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President: Cuts "Hard to Take"; Anger Swelling in Iran

Aired February 15, 2011 - 14:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we spent a lot of time on the Medal of Freedom. We want to bring you up to speed on the news you may have missed. President George H.W. Bush is among those, by the way, who received the presidential Medal of Freedom just moments ago.

Just wrapped up is a live shot of the East Room at the White House. The former president along with 14 others were awarded for their contributions in culture, world peace, other national interests, by President Obama himself.

Other recipients included poet Maya Angelou, Civil Rights Leader John Lewis, Billionaire Businessman Warren Buffett, the Medal of Freedom is the highest U.S. civilian award.

Now busy day for the president. At a news conference earlier today, President Obama defended his fiscal 2012 budget proposal that adds $7.2 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. He says the program cuts and spending freezes that he's proposing reflect the tough choices needed to move the country forward. Many Democrats say the cuts go too far. Many Republicans say they don't go far enough.

Iranian lawmakers calling for the execution of two opposition leaders for -- listen to this -- inciting demonstrations. Those are parliamentarians calling for their execution. Both of them are reported to be under house arrest.

Thousands took to the streets of Tehran yesterday to protest the Iranian government, particularly President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Dozens of people were retained. One person reportedly killed in the demonstrations. At one point tear gas was used to disperse the crowds.

Egypt's military rulers are taking important steps in putting the country back together. The military announced today that it wants to see a constitutional reform plan in 10 days. The constitution was suspended on Friday after the military took control of Egypt from President Hosni Mubarak.

A report out today says there is no definitive source of the anthrax letter mailings of 2001. The news comes two years after the FBI said army microbiologist Bruce Ivans was allegedly behind the anthrax attack that killed five people. Ivans, who knew he was under suspicion by the government, committed suicide in 2008 before any charges were filed against him. Anthrax-laced letters were mailed to several news organizations. Members of Congress as well, causing widespread panic. This was just weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks.

OK, man versus machine. Human versus robot. Guys versus gadget. It sounds like a blockbuster movie, but it's actually happening right now on jeopardy. We've got the human who is currently tied with IBM's Watson supercomputer. Live after this break.

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VELSHI: You want to know how valuable the human brain is? Take all the computing power in the world, in the entire world, and it will equal the computing power of one human brain. That's according to a study that was reported in wired magazine this month.

I'm going to post it on my blog by the way because I wasn't even sure of that. I had to read all the way through it. Go to my blog and I'll tell you about it after this as well.

This is incredible. The power of supercomputing is now at war with the human brain in jeopardy. It's also today's "Big I." This week's jeopardy is pitching man versus machine, guy versus gadget.

An IBM supercomputer named Watson finished round one last night tied with one of his had human competitors and ahead of the other. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Jeopardy, the IBM challenge.

ALEX TREBEK, "JEOPARDY" HOST: A split personality.

WATSON, IMB SUPERCOMPUTER: Who is Michael Phelps?

TREBEK: Yes.

WATSON: Event horizon.

TREBEK: Yes.

WATSON: Grandell (ph)?

TREBEK: Yes.

WATSON: The last judgment?

TREBEK: Correct.

Ken?

KEN JENNINGS, "JEOPARDY" CONTESTANT" What are the 20s?

TREBEK: No. Watson?

WATSON: What is 1920s?

TREBEK: No, Ken said that. Brad?

BRAD RUTTER, "JEOPARDY" CONTESTANT: What is 19 teens?

TREBEK: Yes. Watson?

WATSON: What is Sauron?

TREBEK: Sauron is right, and that puts you into a tie for the lead with Brad.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And live and here to tell us about being tied with a computer, "Jeopardy" contestant Brad Rutter. Brad joins us live from our New York studios. He, by the way, is the highest money winner ever on "Jeopardy."

Brad, good to see you. Thank you for being with us. How does it feel to be tied with a computer?

RUTTER: It feels pretty good, especially after seeing how fast Watson got off at the start. Ken and I were way behind, then we kind of made a comeback. And then Watson was able to tie me at the end.

VELSHI: I'm sure you've read about this -- I've read about it, I'm sure you read about it. What is it that makes Watson, this IBM computer competitive with a brain like yours?

RUTTER: Well, they figured out algorithms in a way that they can actually do what the human brain does. It's fascinating when I heard the IBM guys talking about the process Watson goes through, because he kind of just picks up certain words and figures out why they would be in proximity to each other and then comes up with a percentage of confidence in his answer. Which is really what a human does when they're on "Jeopardy." But I just never thought of it that way. It's all automatic to me.

VELSHI: But sometimes, sometimes Watson makes mistakes that the human wouldn't make. It's sort of -- there are some things that you are asked that don't work with algorithms.

RUTTER: Right. The one thing they haven't come up with Watson yet is the common sense gene. In one of the practice games, there was a question about Jamie Foxx learning to play the cello for his role in "The Soloist." And Watson rang in first and said "Beethoven."

Now, I can see why Beethoven is associated with soloists and cellos. But the common sense gene would say, oh, he's been dead for 200 years. He wasn't starring in a movie in 2009. And Watson doesn't have any fear of embarrassing itself, let's say. VELSHI: Tonight is the final game of this matchup. Where did you think you'd be today? Did you think you'd be tied with Watson? Did you think that Watson would likely win. Did you think you'd be ahead?

RUTTER: I didn't really know what to expect. But I'm always confident when I go on the show, and I always expect to win. I was actually kind of a little disappointed that I was only tied instead of in front after the first episode aired.

VELSHI: Brad, you are what we think of in popular culture as smart. You know a lot of stuff. That's why you do well on Jeopardy because all like to think we're smart. Tell me your impressions of Watson. Is this something -- fine, maybe Watson can win Jeopardy or be competitive in Jeopardy. Where else can this go?

RUTTER: Well, IBM likes to emphasize the health care aspects of it. For instance, if you have symptoms, you can call up a Watson-type machine, tell them the symptoms, and they can get possible diagnoses to a doctor.

What I'm waiting for, though, is for customer service. Like, say I call up my cable company, and ask them why my cable cuts out every Sunday night. I can finally get a straight answer for that maybe now.

VELSHI: Right. Without any attitude.

OK. You are up in this game with Ken Jennings, also a famous Jeopardy contestant. Tell us what happens behind the scenes, what happens in commercial breaks that's different than what normally happens when you've competed on Jeopardy in the past. I mean, do you chitchat with Watson? Are people coming and tinkering with him? What happens?

RUTTER: Not that we could see. What you see on the screen is basically just an avatar. And it's a completely separate program. Watson is getting fed the answers from a different room about 20 feet away from the set was.

But it was weird because Ken and I are great rivals, but we're friendly, too. It was almost like we were on the same team, you know. Team Humans versus Team Machine. We were in between the commercial breaks always chatting about, "Wow, I can't believe Watson got that." Or like, I expected he would have missed something like that. So, it was a strange experience.

VELSHI: OK. Finals tonight. We'll all be watching it. Brad, good to talk to you. What an exciting, history-making thing that you're involved in. It's a real pleasure to have you here.

RUTTER: Thanks, Ali. It's a lot of fun.

VELSHI: All right. Brad Rutter, a contestant against IBM's Watson and Ken Jennings. He is the highest money winner ever on Jeopardy. To check out IBM's Watson for yourself, head to my blog, CNN.com/ali. And I've linked you to the clues to last night's Jeopardy questions. I've also linked you to that article that says that all the computering power in the world adds up to the computing power of one human brain. What a fascinating thing.

OK. It's a date Italy's controversial prime minister wants nothing to do with, but he has no choice. We'll tell you about a judge's ruling today and why Silvio Berlusconi is fighting mad.

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VELSHI: Shouts for the head of Iran's two main opposition leaders rang out in the Iranian parliament today. Lawmakers vented their rage at Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, demanding they be prosecuted and sentenced to death for -- what did they do? -- sparking a massive pro-democracy demonstration in Tehran and other Iranian cities yesterday.

Joining me with his take on this, CNN International anchor and correspondent, my friend Michael Holmes. Not the response you would think you'd be getting around the Middle East after the events of the last month.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I thought the great irony of this was when Egypt was unfolding. The Iranians came out and compared it to the 1979 Islamic revolution.

VELSHI: Right. Which in their opinion was a good thing.

HOLMES: Yes, of course. But what was happening in Egypt was nothing to do with Islam. It was a popular movement on the streets.

VELSHI: Right.

HOLMES: And so they were praising what the Egyptians were doing on the streets. Then when they're own people come out to protest in support of the Egyptians, big crackdown.

VELSHI: And this wasn't just a bunch of people saying, we don't want demonstrations. They're calling for the execution of two opposition leaders whom we believe are under house arrest.

HOLMES: Absoluely. They are. They're unable to get to the protests themselves. And that was the whole idea of blocking off the streets where their houses are. What's interesting about that --

VELSHI: This is the parliament you're looking at, by the way. These guys chanting.

HOLMES: This is parliament, and they're chanting for these guys to be executed, the opposition leaders. These guys have been around in the opposition movement for some time. In fact, they had a vote, 220 out of 290 basically voted to call these guys corrupts, with an 's.' Now, being a corrupt in Iran has a death penalty attached to it.

VELSHI: Interesting.

HOLMES: Unbelievable. Very different to Egypt. VELSHI: In the last few days, we've seen such development in Egypt. It almost feels like a story that's passed us by. What is happening in Egypt? Because the military is now in control, and they've suspended the constitution. I'm trying to weigh, is this good or bad?

HOLMES: It's good. Because the opposition, the protestors we saw on the streets that eventually led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, they've been asking for this to happen.

What's interesting about the speed of it, some think it's a little bit too fast. That they want the constitutional reforms all sorted out in ten days, then put it to a referendum. They're trying to show they're going to give it back to the people, and they're moving with some pace. A lot of the opposition groups are going to have to be happy with that --

VELSHI: Right. When you protest for change, and now change is upon you --

HOLMES: There are still protests going on. It's a holiday at the moment in Egypt, but there are strikes.

VELSHI: Governing is always more complicating than protesting.

HOLMES: Yes. It is!

VELSHI: All right. Speaking of which, there are no protests going on in the streets of Italy about the alleged behavior of Berlusconi.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness. Too much Berlusconi is never enough. This guy is quite a character.

Now, this is a prime minister. He's facing up to 15 years in jail. What it's about is he's been accused of having sex with an underage prostitute. She was allegedly 17 at the time. She's now 18, Ruby. Ruby the Heart Stealer, as she's known.

But the more serious political charge he's facing is abuse of power because after the event, she gets locked up for theft, allegedly, and he picks -- she calls him on his cell phone. And he calls the cops and says, let her out. That is allegedly abuse of power.

VELSHI: Wow.

HOLMES: That carries a 12-year prison sentence. In all, he could get 15 years for that. You saw 100,000 women on the streets of Rome on the weekend calling for him to be thrown out and all the rest. But he still has political support in his coalition. So, he's not going anywhere.

But what's interesting is the trial on these charges has now been fast-tracked. It's going to happen on April 6th. He denies all of this. VELSHI: And he's got to go. I mean, in some countries a sitting head of government or head of state doesn't have to answer subpoenas and doesn't have to go to trial.

HOLMES: Exactly.

VELSHI: But in his case, he has to show up.

HOLMES: He himself said, I think back in 2009, that he had made something like 2,500 court appearances in 106 trials himself. This isn't the first time he's been in trouble. Nothing has really stuck, but the prosecution is pretty confident in this.

Oh, ultimate irony, the three judges who will be ruling on this case? All women!

VELSHI: Huh!

HOLMES: Yes.

VELSHI: All right. We'll following that one very closely. Michael, great to see you.

HOLMES: Good to see you, stranger.

VELSHI: Michael Holmes.

All right. Every day on this show we have a segment called "You Choose." We give you three story headlines, and you vote on which one you want to see us do.

Your first option, a man is killed over an auto-corrected iPhone text. Your second option, want to get married at a McDonald's? And finally, a huge hidden object right here in our own solar system, a planet larger than Jupiter.

Head to my blog, CNN.com/ali, to vote. We'll bring you the winning story in ten minutes. Once again, at CNN.com/ali.

Big story. I'm getting a lot of play on social media. Controversy is brewing in the state of Mississippi, all over a proposed license plate. Some are saying it honors a man who dishonors the country with ties to the KKK. We'll talk about it with our "Stream Team," up next.

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VELSHI: Okay, is this a salute to a historic American leader or a slap in the face to African-Americans? That is the debate surrounding a campaign launched by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Mississippi to recognize Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest on a specialty license plate.

Let me give you a little background on Forrest if you don't know about him. He's a popular but controversial Confederate general who's probably best known after the Civil War as one of the first leaders of the Ku Klux Klan. Now, Forrest left the KKK after less than two years with the group, supposedly because it was getting unorganized and violent. His short stint with the KKK, though, gave it credibility..

The Sons of the Confederate Veterans say they want to honor Forrest's spirit and leadership during the Civil War and that his affiliation with the KKK has nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile, Mississippi NAACP leaders say the license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people across the country. They feel Forrest was a, quote, "terrorist" whose acts were immoral and unconstitutional, and that honoring him with a specialty license plate promotes racial hatred and violence.

We've got a panel of people joining us now to talk more about this. First, Greg Stewart joins me from Mississippi. He's a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who's backing this plate. Now, let's hear from Derrick Johnson. He's also joining us. He's the president of the Mississippi state chapter of the NAACP. And our good friend Roland Martin joining us as well.

Greg, let me start with you. You're proposing a series of plates over a few years of which Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest would be honored in one of those years. Tell me the thought about this.

GREG STEWART, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS: Yes, sir. In 2014 is when his plate would actually come out. We've already had the first plate with Bouguah (ph), Jefferson Davis' home on the coast here. It's already out, 2011. But the one image that seems to be getting a lot of interest is Nathan Bedford Forrest.

VELSHI: Let's ask Derrick Johnson. He's the president of the Mississippi NAACP chapter. Derrick, your first response was, wow. You're a little stumped that they're doing this.

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT MISSISSIPPI NAACP: Well, I was shocked to hear the news because we think that Nathan Bedford Forrest should be treated as any domestic terrorist in this country. Timothy McVeigh. He should be viewed in the same light as Osama bin Laden. He was part of a group that had a reign of terror among citizens in this country. In fact, members of the Confederate Soldiers should also be viewed in the proper light as traitors to this nation.

So, it's our position that the governor should stand up and denounce any attempt by any group to honor individuals who terrorized citizens of this country.

VELSHI: All right, Derrick. Roland, let me ask you this. Is that a fair way to look at the Civil War? There were people who worked against the U.S. government, but they did it for a particular set of reasons, and that was settled then. Is it fair to look at somebody like Nathan Bedford Forrest as a domestic terrorist, as Derrick says? And does it make sense to honor him with a license plate?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, it is. It makes sense to do that because we cannot sit here and ignore history. Ali, I'm coming to you live from the Ohio state capitol in Columbus, Ohio. Just outside the state capital here, they have a sign marking the importance of Ohio when it came to the national Underground Tailroad. So, it is important for us not to ignore history.

But this is in Mississippi. This is the place where if you're the senior senator from the state of Mississippi, you actually use the desk of Jefferson Davis. Jefferson Davis is considered to be the greatest traitor in the history of the United States.

We can sit here and dance around it and say, oh, they were fighting for the common man and it was about helping their Southern gentlemen out. But they wanted to protect slavery and the right to slavery. So, absolutely should never, ever of honor a person like this.

VELSHI: Hold on, Roland. Greg Stewart, is this honoring slavery? Is this honoring somebody who was a traitor to the United States of America?

STEWART: No. It was never intended to be. We've had these plates out for the last eight years, and we've raised over $100,000. What we've done with the money is take the flags at the state of Ohio and the state of Indiana and state of Illinois over the years and brought back to us as a gesture of reconciliation. But they've been in storage for many, many years, and they're breaking down now.

So, it's all part of taking care of the flags that the Union army and the Union states brought back to Mississippi. We've spent the money well, and we think -- well, we know that Nathan Bedford Forrest is second only to General Lee in popularity as far as books and material. And he has most of his military success occurred in north Mississippi. And were it not for him, we wouldn't have had a stick of furniture left when the Union army was through.

VELSHI: He was a Tennesseean originally. Derrick Johnson, let me ask you this. Would it be the same thing -- is there something about Nathan Bedford Forrest that makes him more objectionable than, let's say, a license plate honoring Robert E. Lee?

JOHNSON: Well, we oppose that. We oppose the license plates that honor the home of Jefferson Davis.

At the end of the day, this country must make a decision. Do we respect the Constitution of this nation, do we honor our past and what we've gone through? Do we respect all of the citizens, or are we still going to allow our racist past and individuals who traited upon this country to continue to define history? History revisionist as it is should not be a place for us to honor on a state license plate, nor should it be something that we lift up when we know in fact that those individuals committed atrocities against citizens of this country, and that should not be respected.

Fifty years from now, a hundred years from now, will we be talking about a license plate for Timothy McVeigh or Osama bin Laden? I don't think so. We shouldn't be talking about it today. VELSHI: Greg, does that bother you? The fact you're being called a racist and Nathan Bedford Forrest is being compared to Timothy McVeigh or Osama bin Laden?

STEWART: It is a testament to the misunderstandings and misperceptions that Nathan Bedford Forrest in particular has suffered. He has been maligned and smeared unfairly for many, many years.

It would be very easy for us, Mr. Johnson, to pick something that everybody liked, I suppose. But this -- our charge as Confederate Veterans is to defend the good name of the Confederate soldier. And certainly Nathan Bedford Forrest was a Confederate soldier who served his country well and then came back after the country came back together and served as a United States citizen.

So, we have no problem with it. I wish you would see it differently. I'll tell you now that the last plate that we're considering, the fifth year is for (INAUDIBLE) Collier, who was a black Confederate from Mississippi. And I would hope you wouldn't have any objection to that. But we'll see.

VELSHI: All right. We're going to hold that thought. We'll have this discussion again. That's an interesting point to end up, Greg Stewart.

Greg Stewart is with the Mississippi Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Derrick Johnson is the president of the Mississippi NAACP. Then, of course, our good friend, Roland Martin, a CNN political analyst, joining us from Ohio. Thanks to all of you. We'll continue this discussion at another time.

Time for a political update. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins me now from Washington. Busy political day, Paul. What have you got for us?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Ali. Here it is, one year away from the New Hampshire primary. Remember, that's the first one of the presidential primary season. A brand-new poll up there in the Granite State indicates that Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts who ran last time around, indicates he's the favorite to win that primary. Four out of ten voters in WMUR-NH poll say he is their top choice. Romney's thinking about running again.

Another person, Ali, who's thinking about running again, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. And this is interesting. This is what he says about abortion. He says it abortion trumps all other issues, telling an anti-abortion group, "As I've said before, it transcends all of the other political issues."

And finally, Ali, let's talk about the battle for the Senate. Two new polls out today indicate that Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Senator Bill Nelson of Florida both could face tough reelection battles next year.

That's what I got on the ticker. Back to you in Atlanta. VELSHI: All right. Paul, you listened to the president today at his press conference. Really sort of indicating that this budget proposal is the first salvo, it's not -- even he doesn't believe that the final budget is going to look like what he proposed.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. This is a first step in a long, long process. We'll hear a lot, see a lot of changes. It will be an interesting battle. We'll follow it all the way, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Paul. Good to see you, as always. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. Your next update from The Best Political Team on Television is just one hour away.

And we're still taking your votes on the "You Choose" story of the day. You can choose from a man killed over an auto-corrected text message, getting married at McDonald's, and a huge hidden object right here in our own solar system. Head to my blog, CNN.com/ali to vote. I'll bring you the results on other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Now back to our "You Choose" segment where we ask you to vote on the news. Here's the winner.

There's a huge, hidden, heavenly body right here in our solar system. Evidence is mounting that either a brown dwarfed star or a gas giant planet is lurking at the outermost reaches of our solar system, far beyond the planet Pluto.

According to the British newspaper "The Independent," the object is four times the size of Jupiter. Experts say the presence of such a massive object could explain why a barrage of comets has been coming from that direction.

We'll post the story about the auto-correct murder -- which I thought would win -- and the McDonald's weddings on my blog, CNN.com/ali. We'll give you all the news no matter what.

Time now for the "XYZ" of it. President Obama submitted his federal budget proposal for the fiscal year 2012, and the battle begins. The budget is a reflection of the president's priorities for the year going forward. What he wants to spend more on, what he thinks the country can spend less on.

Earlier, he told reporters, quote, "The federal budget has to do two things: live within its means and invest in the future." End quote. The president's proposal -- and for now it is just a proposal -- takes a big bite out of some domestic spending. The idea is to slash federal deficits, that's the difference, the shortfall, between what the government takes in and what it spends by over $1 trillion over the decade.

Now, he plans to do that through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. But here's the problem. His proposal doesn't do anything for the biggest chunks that the government spends on, so- called entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. Why isn't he dealing with those? Well, basically because the budget proposal is an opening salvo in a long, drawn-out fight. The final product will likely look very different.

Go to my blog, CNN.com/ali or to my Facebook or Twitter pages, and let me know what you think the budget should include or should cut. I'll compile - I'll read through everything you send me. I'll compile it and give you some of the feedback that I get as this crucial debate continues.

That's it for now. My friend Randi Kaye about to take it over with NEWSROOM. Randi?