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New Congress Coming In; Chief of Staff Change Possible; Navy Captain Relieved of Command Over USS Enterprise; Texas Man Exonerated After 30 Years Spent in Prison; Pakistani Governor of Punjab Province Assassinated; Courage Behind the Mask; A Year of Eclipses
Aired January 04, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: How's this for a New Year's resolution. Eat better. We all know our food affects our health, but that is doubly true when there is something wrong with the food you're eating.
Remember the salmonella outbreak that prompted that colossal egg recall last summer? Or the salmonella tainted peanuts from the year before? Or the spinach laced with e coli in 2006? All of those cases, and many more, have led Congress to pass the biggest overhaul, of food safety rules, since the 1930s.
President Obama, just back from Hawaii, plans to sign the Food Safety Modernization Act, anytime now. It gives the FDA the power to recalls of dangerous foods. Order recalls. You may be surprised, as I was, to know that, until now, the feds could only request recalls. They could negotiate recalls, but they couldn't order recalls.
The new law steps up inspections of so-called high-risk food production facilities, of which there are many. It requires food processors to draw up safety plans accessible by the government. It requires food importers to verify the safety of products made or grown abroad. It's far reaching. If food borne illness hasn't touched you personally, it's probably touched someone quite close to you.
The Center For Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one in American -- that one American in six gets sick from food every year. Forty-eight million people they estimate. An estimated 128,000 are hospitalized over something they ate. Three thousand die.
In just a few minutes, I'll talk more about the science, the politics, and your kitchen with the head of the food safety program at the pew, charitable trust, and with the author of "Fast Food Nation." That is at 10 past the hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Another story we've been following closely, here. He worked under three Republican presidents. He worked as a Pentagon official. He served as the head of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and the first chairman of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. John P. Wheeler's body was found in a landfill in Delaware on New Year's Eve.
Joining us live, now, from outside that area -- outside John Wheeler's home is All-Platform Journalist Sarah Hoye in New Castle, Delaware. Sarah, we're hearing that you've got new information about the last time Wheeler was seen. SARAH HOYE, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Yes, that's right, Ali. So, the Newark -- excuse me, the Newark, Delaware police say that John Wheeler was last seen around 3:30 p.m., on Thursday, in Wilmington. Now, behind me is the home of John Wheeler, so that's the latest we have from them, that he was last seen Thursday around 3:30 p.m. -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. What do we know about the circumstances surrounding this, Sarah? The Newark, Delaware police, as you said, have said it's a homicide. What other information do we have?
HOYE: That's correct. So, his body was found, at a landfill, on New Year's Eve. Apparently, it had been dumped in a dumpster, and, then, taken to the landfill where a spotter had, actually, seen it falling out of the truck. At which point they did their due diligence and started to investigate. That is how they came up with who the victim was and then, later, had determined that this was the homicide.
Now, Wheeler, like I said, whose home is behind me, had, also, been involved in a lengthy property dispute with a neighbor. You may be able to see the home under construction right now. Police say that this is just one facet of the investigation they're looking into, and that they are leaving no stone unturned. Now, right now, there are no suspects and no crime scene, so they are really seeking the public's help to see if they noticed anything suspicious at all in these last couple of days -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Sarah, thanks very much. You'll stay on top of it and we'll follow it closely. Sarah Hoye joining us from New Castle, Delaware.
OK, our Sound Effect is the biggest political battle of the two years revisited. The newly elected Congress meets tomorrow and the Republican majority of the House plans a speedy vote to repeal health care reform.
Now, this is purely a symbolic exercise, at this point, since Democrats still control the Senate and, of course, the White House. But the passions are very, very real on both sides. I want to play you a clip from the now famous floor speech by the incoming House Speaker John Boehner, followed by remarks delivered today by a key House Democrat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Look at how this bill was written. Can you say it was done openly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: No. Yes.
BOEHNER: With transparency and accountability?
UNIDENTIFIED MALES AND FEMALES: No. Yes.
BOEHNER: Without back room deals struck behind closed doors? Hidden from the people? Hell no, you can't! REP. ROSA DELAURO (D), CONNECTICUT: This is nothing more. This repeal of health care by the Republicans is political theatre. It is a kabuki dance, and I'm quoting some journalist, this morning, who mentioned this and I don't remember the name. But the fact of the matter is we're not going to repeal health care. It is not going to happen, and it's very interesting, their choice of words. It's repeal. There's nothing about replacement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Passions are high on that. Boehner plans a test vote Friday and final vote next Wednesday. You'll see it all, as always, right here on CNN.
Representative DeLauro, by the way, who you just heard speaking there, well, she was speaking alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Pelosi's final news conference as House Speaker. Pelosi made history in 2007 becoming the first female speaker of the House. She hands the gavel over to Congressman Boehner who will be sworn in tomorrow. She'll, then, be installed as minority leader after a roll call vote.
Well, it's a big fallout, today, in the uproar over the raunchy videos shot and shown on a Navy ship. A senior Pentagon official tells CNN that Captain Owens Honors has been relieved of command of the USS Enterprise. He played a prominent role in the clips, which were made back in 2006 and 2007, but only went public over this past weekend. Captain Honors and staffers are shone cursing, apparently, trying to be funny. Other low lights of the -- of the video include anti-gay slurs and some simulated sex acts.
Well, the double whammy of unemployment and underwater mortgages pushed more Americans to seek bankruptcy protection last year. Filings topped 1.5 million, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Bankruptcy Research Center. That's up 9 percent from 2009, and it's the highest level since 2005. That was a big year, because laws were revamped to make it harder for people to wipe out their debt through bankruptcy. The southwest, in particular, helped fuel last week's -- last year's jump. Take California and Arizona, both of them saw bankruptcies spike about 25 percent from the year before.
Well, scientists at the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, and other major labs, are doing tests and studies (ph) to confirm what caused those weird mass bird deaths. About 5,000 blackbirds and starlings fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve. Another 500 were found in Louisiana, yesterday. Preliminary testing on the first group found acute physical trauma. Basically, severe internal injuries. The thinking is the birds may have been spooked by New Year's fireworks. Their night vision isn't great, so as they fled the noise, they could have run head on into houses and trees. Another possible cause, a weather event, such as lightening or a high altitude hail.
We are what we eat. We know that. Every year, many of us are ill because of our food. I'm going to show you how your food may become safer in 2011 when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK, we're talking about food safety and the power of the federal government to keep tainted food out of our kitchens and restaurants. Today, President Obama is expected to sign the Food Safety Modernization Act. Now, among other things, it gives the FDA the power to order food product recalls.
Up until now, the feds could only request, insist, cajole, bargain, negotiate, they couldn't order it. I want to talk about the dangers of food bourn contaminants and the scope of the new remedies. The two people that make this stuff up and they're both named Eric.
Eric Olson heads the food and consumer products safety programs at the pew charitable trusts. Eric Schlosser is the author of 2001 "Fast Food Nation," co-wrote the movie of the same name and joining us by Skype.
Gentlemen, thank you for being with us. A lot of people wouldn't have necessarily known that the FDA didn't have the right to order recalls, and perhaps, they wouldn't have guessed there would be so much controversy, about this particular bill going through. But, in fact, Eric Schlosser, there is controversy. There are opponents to this food safety bill going through.
Tell me about it.
ERIC SCHLOSSER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, FAST FOOD NATION (via Skype): Well, there's some craziness in Congress right now. And, I think, that the right wing Republicans who oppose this bill don't represent the American people. A poll found that 80 percent of the American people want their food to be made safe by the FDA and these are really very inexpensive, common sense changes to our food system.
VELSHI: Eric Olson, tell me about the cost, because that's where the opposition is coming in, it's not necessary to spend this money. We're in tight economic times and the number of people who get sick -- I mean, there's great discrepancy. We have Senator Tom Coburn saying about 20 Americans die each year and we've got the CDC saying, it's upward of 3,000 Americans die a year. But you've done some work into what food borne illnesses cost us in America.
ERIC OLSON, DIRECTOR FOOD & CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY PROGRAMS (via Skype): Well, the cost of food borne illness is just staggering to the US economy. For example, a former FDA economist did a study, last year, that was published and showed that the cost just of the health effects are in the neighborhood of $150 billion a year. And, then, we've got the cost of the recalls themselves. One company said that just that peanut outbreak that we all remember, their recall cost over $60 million to a single company. So, not preventing these kinds of illnesses is far more expensive than preventing, then and avoiding all those health effects and all of those deaths and, obviously, the cost of recalling all the food.
VELSHI: Eric Olson, what is the best part of this legislation? What do you like about it? You've written that you favor it. It went through some changes to accommodate some farmers and producers that were concerned it would be too onerous (ph). You think those are OK. But what's the best part about this bill?
OLSON: The best part is that the US government now has the power to recall contaminated food that could kill children. It's amazing that you could recall an iron or a toaster oven that was defective, but until this bill passed, you could not recall dangerous food that could sicken people. And getting back to the cost. The cost of this legislation will be about 99 cents for every American. Now, I think, most Americans are willing to pay 99 cents a year for an assurance that their food will be safer. Most food companies want to play by the rules. And the problem is, when there are certain companies willing to cheat and when there are certain companies that are willing to sell contaminated food, all the other companies that want to do things right have to compete with them. So, I can't believe that this is a controversial bill, at all. It's, really, common sense, and, I think, ultimately, it will be funded. Because, as I said earlier, 80 percent of the American people support it.
VELSHI: Eric Olson, let me ask you this. I just got a Tweet as we were talking from somebody who says, nonsense. We are healthier than we have ever been. How much of a threat are food borne illnesses? How important is legislation, like this? Because at least one guy thinks we're much healthier than we have been.
OLSON: Well, the CDC says -- as he said at the top of the hour about 48 million people get sick every year in the US from contaminated food, over 100,000 people are hospitalized, and about 3,000 die. So, there are a lot of people getting sick, which is not to say that most of our food is contaminated, it's not. We do have a fairly safe food supply, but we can make it a lot safer and common sense steps that are required in this overhaul of the law really are necessary. It's important to keep in mind, we haven't updated this law in over 70 years.
VELSHI: Wow.
OLSON: And the food system has changed enormously in seven decades. So, that's why this law is so overdue and so important.
VELSHI: OK, well I appreciate you not being alarmist about it, but it is important to discuss it. The two Erics on food. Eric Olson is the director of Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs at the Pew Charitable Trust and Eric Schlosser is the author of "Fast Food Nation," among other things, joining me via Skype from Monterey, California. Thank you to you, gentlemen.
OK, whether you are tight on cash or feeling good about your bank account, you are going to want to see our next story because I am focusing on how to make you more money and how to let you invest smart for 2011. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: 2009 and 2010, whatever you think about the economy, they turned out to be good years for investors. Low inflation, very low interest rates. Well, 2011 could be off to a good start as well. On my weekend show, "Your $$$$$," I talked with two friends of mine, Doug Flynn of Flynn Zito Capital Management, and Ryan Mack, the president of Optimum Capital Management, about investing in 2011. If you have disposable money, not the money that you need to pay debts off. If you have other money in your pocket, you're going to want to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG FLYNN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER: The big theme, I think, if you center your investment policy around the following. In addition to stocks, bonds and commodities, focus in on currencies. That's really where you want to look at. Bring currencies into everything you're looking at. The weakening U.S. dollar. You know, the dollar was very volatile this year, but from beginning to the end right now, it really didn't move that much. So you're going to have a continuing weakness of that dollar and there are opportunities in there. So it's not going to be a great year but there is opportunities if you center around that theme, and that's what we see for '11.
VELSHI: And you're saying -- because I've got U.S. dollar in the losers. You're talking about other currencies. Currencies that will do well against the U.S. dollar?
FLYNN: Right. So if you focus in on, of course, commodities and areas that do well in that area, you've got -- everybody wants to center around stocks. You're focusing on individual stocks.
VELSHI: Right.
FLYNN: You want to focus in on materials, industrials, technology and energy. Those are related to that. But also anything that you do with commodities. You know, gold and oil and those. You center around is the U.S. dollar going to weaken and how would I benefit by investing with that? That's the additional tilt you want to take advantage of in '11. That we find opportunity in.
VELSHI: All right, Ryan, let's talk about bonds. In Doug's winners column are high yield bonds. Bonds of companies that might have some risk associated with them and, as a result, pay a higher interest, which is quite common place these days. What should the average investor, my viewer, be looking at in terms of what role bonds play in their portfolio?
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, again, I think that in 2011, dull is the new black. And it's going to be the new common thing. I think we have to look back at these basic principles. We had a bull market. We had a bear market. I think this is going to be a moose market. So as opposed to trying to look at what we're -- OK, what should we do and what should we not do, let's just look at basic principles. What should may asset allocation be? How long am I going to have until my retirement?
Yes, bonds did great, but that doesn't mean that you should now put 70 percent of your portfolio in bonds if you're 25 years old. VELSHI: Right.
MACK: Again, we should look back in basic principles. If you're -- if, again, that accumulation stage, you're just starting out, you might -- you still -- probably still have want a higher percentage in stocks as opposed to bonds for the simple fact that we still have a lot of time. We don't want to have any knee jerk reactions according to what the market did or didn't do. We're probably going to go sideways for quite some time, but now is the best time, the single best time to do some good dollar cost averaging.
I'm still a proponent for individuals who have over 10, 15 years. I mean if you have less than 10 or 15 years until retirement, you might want to have a high percent allocation in bonds. However, you shouldn't dictate -- you shouldn't let the market dictate what your asset allocation. So talk to a good CFP. Talk to someone who knows about -- might have an unbiased view of a perspective of what the asset allocations should be. Go to (INAUDIBLE) and ask for some objective questions about what your own asset allocation move be and from that point moving forward, look and see what your asset allocation should be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Be sure to tune in to "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. "Your $$$$$" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00 Eastern.
Let me bring you up to speed with some of the latest developments in our top stories. There is new information now on the homicide of former Pentagon official John Wheeler. His body was found in a landfill in Newark, Delaware. Police now tell CNN that Wheeler was last seen Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware. They're asking the public for help in finding out what happened next. A Vietnam vet himself, Wheeler was a driving force behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
President Obama arrived back in Washington a few hours ago. On his agenda today is the signing of that food safety bill that we just talked about. The new law overhauls the inspection and oversight of our food and it also gives the FDA new powers to recall suspect products before they cause widespread illness. But it's possible that the new Republican controlled House of Representatives will target funding for the changes as part of the expected budget battle.
President Obama has put Nicholas Sarkozy on his day planner -- in his day planner. The French president will be at the White House next Monday. It will be an important chance to talk about economic issues with France ready to assume the presidency of both the G-8 and the G- 20 economic groups.
And speaking about big, important people at the White House, coming up, Ed Henry, back on the mainland, ready to fill us in on who might become the new White House chief of staff and why that job is important to you. Good to have you back, Ed. We'll see you on the other side of the break. ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is time for "The Stakeout" with our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. Now he's been away for a while. He was in Hawaii because the president was in Hawaii. The president is now back. He has arrived back from Hawaii. New Congress is getting sworn in very shortly. President Obama talked on Air Force One about his expectations. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My expectation, my hope, is that John Boehner, Mitch McConnell will realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012 and that our job this year is to make sure that we build on recovery. We started making good progress on that during the lame duck and I expect to build on that progress when I get back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Let's go right to Ed. He's at our D.C. bureau.
Ed, welcome back, first of all.
HENRY: Happy New Year.
VELSHI: We enjoyed your hula lesson that you had while you were in Hawaii, but that's --
HENRY: I understand you were ripping on me yesterday when I had a day off. And I just wanted it noted that if you -- you just played that tape of the president. I wanted it noted that the president took a longer vacation there. He just came back now. I actually took the red eye --
VELSHI: That's true. You got there --
HENRY: I got back Friday morning to do a little bit of anchoring this weekend, as you know. So you were ripping on me yesterday when I wasn't here and, you know, the president (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. OK, good, so you got back five days before he did and you started your vacation -- work trip, I mean, five days before he -- it all evens out in the end.
HENRY: You know, you've got a good point there.
VELSHI: All right. He's got -- he had a very busy period, so did Congress, before the Christmas break. And now he's got a lot going on right now. But the first thing, which is really a thumb in the eye of the president, is it does look like Congress, the Republican controlled House, is going to move to repeal health care. Not necessarily going to be all that effective, but they look like they're going to do that pretty early on. HENRY: Yes, they're going to do it. And I think as Brianna Keilar has been noting all morning, look, I mean, while the repeal is going to go nowhere in the Senate with a Democratic controlled Senate, and he's still got the president with the veto pin. What it looks like the Republicans are going to do is have this symbolic vote at the beginning. But over the long haul, they can try to do this a death by a thousand cuts and just try to cut off funding for various pieces of this, try to have stand alone bills that repeal, you know, particular unpopular parts of it.
But, look, the White House is going to fight fire with fire and you heard Nancy Pelosi outlining some of this as the outgoing speaker today. There's a lot of popular parts of this. You know, letting kids stay on their parents insurance until their 26. Making sure that people who have breast cancer, you know, are not just thrown off by insurance companies. I man if the White House pushes back harder this time than they did say August of 2009 when they let Republicans define this debate in some ways, there's a lot of popular parts of this health reform that I think could blow up in the Republicans face if they start dismantling it.
VELSHI: Now what is this talk about investigations that the Republican controlled House might conduct into the White House, into this administration?
HENRY: Well, the man who's at the center of it is Darrell Issa. He's a Republican from California. And while I was taking that vacation you mentioned this weekend, I was actually anchoring "State Of The Union" because Candy had a well-deserved Sunday off. And we had Darrell Issa on. And I kind of pressed him on this. And we wanted to play you a little clip of that because he has been throwing out a lot of allegations at the president even before he started these investigations. Take a look at what he said and then I'll sort of explain where we are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Well, you also went over -- went after President Obama in the Joe Sestak case in Pennsylvania and you called it Obama's Watergate and you said it was an impeachable offense. So I know you're -- you seem to be back-pedaling now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: And so -- it was supposed to be a longer clip. But bottom line is that he started kind of back-pedaling and saying, well, I didn't call it Obama's Watergate. Well, he did call it Obama's Watergate. And he said, I didn't call it an impeachable offense. I was quoting Dick Morris (ph) saying it might be an impeachable offense there in that Joe Sestak case in the Pennsylvania Senate race in trying to get him out of the race with some sort of inducement.
And at the end of all of that, the bottom line was Darrell Issa said, even though he had once called it Obama's Watergate, he's now not going to investigate the Sestak case because he thinks that everybody does it. That Republicans have done that, Democrats have done it. So there's no point in doing it.
He also, earlier, you know, acknowledged that he kind of regretted going on the Rush Limbaugh show last October and saying that this was one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times and he clarified to me by saying, this is one of the most corrupt administrations in modern times. Which is not that much of a difference. It's still throwing the word corruption around before you've actually kind of confirmed any of the allegations. And so I think it's going to be something big to watch because Republicans want the agenda to be about repealing health care, they want it to be about jobs, they want it to be about cutting spending, which is a big deal in November. But if some of these investigations get a little carried away, that could overshadow the rest of the year.
VELSHI: Yes, Darrell Issa, it will be interesting to watch. He was active when he was not on the majority side. It will be interesting to see how he does.
All right, let's talk about this information you kept bringing us. You brought us the information first about Rahm Emanuel and then Pete Rouse filling in for him and then the names of people who were involved who might fill in, in that chief of staff position. William Daley now being put into the mix. This is something you had told us about earlier. Where do we stand?
HENRY: Well, it's interesting. Bill Daley, in early December we started picking up information that maybe the White House was interested in bringing him in because even though I'm told the president is very happy with the job that Pete Rouse has done as interim Chief of Staff, that Pete Rouse himself is feeling that now that he's been in the job for a couple of months, when you talk to various senior Democrats, they say he, himself, Pete Rouse feels that like someone like Bill Daley, somebody like Tom Daschle -- elder statesmen -- somebody with more stature than Rouse has, as sort of a behind-the-scenes player, might be needed now as the president does battle with the Republican Congress, number one, partly a Republican Congress. And, number two, gets ready for the 2012 re-election.
And so where we stand now is that when I first picked up this information early December, a White House official told me, now look, it's off base, there's nothing there. We talked to -- Gloria Borger and I were working on this and we talked to someone else close to Bill Daley who said there was nothing there. Now Bloomberg yesterday reported, look, maybe this will happen after all. Maybe he'll be chief of staff or some other big roll.
I think the president's still sorting all this out. It's not a done deal with Bill Daley yet. But I think it's very possible that he could wind up as either chief of staff or council in the White House. And I think what it shows is, they're still searching for other solutions because there's a whole new dynamic that they're going to be dealing with, with John Boehner as Speaker. And there's going to be little moves on the margins. But they're also thinking, maybe they need a big move at the top to really send a statement that they've got some fresh blood in there.
VELSHI: Ed, thank you, by the way, for wearing a purple tie like me today.
What is this nonsense about the WashingtonPost.com naming your colleague Jake Tapper from ABC as the favorite political wonk of 2010? I didn't get a vote in that, apparently.
HENRY: Well, I'd say a few things. I mean, I think Jake's a great guy. I think he's a great reporter. I think -- however, I think being a favorite wonk, isn't that like an oxymoron, or you know, Military intelligence? What, like favorite wonk? Isn't that like a left-handed kind of compliment? I mean, I think Jake's more than just a wonk so I'm not sure I wanted that title. But also Jake does not have a title that I have and I've just been named this and I'm going to reveal it now -- there's a magazine that just came out, named me sexiest man alive. "Hula Magazine." I'm very proud of this.
(LAUGHTER)
HENRY: And Jake Tapper does not have that.
VELSHI: Interesting. Were the any other contestants for that in "Hula Magazine?"
HENRY: No. Nobody else did the hula in Hawaii. So, I won.
VELSHI: There you go. You got it.
HENRY: So, I took a lot of grief from you, I took grief from others. But, you know, I got the magazine cover.
VELSHI: You did. Well, congratulations on that. And congratulations to Jake. And great to see you back here. And we will do this every day.
Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry in the Stakeout.
OK. DNA evidence clears a man of a rape conviction, but only after he spent 30 years in prison. His incredible story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty-five minutes after the hour. Happening now, President Obama arrived back in Washington a few hours ago. On his agenda today is signing the Food Safety bill. The new law overhauls the inspection and oversight of our food. It also gives the FDA new powers to recall suspected products before they cause widespread illness.
A federal judge has sentenced a man who helped hijack an airliner to Cuba more than 40 years ago, to 15 years in prison. Luis Armado Pena Soltren returned to the U.S. and surrendered to authorities last year.
An senior Pentagon official tells CNN Captain Owen Honors has been relieved of command of the USS Enterprise after the release of those raunchy videos shot and shown on a Navy ship. He played a prominent role in the clips, which were made back in 2006 and 2007. The clips only went public over the weekend. Captain Honors and staffers are shown cursing, apparently trying to be funny.
Well, exonerated after spending more than 30 years in prison. This morning, in Dallas County in a courtroom, this man you see here in the middle, Cornelius Dupree Jr. was cleared by DNA from charges involving a 1979 rape, robbery, and abduction case.
He spoke with CNN's Joe Johns just last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there any bitterness? What are you feeling right now?
CORNELIUS DUPREE JR., DECLARED INNOCENT: Well, I'm feeling a bit of mixed emotions. I must admit, there is a little anger, but there's also joy. And the joy overrides the ranger. You know? I'm just so overwhelmed with the joy of just being free.
I think it was just a fair system. But, you know, I think that could have happened to anyone. And I'm just so unfortunate that it happened to me. And I just feel that the system needs to be corrected somehow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow. Pretty composed for a guy who spent 30 years in prison. Now, part of the reason that DNA was able to clear this man is that Dallas County preserves evidence in their crime lab that goes all the way back to cases from the '70s. Twenty-five people have been exonerated from Dallas County since 2001. Twenty-one of them by their DNA.
Craig Watkins is the Dallas County District Attorney. He joins us now from Dallas.
Craig, thank you for being with us.
CRAIG WATKINS, DALLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thanks for having me.
VELSHI: This is something that you've actually taken on as DA. It's been something you've been very particularly interested in.
You came in and you had some sense that there were a lot of wrongful convictions in the county?
WATKINS: Well obviously, I think it's been somewhat lost the role of a district attorney. It's not just to seek convictions, but to seek justice. And we thought it was important for us to look at these claims of innocence.
And so when we came into office four years ago, we created a unit that specifically looked at claims of innocence. And unfortunately, it's shown that individuals that did make those claims were truly innocent. And so, we've seen from the last four years, evidence of what needs to be done to make our system work a little bit better.
VELSHI: What's the lesson to be learned here? I mean, is it common or uncommon to have the DNA kept from that long ago? I wouldn't have guessed that it would have gone back to 1979. And I guess people didn't know it went back to '79, which is why they didn't check this guy's DNA.
WATKINS: I mean, it's very common here in Texas, and I'm sure throughout our country. There are really no standards on how we store biological evidence. But even the larger issue that we have to deal with, specifically in wrongful convictions is that issue of eyewitness identification.
And just about every exoneration that we've had here in Dallas County albeit be through DNA or through other evidence, the individual that was wrongfully convicted was identified wrongly. And so I think that issue, uncouple that with preservation of DNA evidence, all need to be brought to the forefront from lawmakers or by lawmakers by the state of Texas, and other places to make sure that we have things in place so this doesn't happen in the future.
VELSHI: Doesn't that sort of muddy the waters for you though, as the district attorney? Because the images that we see of district attorneys, whether they are real ones on TV or they're dramatized ones in TV or in a movie, is of someone who is about getting a conviction. If you're going to be fuzzy and whether or not you think everything might not be, all the I's not be dotted and the T's might not be crossed.
Does that affect your ability to prosecute criminals to the full extent of the law?
WATKINS: Yes, I think that's a great question. Since I've taken office four years ago, that was an issue that I had to deal with early on. But what it's done is given credibility to us and it allows us to present cases to the citizens of Dallas County and they actually believe in what we're not just here about getting a conviction. We're here to seek the truth.
Think about it from this standpoint. When we do make a mistake and we send someone to prison, like Mr. Dupree, for a crime they didn't commit, it allows the individual that actually committed the crime to continue to commit crimes. So we become complacent in the failure of our justice system.
I believe that it should be a DA, a prosecutor, that brings these issues to the forefront to make the system work better.
VELSHI: All right. Craig Watkins, good to talk to you. Thanks for doing that, for engaging and rechecking so many of these cases.
I thought Mr. Dupree was come quite composed in his interview. I imagine if I spent 30 years in jail for something I didn't do, I might be less cool tempered about it than he is. So, good luck to him with the rest of his life.
Good to talk to you.
WATKINS: Thank you.
VELSHI: Craig Watkins is the District Attorney in Dallas County.
All right. Eclipses can be some of the most amazing sights you are ever going to see. Coming up next, we'll show you great pictures of 2011's very first eclipse. Don't go anywhere.
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VELSHI: Time for Globe Trekking. First up, Pakistan. The governor of Punjab Province, the country's largest and most powerful, was assassinated today, deepening a crisis that threatens to topple the government and could have serious impact on the U.S. war against the Taliban.
Now, officials say that Salman Taseer was shot at close range by an elite police guard as he was getting in his car in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. The suspect is under arrest. Taseer was a close ally of the President Asif Ali Zardari and an outspoken critic of the Pakistan's blasphemy law. The law calls for a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted on insulting Islam. Police say Taseer was killed because of his opposition to the law.
OK, let's go across the border, across Pakistan's border now to Afghanistan. We brought you many stories about the harsh, often violent treatment of Afghan women in a strongly male dominated country. Now, some of the victims are showing remarkable courage by speaking out in a unique way on television.
CNN's Arwa Damon is in Kabul with their inspiring story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Afghanistan's newest talk show called (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), which means, "The Mask." Women raped, beaten, abused, but now finally able to speak out. Their body language tells of all they've had to endure.
The show was the creation of 28-year-old Sami Mahdi .
SAMI MAHDI, CREATOR AND PRODUCER, "THE MASK": I was not very sure about the concept and the format. But I was very sure about "The Mask," you know, because in Afghanistan, it's very difficult for a women to talk about their difficulties and their problems and the violence they are facing in their home.
DAMON: Yasimin (ph) was just 13-years-old, when she says her family sold her for around $1,000. Her husband and in-laws beat and tortured her.
This is against Islam and against the law, the show's religious authority reassures her. The studio audience also includes experts in human rights and the law. MAHDI: I'm not sure we can make some difference for the victims, you know? But we can use the life of these individuals as an example and I'm sure we can make some changes in the life of other women. And I'm sure we can change the minds of men in Afghanistan.
DAMON: Sarayah (ph) tells of being forcibly being married off at the age of 15, to a known rapist who she feared would eventually come after their daughter. She believes her husband would kill her and their three children.
(on camera): Does the mask make you feel safe?
(voice-over): Yes, Sarayah responds, adding that she had no other option but to speak out for the sake and future of her children.
(on camera): It does come as something of a surprise that a man is behind this type of a concept. How did it come about?
MAHDI: Whenever I go home and I compare my work with my mother, she is doing much more than I, much more, but no one is paying attention. And maybe there is a lot of mothers, thousands of mothers, who are living in the same situation. They don't have a tongue, they don't have a voice to talk about what they are suffering.
DAMON: So basically this half, with the (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) or the burqa, is showing how women have been suppressed and unable to talk, and this half is about their innocence.
MAHDI: Yes. It shows the reality of women. White (ph) and innocent.
DAMON (voice-over): Their innocence lost, but speaking out in hopes of protecting others.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: It is 47 minutes after the hour, updating developments in our top stories right now.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee says sexual lawsuits have forced it to file for bankruptcy. One -- on the Archdiocese's Web site, they say Chapter 11 reorganization is the best way to meets its commitments. Now the Archdiocese says it still intends to fairly compensate any victims with unsolved claims.
President Obama just back from Hawaii plans to sign the Food Safety Modernization Act anytime now. It gives the FDA the power to order recalls of dangerous food. Now you may be surprised to know that until now, the feds could only request recalls. The new law steps up inspections of so-called high risk food production facilities, it requires food processors to draw up food safety plans accessible by the government, and it requires food importers to verify the safety of products made or grown abroad. A senior defense official tells CNN the Navy has relieved the commander of the USS Enterprise of his duties. Captain Owen Honors appears with other sailors in homemade videos described as lewd and raunchy. The clips contain gay slurs and simulated sex acts.
A few minutes ago, we talked about making money this year through smart investing. I guess there also the other option of playing the Lotto. The Mega Millions jackpot for today's drawing is now up to $355 million. As you can see here, there are some long lines for hot tickets. If there is no winner, the jackpot could top $400 million for Friday, that would be a record. The largest prize ever was $390 million in 2007.
That is entirely on the radar, time now for us to go "Off the Radar." Chad, this is a good year to look up, spend a little more time looking up. One of the things I like about Atlanta is the sky is more present than it is in Manhattan.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's bluer.
VELSHI: And you can see it.
MYERS: Right. Go to Montana and Nebraska -- but watch where you're looking this year. We have four chances for solar eclipse. Those are the worst things you can possibly turn your eyes to. You're looking straight into the sunshine. You don't do that when you're outside at all.
But here's the deal, they had one today, the first of four partial solar eclipse eclipses.
VELSHI: Look at the crescent, that's great.
MYERS: Absolutely. You can't see it not shot, but the moon is right there. The moon literally gets in the way of the sunshine, so that's why you see this as a crescent sun.
Very cool shots here. Most of them from around Copenhagen, from the Netherlands, because that's where this solar eclipse literally happened.
But how about this, I just love this shot. It almost looks like a crescent moon, but in fact, there's the sun, there's the moon.
To be a total solar eclipse, this has to move --
VELSHI: Fully over that and then sometimes, you see a ring around it, so you see the crescent, then on the other side.
MYERS: The moon right there, then that would be a total solar eclipse.
VELSHI: And why is that not?
MYERS: It just doesn't line up. For this to happen, it's not a once in a lifetime chance, but once in a couple of years where the sun gets in the way. This one is a lot smaller. What we have here, let's just draw. You have the sun. Way over here. Then you know, the moon is circulating around. At one point, the moons is going to be right there.
VELSHI: It's right in line.
MYERS: Ironically, this doesn't really, I mean, this is just ironic that the moon and the sun are almost the exact same size even though the moon is so close and the sun is so far away, because of the way you see it, it looks like it's the same size.
And this will happen again. There will be three more, three more solar eclipses. There's going to be one, this is the one that happened today was basically Europe. The next one is for the North Pole, Santa Claus can see it. And the other is for the penguins. Two more down here in the Atlantic.
VELSHI: So we're not getting one. In Atlanta, we're not going to see one.
MYERS: Anything. Don't look at the sun.
VELSHI: All right, we'll have you bring it to us.
I remember when I saw an eclipse when I was a kid and then, they told you to look through a negative like a film negative, which I'm sure didn't protect your eyes all that well..
MYERS: Not the well. The best thing to do is to get the sunshine behind you, put a dot, just this tiny hole, in a piece of tinfoil, and shine the light through the pinhole that on to the wall. And then you don't look at it at all.
VELSHI: Very interesting. All right, thank you, Chad. Good to see you, as always.
Nancy Pelosi, she's defended her turf and the actions of her party during her farewell speech as House speaker. More on what she had to say just ahead in her last speech in that job in your political update.
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VELSHI: We've been talking a lot this hour about the food safety bill that the president is expected to sign very shortly and what it means to you. But will it survive the budget battle? CNN's chief national correspondent John King joins me from the CNN Political Desk.
And this is where our worlds collide, John, your world of expertise in politics and mine in business. You know what? When it gets down to the budget, it's the same world.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is one of the things, Ali. Good afternoon to you. Thanks for the music, that was nice.
Republicans are saying they're going to find tens of billions of dollars in budget costs and some Republicans think this new food safety bill is an overreach, too much government regulation, so it is one of the areas they will look at as they decide what to fund and not to fund.
However, the president wants it very much. So let's assume it goes forward. He will sign it today. The most sweeping overhaul of our food safety laws since the 1930s, so you might say it's overdue.
The idea is to give the Food and Drug Administration direct authority to issue recalls. It also requires more transparency, more reporting by the food industry and the Health and Human Services secretary would be required to create a tracing system. If there's contamination out there in the system, this new way is supposed to say, hey, where is it, let's find it, let's get to it.
That's one big issue today. Check in on the Ticker if you want more on that one.
Another one, Nancy Pelosi, she's the speaker of the House for one more day until tomorrow when she hands off the gavel. Her party just lost 63 seats in the House of Representatives. What does she say this morning? She said, Ali, she has no regrets.
She also says, she's going to come in with this premise as the new Democratic minority leader, if the Republicans have a good idea, she says she'll work with them. Let's watch how quickly that one becomes more partisan.
And lastly, a re-tweet by Sarah Palin. A re-tweet has a lot of people thinking she's evolving in her views about gay rights. A conservative blogger, a gay conservative blogger, Tammy Bruce, tweeted about conservatives criticizing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." She said, enough already. The more someone complains about homos the more we should look under their bed. Well, Sarah Palin re-tweeted that to which Tammy Bruce says, hey, thank you, governor and she thinks this is the first statement, direct statement Sarah Palin has made on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
So, Ali, as we look ahead to 2012, anything Sarah Palin does immediately gets commented on. We'll wait to see if Governor Palin will speak to this, but it's pretty interesting.
VELSHI: It is going to be a more active year than it would have been given the results of the midterm elections. It looks to be, as productive as the Congress was before the Christmas break, it is going to have a lot on its plate. Guys like you are going to stay busy. We'll both stay busy this year.
KING: We're going to be busy, my friend. But that's all right, we like work.
VELSHI: That's how we like it, exactly. John, good to see you, as always. Hey, you can watch John every night 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN with "JOHN KING, USA."
We're going to take a quick break. You're next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" is just an hour away.
Stay with us, I'm coming right back.
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