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Iranian Lawmakers Out For Blood; President Obama Defends Budget; NYSE and German Exchange Merger; Home Depot Hiring 60,000 In The Spring; Atlanta Baby Panda Is Named; Charlie Sheen Talks Crack; Your Brain On Drugs; Prices Heading Higher; Budget Battle; President Obama to Award Medal of Freedom to 15 Honorees; Coverage of the Medal of Freedom Ceremony

Aired February 15, 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: Suzanne, have a great afternoon. Thanks very much.

I'm Ali Velshi. It is news when the president of the United States and the leadership of Iran agree on anything. But they both support the rights of Egyptians and people elsewhere to rise up against oppressive regimes. Unless, of course, it's the oppressive regime in Tehran, where citizen demonstrators trigger lawmaker tirades like this one.

Those are Iranian parliamentary members chanting, Mousavi, Karroubi must be executed. Mir who's saying Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are former presidential candidates, who are, now, the twin faces of the opposition. Both, we believe, under house arrest. You should know that gathering news in Iran is extraordinarily difficult. Foreign reporters can't get it. Reporters living there are barred from covering protests, and the cell phones and Internet, often, don't work. Still, this bit of video did reach us here in the outside world, from an attempted demonstration, yesterday, in the capitol.

Amateur video posted on YouTube seems to confirm reports of security forces on motorcycles trying to break up or run down protesters who were trying, ostensibly, to show solidarity with Egypt. CNN's Reza Sayah is watching all of this from as many sources as possible in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Reza, tell us what you're hearing about what's going on in Iran.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, if you want more drama in the Middle East, you have it. And, this time, it does look like it's in Iran. Today, we saw in Tehran how Iran's hard line leadership plans to respond to the comeback of the opposition movement, especially the two opposition leaders that called for the protests yesterday.

You showed the video earlier in parliament today. Dozens of angry, seething lawmakers, fists in the air, calling for the execution of the two opposition figures. Mir saying, Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Also, calling for the trial and execution of a Mohammad Hatami, reformist in the circle of those opposition figures. So, clearly, with this tension, this rivalry between Tehran's hard line leadership and this opposition movement, the green movement, has ratcheted up. Now, all eyes on the government. Will they heed the calls of the lawmakers? Will they go after and arrest these two opposition figures -- Ali.

VELSHI: Reza, you remember, because you were covering so much of it, the protests in Iran, in 2009, the attacks on protesters, the death of one protester caught on film, really galvanized the protesters against the government. Not to any success in the end. Have we heard of attacks or any deaths in these protests, so far?

SAYAH: Yes, we, certainly, saw attacks and got witness accounts of attacks throughout the day, yesterday. According to state government media, there was one death. It's not clear who that person was. But, certainly, this was a comeback for the opposition movement, yesterday, in Tehran.

And the question remains, what happens from this point forth. Does the opposition movement continue its street protest? Does it find a way to do something beyond street protests? And where does the government go from here? Does it go ahead and arrest these opposition figures and risk building momentum, galvanizing the opposition movement, even further -- Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Reza. Great to talk to you, as always. Stay on top of this, and we'll stay on top of it with you. Reza Sayah joining us from Islamabad.

OK. Let me take you to Washington, now, on another big story that we're covering, today. President Obama defending a budget he admits he doesn't love. And on that, he and many in Congress agree, from the fiscal year starting this coming October, that's how the budget works. They're dealing with it, now, for a budget that starts in October. The president would spend about $3.7 trillion, cutting or eliminating more than 200 programs, while sparing or boosting relatively few. Those do include education, clean energy, and research.

The president's plan would bring the deficit down to what economists call a sustainable level by 2015. In dollar amounts, the red ink, the deficits drop from $1.6 trillion, this year, to just over $600 billion. But, then, it would tick up again, largely, because of the interest on the debt, and the so-called entitlement programs, social security, Medicare and Medicaid. In a news conference, you may have seen this morning, the president was asked about those.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARAK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the budget, what my budget does is to put forward some tough choices, some significant spending cuts, so that by the middle of this decade, our annual spending will match our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to the national debt. It's -- so, to use a -- sort of, an analogy that families are familiar with, we're not going to be running up the credit card anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Not going to be running up the credit card anymore. If you decide not to run up your credit card anymore, you may still end up with more debt, because if you've got a balance, the interest on that balance continues to grow. So, that was the tricky part behind what he says.

I love this graphic, by the way. It's from the White House Web site. This is kind of interesting. The budget has a collection of boxes, or cubby holes. The biggest boxes, take a look over there. Medicare in The top, social security right below it, things like that. The biggest boxes are -- by the way, interest is another big box -- those are -- those ones.

Now, let's look at the little boxes as we get into the bottom right corner, these are a lot of the things that are in the budget that the president is trying to cut. But they're so small compared to the much larger stuff. Just in case they're tempted, by the way, a CNN opinion research poll, from last month, shows, roughly, eight in ten Americans believe that sparing entitlements, Medicaid, Medicare, social security, more important than taming the deficit. Still, a lot of people believe the deficit should be the number one priority. We all agree creating jobs is really the biggest deal.

All right. More on that later.

First, checking other big stories, protesters -- protests are spreading, so is the violence in the wake of the revolution in Egypt. In Yemen, anti-government rallies are demanding the ouster of the U.S. backed president there. At least ten people have been injured in rioting.

In Bahrain, demonstrations have turned deadly. Witnesses say a security police -- say security police fired on a funeral procession where mourners were honoring a protester who was killed yesterday. One man died in today's violence.

Meantime, in Egypt, the new transitional leaders are wasting no time. They met, today, with an independent panel of experts giving them ten days to put together constitutional reforms. The country's current constitution was suspended after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, last week.

Back here in the United States, CNN has confirmed one of the Dalai Lama's nephews was killed, Monday, when he was struck by a car in northeast Florida. The man was hit as he walked along a highway, there. Reports say he was taking part in a walk for Tibet. The driver of the vehicle was not charged,.

A major merger deal in the financial world today. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange and Germany's exchange, Deutsche Borse, agreed to merge in a deal that would create the world's largest exchange for stocks and derivatives. The companies say they'll have a combined revenue of $5.4 billion.

And if you're looking for a job, Home Depot is looking for you. The retail said, today, it plans to hire more than 60,000 workers in anticipation of a springtime customer rush. The company says, many of these are seasonal jobs, for February and March, but, they say, they are adding some permanent positions, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This group's going to have to go -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And everybody do a collective, ahh. That adorable baby panda born at the Atlanta zoo -- or Zoo Atlanta, as they call it, in November, finally has a name. I don't know what took so long, but he was named after the character voiced by Jack Black in the movie "Kung Fu Panda."

The actor was on hand at the naming ceremony, earlier today. The name, by the way, is Po, P-O. Po is the third panda born at Zoo Atlanta. The only giant panda born in the U.S. last year. So cute.

All right. Drinking and drugs have brought his career to a screeching, if, maybe temporary, halt. So, why is Charlie Sheen giving advice about smoking crack, socially? It's today's "Sound Effect" and a reality check. I'll have that for you next.

But, also, we want to know what you think. KKK leader and confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forest, could soon be recognized on a specialty license plate in Mississippi. The NAACP is opposed. The Sons of Confederate Veterans support it. Head to my blog, CNN.com/ali, to leave your comments. You can also post them to my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Well, we all remember Whitney Houston's infamous take on crack. She said, it's whack. Now, we've got a different celebrity spin. Rehabbing actor Charlie Sheen called into a sports radio show, yesterday, recounting his recent, fairly random, pep talk to the UCLA baseball team. Now, he might have been joking. Maybe he wasn't joking. Either way, he scores today's "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE SHEEN: I said, stay away from the crack, which I think is pretty good advice. Unless you can manage it socially, Dan. If you can manage it socially, then go for it. But, not a lot of people can, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: did you think you could?

SHEEN: Sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you think you could?

SHEEN: Yes, yes. But that kind of blew up in my face. Like an exploding crack pipe, Dan. Sorry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: It's OK if you can manage it, socially. So, we wanted to talk to Sanjay about this, because everything I've heard is that the problem with crack, not only what it does to you, but that it's not, actually, something you can manage socially. It's about addiction. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting, and, you know, most people will seek rehab when they've absolutely hit rock bottom. We did a documentary on this a few years ago. And that was one of the characterizing things about a lot of these celebrities, especially. He's been in and out at least seven times that we can document.

You know, what's interesting, now, is, I think, what doctors are trying to, sort of, figure out with crack, with all these various substances that might be involved, is what exactly is happening here. Is this just a lack of will power and normal chokatube (ph). Or is this something that's going on in the brain?

This is one of the things we talked about, specifically. You know, there's various parts of the brain that are probably involved in addiction. I don't want to get too much into the weeds, here, Ali. But, you know, you think about this area, here, which is, sort of, the frontal lobe, the orbital frontal lobe, the cortex responsible for judgment. You have another area, sort of in this area, which is the amigula, sort of, responsible for your ability to handle stress. Can you handle daily stress without using substances? Some people can't because that part of the brain is not working right. Then, there's the other area called the nucleus accumbens. This is the reward center. You take a drink, take a substance, you get a euphoria.

VELSHI: That's the problem with crack, right? It offers a bigger reward in exchange for the fact that you want more of it.

GUPTA: That's right. That euphoria is remarkable. And if you don't get it, not only do you not get the euphoria, but you get what people, typically, refer to as withdrawal.

VELSHI: OK.

GUPTA: So, you know, physical withdrawal. The sweats, you don't feel good, headaches, all of that sort of stuff.

VELSHI: This is your area of specialty. Your -- you know a lot about a lot. But you really know a lot about the brain. Is it true, because there are other addictive substances, like alcohol, like tobacco, that some people can manage, socially. Have you heard of people managing crack, socially?

GUPTA: No. And, I think -- No.

VELSHI: When I say, socially, I guess, I mean casually, without it being an addiction. Something you just do for fun without physiologically needing it. GUPTA: Right.

VELSHI: Or mentally.

GUPTA: Probably not. I mean, you know, with crack, there's less evidence as you say with drinking, for example, but most of the rehab programs focus on this fact that you cannot manage this socially. Meaning that this isn't something you can, sort of, do from time to time.

Now, it's not to say they can't measure success by someone cutting back, dramatically. It isn't always the all or nothing sort of mentality when it comes to actually trying to rehab somebody.

If you consider the stats, Ali, about one in four people, first time in rehab, actually succeed. Most people don't. But there is a -- there is enough evidence to say that more half the people start to cut back. And, with time, they can actually become addiction free.

***15 DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sort of mentality when it comes to actually trying to rehabbing somebody. If you consider the stats, Ali, about one in four people, first time in rehab, actually succeed. Most people don't. But there is enough evidence to suggest that more than half of people start to cut back. And with time, they could actually become, you know, addiction-free.

VELSHI: Let me ask you about this one. This is judgment. This is the ability to handle stress. And then there's the reward center.

GUPTA: Correct. Yes.

VELSHI: If I'm -- if one of these things is out of whack and I'm addicted to something -- let's say I drink or I'm addicted to smoking -- is that mean I'm likely to be addicted or get addicted to other things?

GUPTA: It's a great question. You know, sort of being able to substitute addictions.

VELSHI: Right.

GUPTA: Some people have said, you know, even with gambling, for example, or eating, could that happen?

VELSHI: Right.

GUPTA: And there's been a lot of evidence to suggest that's possibly true. What I think is fascinating is that, could you target these areas of the brain for all kinds of addiction.

VELSHI: Right.

GUPTA: So, for example, there's a medication called Naltrexone out there. It's in trials. It diminishes the reward centers that people get from any sort of addiction.

VELSHI: Interesting.

GUPTA: You get some sort of thrill, but you don't get that euphoria that says I have to keep doing this over and over again, eating, gambling, taking substances, whatever it is.

VELSHI: Right. So the jury is still out. It doesn't sound like it made sense what Charlie Sheen said, but it's not 100 percent one way or the other.

GUPTA: Yes, I think that probably what he said that, I can -- you know, about managing crack socially, I think most people, as divisive as the world of treating addiction is, most people would say that's probably not something you can do.

VELSHI: Interesting. Very good. Thank you, Sanjay. Great to see you, as always.

GUPTA: Thanks. You too.

VELSHI: By the way, Charlie Sheen did say that he is 100 percent clean. He won't use the word sober, because that he associates with --

GUPTA: The 12 steps.

VELSHI: With 12 steps. He doesn't agree with that, but he does say he's 100 percent clean. We'll stay on this. Thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you, Ali.

VELSHI: Good to see you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Yes.

VELSHI: All right, have you noticed higher prices on just about everything lately, from cereal to clothing to household appliances? You're right if you have. I'm going to tell you why on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We've got a live picture of the East Room at the White House. You can just sort of see in the bottom of your screen there, Barbara Bush, former first lady of the United States, wife of George H.W. Bush, who will be one of the recipients of the Medal of Freedom, which will be presented in just a little while. Fifteen people will receive the award given by the president of the United States. And we are -- we're going to bring that to you live. But that's what you're looking at right now, the preparations. They've just seated former First Lady Barbara Bush, which indicates that this thing should be getting underway fairly shortly. We will bring it to you. It's quite a ceremony and we'll have it live.

All right, when you go to the mall or grocery store, don't be surprised if you find higher prices. If you shop regularly, you will know that that's happening. Every day commodities, like cereal, clothing, even appliances, toothpaste is starting to cost more. Prices for raw materials are increasing. Companies are looking for consumers to share that burden. They pass it on to consumers. How does it affect your wallet and the decisions that you make? Christine Romans joins me live from New York.

Christine, we've been talking about this trend at a sort of a cerebral higher level for several months.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

VELSHI: We've seen the actual traded commodity prices of various things increasing.

ROMANS: Right.

VELSHI: Now it's really hitting people.

ROMANS: Yes. Now this is hitting the pocketbook, it's in the grocery cart, it's at the mall. And I wanted to run through, Ali, some of these things.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Now you're hearing from the companies saying they've absorbed these costs for now. You're going to start seeing them passed on. For example, meat, dairy, produce. Most recently we saw a freeze in Mexico that probably means tomato and cucumber prices are going up. So a lot of different things that you use to make dinner are moving higher here.

Look at that Kellogg's cereal there. Now, you could see cereal prices moving higher, or maybe the cereal prices don't move higher, Ali, but then there aren't going to be as many manufacturers' coupons. Maybe even the packaging could shrink a little bit. We'll watch to see closely how that's going to happen. But those higher grain prices will be passed on here.

Let me talk about t-shirts. Cotton prices, these are at record highs. $1.90 now for a pound of cotton. Think of this, it was about $1.89 back in the Civil War. I'm not talking about, you know, inflation adjusted, but this is just to tell you, these are record high commodity prices for cotton. And apparel makers have been able to keep, as you well know, keep prices pretty low for some time. They've moved factories overseas. Very low labor costs. Now labor costs are rising, cotton prices are at record highs, shipping costs are rising, so you're going to see everything from shoes, underwear, t-shirts, apparel will likely be moving higher.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: Now, refrigerators. LG and Whirlpool have both recently said that they have higher commodities prices, steel, the metals, the things they used to make fridges. You're going to see refrigerators, washer, dryer, all these kinds of big appliances, those are going to be moving higher. Palm oil and other ingredients that are in toothpaste and in beauty supplies, quite frankly, and health supplies, you could see those moving higher. Soap. We'll be watching for that as well.

But companies from Starbucks to McDonald's to Haines to Nike, I mean I could go down this list, they've been telling investors on their conference calls that they're going to be raising prices.

VELSHI: OK, but here's the thing. Companies like to say, Christine, that they can pass this on, right? Investors like to hear that, you know what, if my raw product -- raw material price goes, I'll just either shrink the packaging or give them less or not have a coupon. But ultimately the consumer is going to make some choices.

ROMANS: That's right. That's why the companies, like Nike, have said they're going to be strategic. They have the ability to be very strategic. Surgical price increases is the way one company called it. You know, so they know where they can raise the prices and where they can't. They have to be very careful. It's a very delicate balance here, Ali, because as you know, consumers, while they have frugal fatigue, they're not idiots.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: It's been a very troubling last few years and they have family budgets that are stretched. But these commodity prices, some of these rallies have been epic. Look at -- I mean this is why you're seeing riots in the streets in the Middle East in some cases.

VELSHI: Right. Absolutely.

ROMANS: You have food pressures that are really adding into a lot of pain and suffering for people and for governments, and you're going to see it in your own grocery store as well.

VELSHI: Christine, it is a pleasure to see you. I haven't seen you for a few days, so it's great to --

ROMANS: Welcome back. I know, welcome back.

VELSHI: Great to see you. Thank you so much.

ROMANS: Good to see you too. Bye.

VELSHI: Listen, you can see Christine on this show every single day, or you can see her on "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. You can see me seven days a week, too. "Your Money" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00. We talk about your money and investments and all sorts of things like that. This weekend we'll be talking a lot about this budget and what it means to you.

President Obama is set to recognize a special set of individuals in just a few moments. You can see the East Room at the White House is filling up now. It's the presidential Medal of Freedom. The first President Bush, George H.W. Bush, is among the honorees. Ed Henry standing by to give us a behind the scenes look at the event.

But before we go to Ed, we want to test your knowledge. Since it was established in 1945, which of these former presidents never got the Medal of Freedom? Is it Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, or Bill Clinton? The answer in just a couple of minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I want to take you live inside the White House. Well, look, we'll take you right now. That's the East Room. You can hear some beautiful music being played right now in preparation for the presentation of the Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom to this year's impressive lists of honorees.

But first, I want to talk momentarily about the budget that was unveiled yesterday. The president took questions on the plan during a news conference that wrapped up just a little while ago. Let's bring in our friend Ed Henry, as we do every day this time for "The Stakeout" from the White House.

Ed, if I could reach out and hug you, I would. I've missed you, my friend.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I missed you as well. It's good to finally be back with you. I almost got hit by a truck here but (INAUDIBLE).

VELSHI: Yes, I just -- I didn't know they had trucks back there.

Hey, listen, you were in there. We were watching that press conference earlier today with the president. It was about the budget. And you were right there in the front. I want to ask you about that.

The president was being asked about his cuts and the priorities in the budget. He used the expression, using a scalpel as opposed to a machete.

HENRY: Yes.

VELSHI: Now if you're one of those people who's going to see their taxes increased or you're one of those people who's not going to get assistance on your heating, you know, it feels like a machete. But what did he mean by that?

HENRY: You might beg to differ, yes.

VELSHI: Yes.

HENRY: Well, I think what's clearly going on here, when you take a step back, is he kept going back to that very point you're hitting, because he's trying to do a continuation of what he did coming out of that shellacking in the November election, is to say, look, I laid out some details. He got pressed on the fact that he didn't lay out a lot of details on the big picture, big spending items like the entitlement, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. But he's saying, look, what I did lay out, you've got people on the left who are upset and they think these cuts are too deep. You've got people on the right who are upset. They think I didn't go far enough. I'm right here in the middle with a scalpel, not a machete, and he's trying to carve out that middle ground. Exactly what we saw him do right after the November election, went against the odds. He was able to get that tax cut deal with the Republicans. Again, not everyone happy with that one. He was safely in the center of the political action. He's trying to do that yet again in this budget fight. We'll see whether it works this time, but that's clearly where he's trying to position himself and he did that again and again in that news conference.

VELSHI: All right. The other big issue that the president is involved in right now are these -- what happened in Egypt and then -- and demonstrations in other Middle Eastern countries. You asked him about that. Tell us what you asked him about and what he said.

HENRY: Well, I was trying to press him on a point -- the fact that there are some people around the world, including some of the protesters in some of these countries, when you go beyond Egypt, you've now got Algeria, Jordan, Iran, people rising up who feel maybe the U.S. has been a little slow footed and not quick enough to embrace some of these protesters around the world. And you see the president kind of bristled at that notion when I asked him, look, are you in favor, and do you support these protesters getting freedom, or do you just support them getting freedom if it keeps U.S. stability in the region? And there are some of the protesters who clearly believe the U.S. has not spoken up enough. The president told me, look, he believes he got it just about right. No surprise there. But said, moving forward, the U.S. does support peaceful protests and that these governments involved can't be cracking down with violence.

I thought he was pretty explicit in saying that Iran's reaction has been to beat people, murder people. Some pretty tough talk from the president. But we'll see how much he does get behind those protesters and follows up on this in the days ahead. Because you'll remember, and you were talking about this earlier, going back to 2009, when these protests really first started in Iran, long before Egypt, there was criticism of this White House for not getting quickly enough behind it.

VELSHI: Ed, do you have to move? Or do you have to leave? I mean, that sounds crazy. Wow, whoa, hey.

HENRY: I think I'm all right. I don't know. I see the tires are a little large. They've got this big project going on, we call it the big dig here. Because --

VELSHI: You're right by the driver. Why don't you just tell him you're in the middle of a live news shot.

HENRY: Yes, I'm in the middle of a live shot.

He just waved at me. He basically said, I don't care. He's got a job to do, I've got a job. What are you going to do, man? VELSHI: All right. I want to ask you about something. The presidential Medal of Honor, the Medal of Freedom.

HENRY: Medal of Freedom.

VELSHI: Medal of Honor is for Military recipients.

Before the break, we asked which of these presidents was not a recipient of the Medal of Honor. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, or Bill Clinton.

Do you know the answer to that?

HENRY: You know, I don't know. But I'm going to guess, I'm feeling like there's a surprise here. So the answer's going to be Eisenhower.

VELSHI: The answer -- this is a trick question, I shouldn't do this on our first day together after so long -- it's a trick question. None of them were actually honored.

HENRY: None of them got it?

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Tell me what the Medal of Freedom is about.

HENRY: Well, it's the highest civilian honor a president can give out. There have been other former presidents that have gotten it. And the reason why you're raising that is former President George H.W. Bush, Bush 41, as he's known in the shorthand lingo around here, met with the president earlier in the Oval Office because he's getting a Medal of Freedom.

I saw Jeb Bush and Barbara Bush, you were showing them before, looking emotional. This is a big moment for them. He's closing in on 90-years-old.

But I'm also interested in some of the sports heroes that are going to get the award. Stan the Man Musial, a big baseball fan from St. Louis. That's a big deal to a lot of baseball fans. And Bill Russell, who was a pioneer, not just as a baseball player in college, in the pros with the Boston Celtic, but one of the first African- American coaches in any of the major sports.

I saw a friend of mine, George Vecsey of the "New York Times" wrote a very interesting column on this yesterday, who was saying that one of his first news conferences as a Boston Celtics coach, there was a reporter actually asked Bill Russell, can you be -- you know, can you be fair to the white players? Are you going to be prejudiced towards white players?

And he said, look, Red Auerbach, the famous coach for the Celtics, white, was never asked whether he'd be fair to the black players. It was sort of absurd. But it gives you a sense of the times back then, and how courageous Bill Russell was to stand up not just as a player, but a coach as well.

So it's always fun to see some of these big, big celebrities and pioneers come here to the White House.

VELSHI: Maya Angelou is going to be there, Warren Buffet.

All right, Ed, we'll catch up with you a little later on. It's already been a busy day for you. It's only 1:30 Eastern.

Ed, thanks very much. Good to see you. And we will be hanging out a lot more often.

The Medal of Freedom ceremony is about to begin any minute. There is the East Room at the White House. We're going to bring it to you as soon as it starts.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(INTERRUPTED BY COVERAGE OF A LIVE EVENT)