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Congresswoman Giffords' Road to Recovery; Sex Scandal Rocks Italy; Using Diplomacy and Defense; Big Time Budget Shortfalls; Tracing Jared Loughner's Steps; Inside Loughner's Mind; Haiti Earthquake Survivor and Amputee: 'All Is Not Lost'
Aired January 14, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Carol Costello.
CNN's big stories for Friday, January 14th.
A funeral mass in Tucson next hour for federal Judge John Roll. He's one of six people killed in Saturday's shooting. A federal marshal says more than 100 judges will attend under tight security.
The Vatican will beatify the late Pope John Paul II this spring. The Church says John Paul cured a nun of Parkinson's Disease after he died in 2005. Sainthood is a four-step process and will require a second miracle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: John Paul is now at stage three, which means that he is on the brink of becoming a formal saint. I think, informally, he is already widely regarded as a saint, but this will sort of put the bow on the story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Also out of Rome, Italian prosecutors claim Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had sex with an underage girl. His lawyers call the allegations absurd and groundless. The billionaire Berlusconi already faces trials for tax fraud, embezzlement and corruption.
We'll have much more on this from Rome shortly.
As you heard, screams of terror as rescuers pulled people from surging floodwaters. Brazil is ordering thousands of families to evacuate hillside homes because rain remains in the forecast. Some 500 people have been killed by floods and mudslides. Others may be buried in mud and not yet discovered.
Now on to our lead story.
Today could mark another milestone for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in her journey to recovery. Her husband says doctors may remove that breathing tube today. Six days after she was shot in the head, Giffords continues to defy the odds. She opened her eyes for the first time on Wednesday. Doctors say her eye movement suggests she's aware of her surroundings, and she's able to move her arms and her legs.
We'll get an update from the hospital live at the top of the next hour.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was granted access to the trauma room where Congresswoman Giffords was first treated. He also talked with the congresswoman's doctors and her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Captain Mark Kelly was in Houston when he got the call from Giffords' chief of staff telling him to come quickly to Tucson. He's a Navy pilot, he's an astronaut. He was able to get on a plane, a private one, and get here within 45 minutes, he told me.
He got here right as his wife was coming out of the operation and into the ICU, and it was at that time that he spoke to Dr. Rhee and Dr. Lemole specifically about what had happened, learned the details of this gunshot injury to his wife's brain. Remarkable.
He talked a lot about what the last several days have been like, including when the president came to visit. And I asked him -- I said, "Do you think your wife knew the president was in the room when he visited?" And he paused for a second and he said, "Well, I think she knew he was there, but she was trying to piece together why he was there."
And I tell you that because I think it's important to get an idea of exactly where the congresswoman's cognitive function is now. She's starting to put pieces of this puzzle together, trying to understand exactly what happened to her.
She's shown higher cognitive function all along. This a further step up of awareness.
I asked the chief of neurosurgery specifically about that. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Do you feel that she understands all that has happened to her?
DR. MICHAEL LEMOLE, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGERY: I'm starting to think so.
GUPTA: She knows?
LEMOLE: I was there when the congresswoman and the senator were in the room. And to see her open her eye and look at them, there's just no question in my mind. And she's done that for her husband, as well. Those glimmers of recognition, that tracking of the eyes, tells you a whole lot more, that she is aware of her surroundings, to some extent, coming in and out, perhaps, and that she's trying to engage that reality, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Captain Kelly also told me that his wife could have her breathing tube out as early as today, it could be a couple more days, but they have not had one day backwards, something they expected. They said every day since this injury, they have been moving forward.
A lot happened to make her recovery so successful, and part of it was how she was treated exactly when she got into the hospital. Dr. Randall Friese was there. He was the first doctor to see her, and he showed us an exclusive look at exactly what transpired, including the room where she was initially treated.
Listen to how he described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RANDALL FRIESE, TRAUMA SURGEON: Walked in the room. Some things were occurring.
And I think I said this before, but my first response was that I grabbed her hand, leaned into her, and said, "Ms. Giffords, you're in the hospital. We're going care for you. Please squeeze my hand." And she did.
I saw the severe head injury, I saw some blood loss. Her eyes were closed.
She did have a blackened right eye and swollen right eye. And she was grunting a little bit. I got the impression she was trying to communicate but was being frustrated by the fact that she could not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Why exactly someone survives a gunshot wound is -- there's lots of different factors. But one of them was the speed at which this all worked. Thirty-eight minutes from the time she hit the door to the time she was in the operating room, as Dr. Friese, Dr. Rhee and Dr. Lemole went to work.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: All good news. Thanks, Sanjay.
Today's funeral for the federal judge killed in the massacre comes a day after services for the youngest victim, of course, 9-year- old Christina Green. Family and friends and her classmates and hundreds of others gathered to say good-bye to Christina and to celebrate her life. As they entered the church, mourners passed under a giant American flag recovered from Ground Zero, a tribute to a little girl born on September 11th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her time to be born was 9-11-2001. That moving flag from that dreadful day hangs above our church this afternoon.
Her time to die was the tragic day, January 8, 2011. Just 9 years old, she was, but she has found her dwelling place in God's mansion. She went home.
She had the time to root for the Dodgers and even the Phillies. She had a time to hug her little black stuffed dog, to love animals, to swim with her brother, Dallas, which she so enjoyed, to model and to be in fashion. She had a time to be elected to the student council, to be a leader, to represent her class.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Christina Green.
First lady Michelle Obama released an open letter to the parents of children struggling with this tragedy. She writes, "The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have, and they don't lend themselves to easy answers. But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach them valuable lessons about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems so far away."
The scandal-plagued Italian prime minister has new troubles today. And they're big ones.
Prosecutors allege Silvio Berlusconi had sex with a teenaged girl, a then-17-year-old nicknamed Ruby. They also claim he abused his power by covering up the alleged affair.
Barbie Nadeau is a journalist for "Newsweek." She's based in Rome. She spoke with our colleagues at CNN International a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So what are the chances he will face these actual charges?
BARBIE NADEAU, JOURNALIST, "NEWSWEEK": Well, he's been notified of the evidence against him, and there's a lot that we already know about this underage prostitute who goes by the name of "Ruby." She has admitted to being at the house of the prime minister's, private residence outside of Milan. She denies having sex with the prime minister, but she has admitted to being at his house, and she is a minor. Silvio Berlusconi has admitted to knowing her. He denies having sex with her. But there is some background information that has -- this has been a story that has dogged the prime minister for quite some time, and now it looks like it's going to go to court, certainly at an investigative stage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The prime minister's lawyers call all of this absurd and groundless, as I told you. Berlusconi's majority in parliament is already razor-thin, though, so this new scandal will almost certainly put his government at risk.
A Mississippi man spends nine very tense days at sea. We'll find out what caused his boat to break down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Diplomacy and defense. The Obama administration is setting the stage for next week's state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao. We're hearing from both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Roberts. One, in Washington, stressing the need to work together. The other, in Japan, stressing continued U.S. military might in the Pacific.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: To deal with this century's security challenges, a critical component will remain the forward presence of U.S. military forces in Japan. Without such a presence, North Korea's military provocations could be even more outrageous or worse. China might behave more assertively toward its neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Let's bring in Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jill Dougherty to translate all of this for us.
Hello, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.
You know, Carol -- sorry.
COSTELLO: No, go ahead.
DOUGHERTY: We just got back from the speech upstairs by the secretary, and you'd have to say, really -- I mean, it was a very broad speech and very complex, and actually very carefully weighted, carefully balanced, where the secretary was trying to sum up this relationship which is intensely complex.
She said that -- she used two words, "engagement" and "entanglement," and that's a very good way of putting it. She said that we are at a critical juncture with China, and in a way, at the end, she was urging Americans not to worry about that, that there is a lot of potential in this relationship. But she also did admit that there is, as she put it, some distrust in the relationship left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I would be the first to admit that distrust lingers on both sides. The United States and the international community have watched China's efforts to modernize and expand its military, and we have sought clarity as to its intentions. As Secretary Gates stressed in Beijing this week, both sides would benefit from sustained and substantive military-to-military engagement that increases transparency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: OK. So, you'd have to say, Carol, if you boil it down to two things, I think it would be the U.S. welcomes China as a rising power. But it also wants China to take up its responsibilities in the world. And that led the secretary into issues like Iran.
She said they had been helpful on that, that there's more that they could do. She was critical of them on North Korea, saying they really didn't speak out on a couple of conflicting moments where the North Korean sank a ship recently in an attack on a South Korean island, that they really have to step up to the plate on North Korea.
And the economic component was very important, as you can imagine, saying that there was more that China had to do. She also talked about human rights and said that she understands that the leadership fears that that could lead to some destabilization.
Carol, just one more thing. As we were walking in, I did speak to a senior administration official, who, right at that moment, said that a team had come back, an economic team from Beijing, highly disappointed, as he put it, that the Chinese had -- unless they had some type of movement on that front, that there would be problems.
So, even as the secretary was speaking, there was already a current of concern about the relationship, at least on the economic side.
COSTELLO: It will be interesting to see what happens.
Jill Dougherty, live from Washington.
Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Digging out from the winter storm. Communities across Connecticut are still struggling two days after being buried in more than two feet of snow. Frigid temperatures are making matters much worse.
Highs in some areas only expected to reach the mid 20s. When you factor in the wind, it will feel like a bone-chilling zero degrees.
(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: Things started out really well for a young girl singing the National Anthem at a hockey game, but then something goes terribly wrong. You'll see and hear what happens, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Auburn quarterback Cam Newton makes "The Big Play" today. The Heisman Trophy winner is skipping his senior year to enter the NFL draft. Newton led the Tigers to a perfect season and national title.
This guy skipped college completely to fight in Desert Storm. Thirty-nine-year-old Jermaine Townes is just now starting his higher education. At 6'4", he's also trying out for the college basketball team. And why not?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERMAINE TOWNES, FRESHMAN, COLLEGE OF DUPAGE: Old school, that's what they call me. Let me play on your team for one year. I'll be the biggest cheerleader you ever had on your team.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if you never end up starting?
TOWNES: I'll be happy. Let me tell you something, I'm happy to be in the crib (ph) line. And I'm happy to put on the uniform. I'm satisfied already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh. You go.
When 8-year-old Elizabeth Hughes made her singing debut at a hockey game in Norfolk, Virginia, microphone gremlins intervened. Listen.
(SINGING)
COSTELLO: See, that's the American spirit. After the mike went out, the crowd joined in to rescue Elizabeth so everyone could sing the National Anthem together and everyone could hear it.
(SINGING)
COSTELLO: She was doing pretty good, too, when the microphone was on. So thanks to all of you who rescued her.
You're online, and so are we. Sandra Endo is in Washington, tracking stories trending on the Web.
Sandra, there's a lot of talk about possible changes to the zodiac. I think I'm a Virgo now or something.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. This is causing a huge uproar on social media, on Facebook, on Twitter. People are so confused out there right now, Carol, because of a new study by the Minnesota Planetarium that says zodiac signs have shifted by a month.
That means, like you mentioned, you may be a Virgo now. Who knows?
And a lot of people are confused, because a lot of people read their daily horoscope. They may not know which sign to read now.
And take a look at this chart. I can just show you, the new zodiac calendar, as they put it, even includes a 13th sign, so very confusing all around. Right, Carol?
COSTELLO: Come on, pronounce that 13th sign. I want to hear it.
ENDO: Ophiuchus, from November 29th to December 17th.
But, I have to say, the good news is that most westerners believe in the tropical zodiac, which is seasonally based and not based on the constellations. So you're all good.
COSTELLO: Man, I was worried, because I believe those horoscopes. I call them horror scopes.
ENDO: Yes. I say whatever sign you are, just own it. Right?
COSTELLO: That's right. I want to be a Libra, so I'm going to own that. I'm not a Virgo. I don't care what they say.
ENDO: That's right.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about another shocking story, this one about Martha Stewart.
ENDO: Yes. Martha Stewart is blogging about her experience to an emergency room in New York City. And this is really interesting, because if you go on her blog, she even posts pictures of her injury online, and it's a pretty bad gash on her lip.
She had to get rushed to the hospital, get stitches. They called in a plastic surgeon.
And this was all because she was saying good-bye to her sleeping dog Francesca. And the dog was startled and just bumped her in the head. She felt like it was a boxing glove jabbing her in the face, and that's how she got the cut. But pretty interesting news that she would blog about so personal.
COSTELLO: I know. That is -- I'm glad she's recovering.
ENDO: Yes, exactly.
COSTELLO: There's another thing trending, as well. A Snickers commercial?
ENDO: Yes. You know, this is trending online, on YouTube. A lot of people are watching it, and mixed reactions here on this commercial, because some people are saying this is kind of insensitive given shark attacks have claimed people's lives. And most recently, a German tourist died because of an attack off the coast of Egypt.
So take a look at this commercial for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So which one tasted better?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the guy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With Lisa, I only tasted peanut butter and chocolate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lisa had just eaten a peanut butter cup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But with Steve, I tasted something more. It was peanut butter and --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snickers.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Steve had just eaten Snickers Peanut Butter Squared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve was delicious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I'd love another taste.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, certainly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: All right. I don't know. Other people are saying, Carol, that, you know, it's all in good fun. And regardless, it's good PR for Snickers.
COSTELLO: I feel guilty for laughing, but I did laugh.
ENDO: You liked it, right? A lot of people like it. A lot of other people say, hey, look, do something else with that.
COSTELLO: Come on, lighten up.
Thank you, Sandra. We appreciate it.
ENDO: Sure.
COSTELLO: Speaking of big bites, wait until you see the cuts some crippled state governments are being forced to make. Did you like that segue?
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Many Americans are having a tough time making ends meet these day, but take a look at the budget shortfalls some state governments are seeing this year. To put it bluntly, everybody's just plain broke.
Forty-six of the fifty states will fall short in paying their schools, social service agencies and contractors, and we're not just talking about being a little bit in the red. Illinois is looking at a shortfall of 40 percent of the state's total budget, New Jersey is short 38 percent, and Nevada, short a whopping 54 percent. Those are big numbers, big percentages.
So that what do they mean for you? I'm joined by two guests in an attempt to put it all into perspective. First, Marcela Aviles heads a nonprofit group in California that's feeling the effect of these shortfalls, and Nick Johnson is from the group tracking all of this, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Thanks to both of you for joining us today.
NICHOLAS JOHNSON, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES: Thanks for having me.
MARCELA AVILES, PRESIDENT & CEO, MEXICAN HERITAGE CORPORATION: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Marcela, let's start with you.
You're the president of the Mexican Heritage Organization (sic), a nonprofit group in California. We know California is short, what, 17.9 billion on the state budget this year. Governor Jerry Brown, he wants to slash $12.5 billion in state spending.
So what does that mean for your group?
AVILES: Well, times are tough across the board. My nonprofit organization provides music and arts education to public schools in San Jose, California and also afterschool music and arts education activities and educational programs, and we also produce cultural events. The income from those cultural events supports our education programs. So that the hit to education in California has been particularly hard and as so often unfortunately is the case, music and arts education programs get cut first.
And so not for profits such as ours that provide quality music and arts education programs to public schools or after school programs are often looked to to either replace programs that have been cut or to subsidize programs whose budgets are feeling the impact.
COSTELLO: I know, Marcela, that some people who are listening to this say, well, it's understandable that those things would be cut first so that, you know, you can sink your money into other things that children are being taught in school that are perhaps more important.
AVILES: Well, research has shown and statistics have shown, and if you go to Americans for the Arts website, that music education in particular has really -- impacts student's academic achievement.
Kids track academically. They track into high school, they track into college. A quality music education really should be aligned as part of the daily curriculum. And unfortunately, the cuts in education across the board are impacting not just music education, but, for example, class sizes are larger, some subjects are not being taught, and sports programs are being cut, as well.
COSTELLO: It's a tough time for all of us and you have to come up with creative solutions, I guess. And that's we want to talk to Nicholas about.
Cause, Nicholas, the common sense solution to these budget shortfalls are, what, budget cuts and tax hikes, and neither is very popular. Illinois just announced that big tax increase on both the personal tax income tax went up 66 percent personal, corporate went up as well. The states probably aren't going to get much from the federal government, so what's the answer?
JOHNSON: The choices are really challenging. It's worth remembering that this is the continued aftereffects of the recession. The recession put people out of work, people are spending less. And so, there's less income tax revenue, less sales tax revenue. State uses income and sales tax revenues to pay for education, health care, public safety, transportation, and they have to balance their budgets. So most states have now used up the reserves that they built up during the expansion earlier of the last decade and so they're faced with very tough choices.
COSTELLO: A lot of people blame these public pension plans for these big shortfalls. In your mind, how much are they to blame?
JOHNSON: Pension plans actually have nothing to do with the current shortfalls. The current shortfalls are all about the revenue streams that are coming into states. State revenues are running about 12 percent below prerecession levels, and states and localities are having to pay for a higher level of services.
Pension shortfalls are an issue, but that's a long-term issue. States have a couple of decades with which to address the underfunding of state pension plans.
What's at stake right now is, again, the services -- education, health care. You have states like New Jersey, New Jersey cut 50,000 people from a health insurance plan. That means families that face a medical need may have no way it to pay for it.
You have cuts in education. Hawaii shortened it's school year last year by 17 days and that's a lot of lost learning.
COSTELLO: We sit back though and we hear, oh, the recession is technically over, the economy -- the outlook on the economy is brightening. So why aren't we seeing this reflected in state budgets across the country?
JOHNSON: Well, we're starting to see tax revenues tick up just a little bit. But here's the problem, even as tax revenues are starting to pick up slowly, the need for services has risen quite rapidly. We have three-quarters of a million more children in public schools than we had three years ago. There's more students in public colleges and universities. Six million more people on the Medicaid program. So the service demands have risen quite sharply.
The other factor you mentioned a moment ago, federal aid. In 2009, the federal government provided a big infusion of funds to states to help them ward off the most severe cuts in education and health care.
COSTELLO: Yes, and there's not going to be any more money coming from the federal government.
JOHNSON: Right, those funds are ending at the end of June.
COSTELLO: Thanks to you both. We appreciate it. Nicholas Johnson of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Marcel Davidson Aviles of the Mexican Heritage Corporation, thanks.
Was the Tucson shooter influenced by what's known as conscious dreaming?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROF. GARY SCHWARTZ, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: For someone who might be mentally ill, it could become very dangerous, especially if they were obsessed with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We explore the phenomenon p conscious dreaming and Jared Loughner's delusions in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Authorities in Arizona are now interviewing a teenager who found a black bag believed to have belonged to the suspect in the Arizona shootings, the Tucson shootings, Jared Loughner. Susan Candiotti has been following the developments in Arizona.
And, Susan, they're interviewing this teenager and we also know more about this black backpack-type bag.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's right, Carol. Good morning.
You know, there's no early indication that this young man had any connection at all to the suspect, but he is the one who was walking his dog yesterday that we told you about in a dry river bed in the neighborhood where the suspect lives, and he came across this black bag, according to police.
Police say that when the young man picked up the bag, he took it over to some Quest Communication workers in the neighborhood and he said, hey, he told them, I found this bag and it's got ammunition in it. And the workers said, well, you've got to call the police and you shouldn't be touching it. But he said I don't want to call them because I've got some warrants out on me.
So the Quest workers then called the police. They came right away and, of course, you saw all the pictures that we took yesterday as the FBI, the ATF, the sheriff's office, et cetera combed the area for additional evidence. And the bag, of course, was immediately retrieved and is being tested for DNA and fingerprints to get a 100 percent positive link the suspect. However, authorities do believe that it did belong to Jared.
And, Carol, we have some additional detail about what was inside the bag. Police now telling us it contained seven boxes, seven boxes of ammunition along with a receipt for the bag itself. So, of course, with very no idea why the suspect left the bag there, what his intentions were. If he meant to come back for it or simply leave it there police at this time do not know.
COSTELLO: Do we know more of a timeline as to exactly when he checked into that hotel and when he left his parents' house? And he arrived by taxi at the Safeway, do we have any better idea of his actions on that morning?
CANDIOTTI: We do. A lot of that information is coming together now, and the police will be releasing a more detailed timeline.
But we know a lot already. We know, for example, it was late the night before that police say that the suspect checked into a Motel 6 that's very close to his house. He checked in, he had to show an ID, he used a credit card. He -- they have no security camera at that motel, but they do know that the door, they know this from the electronic , that the door opened and closed opened and closed several times. They don't know why.
When he left the hotel early in the morning, we know that would have been around just before 7:30 in the morning, he did not check out. He left, and that is when he drove by car, his own car, and got stopped very close by in an intersection for running a red light, was pulled over by, remember, the officers -- the officer from the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and they let him go with a verbal warning.
Then he went home. That's when his father confronted him about the black bag, didn't know what was in it. The suspect left by foot, son left by foot. Dad took off after him I his car, but couldn't find him and suspected that he was somewhere out in the desert. In fact, he was a short distance from the house at this dry river bed where police say -- believe he left the black bag.
And then he left from there and went to a Circle k convenience store where he called a Yellow Cab and then took that cab to the Safeway.
So he left the motel around 7:30 or so, got home, they believe, about a half hour after that around 8:00 a.m., left there, made his way to the cab -- to, rather, the Circle K, called the cab, and took that short ride over to the Safeway. COSTELLO: Interesting.
CANDIOTTI: And we know the shooting happened at about 11:00 a.m.
COSTELLO: Very interesting. Susan Candiotti, great work. We'll get back to you if you have more. Thank you.
Jared Loughner's alleged actions outside a Tucson Safeway last weekend may have been influenced by conscious dreaming, or as some call it, lucid dreaming. Is this just product of an unbalanced mind?
We asked CNN's Randi Kaye to look into it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the months before the shooting, Jared Loughner appears especially disturbed. His world was getting darker, his questions stranger.
(on camera): Chartroom postings published by "The Wall Street Journal" offer insight into Loughner's growing disappointment and resentment, a window into his state of mind. "The Journal" says Loughner, using a pseudonym, posted more than 130 messages last spring over a two month period on an online gaming forum. He seemed to be dealing with feelings of rejection and searching for a purpose.
(voice-over): CNN hasn't been able to confirm independently the postings are Loughner's, but they are filled with aggression, many of them too startling to comprehend.
April 24th, last year, he asked, "Would you hit a handy cap child/adult?" Later that same day, a hate filled rant titled, "Why rape" suggesting college women enjoyed rape. "There are rape victims that are under the influence of a substance. The drinking is leading them to it rape...being alone for a very long time will inevitably lead you to rape."
May 9th, he asked, "Does anyone have aggression 24/7?"
The next night, a new online thread. "If you went to prison right now...what would you be thinking?" He added, "Just curious?"
May 20th, he wrote, "I bet you're hungry...because I know how to cut a body open and eat you for you more than a week."
If Loughner was looking to escape his demons and reality, too, he may have done so through something called lucid dreaming, an alternative reality in which a person is aware he's in a dream and can manipulate that dream.
Psychology professor Gary Schwartz has studied lucid dreams.
(on camera): Can lucid dreaming be dangerous?
PROF. GARY SCHWARTZ, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: For someone who might be mentally ill, it could become very dangerous, especially if they were obsessed with it.
KAYE (voice-over): And friends say Loughner was obsessed with lucid dreaming. One friend, Zane Gutierrez , told "The New York Times," "Jared felt nothing existed but his subconscious...the dream word was what was real to Jared, not the day-to-day of our lives."
Another friend, Bryce Tierney , told the online publication "Mother Jones" that Loughner viewed dreams as his alternative reality. Tierney said Loughner even kept a dream journal. "That's the golden piece of evidence," Tierney said, "You want it know what goes on in Jared Loughner's mind, there's a dream journal that will tell you everything."
Strange ramblings apparently posted on YouTube by Loughner just within the last month or so paint the picture of a young man apparently losing his grip on reality. On December 15th, Loughner wrote about lucid creaming. "My favorite activity is conscience dreaming...some of you don't dream...sadly."
He later wrote, "The population of dreamers in the United States is less than 5 percent." Also, "Jared Loughner is conscious dreaming at this moment. Thus, Jared Loughner is asleep."
(on camera): Loughner's focus on dreaming has some experts wondering if he could no longer tell the difference between dreams and reality. If so, is it possible he was dreaming when he allegedly shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and all those other people?
SCHWARTZ: It is conceivable from what we know about his history that he was -- he could have been confusing when he was in a dream and when he wasn't in a dream. And so, we have to be open to that possibility.
KAYE (voice-over): Loughner's friend Bryce Tierney also told "Mother Jones" that Loughner had become convinced he could control his dreams. He said he told friends, "I'm so into it because I can create things and fly. I'm everything I'm not in this world."
Professor Schwartz says it seems Loughner enjoyed his dream world more than his daily life.
SCHWARTZ: He was able to fulfill things in his fantasy that he couldn't do in reality.
He's someone who was abusing this capability and under those circumstances, it could be very dangerous.
KAYE: Dangerous indeed. And even if what happened was part of some dream for Jared Loughner, it was a terrifying reality for this community.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Looks like the end of the road for Michael Steele. We'll go live to the RNC meeting as the party gets ready to pick a new leader.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A year ago this week, a violent earthquake brought Haiti to its knees. An estimated 230,000 people were killed and more than 300,000 injured.
A woman who lost both hands now wants to help others in her homeland. Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us her story in today's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the walls disintegrate and the ceiling crumbles, Darlene Bertilles (ph) first thought was, the world was ending.
DARLENE BERTILLES, HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR(through translator): I didn't realize that it was an earthquake.
GUPTA: When the earthquake hit Haiti, Bertilles was at work.
BERTILLES: The mirror broke and the glasses and bottles blocked the way. You couldn't even run. And then, the ceiling fell out.
GUPTA: Within seconds, Bertilles was entombed, pinned beneath a coworker in a mound of rumble for five days.
BERTILLES: After a while, I felt like I was in a dream. After that, I didn't know anything.
GUPTA: Bertilles awoke after a three-week a coma aboard the USS Comfort. She had no idea what happened to her or her country.
BERTILLES: I opened my eyes, there were a lot of bright lights. I spoke to someone and I said to him, what happened to me? Up until now, I didn't know that I had lost my two hands.
GUPTA: The gravity of her situation sank in. Without hands, she could no longer support her family.
BERTILLES: In my country, they shun handicapped people like me.
GUPTA: But Bertilles soon recovered the strength that had characterized her before the quake. She decided that overcoming her own tragedy could only happen by sharing her strength.
BERTILLES: My big dream is to help others that have been injured like me.
GUPTA: Inspired by her, Bertilles doctor decided to help. He contacted a state senator in New York where Darlene has family, who arranged a visa, transportation, and medical care, including prosthetics for Darlene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an extraordinary thing for Darlene to go through what she has gone through and instead of curling up inside herself, to expand your dream and expand your goal.
GUPTA: While Bertilles recovers here, her spirit, she says, is already in Haiti.
BERTILLES: I have thought why? Why me? Perhaps it's to make me realize that all is not lost. Even though I'm handicapped, all is not lost.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's coming down to the wire for RNC Chairman Michael Steele. He's fighting hard to keep the top spot in the national committee. It's hard because the RNC is in debt, there are claims of mismanagement. And you know what all of that means, The RNC needs an effective fundraiser.
Peter Hamby is part of "The Best Political Team on Television." He's live at the RNC meeting at National Harbor, Maryland. So the frontrunner right now, well, it isn't Michael Steele, is it?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: No, it's not. The frontrunner is actually someone most of our viewers have not heard of. His name is Reince Priebus. "The Daily Show" and "Colbert" had fun with his name the other night. He's the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. He is a former member of Michael Steele's kitchen cabinet who turned on Steele and is now running for chairman himself.
He's expected to win today, but the race is really wide open. There are five people including Chairman Steele running in this race, and it will proceed through multiple rounds of balloting. So things could change as people drop out, you know, do some arm twisting, offer endorsements to other candidates. So we'll have to see.
The only certainty today is that Chairman Steele won't be chairman. This is his last day running the committee.
COSTELLO: OK, so he's not going to make the graceful exit, though? He's going to stay in there until the bitter end?
HAMBY: Yes. He said he will stay in through all of the ballots. Traditionally, people drop out if they don't really garner the kind of support that they need to win, but he has said publicly, I'm going to stay in this thing to win it. We'll see if he does that when it comes down to the wire.
But he cannot resist the spotlight, that's one thing we've learned from Michael Steele over the last two years, Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, he's a politician. Thank you very much, Peter Hamby.
