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Middle Class Stuck in Neutral; Screening for Prostate Cancer; Protests Spreading through Mid-East; White House News Briefing; How to Get Out of Jury Duty; Beauty Queen Weight Battle; Meet New White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
Aired February 16, 2011 - 11:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Let's get you up to speed.
Libya's regime sent supporters into the streets today to counter an earlier anti-government demonstration. Hundreds had demanded Muammar Gaddafi's government free a prominent lawyer Libyan lawyer and dissident. Now reports say police used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd.
In Bahrain today, protesters surged into Pearl Plaza after a funeral procession. They honored a man killed by security forces during another protester's funeral Monday. Police stayed on the sidelines today. Bahrain's king appeared to change tactics announcing a committee who will look at reforms.
A sixth straight day of anti-government demonstrations in Yemen. Protesters and government supporters threw rocks at each other at a local university, and witnesses say at least one person has been killed. The competing crowds scattered when police fired warning shots.
And in Iran, regime supporters flood the streets for a funeral. The government claims that protesters killed a man during a march Monday because he was a member of the hated Basij militia. Protestors say the man was one of them and police beat him to death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"SARA," IRANIAN PROTESTER IN TEHRAN (via telephone): Well, yes. They did not let us proceed. We had to kind of fight to make our way. But at some point, we couldn't -- I mean, there was too much violence. So, we couldn't proceed.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC360": We've heard reports of police using tear gas, using batons to beat demonstrators, making arrests. Did you see any of that?
SARA: Oh, yes. That's the routine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Women protested outside Egypt's Supreme Court in Cairo today. They want the new military rulers to release their husbands, sons, and brothers who were jailed during the Mubarak regime. The men were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization banned by the Mubarak government.
And United Airlines says it expects some delays but hopes to resume a normal schedule today. United grounded its fleet of 757s for follow- up checks on an onboard computer system. "The Wall Street Journal" reports United didn't comply with FAA guidelines during the first check. Passengers were pretty ho-hum about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happens. It's unfortunate. But I'd rather them take care of it now instead of becoming a safety issue down the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is booked up. I mean, it happens. But it will be a lot better if the customer service go better.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
MALVEAUX: President Obama's new press secretary takes the podium in the White House briefing room for the first time. We got live coverage of that very shortly.
Jay Carney handled communications for Vice President Biden for two years and before that, he spent almost two decades reporting for "TIME" magazine. Carney replaces Robert Gibbs.
And Bernie Madoff in his first prison interview. He's blaming the banks. Madoff is jailed for swindling billions in an elaborate Ponzi scheme and he tells "The New York Times," they, the banks, had to know. But the attitude was sort of "if you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know." That a quote from him.
And it is part of the American dream, right? Each generation does better than the one before. Well, it's not actually the case anymore, especially if you are part of the middle class.
Our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, joins me here to talk a bit about what's taking place here -- because it seems as if the middle class now is in neutral. We don't even see any increase from the '80s, is that right?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It actually goes way back beyond that. And this is an interesting thing because the middle class is the thing that separates developed, robust economies from developing economies, where people are rich or they're poor. We've had this great middle class that sustains things.
But here's the problem: if you look back -- our friends over at CNNMoney.com have done some research into this -- and if you look at it, you go back a generation to the '80s, and you find, look at 1988 -- the average taxpayer, this is according to the IRS, earned $33,400. That's adjusted for inflation in today's dollars.
Look at it in 2008 -- $33,000 actually less. And if you go back -- they've got a great chart on Money.com -- goes back to 1917 and basically you see middle class earners doing this with their income and rich people going like that.
MALVEAUX: So, what's actually happening with the wealthiest Americans?
VELSHI: Well, it's -- they're not suffering from what everybody else is. So, when you go through from the war, the Second World War, until about the late '70s, we were a goods-producing, manufacturing economy, right, and then we started to do that.
The richest folk make their money differently. They don't make it in wages. They do it in investments. They do it in capital gains. They invest in companies.
So, as companies have been making more money because we're more productive because of technology, and we can get our labor done elsewhere, their shareholders tend to make money. The stock market despite, the blip of a few years ago, 2008, the stock market has done phenomenally well. So, it depends where you get your money. If you earned your money earning a wage on a factory floor, you have not done that well. If you earn your money somewhere else, you have done quite well.
MALVEAUX: So, the takeaway here, Ali, 90 percent of Americans, the middle class here, no increase in wages.
VELSHI: Right. And the difference here is we don't have unions. We don't have more manufacturing jobs. We have moved in from a goods- producing economy into a knowledge-based economy. Most jobs that pay well require a good education. We used to be able to do with a high school education and college education, less than one-third of all jobs out there will qualify you for that.
So, for people watching this, if you don't want to be part of that flat line generation, make sure you're adequately educated for the kinds of jobs we'll need.
MALVEAUX: All right. Ali, thank you so much.
And, obviously, a very important question here because it is why? Why hasn't the average American seen much of an increase in their income over the last 20 years or so?
Well, there are some labor experts, they say it's because workers no longer have a strong voice, that unions -- they're not as effective as they once were, and it's even questionable whether that is going to change because many in this country blame the unions for some of our economic problems.
So, I want to go back to Carol Costello to talk back.
Carol, you know, is there a war now on unions? Is this being fought across the country?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'd say you could absolutely say that, Suzanne. A war is being fought against unions across the country. Financially strapped states from Arizona to Ohio to New Jersey are pushing laws to limit the power of labor unions, especially unions that represent public employees. In Ohio, Democrats say a bill has been introduced that would effectively kill off public employee unions.
Unions are in part to blame here. Think of overly generous pension plans bankrupting states, and stories of unions protecting incompetent workers. On the flip side, though, unions have kept wages up for their members.
Bill Rogers, former chief economist for the Labor Department, says because of a collective bargaining -- because of collective bargaining, union workers earn 15 percent to 20 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. Rogers argues, without collective bargaining available to much of the middle class, wages have stagnated.
Consider this: in 1983, union workers made up about 20 percent of the workforce. Last year, unions represented less than 12 percent of the workforce. And Rogers says with that decline, the wage gap has widened precipitously and the poverty level has risen to its highest level since 1948.
So, talk back today. Should union power be curtailed? Let me know what you think at Facebook.com/CarolCNN -- Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your answer is within the hour -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, here's a look ahead on the rundown. Prostate exams for men. There's a new study that suggests that some may not need them every year.
Also, surviving in the desert. How drinking wiper fluid may have saved a man's life.
Plus, the recipe for Coca-Cola? It's one of America's best kept secrets, but has somebody spilled it?
And, finally, a teen beauty queen sues to keep her Miss San Antonio title in the face of several allegations, including she got too fat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: There is still time to pick the story you want to see later in our "Choose the News" segment. Vote by texting 22360. Vote 1 for a "Jim Crow-era" guidebook that showed African-Americans where they could stay safe in a segregated country. Vote 2 for radical suicide treatment, people thinking about killing themselves spend time in a coffin. Or vote 3 for a rare look at advanced marine sniper training.
We often talk about getting cancer screenings on a regular basis, but there's a new study that says when it comes to prostate cancer, less may be more.
Our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us.
Elizabeth, I guess it's a little surprising. But what did this study find?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What the study found is that many men are operating under a misconception, and this has been pointed out before. Men think, oh, I've -- you know, I have a prostate. I need to get it checked every year. And that's just not true.
And, in fact, what this study found is that if you get a prostate screening, PSA test, and it's under 3, that you're actually better off not getting annual screenings. That it's not going to help you, the information is not going to make you live longer. It's not going to help you avoid cancer. This study and many other groups have said, stop the annual screening and instead think through what you as an individual man ought to be doing.
MALVEAUX: So, if it's a simple blood test, why -- why not do it every year?
COHEN: This is one of the hardest things for people to understand. All it is a blood test, why not do it every year?
MALVEAUX: Right.
COHEN: And here's the reason: the test isn't perfect and prostate cancer treatments are imperfect. So, you may find -- a man may find they have a cancer and so, they decide to get treatment and then they become impotent and incontinent. Those are two possible side effects, which obviously nobody wants. When, in fact, if you just let the cancer stay there, you would have been OK.
Prostate cancers grow really slowly. And sometimes, it sounds crazy, you're better off just letting it be because if you treat it, you're going to cause more problems.
MALVEAUX: Oh, that's surprising.
COHEN: It is surprising. It is surprising. It's hard to think, gee, I want to do nothing -- it is totally counterintuitive. It really is. But it's the truth.
MALVEAUX: So, if a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, what are the possible treatment options?
COHEN: There are lots of options out there and that again makes this kind of a difficult disease to deal with. There's radiation. There's surgery. There's a drug where there's been some evidence that perhaps it works in very, very early stages at preventing prostate cancer. And different men make different decisions about treatment and different decisions about screenings.
So, actually, I think the most helpful thing for a man to do is go to CNN.com/EmpoweredPatient and we asked for male doctors, what do you do? We put it on them. We said, what do you do? Do you get screened? Do you not get screened?
And you'd be surprised the medical director of the American Cancer Society, he does not get a PSA test. He says he doesn't feel it's worth it. I don't feel it's going to tell me anything. So, this is a difficult decision. You've got to make it with your doctor and with a lot of guidance.
MALVEAUX: Great advice. Thank you, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Well, it's time to go cross-country for stories CNN affiliates are covering.
Our first stop: Phoenix. Eighty-four-year-old Henry Morello is in pretty good shape considering he just spent five days stranded alone in the desert. He told reporters how it happened and what he had to do to stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY MORELLO, SURVIVED FIVE DAYS IN DESERT: I ran into a ditch and I got stuck in that ditch and then the battery went dead. My phone went dead. And I went dead.
Windshield wiper, I broke the top off of that thing with a rock and sucked some of the water out of there. They said, you're lucky alive because that's poison, isn't it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now to Old Forge, Pennsylvania, where a high school senior Kiel Eigen, confined to a wheelchair by a spinal cord injury in 8th grade -- well, he got up and walked for the first time, inspired his whole community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIEL EIGEN, NO LONGER CONFINED TO WHEELCHAIR: Sports has been my whole life. I mean, if it wasn't for sports, I don't know what would make me get through all of this, especially with all the support from everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And forensic engineers there in San Antonio, Texas, are looking into what caused a university hospital parking garage to collapse. Two people are injured and it happened Tuesday in part of the garage that was under construction.
Coca-Cola's long secret recipe -- well, is it finally out? We don't know.
Our Martin Savidge, he went looking for the real thing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I head to the main branch of the Atlanta Library downtown and take a seat.
(on camera): So Doug McCollum (ph) -- McCollum, right? -- has decided to help us. He is the reference librarian here, and he's actually found "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" from February 18th, 1979.
(voice-over): That's the paper and the day where the recipe supposedly was published on page 2-B. Sure enough, a quick search finds the story.
(on camera): So, this article written by Charles Salter basically talks about how the author had an encounter with a gentleman, a pharmacist, who had an old ledger, and in that ledger supposedly was the recipe for Coca-Cola. Here is a photograph if I move it over. It may not show up too well on camera but listed here are all the ingredients supposedly for Coca-Cola.
(voice-over): But could that really be the recipe? That led me to my next stop.
(on camera): Since Atlanta is home to the world headquarters of Coca- Cola, we thought, well, what better place to come to start looking for answers?
Phil, how long have you been a historian with Coca-Cola?
PHIL MOONEY, COCA-COLA ARCHIVIST: I've been here 33 years.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): In a courtyard I meet a man who knows a lot about Coke's past.
(on camera): Is the secret of Coca-Cola, the recipe, is it here?
MOONEY: Well, it's actually not in our headquarters building. It's actually in a vault in the Sun Trust Bank.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): That's in downtown Atlanta. And Phil says only a handful of executives actually know the recipe. He's very familiar with the 1979 "Atlanta Journal" article.
(on camera): Is that the formula for Coca-Cola?
MOONEY: No, it's not. I mean, the formula for Coca-Cola is probably the most closely guarded secret in the history of American commerce.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Phil says, every couple years, somebody claims to have an old document, believing it's the recipe for the original Coke, only it's not. He says what they are, are early attempts for the 1900s when others tried to replicate the recipe. In other words, they are cola recipes but they are not the real thing.
Of course, I figured Phil wouldn't tell me even if it was the real recipe. My real shock came when I talked to marketing Professor Doug Bowman who said, it may or may not be the real recipe. But it doesn't really matter at all. DOUG BOWMAN, MARKETING EXPERT, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I don't think we'll ever know if it's really the recipe and I don't think Coke really cares. Coke is selling a lifestyle brand. They're selling refreshment. They're selling happiness.
SAVIDGE (on camera): In other words, that Coke is just way more than a list of ingredients on an old piece of paper. It is, in fact, a way of life for many of us. It's a brand.
By the way, that story was actually first brought to light at least about the newspaper article by a radio program called "This American Life." They actually took the recipe and turned it into some sort of soft drink and then tried it on people. Most said it did not taste like Coca-Cola. It would seem the recipe is safe.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And a lot of people want to get their hands on that recipe.
Conan O'Brien is weighing in on what the secret ingredients in Coke might be. It's today's punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Last Friday, this is strange -- NPR's "This American Life" reported they may have stumbled upon the secret formula to Coca-Cola. Yes. Surprising the secret ingredient is Pepsi. Straight in. No one saw that coming.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Juarez, Mexico, has been called the most dangerous city on the planet, a place overwhelmed by drugs and crime.
Well, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports on a nearby town that may be even more dangerous. It's right across the border from Fort Hancock, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We traveled an hour east of El Paso to a desolate, dangerous place on the border called the "Neutral Zone."
(on camera): So, we're in this area where we're right between the United States and Mexico. Mexico is just a few feet away, but you'd never know it because we're in the middle of a dust storm.
(voice-over): We can't see a thing. Joe Sierra, the top cop in Fort Hancock, Texas, tells us they can see us. (on camera): You're saying we are probably being watched right now.
JOE SIERRA, POLICE OFFICER: Right.
GUTIERREZ: By who?
SIERRA: Local law enforcement from the opposite side, cartel members, individuals that have interest in this particular area.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): This area is called Juarez Valley. It's a strategic location dotted with small towns along the Rio Grande on the Mexican side of the border -- prime real estate for the cartels because it's close to the United States, a major highway, and the railroad line.
SIERRA: It's easy access in and out.
GUTIERREZ: The battle between warring cartels for control of the Juarez Valley has been fierce. Entire towns have been targeted without mercy as cartel gunmen try to secure trafficking routes. People here call this the valley of death.
(on camera): On the other side of these tall, steel gates is a town of El Porvenir, Mexico. It's a town that's under siege. Residents say there is a war ranging there.
(voice-over): Entire families have been chased out of the Juarez Valley. Some have taken only what they can carry. Authorities say to make sure they can't come back, their houses are burned down in a campaign of terror where people have also been kidnapped and beheaded.
We found this man in a nearby town. We're protecting his identity because he fears for his life. He says he received a chilling phone call, telling him to leave Porvenir or be killed. So, he gathered up his wife and children. They fled with only the clothes on their backs.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): (SPEAKING SPANISH) You couldn't have called the police or the authorities and say, you know, I'm being threatened to leave. There is none.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no police there.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The police force has been decimated. The town's chief of police was murdered two years ago. He hasn't been replaced because no one wants the job.
The mayor was gunned down last October. Cartel hit men were blamed, but as in most cases, no one has been captured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the houses that got burnt.
GUTIERREZ: This man says these pictures tell the story of a place that has fallen to the cartel. It's a ghost town. There are no clinics, no people on the street, or children in the plaza. More than half of the residents have fled. He did, too. (on camera): Who's left?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the people that can't go anywhere else.
GUTIERREZ: They took your brother? Did you find your brother?
(voice-over): This man's brother is among the missing. His home was also set ablaze. Now, having fled Porvenir, the town where he was born, raised -- he says he only finds solace in his music.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Fort Hancock, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: That's one piece (ph).
On the docket, a dangerous combination, Twitter, Facebook, and the jury.
And a teenage beauty queen is told: lose the weight or lose the crown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here is a look ahead on the rundown:
Twitter and Facebook, we're going to discuss what can be done to keep jurors from disrupting trials by using social media sites.
Plus, with many legal cases in the news, we asked Sonny Hostin from our -- from "In Session," on our sister network, truTV, to take the CNN challenge. You can take it, too.
And, finally, only a little time left for you to choose the news. The winning story airs in the next half hour.
Pro and anti-government demonstrators were back on the streets of Iran today for the funeral of a man who was killed during Monday's protests. Each side blames the other for the man's death. A woman who took part in Monday's march, she talked with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC360": You went to the demonstrations. What did you see?
"SARA": We didn't want to see any violence so none of us said anything against the authority or the government, and we started our rally and we started from one of the main squares (INAUDIBLE). As we moved forward, the guards started to kind of hold us back.
COOPER: The Revolutionary Guard?
SARA: Yes. And -- but we kept on moving forward and from some point after the (INAUDIBLE) square, we could not proceed. We would try -- I mean, we tried our best, but we couldn't proceed. COOPER: Were you scared to go in the streets yesterday?
SARA: Oh, yes. We didn't know what was coming, so we were scared. But when I saw so many people being back like old days, that was really exciting.
COOPER: And at some point, was there violence?
SARAH: Well, yes. As they did not let us proceed, we had to kind of fight to make our way. But at some point we couldn't -- I mean, there was too much violence, so we couldn't proceed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Sara put herself at great risk in that interview because Iran's hard line regime has been known to jail its people for talking to international reporters.
Well, what began with Tunisia and Egypt has become a spreading tsunami of protests throughout the Arab world. You can see the countries in yellow on this map where protesters have now taken to the streets, the latest in Libya and Bahrain.
Michael Holmes is here with "Globe Trekking."
And, Michael, you take a look at that map.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Yes.
MALVEAUX: You see what's happening across the Middle East. Are there similarities in terms of what the people are demanding and what they're complaining about?
HOLMES: There are. I mean, you can always say, and we should say that these countries are all different.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
HOLMES: Different regimes, different minutia. But there are similarities, too. You got very young populations, a lot of times disenfranchised and they feel part of the system. There's high unemployment, poor living standards and, of course, the authoritarian regime.
Take a look at Libya, where we have seen some demonstrations. It's only 600 miles, by the way, from Egypt. Public protests rare, not tolerated. There's a day of rage actually planned for tomorrow. And that follows that clashes we've already seen, and you're look at right there.
The protests were biggest in Benghazi -- that is the country's second biggest city after Tripoli. It's been a place of protest and unrest before. Now, this appears to have been sparked by the arrest of a human rights lawyer, but there are other issues, as we said -- youth, average age 24 there, unemployment, food shortages.
Libya has put down these sorts of protests before, but that was a different time. Now, we got this momentum that you talked about --
MALVEAUX: Sure.
HOLMES: -- provided by Tunisia, Egypt and other places.
What's interesting here is these protests aren't targeting directly Colonel Gaddafi yet. Now, that would be something of a red line. If that red line is crossed it takes it into a whole other area, I think.
Anyway, Gadhafi has been in power for 42 years. He is the Arab world's longest serving leader. That's another thing many of these nations have in common, long serving leaders, authoritarians. Mubarak, of course, 30 years before he was toppled.
Libya, (police) take, political parties are ban. There have been improving relations with the west. Libya had been renouncing efforts to go nuclear by the way. They paid compensation to the relatives of the victims of Lockerbie. They've been pushing tourism even.
Tomorrow's planned protest, we'll look at this and see how that goes.
MALVEAUX: And tell us about Bahrain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bahrain is really interesting and very -- like all things Middle East it's complicated. Population 1.2 million, half of them are foreigners. Now, what I find interesting is to see the U.S. comments thus far calling for, more for calm and a pretty nuanced sort of comments rather than backing the aspirations of the protesters, which we've seen vastly different comments from the U.S. when it comes to Iran for example.
Now, why? Well, of course, the U.S. has major interests in Bahrain finally enough. Fifth fleet is there, which gives Washington a base in the very heart of the Gulf region. It can monitor the movements of 40 percent of the world's oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Also a great place to keep an eye on Iran. Now as with Egypt U.S. policy has been essentially to ignore the complaints and grievances of a lot of locals in those sorts of countries where they want to preserve stability, maintain the status quo in terms of leaders. Of course, that's better for the United States.
Now when you talk about Bahrain, these protests are very unusual, two dead so far. Many injured. Human rights activists are saying that Bahrainis initially demanded reform, but now they're starting calling for the removal of the royal family, significant. This is complicated. There are different things in different countries.
There is a sheer majority population, but the country is ruled by a Sunni royal family and the Shiites have had long standing complaints about discrimination. Of course as we said we've been talking today about Bahrain and Libya. Very important places to watch but we're watching Iran. We're watching Algeria. We're watching Yemen. The turmoil is widespread.
MALVEAUX: And the White House is watching all of this very closely. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. These comments are interesting.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely and we're going to actually have a chance to dip into the White House briefing in moments because Jay Carney, he's the new spokesman, the new press secretary for the president, we'll see how he actually handles all of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really is interesting. That is part of what the complaint has been in the Middle East in terms of U.S. policy. Backing regimes, you know, sympathizing with the leadership, low key comments. Then when it comes to Iran or other countries where there aren't those interests, bang. You know, different comments.
MALVEAUX: All right. Michael Holmes, thank you so much for "Globe Trekking." We're going to keep our eye on that briefing room for the first briefing, official briefing by Jay Carney. And we're going to skip that break. We are going to go to another story.
We know it's your civic duty, but sometimes getting called for jury duty is just inconvenient. So which of the following would most likely get you out of jury duty? That's what we're asking, A, your profession? B, reading material, C, your hobbies, or D, dress and inappropriate attire. We have the answer in our "Law and Order" segment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Time for a little "Law and Order." We start with the question, which of the following would most likely get you out of jury duty? Is it A, your profession? B reading material? C your hobbies? Or D dress and inappropriate attire?
One woman who knows the answer is Sunny Hostin with "In Session" on our sister network, truTV. OK, Sunny, give us your best shot. What do you think?
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Well, let me start by saying that I think everyone should, you know, go to jury duty, show up for jury duty.
MALVEAUX: Show up in a bathrobe. Is that going to get you out?
HOSTIN: It's not going to get you out. In my experience what gets you out is your reading material.
MALVEAUX: Really.
HOSTIN: It would definitely be B. Yes, when I was a prosecutor, I always asked jurors, what did you bring with you to read? Because, you know, you usually wait a long time before you're called and oftentimes I did strike jurors because of what they were reading.
They were sometimes reading a lot of books on conspiracy theory. I remember one time in particular there was a juror that had taken out a law book from the library because she told me that she wanted to bone up on the law before serving.
That is not a juror that I would want on the jury. So I would say, be careful with your reading material when you show up.
MALVEAUX: I always thought it was my profession being a journalist. But that's good to know it's your reading material. Let me shift gears for a little bit, lawyers are worried now about jurors using social media during Barry Bonds' upcoming trial tweeting the details of the case. Is this a big concern for the court system in general?
HOSTIN: It really is. It's a very significant concern right now. Over the past I guess since 1999 about 90 verdicts, Suzanne, have been called into question based on jurors' internet conduct. And I would say over the last two years it's been about 45 cases so really, really very important.
Historically jurors, you know, are told you can't talk to anyone about what's going on in a case. You shouldn't read any newspaper articles related to your case. You shouldn't watch television coverage related to these high profile cases, but now I think juries are going to be instructed that they can't tweet.
They can't get on Facebook and talk about the case. One thing I'll read to you very briefly, a tweet that came out of one of these cases, jury duty is a blow. I've always made up my mind. He's guilty. LOL, laughing out loud.
Judges are very concerned about this because, again, you really can't do that sort of thing when you're serving on a jury.
MALVEAUX: Sure and you know, this one we talked about in our morning meeting and it generated a lot of discussion. A beauty queen in San Antonio, she's filing a lawsuit. She claims she was stripped of her title because she gained some weight. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at a photo shoot and she was telling me about my weight and I mean I weigh 129 pounds and there is not an issue with my weight and she told me to lose 13 pounds. So I was a little shocked and I kind of looked at her in disbelief and she told me I need to layoff the tacos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Wow, layoff the tacos, Sunny. So pageant officials say I guess they say she was missing some engagements. She wasn't living up to her contract. But what do you make of this? She says it was, you know, the tacos.
HOSTIN: Well, you know, I will say, teens and weight, big issue -- big issue for Michelle Obama. We know that there are teens that are overweight, 129 pounds at 5'8", I don't think is obese, is not overweight. But in this case the contract rules.
My understanding, it's being reported that there is a clause in her contract that says, I understand that a baseline for my weight and measurements will be established at the time of this contract signing. If that is the case, and she broke that contract, unfortunately, I would say she is going to lose this legal battle.
MALVEAUX: All right, Sunny Hostin. Thank you so much. Hopefully, we'll get you back later on to take the CNN challenge. We promised -- as promised no math questions, just law questions. All right, Sunny?
HOSTIN: All right. I'm not smarter than a fifth grader so I'm a little nervous about this, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Sunny Hostin.
There is still time to pick the story you want to see later in our "Choose the News" segment. Vote by texting 22360. Vote one for "Jim Crow-era Guidebook." It showed African-Americans where they could stay safe in a segregated country.
Vote two for "Radical Suicide Treatment." People thinking about killing themselves spend time in a coffin or vote three for a rare look at "Advanced Marine sniper training."
We're also awaiting as well the White House briefing room, keeping a close eye on that. It will be the first day, first official day for Jay Carney, the new press secretary for the president. He'll be taking the podium there. You see the entrance. That is where he will be walking to the podium and he's looking -- we're told he's looking forward to this moment.
The president just in a news conference yesterday saying he's going to try to protect his guy as long as he can, but he is going to be facing some tough questions. We're going to take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Let's go straight to the White House briefing room. Jay Carney's first day as press secretary.
(BEGIN COVERAGE)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: How's everybody doing today? Excellent. Good. Well, thank you very much. I'm glad to be here. I really appreciate the turnout. I've never seen this room this crowded.
Before we get started today, I have a presidential scheduling update for you. This afternoon the president will take television interviews with local television affiliates in Cincinnati. That's WCPO, Richmond, WWBT, and Milwaukee, WTMG and the Hearst TV conglomerate as part of his continued effort to talk to Americans across the country about his budget proposal and how it will prepare our country to win the future.
These TV interviews are embargoed until 6:00 p.m. Eastern so you can begin refreshing those local TV web sites now, which is where you'll be able to get information on what he said in those interviews. And with that, I'd like to go to my briefing. QUESTION: When does he start doing them?
CARNEY: I don't have a time for you. It's just this afternoon.
QUESTION: Welcome, Jay.
CARNEY: Thank you.
QUESTION: I had one question on the news of the day but before that I wanted to ask you about, as you see the role of the press secretary, particularly as a former journalist.
Do you think when you come out here that your primary job as you see it is to promote the interests of the president or is it primarily to provide us with ungarnished information so we can inform the public?
CARNEY: Well, let me tell you this. We obviously all here serve the president. I work for him. But the press secretary is a unique position within the White House. And not just because I'm a former journalist, because I think every press secretary understood this, and understands it, you know, I work to promote the president and his -- and the message that he's trying -- the messages he's trying to convey to the American people. But I also work with the press to try to help you do your jobs. To help you cover the White House, cover the administration and report on what we're doing here.
So I think it's been said before that the office that the press secretary has is somewhat symbolically located about halfway between the Briefing Room and the Oval Office and I think that says something about what the nature of the job is, that, I mean, I do work for the president, but I'm also here to help the press understand what we're doing, to give the best information I can give with the help of a great team, and that's what I will try to do.
QUESTION: Fair enough. One question on the budget. The president said yesterday in his news conference that's what's need now is an adult conversation. And then later he added that what we need is a reasonable, responsible, and initially probably somewhat quiet and toned down conversation. And I'm wondering whether from the White House and whether there's a pledge to basically to honor that. Are you guys willing to say, we're not going to politicize this spending debate?
CARNEY: Look, the president has made clear I think, as he did yesterday, that he takes very seriously the need to reduce spending in the near term. That's why his budget proposal does things like cut $400 billion over 10 years, to reduce spending, to get not just spending but the deficit, which is very important. But he also understands that there needs to be a conversation about a long-term debt. And that needs to be, as he said, an adult conversation where reasonable people from both parties sit down and talk about this major challenge that we face and ways to deal with it.
And I think that needs to be -- if we're going to succeed to get there, it needs to be civil and it needs to be reasonable. And I think as he said, each side needs to be willing to give. That's what compromise is all about. And remember, last December we saw -- we have a template for how this can work where people thought agreement couldn't be reached. Both sides got together. Each side gave a little bit. Neither side got exactly what it wanted. But the president and the Congress were able to achieve something in the interests of the American people that will help grow the economy, create jobs, make us more competitive in this very competitive 21st century.
QUESTION: So we should expect an adult civil tone coming from here?
CARNEY: Well, yes, absolutely.
Let me go to Reuters. Yes, Jeff.
QUESTION: Thanks, Jay.
Israel said today that Iranian warships plan to sail through the Suez Canal to Syria. Does the United States view that as a provocation? And how should Israel react?
CARNEY: Look, I think our position on Iran in a variety of ways is well known. I would refer you on that specifically to the State Department. I don't have anything for you on the ship in the Suez.
QUESTION: Let me follow up on the Mideast question. There's been a lot of spread of the unrest in Egypt to other areas in the Mideast. The president referred to this issue yesterday and said that leaders of those countries need to get out ahead of the change. Does the White House think the leaders in countries like Libya or Bahrain are ahead of that change?
CARNEY: Well, look, as he said, each country is different in how they respond to the expression of the legitimate aspirations of their people. It's very important and they need to do it -- they need to do it in a way that reflects what we believe, what the president said, are these universal values that each government needs to respect. And that is our freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, freedom of access to information, the Internet in particular, and to respond to those demonstrations in a nonviolent way. We've called, as we did in -- as the president did in Egypt, and as we are doing now, we call on both sides in countries where these demonstrations are taking place to be non-violent and for the governments to be responsive.
QUESTION: Thank you.
CARNEY: Jake.
QUESTION: Jay, welcome.
CARNEY: Thank you.
QUESTION: If I borrow money from you to pay off the interest --
CARNEY: (INAUDIBLE) owe me.
QUESTION: Tenure (ph) rule. If I borrow money from you to pay off the interest of the debt I owe to Jeff, am I not adding to my debt? CARNEY: Well, without dealing with hypotheticals, why don't you -- why don't you --
QUESTION: The president seems to think that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: : Trick question.
QUESTION: That borrowing money to pay the interest on the debt is not adding to the debt. I don't understand that math.
CARNEY: Well, what the president made clear is that we need to get to a place, and his budget absolutely does this, where we are no longer spending more than we're taking in. And what the reality is, is that we have, like a lot of families -- you know, like some families might have, debt on their credit card with interest rates that have to be contended with. But the first important step to dealing with this issue is getting your regular spending and income in balance so that you are no longer adding to the problem. The interest is something we have to deal with and interest payments are a major portion of our long-term debt problem that we need to address.
But, look, it is not an inconsequential deal to propose a budget that cuts as substantially as it does in targeted areas so that the federal government lives within its means in order to be able to continue to invest in the future, because you have to have economic growth, you have to have job creation if we're going to address this overall long- term problem.
QUESTION: I assume when the president calls for an adult conversation, he means that conversation should be forthright and politicians shouldn't be hiding behind cute language such as, "we will not be adding more to the national debt," even if --
(END COVERAGE)
MALVEAUX: We have been watching Jay Carney in his first official day there at the White House in the Briefing Room there. Obviously saying that he's going to try to balance the needs of serving the president, the administration, as well as journalists trying to get the story, get information there. Our own Dan Lothian reporting that he practiced in front of staff, White House staff, for a couple of weeks to try to get over those first day jitters there. But that's Jay Carney already taking some pretty tough questions from the press, dealing with the budget, as well as what we are seeing in the Middle East.
And up next, middle class wages pretty much the same as they were 20 years ago. Are the unions to blame? One viewer weighed in on Facebook saying, "no. This country needs more unions." More of your responses straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Stuck in neutral. Middle class incomes have remained virtually unchanged since the '80s. So who is to blame here? I want to bring in our Carol Costello for your chance to "Talk Back."
Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, Bill Rogers, former chief economist for the Labor Department, says because of -- because union membership has declined, wages have stagnated for the middle class. Yet across the country, there is a push to kill off unions all together. So the question today, should union power be curtailed?
This from Georgia. She says, "just as government needs checks and balances, the marketplace needs checks and balances. Unions help balance the power of management."
And this from Al. He says, "yes, union power should be curtailed so we can go back to chaining children to unprotected machinery in dark factories and 18-hour days."
Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/carolcnn. Facebook.com/carolcnn.
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Carol.
Well, you texted it, we're going to air it. The winning story for "Choose The News" is the guidebook used by African-Americans while traveling during Jim Crow days. Our CNN's Fredricka Whitfield reports on the little known "Green Book."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pictures on his wall are from 50 years ago, but Ernest Green remembers it like yesterday.
ERNEST GREEN, LITTLE ROCK NINE: Well, I think what stands out is the fact that I, as a teenager, thought that desegregating the schools in Little Rock was an important part of progress for African-Americans.
WHITFIELD: Green was one of the Little Rock Nine. A group of African- American students who enrolled in Central High School in the Arkansas capital in 1957. While Green was making history in the schools, his family navigated the segregated roads using a little known guide for African-American families.
GREEN: "The Green Book" was a, I think, an institution in black life. It was one of those unknown survival tools for black people that had to move around the country. I was a teenager so I knew that "The Green Book" was a necessity for us to have a place to stay.
WHITFIELD: A place to stay, a place to eat, even a car repair shop that would be friendly to blacks, all pulled together in this directory. Decades later, Green had forgotten about the precious resource until a recent conversation with Calvin Ramsey, a playwright and author.
GREEN: He mentioned that he was doing a play around this book. And as he described it, I remembered that I had had a personal experience with "The Green Book." My aunt and mother mapping out a program for us to travel from Little Rock to Hampton, Virginia, for my sister's graduation.
WHITFIELD: Personal tales like this inspired the playwright and he learned about the travel guide's 1936 genesis.
CALVIN RAMSEY, AUTHOR/PLAYWRIGHT: Well, Victor Green, an African- American gentleman, who has traveled himself and had hardships on the road, embarrassing situations, that he didn't want to see his people continue to have. So he said, if I can do something about this, I will.
WHITFIELD: The idea took off. And year after year, "The Green Book" grew, providing resources for all 50 states.
RAMSEY: Everything from lodging, to restaurants, to beauty shops, to barber shops, mechanic shops, later on doctors' offices, dentists, pretty much anything you would need on an open road.
WHITFIELD: As the book gained popularity, it also picked up a major sponsor.
RAMSEY: Once Standard Oil got involved, they hired professional marketers. They set up an office in New York. They hired men who had training in this type of thing. Then they started training African- American men how to run their own service stations. And from there, they could sell more "Green Books."
WHITFIELD: Today, Ramsey takes his children's book "Ruth and The Green Book," to elementary schools, bringing old tales to a new audience. And in the process, picking up on a dream that the creator of "The Green Book" held dearly.
GREEN: Travel, exposure, knowledge, all of it is failed to prodigious. It requires people to think broader to this idea about universality that begin to see people as people.
WHITFIELD: Big lessons from the little guide that history almost forgot.
Frederica Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi -- Ali.
