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Freedom Fighter Released; Interview with U2's Bono
Aired November 13, 2010 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: In this hour, a superstar in the music world speaks only to me about the release of a human rights hero. Bono on Aung San Suu Kyi's first day of freedom. It is a CNN exclusive.
You know, there's been a lot in the news lately about men of the cloth and homosexuality. Well, tonight, a bishop comes out of the closet in front of his congregation, and now, the world. His thoughts and your comments from Twitter -- in just moments.
And that mystery contrail -- some say it was a plane. Some say a missile. It is definitely a UFO. So, we asked UFO and conspiracy theory expert George Noory for his input.
(MUSIC)
LEMON: Good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
A long-awaited day has finally come in the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar. One of the world's most famous political prisoners, pro- democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is free after spending the better part of two decades either in prison or under house arrest.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Look at that. That was the scene just today -- the Nobel Peace Prize winner walking out of her house a free woman. Her commitment to the cause of liberty has made her a hero of everyone, from President Barack Obama to U2 front man and humanitarian Bono.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BONO, U2 LEAD SINGER (via telephone): It's just sort of cautious joy at the same time because, you know, though her -- though she's out in the world in a way that we need her to be, she's perhaps more vulnerable there if they just want to take advantage of her being outside her own four walls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We'll have more from my interview with Bono in just a moment. But, first, a look at Suu Kyi's release from someone inside Myanmar. The government has refused to allow CNN and other news organizations into the country to cover recent events. We have this story from a journalist in Myanmar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER (voice-over): After years in detention, it was the moment many people in Myanmar and the world had been waiting for. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition icon and Nobel Peace laureate free. Standing on the fence of her residence that has been a prison for 15 of the past 21 years, waving to her supporters and putting a trademark flower in her hair, Aung San Suu Kyi said very little in this first encounter with the public, only telling the crowd, "I am very happy to see you all again." And then telling supporters to come to the headquarters of her opposition party, the National League for Democracy at midday on Sunday where she plans to address them in a speech.
Hundreds of supporters gathered in front of Suu Kyi's compound throughout Saturday as word of her possible imminent release spread. Many more came to the NLD's headquarters in Yangon and many of them wore t-shirts bearing her picture.
We managed to speak to some of her supporters but have had to hide their identities to protect them from retribution by the military authorities.
"Of course, there's pressure by the military, but we know that we're doing the right thing, so we don't fear the pressure of the government and the military. We're doing the right thing."
"We really want her to come back to the party. She will be the leader of the National League for Democracy forever. We're hoping for someone who will truly represent the people and that can only be Aung San Suu Kyi."
It's not clear whether Myanmar's military junta has attached any strings to Aung San Suu Kyi's release. State television aired pictures showing Suu Kyi meeting with military officials, allegedly shot on Saturday.
Since 1989 when she was charged with trying to divide the military, she's been released at least twice but the military leaders have tried to stop her from being politically active or have tried to restrict her movement in return for freedom. And she was rearrested.
This time, those close to her say she would rather have stayed in detention than accept any conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, every time she has been released, it's a delicate dance with the Burmese junta, because, frankly, we have to recall that this is a brutal military dictatorship who has the capability at any time on an arbitrary basis to decide that she's crossed some line that they've set in their own minds and to re-arrest or re-imprison her. My guess is that the military regime is going to claim that there's nothing for her to discuss with them because they've just had what they would claim to be a democratic election. So we'll have to see how things play out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: For now, supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi are celebrating her release. But in the coming day, they will want to know where the lady, as they called her respectively, plans to lead them in the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And now for my CNN exclusive. Suu Kyi has a rock star following. Do you remember U2's hit song? It's called "Walk On." It won a Grammy for Record of the Year.
Take a look.
(MUSIC VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You may have missed it right there, the face -- it was a red face on the t-shirts. That was Aung San Suu Kyi and one of the band members and lead singer Bono has been a great supporter of hers for years. So, this day is one of great joys since the 65-year-old freedom fighter is now free from house arrest. Here's Bono:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BONO (via telephone): It's just sort of cautious joy at the same time because, you know, though her -- though she's out in the world in a way that we need her to be, she's perhaps more vulnerable there if they just want to take advantage of her being outside her own four walls.
So, very excited, very thrilled that, you know, at the possibility that this might be the beginning of some sort of rational discussion with the people of Burma by the military junta -- but we're not sure. You know, we really -- we have to see. There's 2,202 political prisoners still in prison for the crime of believing in an election result. So, until they start to release those prisoners, we won't really breathe a sigh of relief and neither will she.
LEMON: So, Bono, it's cautious optimism. But here's my question, people know about you and your charitable work for Africa and what you do for HIV/AIDS, and you being an activist for at least that part. But we didn't really know much about your feelings on Burma and on Myanmar, and on Aung San Suu Kyi. Why is this so important?
BONO: I mean, all of these things are -- our band (ph) on the same thought for me which is just one of freedom and equality, and our audience has had to suffer -- I mean, playing on about this stuff for a long time. And it's -- I was a member of Amnesty International, the band being members of Amnesty International for nearly 25 years. And so, we've been very informed about what's been happening in her life.
And she's kind of the Mandela of our moments really -- these moments we're in right now. And you think, well, you know, do people really care about what's going on in our rock concert in the United States or in Europe, and 70,000 U2 fans lifting her -- pictures of her face over their head, you know, what does that mean? Does that mean anything?
But what we've learned from being members of Amnesty is they kind of tin pot dictators are actually quite vain. They are vainer than rock stars. They really do read all their prep.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That was just the beginning of it. You know, he may be filled with joy, as he said, but Bono is not satisfied tonight that his hero, Aung San Suu Kyi, is released. Hear what he says has to happen to make the freedom of one of the world's most famous political prisoners mean something.
Back with that in just two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. Now more of my exclusive interview with one of the world's greatest rock stars. Bono is celebrating today, he says, but he is making a plea that the release of activist Aung San Suu Kyi does not happen in vain. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BONO (via telephone): When the community keeps her front and center in the media. You know, CNN has done a great job on this. It really does count.
LEMON: Listen, you wrote a letter about why you wrote the song called "Walk On" that we played a little bit, and it was said to honor her. And quote -- this is what you said. You said, "This amazing woman who put family second to country, who for her convictions made an unbearable choice, not to see her sons grow and not to be with her husband as he lost his life to a long and painful cancer. Suu Kyi, with an idea too big to any jail and a spirit too strong for any army, changes our views as only real heroes can, of what we believe to be possible."
I think many people don't realize this connection that you have with her. So, what can we learn from Aung San Suu Kyi's efforts and what have you learned?
BONO: You know, grace, really. She's a character of grace. Maybe that's what she has in common with Nelson Mandela.
Her struggle has become a symbol of what's best about our humanity and worse. But she has managed to just keep this kind of calm in the middle of the storm. And I think that's why people are so attracted to her. Of course, it's the courage and conviction.
LEMON: Have you spoken to her today?
BONO: No, I have not. And, you know, we've met her family and spoken to her family recently but not today. But I was speaking to the Burma Action people and they were thrilled and they are having a moment tonight. But, you know, she was released before.
LEMON: Yes.
BONO: And at that point, it was 19 -- no, 2002. She was released in '95 once, put back in prison. She was released in 2002 once, put back in prison. The worry is that there's no real negotiation going on at the moment.
In 2002, the U.N. were negotiating with her and -- with the military junta, with an envoy from the U.N., it wasn't senior enough perhaps, and it didn't get anywhere. What we would love to see now is, you know, somebody as gifted a negotiator as Ban Ki-moon to take advantage of this and begin dialogue. That started in 2002 and didn't get anywhere. For this to be real and for us to really breathe a sigh of relief, there has to be progress towards real peace.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: My thanks to Bono for agreeing to that interview today.
And let's check out what's crossing on the CNN Political Ticker.
Politicians are always pointing fingers over pork barrel spending, right? But they rarely do they do anything about it. That could change if both parties follow through on the messages that they are giving out this weekend.
President Barack Obama called for reforms to the earmarked process in his weekly address. And House GOP leaders are planning a conference vote to ban earmarks all together in their return to D.C. next week.
House Democrats have ended their fight over who will take the number two leadership position when they become the minority. Nancy Pelosi brokered a deal that will lead current majority leader, Steny Hoyer, become the minority whip. Congressman James Clyburn agreed to on his bid for the spot and take on a new third-ranking position.
And former White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is making it official. He formally announced his bid to run for the city of Chicago mayor today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Because I love this city, the place my family came to, the place where I was born. I want to fight for a better future for all of the people of Chicago and that's why today, I'm announcing my candidacy for mayor.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And for the latest political news, just go to CNNPolitics.com.
You know, some Democrats might wish they could forget the election and for them, the drink, it's called Four Loko, it could be the drink of choice. The alcoholic energy has been called a "blackout in a can." So, maybe it's no surprise that some college students love it.
Kate Bolduan went to one college campus to check it out for herself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The name and the effects are hard to forget. And after nine students at Central Washington University were hospitalized after drinking Four Loko, state officials banned the sale of it and caffeinated malt liquor like it statewide.
They are not alone. Michigan officials have also banned the sale of alcoholic energy drinks and college campuses nationwide are taking a closer look.
AMANDA LONG, UNIV. OF MARYLAND HEALTH CTR.: The general concern with alcohol and energy drink is that when you mix the two, you're creating an unstable combination in your body. We worry that our students are not as informed as they could be about the consequences of mixing these two substances.
BOLDUAN: The University of Maryland hasn't officially banned the drink but is stepping up out outreach to students and the community to warn them of the potential dangers. Dangers, Dr. Daniel Lieberman says, aren't new but now served up in a ready-made mix and a can, he says, is marketed to young drinkers.
DR. DANIEL LIEBERMAN, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: What the caffeine is doing, it's encouraging people to drink far more than they should. It masks the effect of the alcohol so people don't feel the state of intoxication that would lead them to stop drinking.
BOLDUAN (on camera): This is what the controversy is all about. This one can has as much alcohol as about five beers and at a fraction of the price. No wonder Four Loko has earned the nickname a "binge drinker's dream" and a "blackout in a can."
(voice-over): Four Loko's manufacturer defends its product, saying it is, quote, "just as safe as any other alcoholic beverage" when consumed responsibly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a popular drink on this campus. I know a lot of students, you know, get full cases of this stuff just because it's so inexpensive. I think less than $3 a can.
BOLDUAN: Ben Present wrote about Four Loko for the student news paper at the University of Maryland. He says, by and large and despite the headlines, students don't seem to care.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a cheap means to an end and it's a quick means to an end, and students definitely abuse that.
BOLDUAN: So it seems many people are still getting mixed messages from this controversial mixed drink.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Up next here on CNN: they are defying traditional views about money, education, and achievement. How students in one low-income public school are succeeding, even in the face of government budget cuts.
Plus, a mega church pastor with four kids announces he's gay. Pastor Jim Swilley will be here to tell us why he decided to come out and what it's been like since he's made his announcement. You're not going to want to miss this one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's check your headlines right now.
A top county official in suburban Washington says he will be cleared of federal charges that he and his wife received years of kickbacks from real estate deals. Jack Johnson is outgoing executive of Prince Georges County in Maryland. Leslie Johnson is a county councilwoman. Both appeared in federal court Friday after a four-year FBI investigation.
Just as they were about to be arrested, agents allegedly heard the couple flushing a check for $100,000 down the toilet. A search also revealed Mrs. Johnson allegedly hiding $80,000 in her bra.
Medical workers in Haiti are appalled at the number of patients dying and being hospitalized in the ongoing cholera outbreak. The U.N. says the death toll is at least 800, with more than 12,000 hospitalized. The leader of Doctors Without Borders says his staff is now seeing seven times the number of patients they did three years ago.
E-mail and online bill-pay are taking a bite out of the U.S. Postal Service. The agency says it lost $8.5 billion just this year. That's more than twice the nearly $4 billion it lost last year. People just aren't buying as many stamps.
You know, a lot of people assume education budget cuts automatically lead to low-performing schools. But that's not always the case. In today's edition of "Perry's Principles," CNN's education contributor Steve Perry takes us to Alabama school that makes no excuses in its pursuit to educational excellence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go quietly, quietly.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Faced with deep cuts, educators here at Phillips Academy could make lots of excuses.
But failure is not an option for this public school with 800 students, K through 8.
(on camera): Statistically, you don't exist. You're almost 100 percent black, about 60 percent poor, got homeless children in your school. This is the worst economic time and you have one of the top 10 schools in the entire state? Why is it that resources are not holding you all back?
MARK SULLIVAN, PRINCIPAL, PHILLIPS ACADEMY: Quality instruction makes a difference. UNIDENTIEID MALE: As you added more chemicals, there are more things there to react.
SULLIVAN: The relationship between that teacher and student makes a difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're talking about worlds apart.
SULLIVAN: The skills that that teacher has when she goes into that classroom, that makes a difference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready?
PERRY: What makes your school a good school?
SULLIVAN: Our parent base is phenomenal.
No matter what we may need, our parents are there to stand in the gap to do fundraisers, to volunteer time.
We have people that understand whatever it takes to get the job done, we have to do. And if somebody wants to come in and volunteer and help, then we are willing to accept that help.
PERRY: So, you have found a way to inspire your teachers, children, and parents to stay focused on the children and the business of education.
SULLIVAN: We have to bring our A-game every single day. We cannot make excuses. We have to make things happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we have to make it sound exciting --
SULLIVAN: We're in the business of educating students. And if students are not educated, we haven't done our job.
PERRY (voice-over): Steve Perry, Birmingham, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. You don't want to go anywhere here on CNN because when we come back, the megachurch pastor who announced he's gay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SWILLEY, MEGA-CHURCH PASTOR: I wouldn't have known what to call it at the time is my sexual orientation. I know a lot of straight people think that orientation is a choice. I want to tell you that it certainly is not. And let me explain to you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So, he is here live. And I'm going to talk to Pastor Jim Swilley, Bishop Jim Swilley about why he came out now, how his life is changed, and how his kids and his wife are reacting to this news. Plus, what exactly was that mystery streak in the sky above California this week? We're going to take a closer look and a different look for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. The congregation at a Georgia megachurch heard a sermon they will never forget and they heard it just one recent Sunday.
Pastor Jim Swilley, twice married, father of four, stood before them -- and a grandfather, as a matter of fact -- and announced that he is gay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWILLEY: There are two things in my life that are an absolute. I did not ask for either one of them. Both were imposed upon me. I have no control over either of them. One was the call of God on life. The other thing, and I wouldn't have known what to call it at the time, was my sexual orientation. I know a lot of straight people think that orientation is a choice. I want to tell you that it certainly is not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. Well, Pastor Swilley, Bishop Swilley is a founder of the Church in a Now in Conyers, Georgia, and he joins me now live here.
OK. So, thank you.
SWILLEY: Hi, Don.
LEMON: And everyone will tell you that it's very brave of you, even those who don't necessarily support what you did. It takes a lot of guts to do that. So, you're 52 years old and you're a grandfather?
SWILLEY: I am.
LEMON: Why do it now?
SWILLEY: Well, my ex-wife and I have been married 21 years and she's my co-pastor. We have had a successful life. I was married once before, had two children, have two children in this marriage. But two years ago, she came to me and said something in response -- she knew about me before we got married. I was very honest with her, and we got married anyway.
And about two years ago, she came to me and said, you know, the model of our church is real people experiencing the real God in the real world, and you have this message for everyone else that God loves them as they are, but you don't give yourself that same grace.
LEMON: So, you're saying your marriage, you said wasn't a sham, you believe. And I think you say it, as I say it's a beard. She wasn't a cover? SWILLEY: Not at all. It's unconventional, not a typical marriage. But it's real in the sense that we have real children. We live in a real house. We've built a real ministry. We were not intentionally lying. We were I guess trying to change the situation that is unchangeable.
LEMON: And you -- we have pictures of you, your family, your family, your wife and your grandkids. And one of your sons, you know, plays in a band, (INAUDIBLE) a famous musician as well.
SWILLEY: He is.
LEMON: Yes. If we have the pictures, we should put them up.
How has your family and your kids -- how have they reacted to this?
SWILLEY: Well, I would have never said anything publicly until my -- I knew that all four of my kids were OK. I talked to each of them individually. They knew the situation. They knew there had to be some reason why their mother and I were divorcing because we've had a very amicable marriage. They've never heard us fight or be disagreeable at all.
So, I had to tell them and, really, I had to make sure that I had a green light from them before I said anything about it publicly, because if they said, "Dad, we don't want you to say this," I don't think I ever would have.
LEMON: listen, I'm going to talk much, much more. We're going to go in-depth about whether, because there are some members of your congregation who believe that this means, when you said that, that you were going to be celibate and that, and you know, gay marriage is obviously not legal, and the church says marriage is between a man and a woman, right?
What does that mean for you sexually? Does that mean that you're not going to be with anyone else? Hang on. Let's talk about that after the break.
SWILLEY: Or do we have to talk about it at all?
LEMON: More with Bishop Jim Swilley after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Back now with Bishop Jim Swilley who came out of his closet to his congregation just a short time ago, Megachurch right here in Georgia. So I asked you before, what does this mean for you, as far as having a partner sexually? What does it mean to you?
SWILLEY: Well, when I talked to the congregation that night, I said I don't know what the future holds and really at this point, it's my business. Before I answer that question, I'd like to say that I usually don't like to answer that question, not because I have anything to hide but straight people have a tendency to think that the orientation is just about sex and that's where a lot of the confusion comes even with the church.
The reason I not dance around that issue but the reason I'm careful about how I answer it, is because orientation is about much more than that. I know gay couples have been together for 10, 15, 20, 35 years. I got a letter from somebody yesterday who has been with his partner for 42 years. So orientation is about love, it's about a world view. It's about people who have lives, commitment, they buy houses. They raise children. They live lives.
So straight people have a tendency to think it's just about sex and that's one reason why it's an issue in the church.
LEMON: And you think it's sort of making it salacious by talking about it? And that's not what you want to do.
SWILLEY: Exactly.
LEMON: I know that you did this, you said, because of the bullying and especially the young men in New Jersey who killed himself, Tyler Clementi because -
SWILLEY: Well, after I knew that Debbie is going to divorce me, I knew we had to say something about it and I was really sort of neither denying nor confirming what people were speculating and then people started asking me about certain things. They heard rumors that I left her for a man or there was some scandal and there wasn't. Still, I just - she encouraged me a long time ago to say something about it. I said, "look, these words will never come out of my mouth."
But then something like four, five, six suicides in just a matter of days and the young man that you mentioned, for some reason his situation was kind of the tipping point with me.
LEMON: There is something that is very - I know that you have said this and it's the hardest part of you was your wife thinking that she wasn't attractive?
SWILLEY: Well, that's something we had to make sure that she understood. And she knows that.
LEMON: And you guys talked about it. What did you - tell me about it.
SWILLEY: I said, look, you're a beautiful woman. There's nothing wrong with you. You're a desirable woman. And you know, the part of me that's her husband wants to still feel like, you're my wife. You shouldn't be with anybody else. The part of me that is her friend, wants her to be happy in a way that she's known for some time, I could not provide that for her.
We have a great mutual respect, a great synergy of working together but there comes a point in your life where you say, how much time do we have left in our lives -
LEMON: I want to read some of your comments. Let's go to Twitter right now. Someone says and if we can through this really quickly here. Someone says "ask him about Eddie Long."
SWILLEY: And the next one would be.
LEMON: You don't want to talk about it?
SWILLEY: I don't really - what are you asking? I don't really - I know Bishop Long, I've known him for a long time and he's always been very gracious to me. His staff has always been very nice to me.
LEMON: I think what they're meaning is in asking you about Eddie Long is because of proximity, not only in time but in space. You - I mean in place, you guys are basically -
SWILLEY: We know each other but we're -
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And he's been accused.
SWILLEY: Right.
LEMON: Of using his influence, sort of.
SWILLEY: I've known Eddie for many years but I wouldn't consider that we're close friends. I've never discussed this with him. I don't really have anything to say.
LEMON: But you don't think the two have really anything to do -
SWILLEY: No, not at all. And I'm not trying to make myself look good. I'm just saying that my situation is completely different.
HOLMES: Someone said, ask him "what makes a man want to be with another man? Where is that in the Bible?"
SWILLEY: Oh, man. You didn't prepare me for these. You know, when it comes to people bringing up Bible stuff, I love the scriptures. I believe they are inspired. The Bible says a lot of things about a lot of things that people don't have answers for. Everything from Paul supporting slavery, which none of us would support that now, to many things. The scripture says, if you're given gluttony, put a knife to your throat. We seem to be fine with fat Christians in the church and people don't really say a lot about that.
LEMON: It talks about children.
SWILLEY: All kinds of things. If you have - Deuteronomy says if you have a son that doesn't work for a living that is rebellious, to take him by the hand and lead him to the elders of the city and let them stone him with stones until he's dead. We don't support that now. If you have an unemployed son, you don't go kill him but that's what the Bible says.
LEMON: It sounds to me, I don't want to put words in your mouth, are you saying that people in the church, many use the scriptures and the Bible in order to sort of enslave people or to control them? SWILLEY: As a weapon. Absolutely. And the thing is -
LEMON: Do you think it's a distortion of the scriptures?
SWILLEY: I do. The Bible is not a book, it's a collection of books written by different authors for different reasons for over a 1500- year period. There's a reason why Paul said it has to be rightly divided. It means that when you look at it, and when Jesus said if your hand offends you, cut it off. You don't actually got and cut your hand off.
LEMON: OK. We have to go. But did Jesus ever talk about homosexuality?
SWILLEY: Not a bit. Never said -
LEMON: What do you think that means?
SWILLEY: I don't know. He talked about a lot of things. There were many authors in the Bible that never mentioned it. Moses did, Paul did, Jude did. Jesus was silent on it.
LEMON: Real quickly, here. Do you think there's going to be an awakening in the church and that there's going to be more to come?
SWILLEY: Well, my position is not about gay and at the church. It's about people being who they are and realizing that god loves everybody individually and that everybody has the right to work out their own salvation and your relationship with god is completely between you and god. I can't make a judgment call on that.
LEMON: The church supports you? Are you worried about -
SWILLEY: So far.
LEMON: OK. You lost one church though.
SWILLEY: I lost many churches that were under my covering but (INAUDIBLE) we're fine.
LEMON: Thank you very much. We really appreciate it.
SWILLEY: Thank you.
LEMON: We're back in a moment here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Here are your headlines this hour. An icon of democracy movement in Myanmar has been freed from house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi walked out of her home a free woman today. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been imprisoned or confined to her home by Myanmar's ruling military regime for 15 of the past 21 years. She's expected to speak to her supporters on Sunday. We'll have it for you here on CNN.
San Francisco's mayor is doing what he can to keep the happy in happy meals. Yesterday, Gavin Newsom vetoed a move by his board of supervisors to remove toys from Happy Meals that don't meet the specific nutritional requirement. Newsom said parents, not politicians, should decide what kids should eat. But kids can't breathe a sigh of relief not just yet. The board has enough votes to override the mayor's veto.
She's one of Hollywood's original blond bombshells. We're talking about actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. She went home today after an emergency trip to a Los Angeles hospital. Her doctor first thought it was a critical situation. He feared a massive blood clot in her leg could have traveled to her heart. Well, as it turned out, it was an infection. Gabor, by the way, is 93 years old.
Still ahead here tonight on CNN, the mystery streak about California that has conspiracy theorists coming out of the woodwork all week. We're going to talk to radio host - you know him - George Noory, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We are really going to get to the bottom of this. It is the who done it that is stumping sky watchers all over the world right now. Was it a (INAUDIBLE) of something, maybe missile, maybe it was a UFO. It spotted in the skies over southern California and now the speculation is running rampant. Here is CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three, two, one, we have liftoff of the story Jon Stewart dubbed Missile Impossible.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It looks like it could be a launch from a submarine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missile from a navy sheep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could it be a secret test?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or Russian sub?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe even a U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile.
MOOS: We're surprised someone didn't guess the wicked witch of the west. And now the missile theory has surrendered from the Pentagon to the web site contrailscience.com. Experts agree that the plume off the California coast was just a jet contrail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Contrail is a condensation trail.
MOOS: Water coming out of a jet seen here from the cockpit of another plane, sort of like your breath on a cold day. Though the west coast contrail got an unintentional phallic makeover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What else could do that?
MOOS: Some say they know exactly what did that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. Airways Flight 808.
MOOS (on camera): Are you sort of a contrail connoisseur?
(voice-over): Actually, Liem Bahneman is an aviation photography buff who focused on airline flight paths and schedules and then found a web cam that captured a similar contrail in the same place 24 hours after the now famous one.
LIEM BAHNEMAN, AVIATION PHOTOGRAPHER: The same daily flight from Honolulu to Phoenix was in the same position as well. So that was kind of the smoking gun for me.
MOOS: Smoking contrail.
(on camera): (INAUDIBLE) after the west coast missile, there was another strange sighting here on the East Coast.
(voice-over): WCBS in New York had the video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bizarre going red hot streak in the sky right at sunset, moving briskly behind the Manhattan skyline.
MOOS: Contrail enthusiasts think this one is also from a jet, similar in situation to one in which the plane is visible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The trail has been lit by the setting sun.
MOOS: One joker suggested that the west coast contrail was Iron Man. Jay Leno suggested that we follow the trail of the mystery contrail.
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: Let's play it backwards and trace where the contrail came from. (INAUDIBLE) Oh, look, there it is. There it is right there.
MOOS: Contrail controversies have happened before and they will happen again so -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy trails to you -
MOOS (on camera): Make that contrail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until we meet again.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Tonight we have an expert to weigh in on what he thinks created the mystery vapor, contrail, Monday night. You can call George Noory, investigator of hot happenings. He's a veteran broadcaster and a long time follower of paranormal and time travel and all things unexplained. Now he is a radio host that's called "Coast to Coast A.M." where he talked about these thing.
Thank you so much, George. It's good to see you. You're in my old stomping ground there of St. Louis, tell everybody hello.
GEORGE NOORY, RADIO HOST "COAST TO COAST AM": I shall do.
LEMON: I immediately thought when I saw this - what are people saying to you about this? Well, not only did this object, whatever it is, Don, light up the skies near Los Angeles, it lit up our phone lines on "Coast to Coast A.M.." People have still been calling since this thing happened on Monday.
Nobody really knows what it is. The theories that you've just talked about are all over the place. You know, could it be a jet contrail from a Honolulu to Phoenix flight. Could it be some other kind of vapor? But the big theory nowadays is that possibly could be a missile from a submarine, maybe even a Chinese sub.
LEMON: George, missiles go a lot faster than that. I mean that would be a really slow, outdated missile.
NOORY: I agree with that. It could have been one of those solid propellants. The frightening part about all of this, Don, is that no one knows.
LEMON: The government can explain, you think that's the scariest part?
(CROSSTALK)
NOORY: Nobody can explain this. Absolutely. Absolutely.
LEMON: Why so.
NOORY: We need to shore up our defenses and we need to get answers to what these objects could be. If it's a plane, tell us it's a plane. If it's this Honolulu to Phoenix flight, tell us that. And nobody is being specific.
LEMON: OK. It sounds like it's definitely UFO, and when we talk UFOs, we don't necessarily always mean from another planet, it's just an unidentified flying object.
NOORY: Right.
LEMON: So is there a conspiracy theory behind this because you, you know, in you show are prone to be conspiracy theorists?
NOORY: Well, you know, generally behind every conspiracy, there's a lot of truth behind it and eventually years later, that truth really comes out. In this particular case, people are just baffled. They just don't know what it is. They want answers, ever since the television station shot the video of this trail going up, everybody's been baffled by it.
I happen to think we need answers from the government and if it's some kind of a Chinese sub test launch, just to show, "hey, look what we can do," tell us that. We can handle it. They have said one thing, it's not a threat to the United States. Well, obviously. The thing went into the ocean that way. It didn't go toward land.
LEMON: OK. So I've been up, I suffer with insomnia, many a late night and I listen to "Coast to Coast" and I hear people talking about these issues. And have any of your callers or any of the people who listen to you, do they remember or you, as a matter of fact, anything similar in recent history that has been unexplained?
NOORY: We get a lot of calls whenever they launch anything from Vandenberg. We have had these strange cases several weeks ago about this unidentified flying object over the skies of Manhattan. They were not balloons launched from a school. There are a lot of mysteries out there, Don, that just aren't explained. That's one of the things we try to do is to get real answers from real people every night. Nobody knows.
LEMON: Why do you think people are so fascinated by this, why it lit up your phone lines?
NOORY: I think they're fascinated with the unknown. People want answers, but at the same time, they want to be told that there's something spooky out there, it's scary. And you know what, as long as the phones keep lighting up, we'll try to give them the answers.
LEMON: George Noory, it is always a pleasure, and best of luck to you, stay warm in St. Louis. I know it's kind of chilly this time of year.
NOORY: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: All right. Still ahead her on CNN, an auction of Bernie Madoff's belongings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is everything from all four corners of the New York City penthouse and the Montauk beach house. This is everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: If you want to see them, there's a lot of them that are interesting. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: So every weekend we like to bring you some interesting news items that you might have missed during the week. And here is one.
Scientists have discovered a new lizard species. It's on the menu in Vietnam. Reptile experts stumbled across them at a rural diner in southern Vietnam. The scientist was intrigued by the unusual markings and suspected it might be an unknown species. Further research reveal that the lizards are only female and reproduce by cloning. By the way, the scientists say they taste awful, nothing like chicken. OK. So try slipping this on a ring finger. The Bahia gem is said to be the largest emerald in the world valued at 840 pounds and right now it is in the hands of a Los Angeles (INAUDIBLE) because there is a court case over who owns it. The court house news service reports a gem buyer named Tony Thomas testified this week that he bought the Bahia emerald in 2001 and he lost his bill of sale after his House burned down. Well, Thomas said that he thought the defendants in the case played a part in the house fire. An expert also testified that Bahia emerald is worth over $800 million. Thomas said he paid $400,000 for it.
A Tallahassee man has some major bragging rights, really. Earlier this month, he caught the state's longest gator on record, more than 14 feet long, it was killed in the state's annual alligator harvest, hauling the 650-pound gator to land, it took an epic two-hour battle. It beat the previous record by three inches.
So you might not find a bargain in an auction this weekend in New York but you might find a little bit of revenge there. The U.S. Marshall Service sold off the belongings of Wall Street conman Bernie Madoff today. The proceeds go to paying back a tiny portion of the billions Madoff stole.
Our Christine Romans has a look at what was on the auction block.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Big ticket item is a 10.5 caret diamond ring, VS-2 in clarity, S in color for those of you who are experts, extremely fine proportions, $350,000. For this one - how about play it again, Bernie. This is a Steinway and Sons grand piano. It takes about a year, according to Steinway, to create one of these handmade beauties. This one was circa 1917, the bench we're told is included. $16,000 is what they're expected to fetch on this one. Perhaps in the price list category, this is just because you want a walk a mile in Bernie's shoes, perhaps Bernie's shoes, a bunch of Belgian shoes, 18 pairs of them, Mr. Casual style, if you're wondering, size 9 wide.
And after a long day of stealing billions, maybe you want to take off those 9 wide shoes and slip into these velveteen slips with gold embroidery BLM, his initials, size 8 1/2 with red quilted lining. We have no idea how much these are going to go for. This would be obviously for someone who's a Wall Street buff, maybe who's a history buff.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Christine Romans, thanks. Did you see those leopard loafers?
Interesting, Bernie.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Don't forget to tune in at 10:00 tonight for a CNN special. It's called "Pure Evil: the Killings in Connecticut." Up next, a CNN Special Investigation, it's called "Death and Taxes." Good night.
