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Judge Denies Assange Bail; Getting Urkel'ed; It's All About the (Damaged) Benjamins; CNN Politics Update
Aired December 07, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: ... They had a lot of fun, and we all remembered it. We enjoyed the game because they were so entertaining.
JAMAL ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they were very, very entertaining.
PHILLIPS: Jamal, great to see you.
ANDERSON: And you know, great to see you. That's why we come out dancing and singing. We're ready for you.
PHILLIPS: You were ready for us. Jamal Anderson, ladies and gentlemen.
ANDERSON: Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: With the big ring. Kiss the ring, diamonds and all.
ANDERSON: Hey, hey, if we get another one, we can win.
PHILLIPS: 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, now 7:00 a.m. out west. Here are some stories that have us talking this morning everybody.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in court facing sex crime charges. He wouldn't give his consent to be extradited to Sweden and is now appearing in a court room just hours after surrendering to British police. CNN is covering this from every angle. We will keep you updated.
Sad word this morning too that Elizabeth Edwards has stopped cancer treatments at the advice of her doctors. She is resting in her home now with her family. We're talking about her turn for the worse and what she's facing now.
And shivering cold where you least expect it. Florida, the sunshine state. Keeping a close eye on its crops during a cold snap. Workers, putting cloth on plants and watering the strawberry fields to try and protect them.
Let's talk you what's happening right now with Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. He is in a British court facing charges that have nothing to do with leaking classified information. We're talking about rape. Assange faces charges in Sweden of unlawful collusion. Two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape. Assange denies all these charges but his two female accusers do admit to having consensual sex with him and as we said, he's refused to consent to be extradited.
Some crowds showed outside the magistrate's court to show their support for Assange. Let's talk more about this with CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. So, Jeff, if Assange is jailed on rape charges, then what happens to these espionage charges that attorney general Eric Holder is talking about here in the states?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's actually easier for the United States to charge him now because they know where he is. One of the difficulties of this case had been that Assange has been essentially invisible. And now he is under the control of an allied legal system, and the question is, will the United States file charges against him. Certainly the attorney general has hinted that the United States will, but as far as we know, they haven't done so yet. So that legal process has not even begun.
PHILLIPS: So is it possible - I'm just throwing this out just as a hypothetical, Jeff. Is it possible that Sweden and the U.S. could be working together here? Because there was a point where nobody knew where Assange was. You heard about these rape charges. Then they went away, and now all of a sudden they're back in the news again.
You've got Eric Holder saying we want to extradite him, possibly on charges of espionage. Could they be in cahoots to try and get him one way or another?
TOOBIN: Well, it would certainly be unethical if the government of Sweden was charging with someone of rape not because he was guilty of rape but because an allied government wants to capture the guy. However, if the Swedish government had made the decision to go forward on these rape charges under any circumstances, it would be appropriate to coordinate with the United States on matters of control and custody and when you would turn him over.
I'm not privy to those discussions. I can assure you that that they are taking place. Assange is a subject of great interest to American law enforcement so they are at least monitoring this carefully if not actively involved in where he's being held and for how long.
PHILLIPS: And Jeff, as an attorney, I just want to kind of get your sense of things, you know, your gut feeling here, as we're actually looking at live pictures inside the courtroom. You can just see - all the members of the media that have shown up. It's quite a spectacle. You know, these raped charges came forward. We're talking about women. It's really hard to kind of confirm all of the facts.
There are a number of reports out there saying they are possibly 30 years old, possibly some of them working in various embassies, and these charges came forward and then they kind of went away, and now all of a sudden they have come forward again, and these women, both of these women admit to having sex with him. So where does the rape charge come into play here? TOOBIN: Well, you know, Kyra. I like to claim expertise in a lot of areas, but the Swedish legal system is not one of them and I really don't want to make judgments about how justified these charges are. The only honest thing I can say is I don't know. The one thing I do know is that the United States government is after this guy and the attorney general of the United States does not hold a press conference to say that we think someone who has committed criminal acts without more follow-up than that. So I think we have not seen the beginning, much less the end of the American legal process regarding Assange. I really don't know what's going on with the Swedish charges.
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate it.
And speaking of leaks, a U.S. Navy intelligence specialist is in the brig accused of trying to sell classified info. The FBI claims that 22-year-old Brian Martin thought he was selling secrets to a foreign intelligence officer for about $3,500. But the buyer really was an undercover agent. The FBI claims no classified info was delivered to anyone.
The U.S. and two top allies are showing solidarity against any provocative behavior by North Korea. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers. South Korea's diplomats says that the north will face severe consequences if it launches any more attacks. The North shelled a South Korean islands last month and the south blames the north for sinking one of its warships in March.
The president and the GOP have struck a deal on your taxes. It's not final yet, but after weeks of haggling on the hill, the White House did lay out a blueprint for what's to come if congressional Democrats sign off on it, and the price tag is pretty big. It's going to cost between $600 and $800 billion over the next two years, all of it, deficit spending.
So here's the tradeoff. All of us will keep our tax breaks for the next two years, even the richest people among us. Unemployment benefits will be extended for 13 months, and we'll see a one-year payroll tax holiday. Social security payroll tax could be knocked down two percentage points, meaning that more money in your paychecks through the end of 2011.
Now Vice president Biden has some selling to do, so he planned. I guess you could say, a power lunch with Senate Democrats. It's going to be tough to defend the tax deal though. Many democrats are still stuck on the promises of the then-candidate Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I end the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
And it means letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire. Rolling back those Bush tax cuts to the top one percent. We're going to roll back. I'm going to roll back. We're going to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. For the wealthiest Americans. For the wealthiest Americans.
For the wealthiest Americans. It is true that I want to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the very wealthiest Americans and go back to the rate that they paid under Bill Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A lot of democrats don't like extending tax cuts to the richest people among us and plenty of Americans agree with him. Almost half say that tax cuts should only continue for families making under $250,000 a year.
Brianna Keilar is live on the hill. So Brianna, what are you hearing on the hill? Is the deal going to survive party in-fighting?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a very hard sell for the White House, and that's why vice president Biden is coming up here trying to do that but as members of Congress come back to the Hill today, Kyra, we are expecting a loud chorus from liberal Democrats who are going to say, "you know what wealthy Americans are just getting too good of a deal here." Why?
Because as you mentioned, they are getting that extension of the lower income tax rates and another thing. There's also an estate tax exemption. This is an exemption of paying taxes on an inheritance up to $5 million. $5 million less in inheritance tax free. And so I spoke with one democratic aide who said look at those two things. Those are going to be in effect for the next two years and look at the things that are really wins for the middle class.
You got that payroll tax holiday that you talked about and you've also mentioned about that 13-month extension of unemployment benefits And his aide says "those are only going to be in effect for a year, and it just seems like too much for wealthy Americans." The other thing, Kyra, you mentioned the price tag could be between $600 billion and $800 billion. What we should also say is it is not paid for. It adds to the deficit. So there is also this question of whether the more moderate Democrats, if they are going to be okay with adding it that to the deficit. You know, that has been a big point of resistance for them in the past. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So when might they get something to Obama's desk?
KEILAR: There's a lot of steps between now and then but I think the general idea obviously is that something would get done here, would be sent to President Obama to sign before the new year because that's when those unemployment benefits expire and that's also when those tax rates are set to go up.
Got it. Brianna Keilar on the Hill. Brianna, thanks.
Well, doctors apparently can't do anything more for Elizabeth Edwards. We have learned that she stopped getting treatment for her cancer and that she might only have a few weeks to live. The treatments are now aimed at just keeping her comfortable. She's thanking people on her Facebook page for their prayers. Here's what Elizabeth writes - "The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that and yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human but I found that in the simple act of living with hope and in the daily effort to have a positive impact on the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious and for that, I'm grateful."
Edwards was first diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago and that cancer returned in 2007. We talked with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about her struggle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is something that probably every woman thinks about in terms of their own risk of breast cancer. She didn't have much of a family history. She admitted that for sometime after the birth of one of her children, she skipped her mammograms for a period of time. She wishes she hadn't done that. Would it make a difference? Who knows. But I think a lot of women out there and this isn't to indict or malign anybody but I think Elizabeth Edwards says this is a good reminder to go get that mammogram. It's not a perfect screening test but it's something that can certainly help.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Edwards is at home in North Carolina with her family at her side. John Edwards, her estranged husband is among them.
Reaching for the stars and grasping the prize. Why Hollywood is a bit more talkative today after a half million dollar donation to fight AIDS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Half a million bucks gets silent celebrities talking again. Meanwhile actor Ed O'Neil wishing he had kept his mouth shut. "Showbiz tonight" host A.J. Hammer live in New York with more. A.J..
A.J. HAMMER, HOST "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes, for better or worse, I'm here to tell you that there is a man responsible now for the fact that you will now once again now the minutia of Kim Kardashian's every move. That's because after less than a week of being disconnected, all of your favorite stars are going back to Twittering, facebooking and plugging back in online. Starting today, all of the celebrities who took part in what became known as "the digital death campaign" will resurrect their on-line careers because they've already met their fund raising goal, 1 million bucks.
Now "Showbiz Tonight" has confirmed that public campaign raised half the goal and a billionaire philanthropist named Stuart (INAUDIBLE) stepped in to matched the amount. What a nice guy. Alicia Keys co founded the campaign. It's tied to world AIDS day to support children affected by HIV and AIDS, around two dozen starred died digitally in the effort among them. Alicia Keys, herself, Lady Gaga, the Kardashian sisters, Ryan Seacrest, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Lenny Kravitz. Kyra, they all signed off and now that they've signed back on and as I said, it's kind of a for better or worse situation in some of their cases.
PHILLIPS: All right. So what's the deal with "Modern Family," by the way, my favorite show on television? We're talking about Ed O'Neil and his Kanye-esque moment. I don't know anything about this.
HAMMER: Yes, I mean I sort of I hate to tell you Ed O'Neil and Kanye West. Because Ed is a brilliant, brilliant actor, and you know, we are talking actually about two of my favorite shows as well. This is turning out to be what may be a major smack down of one beloved sitcom star by another. Ed O'Neil, of course, stars in "Modern Family," and he has just launched this giant grenade at zillions of "Glee" fans. He just revealed very publicly, he doesn't think Jane Lynch who is "Glee's" vicious Sue Sylvester, deserved to win the Emmy for her role in "Glee." Listen to what told "TV Guide Canada." This is Ed O'Neil speaking "I love Jane. Honestly, I do. I am dying to star in one of Christopher guest's movies alongside her but I don't think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part.
Sue Sylvester is just a one-note character. Now a little back story on this, O'Neil was just being supportive of his own co-star. He suggested instead that Sofia Vergara, who plays his on-screen wife in "Modern Family" and was nominated against Jane Lynch, who should have won the Emmy for supporting actress. O'Neil said this about Sofia. "She's so funny. I just don't think people realize how hilarious she is. She is so sharp with her wit, it's amazing."
At the Emmy's back in August, "Modern Family" won for best comedy over "Glee." So they didn't walk away empty handed but it is always interesting when you hear celebrities coming out and saying this. But now here we are talking about it. But yes, two of my favorite shows, and you know, "Glee," I was a little late getting on board with "Glee." Last season it didn't click with me and now I can't miss it. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm sitting right here with you, "Modern Family, Glee my two favorite shows on TV right at this moment.
PHILLIPS: And A.J., you and I talked all the time, I can't believe we've never connected the dots. Those are the two shows I Tivo. So I'm right there with you. The role of Sue Sylvester, Jane is amazing and Sofia is hysterical, too. I mean, she's brilliant.
HAMMER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: The baby cheeses episode, I don't know if you saw that, but it's absolutely brilliant.
HAMMER: I saw them all.
PHILLIPS: There you go. Everybody (INAUDIBLE) Google (INAUDIBLE) cheeses. And then Sue Sylvester marrying herself. You can't deny that's as a great episode of "Glee." Anyway, you and I can talk about our favorite shows later. Thank you, A.J..
HAMMER: We'll leave this to other things. PHILLIPS: Exactly. We can twitter all about it.
HAMMER: I'll call you later.
PHILLIPS: OK. Fabulous. If you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, and of course, A.J. talking about his favorite shows, I'm always supporting him on that. A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson got it this evening on "Showbiz Tonight" at 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on HLN.
All right. Baggy pants, if you're sick of seeing them, you're going to like this school principal's solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was a joke until I got urkle'd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yes. If your pants sag or drag, the kids get urkle'd, it's a new verb that we'll define in today's talker.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Word just in that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been refused or was refused bail just moments ago by a London court after, as we have been telling you about, the Swedes issued a warrant for his arrest over allegations of sex crimes. We're being told he's been remanded into custody until December 14th.
All right. Let's head cross country shall we? We begin in Boston, where a red-tailed hawk that recently took up roost in the South Boston subway station, flew into a couple of windows. The bird was a bit stunned but subway workers got him to the veterinarian. We're going to keep you posted on its recovery.
I got a crazy story out of one of our affiliates, KCTV. A police traffic stop yielded a bit of an unexpected passenger. A live alligator. That driver says that he just bought it off Craig's list about six months ago, thought it was a good investment. He didn't know it was illegal to possess gators in Missouri. Police didn't arrest the owner but they did take his little green buddy away from him. Now the fight over the gator's custody is about to begin.
We have been telling you about the generosity from anonymous benefactors dropping a little something extra into the Salvation Army red kettle. Here's one from eastern Pennsylvania. We're going to take you live actually - I don't want to miss this to London where Julian Assange is now just coming out of the courtroom after being refused bail on the sex crimes that he was brought in on. It doesn't look like that. It actually looks like his attorney. Do you have eyes on Julian Assange? I'm trying to - We do? You got eyes on him? Yes, we haven't seen him yet. Let's go ahead and listen in and let's see if we can hear through the crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the reaction to the decision? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slowly, slowly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your reaction to the decision not to give bail? Can you tell us why you felt you should give -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boys, move back now! Move back please. Let's be fair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's your transport? Where's your transport? Is it taxi?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calm down. Calm down.
PHILLIPS: All right. We're trying to confirm if, indeed, that is one of the attorneys involved in the case. Obviously, not happy about the reporters chasing him trying to get word from him. We're going to kind of stay with this to see if we can get eyes and confirmation of who exactly that is. Maybe our folks at the international desk can tell us who this man is. Let's listen in and try to figure it out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Stand back from the taxi, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way!
PHILLIPS: All right. We are trying to work out who exactly that was coming out of the courtroom. Let me just bring you up to date of what we know at this point.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was in court today, right there in that courtroom, that British courtroom after the Swedes issued a warrant for his arrest on sex crimes. Two women admitting to having consensual sex with Julian Assange and then coming forward once again on rape charges. They had come forward once. It kind of went away, and then it came back again. We're still trying to figure out exactly the basis of those charges if, indeed, they both admitted to consensual sex.
Anyway, the latest word that we just got was he was refused bail and was remanded into custody until December 14th. What you just saw, the gentleman coming out of the courtroom, possibly his attorney in the case. He wouldn't say anything. You saw he wasn't real happy about all of the reporters in his face. But we're working this for you. We have our folks on the international desk trying to figure out exactly who that was and where exactly Julian Assange is now.
But we can tell you that the London court refusing bail and he is remanded back in custody until December 14th. Quick break, more from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: As you saw just moments ago, possibly the attorney of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, leaving the courtroom after Julian Assange was refused bail on accusations of sex crimes and remanded back into custody until December 14th. Our Atika Shubert was inside the courtroom. Atika, do we have any idea who this gentleman is that we just saw?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I do believe it was Ken Loge. He was one of the people who posted, who basically guaranteed surety for Julian Assange in the event that he was granted release on bail. That's why people were asking him if he was disappointed. He was one of a number of people that were basically there in support of Julian Assange. Others were John Pilger, a known journalist. He is there as a personal friend as well as a colleague of Julian Assange and he said the charges against Assange were absurd. And that's why he was there in support. Also there was Jemima Khan (ph). She's very well known here, quite a bit of a celebrity. So he had quite a few high-caliber names in support of him, but the judge clearly decided that he would not release him on bail. And that he was remanded into custody until December 14th.
PHILLIPS: All right. So where does it go from now? Atika, you are there at the courtroom. Is it the end of day, Julian Assange, as you mentioned goes back into custody and sort of a wait and see?
SHUBERT: It is sort of at a wait and see. As you can see, there are a ton of media here waiting to talk to the lawyers and Julian Assange if he comes out to find out what the next steps are. At the moment, the question is whether or not he's going to fight the arrest warrant.
What is clear from the hearing is that he said he will not consent to be extradited to Sweden. This is something that his lawyers made very clear, that they were very fearful of, particularly because they fear he would ultimately then be extradited to the United States. The question is, will they fight the arrest warrant, how will they fight the arrest warrant, if that's what they decide? Hopefully we'll hear from the lawyers very soon if they come out.
PHILLIPS: Atika, before we let you go, just trying to clarify because there seems to be a lot of confusion, lack of knowledge, because we're talking about Swedish law. And all of us here, even our legal analysts, are trying to figure it out. These two women that are accusing him of rape admit to having consensual sex with him. So, what is at issue here?
And, also, there are reports that have been out that these are two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers. Can you confirm that? Was that brought up in court, if, indeed, these are volunteers that work for WikiLeaks in Sweden? And what do we know about the rape charges, if, indeed, they both consented?
SHUBERT: This was actually the first time we were able to hear in --
PHILLIPS: Oh, we apologize. We just lost our signal there with Atika Shubert in London. We'll try to get her back.
But if you're just tuning in, here's the latest. Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, brought into a London court today on sex crime charges, has been refused bail. He was remanded into custody until December 14th. We're waiting to see if we hear from him, his lawyers and will bring that back live if we can get the connection.
All right. Back in this country, remember all the anger over federal government's big bailout of CitiGroup? Well, it seems that the government did something right after all.
Carter Evans joins us live from New York Stock Exchange here. Yes, that's a little sarcastic laugh. Hmm!
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, who would have thought, right?
PHILLIPS: The government marking a profit on the sale, right?
EVANS: Right, right. The government is planning on selling the rest of its CitiGroup's shares, and this is actually turning out to be a good investment because the government is selling them for more than what they were bought for. And that means taxpayers are making money on the deal.
I've got it all mapped out for you. Take a look on your screen. The original bailout for CitiGroup was $45 billion. That was the biggest bailout in the banking industry along with Bank of America. After it's all said and done, taxpayers are getting back about $57 billion. That means our profit of $12 billion, a return of 26 percent in two years. Not so bad.
By the way, CitiGroup is the last of the big banks to repay the government in full. But hey, talk about turning a profit. That's pretty good, huh?
PHILLIPS: Yes, no kidding. What's this about the Treasury Department screwing up a huge batch of 100-dollar bills? On the note of things not going right?
EVANS: Yes. Right. It's all about the Benjamins in this case. And there are a lot of them. We are talking about 1.1 billion new $100 bills, and they are in quarantine right now. They're being held in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, D.C. And here's the problem.
They had a problem with printing them. See, the security measures they're putting on the new hundred dollar bills, that metallic hologram - apparently, that caused the bills to sporadically crease, and that resulted in some blank spaces. Now the problem has to do with the complexity of all of this. These are new bills. They were supposed to come out in February. The government hasn't announced the new date yet.
Kyra, I can just imagine, though, if some of these made it out into the market, can you imagine what collectors would pay for one of these damaged 100 dollar bills?
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. I don't know. I would be tempted to spend it right now. So, the government basically has $110 billion just hanging around? EVANS: Yes, hanging around, and, see, here's the thing. Right now, they have to inspect each of these bills by hand. I did the math. If you were to count to one billion counting one number every second, it would take you 32 years to count to a billion. So, it's going to take a long time to go through these 100 dollar bills. They are working on a mechanical process. But right now, they have to do by hand. 1, 2, 3 -- it's going to take some time.
PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. Nightmare! Plug in that overtime. Oh, wait, there's more money. Carter, thanks.
Florida glowers - growers, rather -- are watching the weather very closely because this Arctic chill that has rolled across the mid- Atlantic states and dipped into the beautiful Sunshine State. Growers are covering the plants with cloth, spraying water on their crops. That water freezes and protects the plants from damaging colder temperatures. The temperature in Orlando, 29 degrees. Some frigid weather, Rob Marciano.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Today's Talker is about getting young people to pull up their dang pants. One school principal wants students to be a little more like Urkle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JALEEL WHITE, ACTOR (acting): Ah, I got the music. It's time to do the Urkle. All you have to do hitch up your pants, bend your knees and stick out your pelvis --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: No baggy, no saggy, no draggy, and no underwear showing. Steven Urkle was all about pulling up the pants, and a principal in Memphis is holding up Urkle as an example. In fact, he's turned Urkle into a verb, as if your pants are sagging, you're getting Urkle'd.
Well, we've gotten a lot of tweets about this story. Here's the lowdown now from Conji Anthony of WMC TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONJI ANTHONY, WMC-TV CORRESPONDENT: Westside Middle School principal Bobby White had a problem to solve.
BOBBY WHITE, PRINCIPAL, WESTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL: How do we stop the sagging of the pants?
ANTHONY: So he put a twist on his no saggy pants policy.
WHITE: Everyone who possibly needed to be Urkle'd, they were Urkle'd.
ANTHONY: A staff member suggested fighting pop culture with pop culture.
JADARIUS WALTON, 7TH GRADER, WESTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL: I thought it was a joke until I got Urkle'd.
ANTHONY: Students wear saggy pants like they see in rap vidos, so the school staffed turned to "Family Matters" TV character Steve Urkle. His style of dress is now a verb at Westside Middle.
(on camera): What's it like to get Urkle'd?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty embarrassing.
ANTHONY (voice-over): Staff members walk the halls with zip ties, and if they see saggy pants, students get Urkle'd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please slide over, take out the remaining slack, and it's almost impossible to get it off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can push your pants as high as your chest, and they can put as many as three or four on you.
ANTHONY: They even have an urkle photo board for all to see.
WALTON: Then you see how ridiculous you look.
ANTHONY: Teacher Shaka Greene is the reigning Urkle award champ. He started Urkling up to 80 students a week. In five weeks, it dropped to 18.
SHAKA GREENE, COMPUTER LAB TEACHER: We are talking about an 80 percent drop in the number of students we actually have to put a zip tie on.
WHITE: There's something about looking right, acting right, beginning to think right.
WALTON: If you keep your pants up, they have you looking like a proper young man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The students know to strap up or get strapped up around here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Memphis is the city where one man allegedly shot a teenager in the rear end because he didn't like the saggy pants. We wanted to know, do you think the principal is doing a good thing? Here's what a lot of you had to say.
Tonya wrote in and said, "Wow, what an innovative way to make a change, using a pop culture icon, Urkel, to un-cool a negative pop culture phenomenon."
Jeanie tweets, "I'm with them and anything that will get tough on that prison-born fad."
Dirk tweets, "Another right taken away..."
Three hundred of Oprah's closest friends descend on down under. It's our destination for your "Morning Passport."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Do you want to go to it?
All right. Two seconds here. We're going to talk about Oprah Winfrey down under with John Vause, but apparently, Julian Assange just left the London courtroom and got into that police truck. If you don't know the latest news, let me bring you up to date real quickly. He was refused bail, he is back into custody until December 14th. We know him as the WikiLeaks founder. We know him as the guy that leaked all of these government documents, creating quite a controversy, and here it is just moments ago. I'll let you watch this as it unfolds and give you a couple seconds and then give you a little more background.
(VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Trying to get any kind of picture of Julian Assange as he's being taken away there and going back into custody. Obviously did not talk. We were hoping to hear from him or his attorneys. That did not happen.
There were these rape charges that were brought against him a while back and then it kind of faded away, and then there was talk about our attorney general in the United States extraditing him under the Espionage Act for all of these documents that he has leaked through WikiLeaks.
At the same time, he turned himself in last night to British authorities on these allegations of sex crimes. Reports are out now that possibly these two women that admitted to having consensual sex with Julian Assange were working with him as volunteers on WikiLeaks. We have not been able to confirm that, but those reports are out there as we're learning more information of what happened there in the London courtroom.
And you know what, John Vause? I know we are going to talk about Oprah Winfrey and the trip she's taking her viewers on to Australia because that is your turf there. But Assange is from where you are from, correct?
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. If we take a look at this Interpol wanted page, and I think we have it in our system. If we can take a look at -- this is the red notice that Interpol issued about a week or so ago that he was now basically on the FBI's most wanted list. On that Interpol red page, it has his name and date of birth --
PHILLIPS: We'll try to get that for you, but go ahead. VAUSE: Yes, we will get that eventually and his place of birth, which is a relatively small city in Australia. It's Townsville, Australia. He was born in 1971. Townsville's not famous for a lot. Not much happens there. But he was born three years after I was.
PHILLIPS: Well, now everybody knows about where you were born because of Julian Assange. John Vause and Julian Assange, two very different people. So, is this just the talk of your hometown?
VAUSE: I thought it would be. I went this morning, I had a look at the "Townsville Bulletin," which is the main newspaper in the city, and there's not a lot actually going on with regards to Assange. There's a big story about the North Queensland Cowboys, which is big rugby league team. They've got some big story there with a new jersey for the rugby team, and the local racetrack is getting a $15 million overhaul.
And you look at the front page, right down at the bottom is a little strip saying, "Wiki Man Arrested." And that's about it.
PHILLIPS: I don't think they want to claim Julian Assange right now.
VAUSE: He moved apparently 37 times during his childhood. And he was homeschooled. So, he was born in Townsville; didn't quite grow up there.
PHILLIPS: Didn't necessarily contribute to the community?
VAUSE: No.
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, meanwhile, let's move onto happier things in your --
VAUSE: Still staying in my part of the world.
PHILLIPS: -- your part of the world. Three hundred fans of Oprah going crazy. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": We're going to Australia! We are going to Australia! We are going to Australia, me and you and you are going to Australia!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: That was Oprah's season-opening show, by the way. Not only does she invite 300 fans across the world for eight days, but maybe more impressively, she has the pull to get Australia to foot the bill. John Vause?
VAUSE: Yes. They are still screaming.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: They have screaming ever since that show.
VAUSE: They touched down about 12 hours ago in Australia, and they were told by Oprah's handlers they're not allowed to talk to the media. They're not allowed to make any mobile calls to journalists. That's causing a little bit of controversy.
There's also been a lot of secrecy about the trip, about the itinerary. But that got leaked. This is quite a good trip they're going on. They're heading up to the Great Barrier Reef, they're heading down to Victoria, they're going to climb the Harbour Bridge on Saturday. They have been out to see the rocks at the (INAUDIBLE) zoo. And they will all meet up again on Tuesday for the taping of these two specials at the opera house, just over the 300 fans that's she's brought with her and 12,000 Australians. And among those 12,000 Austrailians will be a woman named Beverly Bergen, who is actually my mother-in-law.
PHILLIPS: Aww! So, are we going to do a live interview mother- in-law?
VAUSE: Absolutley. We still don't know when Oprah is touching down. Apparently in the next 24 hours. She's flying in on her own personal jet, and when she gets there, there's an offer out there from this lad's magazine called "Zoo Weekly."
PHILLIPS: Oh, no.
VAUSE: And they're offering Oprah $5,000 if she strips and poses in a bikini.
PHILLIPS: Oh, geez!
VAUSE: What do you think are the chances?
PHILLIPS: I don't think she's going to do it. She doesn't need the money! And you know, that's probably the last thing she'd want to -- none of us would want to do that. C'mon, now.
VAUSE: Oh, c'mon.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Except maybe you. You might work it. Yeah?
VAUSE: No, no. Those days are gone.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: John Vause, great to see you. Nice to have you in house.
VAUSE: Nice to be back.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well, a federal judge is being judged right now by members of the Senate. The impeachment trial looking into charges that the judge took cash bribes from lawyers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Impeachment trial under way right now on the Senate floor. Senior political editor Mark Preston following it from the CNNpolitics.com desk. So, what's the latest, Mark?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Kyra. As we speak right, Jonathan Turley, that famed lawyer, is on the Senate floor defending G. Thomas Portius. He is a judge from Louisiana accused of corruption and accepting kickbacks. The House earlier this year unanimously approved the impeachment of the judge. Right now, the Senate is considering the trial right now. So, as we speak, pictures as you can see on the air. Judge Portius is -- his case is on the Senate floor, and of course, the Senate is considering it.
You know, we talk about the cost of health care and what's the cost of it to government. Let's take a little slice of that. What is it the cost to the Pentagon? Right now, it is $49 billion, just the cost of health care for our armed services. Back in 2001, Kyra, it was $19 billion.
By 2015, the cost of health care is going to account for 10 percent of the entire Pentagon budget. So, that is one of the areas right now the federal government is looking at to try to cut costs. As we talk about the skyrocketing cost of health care in the private sector, we also look at it here in the federal government. You can see more on that story on that on CNNmoney.com.
And when you are trying to get a deal done, especially when it comes to extending the Bush-era tax cuts, who do you send to Capitol Hill if you are President Obama? Who better to send, actually, than vice president Joe Biden who served in the Senate from 1973 until he was sworn in as vice president in 2009? Joe Biden is heading back to his home so to speak to try to sell the plan. In fact, a Capitol aide -- a Senate Democratic leadership aide said that Joe Biden is going to Capitol Hill today and going to defend the deal.
So, President Obama is having a little bit of a headache trying to get all Democrats on board on this deal that broke late last night on the Bush-era tax cuts. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right, we'll keep following along with you. Thanks so much, Mark.
We'll have your next political update is in about an hour. And of course, you can always go to our Web site, CNNpolitics.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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PHILLIPS: Well, every day at this time, we honor the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan for all of us. We call it "Home and Away." Today, we are lifting up Captain Darrell Lewis from Washington, D.C. He died after his unit was attacked by insurgents in Afghanistan in June of 2007.
Michael Gallagan sent in this group photo. Captain Lewis is on the right. Michael wrote, "We lived across the hall from each other in our barracks, went on a few missions together and served on the same embedded training team. Captain Lewis saved lives through his leadership and never backing down from his beliefs. He had a profound view of life, a heart of a soldier and deep love for his family. His sacrifice will not be forgotten by this soldier and countless others."
If you have a comrade or loved one that you would like us to honor, here's all you have to do. Just go to CNN.com/homeandaway, type in your service member's name in the upper right-hand search field, pull up that profile, send us your you thoughts, your pictures, and we'll keep the memory of your hero alive.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Actor Al Pacino has brought a multitude of memorable characters to life, but in a rare one-on-one interview with our own Larry King, Pacino details his affections for ruthless Mafia boss and eventual godfather Don Michael Corleone, considered by many as Pacino's breakthrough performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": "Godfather I & II" may be the best movies ever made. Many consider that now, right? Ranked with "Citizen Kane."
AL PACINO, ACTOR: Wow. I know. I know. I know.
KING: Did you like Michael Corleone?
PACINO: I loved him. I loved the people I play.
KING: He killed people -
PACINO: I loved -- you know, that's like saying to a painter, when he paints a painting that, how could you -- you know, how could you paint this painting of who ever? Do you -- you know, you don't feel as though, you don't do that? You see always looking at the metaphor, you're always looking at what the character is, what is the deeper -- what is being said about our life and our world through this character.
You know? And one can make the argument that Michael Corleone -- why did the audience like him? Because it was couched in a drama so it had a different -- it comes at you differently, it comes out of the drama.
KING: Do you agree "Godfather" is about a family, basically?
PACINO: Well, that's what I mean about this -- that was the thing that turned people on so much at the first one. I remember I was there, and, you know, the reaction was so universal across the board. Had a lot to do with family, the family structure. And people related to it. You didn't have to be an Italian American or -- you just related to the whole family dynamic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wesley Snipes joins Larry for his only interview just before he heads to prison! And then singing sensation Susan Boyle is going to perform live. That's CNN tonight, 9 p.m. Eastern.
Don Lemon in today for Tony Harris.
OK. Do we dare say why we're laughing? No, let's not.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hot rollers.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Mama's hot rollers. That's all I have to say.
LEMON: Would did she say, Velcro curlers? Is that what she said?
PHILLIPS: You better -- we're going to get in trouble.
LEMON: We'll talk.
Have a great day, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: See you, Don. Thank you.
LEMON: OK. Good to see you.
