to current and former customers.

Christine Romans here to explain what got Verizon in this situation? As I said, Christine, I'm sure they're not happy about it, but they have to do it. How did they get here?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How they got here was a couple years, it looks like, of improperly charging for data sessions for some Verizon Wireless customers, Don, who didn't even have a data plan.

So you were being charged for accessing the web or using data you weren't even using. So here's what's going to happen. In October and in November, if you're one of these customers, you're going to get a refund, a credit on your Verizon Wireless bill anywhere between $2 and $6.

This is 15 million customers are going to receive this credit. If you're a former Verizon wireless customer, you'll get a check in the mail for your $2 to $6. So I would say make sure that Verizon knows what your current address is, because you paid this money. They got this money out of your pocket so you want to make sure that you get it back.

Here is what Verizon says happened. A Verizon spokeswoman told us that there was a software glitch basically and that they were improperly accessing this money. Look, the majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones.

Others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges. The FCC, Don, has been investigating this for 10 months and says that it looks as though it's anywhere from $50 million or more money that consumers lost.

The FCC a little irritated at the end of its statement. We're gratified to see Verizon agree to finally repay its customers, but questions remain as to why it took Verizon two years to reimburse its customers and why greater disclosure and other corrective actions did not come much, much sooner?

That's from Michelle Alison, an FCC enforcement chief. So there you go, Verizon is going to cough off the money you'll see in your bill, but it does raise some questions. Don, about when you might have -- maybe a little other money might have been coming out - I mean, me it raises a question that I need to look at all my bills and make sure I didn't pay for things I didn't get. LEMON: Yes, as they say the fine print, but you know, people's lives are so busy right now. You don't have time for that. Here's my question, I'm sure over the last week, cell phones have been around, I'm sure I had a Verizon account somewhere at some point in time. Are they going to find me or do I really need to do some digging? What should the customer do?

ROMANS: If you're a current - if you're a current Verizon Wireless customer, they are going to credit your account in October and in November.

If you are no longer a Verizon customer, they're going to send you a check in the mail. If you moved three times, Don, I would suggest you contact the company and make sure they have your current address on file.

LEMON: $2 to $6 that's on average. Some people will get more though.

ROMANS: Yes, some people will get more and in fact, I've talked to some Verizon customers today who think they're owed a lot more than that and it's gone on for them back at a least a couple years. So check the bill and Verizon coming clean here. Again, the FCC still investigating and wants to know why it took Verizon so long.

LEMON: A lot about image (inaudible) when everyone's watching their portfolio so closely. What does this do for Verizon's image if anything? Will it affect them at all you think?

ROMANS: That's a good question. I think if they come back quickly and pay everyone very quickly and make sure it doesn't happen again, it's a bump in the road you can get over. But if it's an ongoing series of over charges and glitches, that will ultimately long term hurt its reputation no doubt.

LEMON: Christine Romans, you explain everything so skillfully. We appreciate it. Thank you. Have a great day.

ROMANS: Thanks, Don.

You can see more of Christine Romans on "YOUR MONEY" along with our very own Ali Velshi who's usually right here right now, but you can see them on Saturdays as well at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and also Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern as well.

Want to check some of your top stories right now. An alleged plot by Al Qaeda to target European cities has led the State Department to issue a security advisory. Americans traveling in Europe are urged to be extra cautious and aware of their surroundings.

A subsidiary of Shell Oil Company is collaborating with the folks behind the oil cleanup exchange. It's a competition to find innovative ways to catch oil slicks floating on the surface. Shell says it will provide technical and scientific support for that challenge. A national survey on American sexual behavior has turned up some very interesting stuff. One tidbit here says teens actually reported a higher rate of condom use than adults. This was the biggest U.S. sex study since 1994. It was funded by the maker of Trojan condoms.

All right, for two years now, he was a target. So tired of being bullied, he got a gun and he killed himself. His name is Ty Smalley. He was 11 years old. A powerful conversation with his father is coming up next. You don't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A family's nightmare spurs a father's new mission. He's trying to people's open eyes to the harm that bullying can cause, to the kind of emotional pain that can drive a sixth grader to take his own life. Here's CNN's Carol Costello.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kurt Smalley is on a mission. There he is an honored guest at Oklahoma City's Western Heights High School, trying to put a stop to bullying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to make a difference. I promised my son on Father's Day this year. I'd stop this from happening to another child.

COSTELLO: For years, Smalley's son Ty struggled with a bully at school.

(on camera): When you say he was being picked on, how was he being picked on?

KIRK SMALLEY, TY'S FATHER: Name calling. Ty was always kind of small, shoved here, pushed there.

COSTELLO (voice-over): His father says Ty was a typical kid with typical grades who took the abuse for two years. On the day Ty finally decided to push back physically, he got in trouble.

He was suspended from school. For Ty, that was too much to bear. On that day, last May, he killed himself. He was 11 years old.

SMALLEY: Ultimately, my son's safety rested in my hands. I was responsible for my son's safety. I don't hold --

COSTELLO (on camera): That's a harsh thing to say about yourself.

SMALLEY: I'm his dad.

COSTELLO: I know, but he's out in the world.

SMALLEY: It's my job to protect him. No matter what, no matter where he was, it was my job to protect him. COSTELLO (voice-over): But how do you protect your child from a bully? Assistant Deputy Education Secretary Kevin Jennings was appointed by President Obama to keep kids safe at school. Ty's story could easily have been his own.

(on camera): Were you bullied in school?

KEVIN JENNINGS, ASST. DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR SAFE AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS: Like many kids, I was bullied very severely when I was in junior high at high school, and in the first day of tenth grade, I actually refused to go back to school because I simply wasn't going to go back to a place where I got bullied every day.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Jennings organized the nation's first ever bullying summit, but he even he admits it's a baby stuff. Experts can't even agree on how to define bulling? Is it physical, electronic, psychological, nonverbal or all of the above?

(on camera): When might something happen? When might the federal government act and say, these are the guidelines we want to put in place. Do it.

JENNINGS: I think it's taken a long time to develop a bullying problem and it's going to take a long time to solve it.

COSTELLO (voice-over): There are no federal guidelines schools must follow to deal with bullying. They're on their own. In Smalley's home state of Oklahoma, each school district deals with bullying in different ways. It's something else that I infuriates Smalley.

SMALLEY: There a lot of schools around the country, their answer to bullying is they let the victim leave a little bit early, get a head start on the bully. You're singling this child out now, this child who has been picked on.

COSTELLO: Real solutions will come too late for Ty, but Kirk Smalley on that mission. It's why he organized his vigils at the Oklahoma state house. He thinks bullying ought to be a crime and it's why he tries to convince other kids to stand up for the bullied.

SMALLEY: They have a fragile self-esteem. Save their lives.

COSTELLO: It's a promise to a boy who loved his family, Hunting and the St. Louis Cardinals.

SMALLEY: We haven't done his last load of laundry because it smells like him. We haven't washed his sheets because I can go in there and lay on his bed and smell my boy. You want to learn what bullying and suicide is all about? Talk to the people directly who it affects the most.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Boy. All week long here on CNN, we're going to be taking a hard look at this issue with our special coverage called "Stop Bullying, Speak Up." Make sure you tune in to "AC 360" tonight for their report, "Bullying, No Escape." That's at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Every day here on CNN on this show, we do a segment called the "Big I" eye. It's all about big, new ideas and, of course, innovations. And our next guest is one of the powerhouses, really, when it comes to innovations. He is Google's chief technology advocate. His name is Michael Jones and he is here in studio with us.

What are you doing here in town?

MICHAEL JONES, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY ADVOCATE, GOOGLE: I'm at the Future Media Conference at Georgia Tech. It's fantastic.

LEMON: By the way, it's good to see you. I haven't had time to shake your hand yet. OK, you guys, of course, always on par with the greatest and latest. The newest technology.

What's coming up? What is the next big thing you feel you folks at Google feel?

JONES: Oh, there's so many things it's hard to pick one.

One that's really exciting to me is --

LEMON: We only have a few minutes here.

JONES: -- the idea that automatic computer-based translation can make all humans able to talk to all other humans, to remove the language barrier is fantastic. We're so excited about that. Android phones, you take a picture of a foreign language menu, it'll show you the English, or Spanish, or Greek, whatever version you'd like. You can be at home, in any country. We do 51 languages, automatic translation now. I'm excited about that.

LEMON: That's amazing. I think one day -- it's kind of odd. I think it's almost going to be like Star Trek when you beam people in. I think it'll be that sort of interactive on the internet when it comes to that. I know that you guys are really big when it comes to 3D technology. I know you have something called a liquid galaxy technology.

Talk to us about that.

JONES: Well, you know, Google Earth has always been on CNN. We're real proud of that. And we built an even fancier version that wraps around 360 degrees. You can stand in the middle and see the whole city you fly into, all around you. It's pretty exciting. We built a couple of those and made them available to people. And now we've released instructions on how to make your own so that museums and schools all around the world can have their own perfect, virtual earth traveling experience.

LEMON: I want to go back just a second before I ask you the next question. Did you ever, at any point at Google -- obviously, someone did it, someone came up with the idea because they thought it would be successful. But did you ever think so many people would be using it, that it would be -- you know it's like when you make a copy of something, people now say Xerox or Coca-Cola. Now it's Google-it rather than do an internet search.

Did you ever think in a million years that that would happen?

JONES: No. You do the thing that you believe in and you hope people like it.

LEMON: Yes.

JONES: And when do it's fantastic. In the case of Google Earth, there were four of us that started something, it's used by 700 million people now. It's only been six years or seven years. So the idea that you could go from a dining room to 700 million happy people is exciting.

LEMON: And still growing, Mike.

JONES: Absolutely.

LEMON: And still growing.

I want to read this because I want to talk about some of the pictures that you guys have. You've documented some of the most incredible looking places on earth. There's an airplane graveyards that looks like a huge cruise liner. And there they are. I want to make sure that we get them here. Airline graveyards, looks like a huge cruise liner shaped like a mall, and a gigantic palm-tree shaped island in Dubai. You've got that.

Do you have any personal favorites when it comes to all of these strange things that you happen to capture on Google Earth? Many of us would never have seen them if it were not for Google Earth.

JONES: My favorite thing is my home. I like seeing where I was born and where I grew up. And I think 700 million people like that, as well.

LEMON: That is a little scary for some people. I don't actually like my home being on Google Earth.

JONES: Oh, you should move.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: You can't get it removed from Google Earth? There's no way to block it?

JONES: No, it's an international treaty that the pictures taken from space are fair game.

LEMON: Yes. I've got to ask you this, because there are some people -- when there's erroneous information -- because you know on the internet people do a Google search and what have you, and information -- especially being in the public eye, a lot of it is not true.

It's so tough to remove it. Is there a process, can you remove it? Because people -- I mean, that's a big concern for a lot of folks. You don't like going on the internet and Googling things and it's not true.

JONES: I think the way that really works is that you don't remove things from reality, you add more good things to reality. It's a process of dilution. The more you're on air, the more handsome you are, people can tell you look good. If something online says you've never been on TV or weren't handsome, they'd be proven wrong just by your presence.

LEMON: Yes, I know but it's sometimes a little bit more serious than that and has to do with reputation and for the record books or whatever. Some people -- anything they see online, they believe it.

But again, you're here at Georgia Tech this week for --

JONES: The Future Media Conference.

LEMON: Are you in the blog world?

JONES: I write the Google blog sometimes when we have big announcements to make and it could happen soon, you never know.

LEMON: Mike Jones. Interesting stuff from Google. Wow, what a success story.

Thank you, sir.

JONES: Thank you, sir. Thank you for having us.

LEMON: Appreciate you coming in.

Supply convoys in Pakistan again under attack. We'll explain why the convoys are the lifeline for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and why they're vulnerable to attack. That's next. We're going to go Globe Trekking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We were just talking about Google Earth in our "Big I" segment that's going to help us out here in our Globe Trekking segment. It's time to go Globe Trekking and our destination is Pakistan. We've put together some information to show you just what's going on over there.

Another attack today on a truck convoy loaded with vital supplies for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. It was the fourth attack in as many days on these supply convoys. The convoys are crucial to the war effort because they carry 80 percent of the supplies needed by U.S. and coalition forces. Supplies like food, water, clothing, vehicles, and fuel. Here's the information that we want to show you. Take a look at this, it's going to give you a perspective on what's happening over there. The supply route begins in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi. There you see Karachi at the bottom of your screen. Supplies brought by ship and loaded onto trucks there. And the major land route goes up the country to the northwest border of Tourane (ph). There you see it goes up there. And then, dozens of trucks have been stranded there since Pakistan closed the border crossing at the Khyber Pass last week. There you see the Khyber Pass. You have Karachi here, and then it goes all the way up to the Khyber Pass.

That move came after a U.S. air strike mistakenly killed three Pakistani soldiers. Once trucks enter Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass here, they traveled to Jalalabad. From there to Kabul and other distribution points. The other key land route starts also in Karachi, and runs to Baluchistan Province to the border crossing, again. All this information you can see right here. Just to give you an idea of the territory that we're talking about.

From there the trucks enter into the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where an estimated 100,000 U.S. troops are based. There is also one major supply route by air, and that's at the air base in Kurdistan, right here at the top of your screen.

That is the only U.S. base in central Asia. Weapons, ammunition, and troops are flown from this base to Kabul, Bagram Air Base and to Kandahar. We hope we gave you some perspective on just what we're dealing with there, especially our troops and the major supply route here, the territory.

OK, so listen, joining us now from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, is CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

Fred, my question is, what do you have on these new reports that eight suspected German militants were killed in a suspected drone attack? That is the new information.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're checking on that with the Pakistani officials, Don. What we've so far is we have two Pakistani officials, one civilian, one from the intelligence services saying that indeed eight German nationals were killed in a suspected drone strike in North Waziristan. Now we have to be a little careful about this information because anyone who's been at the site of a missile strike knows that in many cases it's really hard to tell who was in a building or a car. It often takes DNA evidence to see that.

But the thing that we're also checking out is that if indeed this is true, is the question whether or not this might be linked to that alleged terror plot in Europe, which also, of course, seems to have originated among German nationals -- Don.

LEMON: Hey, Fred, let's get back to the convoy now. What do you have on that attack on the convoy?

PLEITGEN: Well, there were two attacks today. One in the early morning hours, which is really the highly prolific one where 20 NATO tanker trucks were going up in flames that were attacked pretty much in the middle of the night. Massive flames coming up from there.

All in all, in the past four days, 50 NATO tanker trucks that are supplying troops in Afghanistan, have been destroyed here on Pakistani soil. I can tell you, we've been speaking to Pakistani drivers there in that gate that you were talking about in Torkum (ph) and they're absolutely in fear. Because that road is closed down right now. They say they're basically sitting targets to be attacked by militants. A lot of them say the truck is the only thing they have. They don't have any money except for that. They fear for their lives and they also, of course, fear for their livelihoods, Don.

LEMON: CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Islamabad, Pakistan. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your reporting.

Sharron Angle pleads privately with a third-party candidate to leave the Nevada Senate race and it is caught on audio tape. Hot off the political ticker. That's next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is time right now for your "CNN Equals Politics" update. Your politics.com (sic) update. National political correspondent Jessica Yellin watching the developments from the CNNpolitics.com desk in Washington.

Hey, Jessica. What's up?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Well, this first story happened in Vegas, but it didn't stay in Vegas.

(LAUGHTER)

YELLIN: Scott Ashton, who is the official - you like that - the official Tea Party candidate in the Nevada's Senate race secretly tape recorded a conversation he had with Sharron Angel, who is the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate there. She happens to be backed by Tea Party supporters.

In this conversation, she is recorded saying she's worried she might not run if this other fellow Scott Ashton stays in the race. And she basically said to him, look, if you leave the race, if you exit, I can get you some meetings with some heavy hitters in Washington, D.C. Now, that's potentially embarrassing for an outsider candidate like Angle, who is supposed to be all about not playing politics as usual. Her campaign put out a statement, saying, well, she's just a plainspoken leader willing to shake things up, but no comment about some of those embarrassing remarks. Expect to hear more about this tape in the coming days.

Now in Wisconsin, moving further to the East, bad news for some Democrats. This is one of the stories that's trending on the Political Ticker. Russ Feingold, the longtime liberal firebrand in the Senate, he's been there 18 years. New polling shows he is trailing Republican opponent Ron Johnson by seven points. Very bad news for the Democrats. And he has -- the Republican has a 23-point lead among independents. That will be hard to make up for the Democrats. This is one of those races national Republicans are really targeting for a takeover.

And finally, a showdown in Connecticut tonight where World Wrestling executive Linda McMahon has her first debate with that state's attorney general Richard Blumenthal. Now, this has gotten a lot of attention because we all know who she is from world wrestling, and he is the attorney general that got into trouble for saying he might have been over in Vietnam when really he was serving in the military here in the U.S. Expect that issue to come up. And also, Don, she made some remarks about the minimum wage last week, whether or not she thinks that should be tweaked. Expect that to be a big issue in the big debate tonight as well.

We'll follow it all for you, Don.

LEMON: I will be following because I'm interested in that one. Thank you, Jessica Yellin.

YELLIN: Yes.

LEMON: The next CNNpolitics.com update just an hour away right here on CNN.

You know, when it comes to food that's good for you, you could call Detroit a food desert. But at long last, that's beginning to change. And we'll explain right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, right now we are taking up where we left off last week last week with our series called "Eatocracy: Mind, Body, and Wallet."

Today's issue, how can you know if you're not healthy? Musician Kid Rock once asked that question of his hometown Detroit. And with good reason. The city's obesity rate is 50 percent higher than the national average. Fifty percent higher. And the diabetes rate, 70 percent higher.

But things are finally beginning to change now. Here's CNN's Poppy Harlow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (on camera): Detroit has become known as a food desert because it's so hard to find fresh food in neighborhoods like this one, the Cass Corridor in Detroit.

Take a look up here on this corner. This is what you see so much. Liquor, beer, wine, convenience store. This is what people in low-income neighborhoods have. Let's see what we could get in here.

Do you have any fresh food, any vegetables or fruit or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we don't carry any. HARLOW: Nothing like this?

Do you have any fresh food, any vegetables, any fruit, anything like that? No?

Do you have any good grocery stores around here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No fruit, no vegetables.

ISMAEL AHMED, DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN DEPT. OF HUMAN SERVICES: People's health outcomes are put in danger as a result of this. So, the real cost of this is tremendous.

HARLOW: Why do you care about helping people get access to healthy food?

ORAN HESTERMAN, FOUNDER FAIR FOOD NETWORK: We have a food system that is as broken as our health care system, as our energy system, and as our education system.

In Detroit, we know that about 500,000 of this city's population do not have access to healthy and fresh foods.

HARLOW: More than half the population of Detroit.

HESTERMAN: Right.

HARLOW: How important is it to you as a mother of nine to make sure that all these kids have healthy, fresh food and not fast food every day?

MARLYN MINUS, DETROIT MOTHER OF NINE: It's extremely important, because the food they eat is life for their body and life for their mind, their brain. And I want them to be able to perform the at their full potential.

HARLOW: Is it a social injustice issue?

MINUS: It is, but you know, there's a choice that even low- income can make.

I'll take these right there.

HESTERMAN: So we're trying to work in a variety of ways to help fix this broken food system. And our Double-up Food Bucks project is one way we're doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I get double my money every time I swipe my Rich (ph) card. It's a huge help. You're getting twice as much.

HARLOW: How much was this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $5.

HARLOW: For the entire thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

HARLOW: You know, pretty much all the food here at Detroit's Eastern Market is from Michigan. But as the demand for local food grows, more and more people are saying why not turn all of this abandoned land in the middle of Detroit into farmland? Urban farming.

MIKE SCORE, PRESIDENT, HANTZ FARMS: The city of Detroit has 40 square miles of vacant, foreclosed property. We have plenty of land to work with, being able to, within your own neighborhood, go out and pick fresh fruits and vegetables for your family is a step forward for Detroit.

HARLOW: You really think this is going to be an apple orchard in two years?

SCORE: We know it will be.

HARLOW: You know it will be?

SCORE: People in Detroit are people who are hopeful, who are optimists, who believe Detroit is a great city. And even though we have gone through a downturn, we have always had a sense there will be a comeback, and the comeback will be breathtaking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Unbelievable. Poppy Harlow joins us now from New York.

Poppy, it's hard to fathom for many people, when you don't live in an area like that, when you see a supermarket every couple of blocks -- you showed us two possible solutions to the food crisis. Just how serious is this problem in Detroit?

HARLOW: I mean, I think, you know, you said it at the outset. The fact they have 50 percent higher obesity than the rest of the country, 70 percent higher diabetes.

Detroit can't get a break. They have a broken education system. They have a true jobs crisis on their hand, worse than most places in this country. And the reality for half a million people living in Detroit, Don, is if they want anything remotely healthy, they have to drive twice as far or take the bus twice as far just to try to find a grocery store.

There was actually a study that came out that's pretty unbelievable. It was done just two years ago. And it said the reality is people that live in these low-income neighborhoods don't have that access to healthy, fresh food, and they're more likely to suffer or even die prematurely because of diseases related to the lack of nutrients.

So, this is a life-and-death situation in Detroit. Two people doing really amazing things, helping people use food stamps to get healthy food.

And then if we see this, Don, it will be a spectacular revolution for Detroit, taking 40 square miles in the middle of the city and turning them into the world's biggest urban farm, as you heard in the piece. They're pretty confident they can do it. We'll keep a close eye on it. I'd love to see that instead of abandoned houses, right, Don?

LEMON: An eye opening report. You're right on. Thank you very much for that. Poppy Harlow, joining us from New York.

Want to tell you about an interesting get-out-the-vote campaign going on in one state. Come November, could you imagine casting your ballot in the buff, in your birthday suit? That's one of our "Odds and Ends," and every pun intended there. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Want to tell you, it's time now for what we call "Odds and Ends."

Folks in San Francisco love their protests, don't they? But a planned demonstration over the weekend had some people really scratching their heads. A group called the Organization for Minorities of India is demanding the city remove a statue of Gandhi. Now, they call his pacifist image a myth and say they're trying to expose his racism. The statue has been there for 22 years, and the city says it stays.

A group seeking to get out the vote in Illinois is trying a tongue-in-cheek tactic. Follow me here. Go with me here. Vote Naked Illinois has put together a pretty funny YouTube video urging folks to cast their ballots in the buff. Keep in mind, we've edited it down a little bit here because we don't want to give away too much.

Now, in Illinois in November, it is pretty chilly. I used to live there. But luckily, they're not actually promoting polling place nudity, thank goodness. Just trying to publicize a new state law allowing mail-in ballots. Now you know.

OK. Actor Kevin Bacon is being treated like a piece of meat. Can you believe it? That's all for a good cause, though. A Bust of Bacon made out of bacon is up for auction on eBay. I can't believe they just did this. Why didn't they think of this sooner? The guy who made it work at a bacon salt plant. He works at a bacon salt plant.

And his daughter is battling leukemia. He was inspired to make the Bacon Bust to raise money for other kids at Seattle's Children's Hospital. Last we checked, the current bid is up to 2,000 bucks. Very good. Very good. A lot of money for a good cause.