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Learning To Walk & Talk Again; Examining The Gender Pay Gap; Obama Comments On Violent Protests; Obama Comments On Protests In Wisconsin; Just Call Him "Dr. Watson"; Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman to Announce Retirement
Aired February 18, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: They are awesome. Thank you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Don.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, when we say we're going to cut spending, read my lips. We're going to cut spending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. The speaker has spoken and while the details, the dollars, are still being fiercely debated, the bottom line is clear, here. It's not just Washington's problem. Take Wisconsin. Look at that. Live pictures, now, from Wisconsin. A fourth straight day. Teachers and other state workers are protesting what the government calls a budget repair bill. It would sharply increase worker contributions to health care and pension funds and take away most of their collective bargaining rights. And what exactly is collective bargaining? Well, hear it is. Simply this. Employees talking, as a group, with employers, to agree on matters such as pay and working conditions. It's really organized labor.
But while the Wisconsin capitol has been teeming for three or four days now, look at these protesters. They're sleeping on the marble floors. The entire 14 member democratic Senate caucus has been AWOL, now, for a day. They and two republicans -- two republicans were with them. They left the state to put off a vote that they're sure to lose. One of those Democrats made his case on CNN's "American Morning" as in a top Senate Republican. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON ERPENBACK (D), WISCONSIN STATE SENATE: In this bill, which is supposed to be just a technical, minor bill, he throws in the union busting provision. So, again, that's why we're having the problems we're having in Wisconsin, right now, and why we actually had to leave the state to slow the process down, to bring the governor back to the table, hopefully, and for people's voices to be heard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GLENN GROTHMAN (R), ASSISTANT MAJORITY LEADERS, WISCONSIN SENATE: We had elections, last November, and the idea that union has to sign off, or has to agree, in order to pay for part of their pension seems to be a little bit ridiculous. Many people in the state of Wisconsin got laid off and have no jobs at all. Many others are not having a 401K contribution or contributing more to their health insurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. Let's get right to the middle of the action, now, and CNN's Casey Wian is in the thick of things in Madison. Casey, good afternoon. What's going on there?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Don. Thousands of protesters have, again, descended on Wisconsin's state capitol, marching around this building to protest the proposed legislation that would, as you mention, severely curtail the collective bargaining rights, and, also, require them to pay more into health and pension benefit plans.
Now, Governor Scott Walker, of Wisconsin, says that this legislation is needed to help close a $137 million short-term budget deficit, through June 30th, and a $3.6 billion deficit, over the next two years, but teachers and other union workers, here, are very angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN RADEMACHER, WISCONSIN TEACHER: Like other families, we have a mortgage to pay every month. We've got electric bills, and what I've heard is that it's about a 13 percent net drop in income with the benefits and the wages. That's what we'd be losing every month. And, so, then, we have to start picking and choosing how we're going to make our house payments and still do other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: Now, as difficult as those financial sacrifices may be, almost all of the protesters, here, say it's not about money. In fact, they concede they will give up financial rewards to help the state balance its budget. They really want to preserve their collective bargaining rights, and that's why they say they're here marching but many others who are in Wisconsin, and have come to the capitol, are not sympathetic to those arguments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame on you for abandoning your children, today. At least there's a few teachers out there who have the guts to stand up against you union thugs and actually teach our children. You're AWOL. You're AWOL. You're AWOL.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIAN: Meanwhile, many schools, throughout the state of Wisconsin, remain closed, today, mainly, because their teachers are here at the state capitol protesting -- Don. LEMON: All right, Casey, so, we talked about those 14 Democrats and two Republicans who left town. Has that had any effect? Is it helping or hurting the situation?
WIAN: Well, it depends on your perspective. It, certainly, involved (ph) in these protesters and the union organizers, they say that these democratic -- mostly democratic lawmakers are on their side, and they're going to stay outside of the state to make sure that this legislation doesn't advance any further. If you are a Republican who supports this legislation, including the governor, they've got to be very frustrated, because, in their words, these legislators are refusing to act in the way the people elected them to act.
Right now, this legislation is at a standstill, and we've protests planned, here, throughout the weekend. So, you know, it's not going anywhere and neither are these people, at least for now.
LEMON: What are they doing to try to get them back? We heard, yesterday -- and we have been hearing that police were looking for them, actually doing door knocks?
WIAN: That's what we understand. What we also understand is that if the state troopers can actually find them in the state, they can compel them to come back and cast their votes. But they can't cross state lines to do it. So, that's why the legislators have crossed state lines, and, for now, they're vowing to remain there until, in their words, the governor hears their arguments.
What they seem to really be upset about is that this came very quickly, in their words. They say that the unions and the democratic lawmakers were not brought to the negotiating table to, sort of, work out a deal. The governor says this is what he campaigned on. This is what should have been well known to anyone who covers politics in Wisconsin, and that he was not trying to take anyone by surprise. Right now, though, they're at an impasse.
LEMON: All right. Casey Wian, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We'll get back to you.
OK, Washington has budget problems. Wisconsin has budget problems, and you have to look hard to find a state, a city, a county that doesn't have a budget problem, and, keep in mind, states have to balance their budgets. They just can't pile up the debt like the feds do. I want you to take a look at this map. All of, really, six states, here. Six states don't really have budget problems and are not projecting a deficit for fiscal year 2012.
North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, which is not on here, Arizona, and then, also, Delaware. They're not projecting that. But from coast to coast, look at this. First, let's go to -- punch in here and I'll show you the ones that are really having major problems, here.
First of all, let's go to Ohio right here. Look at Ohio. There the governor expects -- excuse me, Michigan. Michigan. The governor is proposing a $470 per pupil cut to save $452 million. The K-12 schools would face 4 percent overall cuts. Areas that could be targeted include school bussing, music, choir, and, then, band programs, athletics as well, and a possible 10,000 job losses, there.
Now, we go -- now it comes up -- Ohio comes up. An estimated $8 billion overall budget shortfall. Unveiling a two-year budget in March -- on March 15th. A two-year budget unveiled. Again, eight billion overall budget shortfall. Imagine trying to deal with that. Potential cuts of 10 percent to 20 percent all across the board in the state, and the governor, there, says, everything is on the table. Every single thing on the table.
All right. Let's go to Texas, now. Texas is having a huge problem, as well. It faces an estimated $15 billion in a revenue shortfall. An estimated $5 billion to be cut from these programs. Arts education, prekindergarten programs, teacher incentive pay, and, also, technology jobs, and, then, they're going to cut jobs to follow. Again, they're saying that everything is, possibly, on the table there, as well.
OK, here we go. Colorado $570 million in state budget cuts. Three hundred and seventy-five million from the public education system, there. Approximately $500 less per student that they're going to get from the state. They're proposing a $36 million cut in higher education. That's a lot of money and thousands of teachers could face layoffs.
And, then, of course, there we go. Let's go to California, now. California, the budget matters there as so in many other places and many things. The golden state is in a class by itself and schools are paying the price. CNN's Paul Vercammen joins me, now, in LA, with that.
Paul, they're having big cuts, there, and I understand in California -- in California they're not hiring any government workers. Any workers for government agencies.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. Right now, we're facing a $26 billion budget deficit, and you can imagine what it's like in the state, right now. You have Jerry Brown talking about the doomsday budget, and how he will meet the deficit.
And, then, you have high school principals - public high school principals, elementary principals, they are, now, living in fear, because they believe there could be more cuts on the way. And California already suffers from clouded -- crowded classrooms in the public arena.
You, also, have the situation that's unique to California, and that it anywhere to 20 to 25 percent of the students are English language learners. All of this compounding the problem. It could be that we have an extension of taxes that goes onto the ballot this June -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Paul Vercammen, thank you very much. We appreciate that.
Let's go on, now, and talk about social media. Blowing up with the Wisconsin teacher story, today. We ask the question, after seeing everything on the Wisconsin teacher fight this week, who do you support? The teachers or the state government?
Most people were in support of the teachers, but Richard put it in perspective for us. Here is what Richard said. He posted this on Ali's Facebook page, today. "Teachers deserve fair pay and benefits and have always been under appreciated but the key to this controversy is compromise and dialogue, by both sides of the argument. I'm so tired of how polarizing these issues have become. Compromise has become a lost skill. It's a skill we need to relearn and practice." And if you want to join the discussion, here, Richard head to Ali's blog page at CNN.com/Ali. You can, also, post on his Facebook and his Twitter pages at Alivelshicnn.
How do you get back on your feet after getting shot in the head? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta becomes a patient in the same place Gabrielle Giffords is going through therapy, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's talk medical news, now. Less than six weeks after being shot in the head, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is talking, laughing, even singing, thanks, in large part, to intense and exhaustive therapy. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta was granted extraordinary access to the facility in Houston, where Giffords is undergoing rehab and found out, first hand, what she's going through. What was it like?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's pretty remarkable to see -- you know, as a surgeon, I see, you know, trying to repair things, right at the time. Rehab doctors, obviously, tougher sleddings (ph) longer term but really making a difference with her.
She was shot on the left side of the head, you remember, Don. This is the part of the brain, typically, responsible for speech and, also, is strength, on the right side of the body. That's what they're focused on, particularly. And I got a chance to see it, firsthand. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING) Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.
DR. GUPTA (voice-over): For about an hour, most days, Congresswoman Giffords does this.
MAEGAN MORROW, MUSIC THERAPIST: Sometimes I come in and that's all they can do. And -
GUPTA: And that's significant.
MORROW: That's significant because it gives me a clue, hey, they know this song, and they want to fill it in.
DR. GUPTA (voice-over): It's called music therapy. Many people never see how it, or much of the technology, big or small, in this building, actually works. So, I will show you as if I, like Congresswoman Giffords, were a patient of Dr. Francisco and his team. It seems like a pretty long day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a long day.
DR. GERARD FRANCISCO, TIRR: After a brain injury or a stroke, there is a tendency for the patient to forget one side of the body.
GUPTA: Just neglect it?
FRANCISCO: Just neglect it.
GUPTA (voice-over): But this bike doesn't let you forget.
GUPTA (on camera): These little cords here actually attach to my muscles in my leg. And as my leg's moving, it's sort of predicting which muscle should be using and it's giving that muscle a stimulation.
GUPTA (voice-over): They call this the superman device, learning to walk without the burden of my body weight. Surprisingly, this shopping cart is also used as part of therapy.
GUPTA (on camera): Take a look here. Obviously Julie helping, for example, if I had right leg weakness, really sort of moving my leg along, preventing me from falling.
GUPTA (voice-over): But here's the thing. All these different therapies work together. The music isn't just rehabilitating the mind, it's also teaching patients to walk. And sometimes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'll give them a song to kind of get their mind off of the pain. Oh, when the saints -- you know -- go marching in. Kind of thing like that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: It was so interesting, I've got to tell you. And the therapy's all built one on the other. So it's not like music therapy over here, speech, physical. They all sort of have overlap in terms of what they accomplish. I send patients all the time, Don, to rehab as a neurosurgeon. I've never seen it quite like this before.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Really?
GUPTA: It was fascinating to see the process unfold.
LEMON: Yes, being right there where it happens. People talk about rewiring the brain all the time. I hear you guys say that. Can do you that?
GUPTA: Yes. I mean, in a sense you can. I mean think of the brain as being very redundant.
LEMON: OK. GUPTA: So there's lots of parts of your brain that can make you lift your right arm right now. We get used to using one particular part of the brain for that. But could there be other areas? Yes. Well -- so think of the brain sending a signal to your leg to lift the leg. If it's not working properly, they were giving me those electrical shocks in my leg when my leg was supposed to move in a certain direction. That's sending a signal back to my brain. So it's sort of creating a two-way circuit and that sort of facilitates that rewiring.
LEMON: Oh, my gosh, you guys are -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta can do everything.
GUPTA: I love this stuff. I was just absolutely fascinated by it.
LEMON: I know. I know. That's -- and that's why you do it. But the question is, what's next for her and her recovery?
GUPTA: Well, she's making -- people use the word "remarkable." I think it's fair to say that given where she's come already, now it's a lot about occupational therapy, taking care -- you know, being able to brush your teeth, being able to feed yourself with a spoon, being able to dress yourself, those types of things. That's what you really need to do to function in everyday life.
Also, you know, the future of physical rehab is here. I mean I was there one day and they're actually using robots within -- you can see images there. That's brand-new technology that increases mobility and strength. But I'm actually playing a video game here which actually works on my cognition and my concentration and attention as well. So this is sort of where it's headed. And this might be something available for her as well.
LEMON: That's high-tech stuff. But what I found interesting was that just the shopping cart so they could stand up.
GUPTA: The shopping cart. Stand up straight. And, you know, you saw Julie, who was my therapist there, really working with my leg when I'm doing that. But, that's right, if you've got a walker, people tend to hunch over that. A shopping cart, you tend to stand up more straight. I had something to rest my hand on because if my hand was weak, for example, I could use that.
LEMON: Fascinating.
GUPTA: Yes.
LEMON: Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: We'll keep an eye on this. Maybe have another --
LEMON: Yes, thank you. Would you say you're a geek? Did you say I love this stuff? Medical geek.
GUPTA: I do. I'm very passionate about it. I am a medical geek. You knew that already.
LEMON: Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: You got it.
LEMON: Great reporting.
GUPTA: Thank you.
LEMON: The gender pay gap, does it still exist and where is it most prominent? That's ahead in "Your Money."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
In today's "Your Money," is a gender pay gap widening or is it getting smaller? Christine Romans takes a look at the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and what industries have the biggest discrepancies.
Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": Don, new data from the government shows the gender pay gap is still there. Women, on average, making about 80 percent of the man's dollar. In the year 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 45 million women in this country working full time at a wage and salary jobs. They made about $657 a week on average. That compared to $819 a week for men.
How do different careers stack up, though? You can see there are some big disparities. For example, in construction, women make 92.2 percent of what a man makes. That's the best industry there is in terms of women's pay equality. Leisure and hospitality, they make about 83.5 percent. Education and health services, it's 77 percent.
And, Don, this is the area where most women are employed. Seventeen million of those 45 million women employed full time in this country are employed in education and health services. They make 77 cents on a man's dollar.
And in financial activities, Wall Street, the banks, mortgage industry, about 70.5 percent. So where you are in the labor market depends greatly on how wide the gender gap really is.
Don.
LEMON: All right, Christine, thank you very much.
And be sure to join Christine Romans for "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning, 9:30 a.m. Eastern, and "Your Money" with Ali Velshi, Saturdays 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
President Barack Obama is weighing in on the Wisconsin teacher budget battle, but he's not the only one in Washington speaking up. Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry has that next in "The Stakeout."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Time now for "The Stakeout." And as you see, some news just in. Let's go to CNN's Ed Henry standing by at the White House.
Ed, I'm hearing the president has a new statement about Bahrain.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don.
This just came in from aboard Air Force One. Jay Carney, the new White House spokesman, you know, they were going from San Francisco. Just landed in Oregon. Jay Carney saying -- reading a statement from the president about the violence in the Mideast saying, quote, "I am deeply concerned by reports of violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen. The United States condemns the use of violence by governments against peaceful protesters in those countries and wherever else it may occur."
Jay Carney went on to say the president was sending his sympathy out to the families of any victims of violence, some of those who have died on the streets in these countries. He added, quote, "the United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of their people."
This is just another dramatic example of how the U.S. has been dealing with one after the other. Certainly they want to see democracy in some of these countries, but they're dealing very cautiously, very carefully with each individual case because obviously, as you've been hearing the White House say over and over, each country is different. There's not one size fits all kind of an approach that's going to fit across the board here and throughout the region. But as much as they want to see democracy in some of these countries, they also want to see stability in the Mideast so they can try to get Mideast peace, so they can get some of their other foreign policy goals accomplished. But this is obviously a very difficult situation as the U.S. watches some of this violence continue, Don.
LEMON: Yes. And we're talking about protesters in Bahrain and in Arab nations. Let's talk about American protesters now. I understand the White House is also weighing in on the teachers' protests in Wisconsin, saying he feels for the governor.
HENRY: Yes. And the president, you know, earlier this week he did this interview with a local affiliate in Wisconsin. And along the way, of course, was asked about those budget cuts. And he weighed in and put a little bit more pressure on the Republican governor in this dispute with public employee unions there about their benefits, about their collective bargaining rights. Take a listen to what the president had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: An assault on unions. Interesting because I spoke a short time ago to an aide to Speaker of the House John Boehner who said, look, if the president is now going to back the unions here and charge, you know, the Republican governor with an assault on unions, how does that help this sort of adult conversation the president spoke about at his news conference here at the White House a few days ago in terms of sitting down with Republican leaders and hashing out some of these tough budget decisions. Not just the state ones, obviously. They're individually dealing with those. But the broader budget issues the federal government is going to have to deal with.
Now, in fairness, the White House is pointing out in that interview with the Wisconsin TV station, the president also noted that he understands governors are having a hard time. Some tough choices they have to make. But the fact that he mentioned an assault on unions certainly is frustrating Republicans. They think that's going to stall some of these conversations they're hoping to have about how to move forward on these tough decisions, Don.
LEMON: And you mentioned the house speaker. You said in a conversation. Didn't he also release a written statement on this?
HENRY: Yes, he did. And the speaker was pretty blunt in backing the Republican governor here, but also said that, you know, he's put out another statement saying the White House doesn't really have a plan here and they're just beating up on the governor. And he said -- specifically John Boehner said "Republicans in Congress and reform- minded GOP governors like Scott Walker," he's the Wisconsin governor, "John Kasich," in Ohio, "Chris Christie," in New Jersey, "are daring to speak the truth about the dire fiscal challenges Americans face at all levels of government."
So what you see is both sides kind of picking their sides here. You've got the Republican leader siding with the Republican governor in Wisconsin. You've got the president largely putting his support on the labor unions who are on the ground. And we should point out, the president's political arm, Organizing for America, has now gone on the ground to build these labor unions build these protests in Wisconsin. They may be going to other states like Ohio in the days ahead as well. And so unlike the sort of adult conversation the president talked about at the beginning of the week to solve these problems, instead right now at least we're seeing both sides dig in, Don.
LEMON: Ed Henry, thank you, sir.
He was a preeminent photographer in the Civil Rights Movement. His pictures, some of the most powerful ever captured. But he also kept a dark secret. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Happening now in Wisconsin, a fourth straight day of protests by teachers and other state workers outraged over what the Republican governor calls a budget repair bill. It would sharply increase worker contributions to health care and pension funds, and take away most of their union bargaining rights. Democratic senators have left the state to prevent a vote from even taking place.
At least four people reported dead in clashes today in Bahrain. Witnesses say shots were fired at anti-government protesters as they approached the area in the capital where security forces cracked down on demonstrators a day earlier.
And tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Egyptians returned to Cairo's Tahrir Square today for a "Day of Victory" rally. You're looking at live pictures now of Tahrir Square. They're making the one-week anniversary, marking the one-week anniversary of the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Celebrations were planned in other Egyptian cities as well. We're keeping a close watch on that.
His lens captured pivotal moments in the Civil Rights Movement and in Civil Rights history, pictures of the so-called common man all the way to some of our nation's greatest leaders. but there was more to Memphis photographer Earnest Withers than meets the eye.
This Sunday, CNN's Soledad O'Brien examines his legacy in a new documentary. I spoke to her just a little while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ernest Withers is not a name many people know. And then, yet, when you see his artwork you say, oh, that guy, because, of course, he took some of the most iconic photos of the Civil Rights Movement, the pictures that said, "I am a man," showing the Memphis sanitation workers on strike or even some of the photos of Emmitt Till in covering the trial. So that's the kind of work he did.
It was back if the fall when news broke that Ernest Withers had been an informant for the FBI that I think everybody was stunned. It really made no sense. How could you justify in your head, you know, here is a guy who clearly was a photojournalist helping to get the most important images about the movement out at the same time being paid to inform for the FBI.
We found that contradiction really interesting and confusing, and we wanted to explore it more in our documentary "PICTURES DON'T LIE."
LEMON: And I've heard people say, you know, if that is indeed the case, it is the ultimate betrayal.
You know, I hate to ask you your opinion, but from the evidence and doing this documentary, do you think he was a hero or does it look like he was a traitor?
O'BRIEN: I think, like most people he was a complicated human being who was in a position possibly because of pressure from the FBI. We talked to a journalist, Earl Caldwell, who said the FBI came to him and he described it as someone putting their foot on your neck saying, listen, if you don't cooperate, here is what's going to happen. We're going to tell everybody you are cooperating. So when you go to interview the Black Panthers, they'll kill you, because we're going to make it clear you're, you know, working for us even if you're not working for.
LEMON: So there was pressure. There was a lot of pressure.
O'BRIEN: There was clearly a lot of pressure. I mean, a lot of people we interviewed told us that. But the question also became, so then, you know, then why? Was there pressure in his case? I don't know that it's clear. Was it the money? He had a large family and an industry that didn't compensate him particularly well.
So I think -- and the time, you know, the FBI agent who now is a sheriff in Georgia who we spoke to said, you know, the "Ghetto Informant Program," of which Withers would be one, was sort of like neighborhood watch, he said. Neighborhood watch.
LEMON: So --
O'BRIEN: Right. So people gasp at that.
But different, he said, from COINTELPRO where there was a definite a attempt to overthrow the movement.
So I'm not sure we'll ever really know the motivation, but most experts have said that the evidence is clear that there was evidence that he was, in fact, informing for the FBI.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And make sure you join Soledad for the "CNN IN AMERICA" special, "PICTURES DON'T LIE" Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.
Shots fired, protests turned bloody, and yet another Gulf nation -- in yet another Gulf nation. A live update from Bahrain is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Gunfire rang out in Bahrain today during a pro-democracy march in the capital, Manama. Demonstrators scattered in panic when shots were fired. We have reports that at least four people were killed and there are conflicting reports on who even opened fire. It is the latest violence to hit any demonstrators sweeping the Arab world and North Africa.
Nic Robertson is in Manama and he joins us now live.
So, Nic, what is happening right now?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Don, the very latest thing here is the king has announced that he's passing power to the crown prince, who is the head of the defense forces here, to handle negotiations and talks with a view to ending these violent confrontations.
However, the leading Shia party here, a representative member of parliament of that leading Shia party here has said that talks cannot go on as long as the army is still on the streets, and the army is out because the government is using them to cordon off areas that the protesters are trying to get to.
So these initial efforts at planning a diplomatic way out of the rising tensions here is not working.
And that comes hard on the heels of that violent confrontation this evening when about 1,000 or so protesters approached an area where police were guarding that they wanted to go in and have that demonstration, and the police eventually fired tear gas cans and live ammunition. We know that at least three people have been killed, one is still in very serious condition with wounds to his head at the moment in hospital, Don.
LEMON: Nic Robertson reporting. Nic, thank you very much.
And staying in the region, a very similar scene in Libya. A medical source tells us that at least 20 people were killed and some 200 wounded in clashes with security forces. CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is watching developments for us in that area and we'll check in with her.
How the heck did they build a computer that could beat the all- time best "Jeopardy!" champions? We'll pick the brain of the man behind Watson next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Every day on this very show we do a segment that's called the "Big I," it's all about big new ideas in innovations and one of our favorite "Big I" is IBM's Watson the computer. Just this week, Watson put the smackdown on two mew man contestants on "Jeopardy!" Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX TREBEK, HOST, CBS "JEOPARDY!": Now we come to Watson, we are looking for Bram Stoker. And we find, "Who is Bram Stoker?"
And the wager? Hello, $17,973; $41,413, and a two-day total of $77,147.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Who knew you could be riveted by watching a computer on television?
So in the battle of man versus the machine, the machine won on this one, but let's really compare the two here. "USA Today" published a great comparison. Watson weighs, get this, 1,190 pounds compared to a human's brain which weighs three pounds. It took IBM four years to develop Watson. Humans have taken about 6 million years to develop.
And when it comes to processor power IBM has 2,800, humans have 1 billion neurons. And computations per second, Watson has 20 trillion, humans have 100,000 trillion.
I can't even imagine that number, 100,000 trillion.
Watson has us beat on memory, though, has got us beat.
So Watson is big and bad, we know that and we were all riveted when we watched him, those of us who did watch him. But it's not just about game show antics, there are also very real medical uses for this technology.
I want to bring in now Dr. Dave Ferrucci, is IBM's chief scientist for Watson, and also Dr. Herbert Chase, a professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University.
Thanks to both of you for joining us. Both of you guys are in our New York studios and, Dave, I'm going to start with you.
How does Watson work?
DR. DAVE FERRUCCI, IBM CHIEF SCIENTIST: Well, what is interesting about Watson is on "Jeopardy!" you just see sort question in/answer out. But what you really want to on is that answer panel, which shows that Watson is actually considering many, many different possibilities, just as you might do if you were working in differential diagnosis or coming up with treatment options.
And for each one of those possibilities, Watson's collecting evidence from many, many different sources, evaluating that evidence, weighing it, combining it, and deciding what's most likely the right answer here.
LEMON: OK. Let's talk a more here about medicine, I'm going to go to Dr. Chase.
DR. HERBERT CHASE, CLINICAL MEDICINE PROFESSOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: According to the Institute of Medicine, 98,000 people die every year from medical errors in hospitals. It's the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. So how can doctors be sure that they're getting the right information?
Well, at the end of the day they need a reliable source. They need to be able to get the information they need rapidly. During work lows (ph), as we say, and I think Watson has the capacity to answer a doctor's questions. A lot of the errors that are made are diagnostic errors because of lack of knowledge. They may be treatment errors because of insufficient knowledge about what the guidelines are. And it's been shown repeatedly that, at the end of the day, most doctors don't have the time to look up all the things they need to look up.
And so, Watson, in its current form, actually can supply doctors with answers to their questions that they formulated during the day and with those answers can improve their diagnostic outcomes and their treatment outcomes as well.
LEMON: OK. So do you just put in the patient's information and it draws it from a medical bank, data from somewhere?
CHASE: Well, not unlike -- actually, Dave should probably answer this, but Watson has access to information in all sorts of capacities and shines and shapes, and the doctor can give the clues much like the "Jeopardy!" clues. A patient might have fever and a rash and some weight loss, and then Watson takes those clues and provides the evidence for one diagnosis over the other.
FERRUCCI: Yes, I mean, I think the electronic medical record is really just the beginning. This is the input data, Watson is going to break that down, look at it from very different dimensions, whether it be the patient history, the family history, they symptoms, the findings.
It's going to take that and then look at reference books, textbooks, a huge breadth of information, the most recent abstracts, even the blogosphere to try to understand how to relate the most current knowledge to what's going on with that patient, again, to inform the doctor about the many different possibilities and what evidence to look at to support the right diagnosis or even beyond that looking at the huge variety of treatment options that might exist.
LEMON: So it sounds like Watson can do everything really but operate. And well, can Watson operate or will it happen in the future?
FERRUCCI: No, I don't think you're going to want Watson in the operating room and taking a scalpel to you. I think you have to think of it as a tool. There's a huge amount of information out there and there's just not enough time to digest it, and what Watson provides you is a tool to get at it.
LEMON: OK. I'm want to bring in someone who has been waiting patiently here. Let's bring in Janet Dillione, she is also live from our New York studios and she is the president of Nuance Healthcare.
So, Janet, thanks for joining us.
Doctors have used computers to help make decisions about patient care for decades, we know that. How is this one different?
JANET DILLIONE, PRESIDENT, NUANCE HEALTHCARE: Well, I think this one is different because it directly impacts something that everyone wants to directly impact in the U.S., which is the cost of care and the quality of care. And what Watson is going to allow us to do is get the best evidence, up to the moment evidence, in the hands of the clinicians.
And what we will bring to the table is we have demonstrated we can figure out how to get technology embedded and integrated into a physician workflow so that they like it, they enjoy it and they find it as a value add. And I think it's just a fantastic opportunity to work with Watson and raise the bar on getting that type of technology as a patient-care tool for the physicians.
LEMON: And how is that working? It seems like just within, if you think about it, within the past two years, maybe three years the technology has advanced so much. Is it being well received within, just within the medical community?
DILLIONE: Well, for us, we have been working with speech for years and we have introduced clinical language understanding. And today, we actually have approximately 50 percent of the physicians in the U.S. use our technology.
So we have found a way, again, through speed, through accuracy that physicians say, hey, this helps me deliver patient care, this is a value add. And again, I just see Watson being an extremely logical and an extremely valuable extension to that.
LEMON: My next question is for Dr. Ferrucci.
Where did the name Watson come from? And beyond medicine, what applications do you foresee for Watson? I mentioned operating, Dave said he didn't see operating, but beyond that.
FERRUCCI: Well, you know, Watson was named after T.J. Watson, Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM.
And I think that, you know, when we position Watson, we position it as a tool that can gather, synthesize, analyze, do deep analysis on large volumes of content of natural language content. And I think there are many industries where this can help, whether it be technical support, customer relationship management, financial services, anywhere you want access to that knowledge that's buried in huge volumes of text. You want to collect it, you want it summarized, analyzed and presented so that you can make better decisions.
LEMON: So, Janet, listen, we used to watch "The Jetsons" when we were kids and we'd see the flying cars, and everyone thought we would be going around in flying cars and then we'd see the robots, you know, walking. Is this really like Watson and even in this little phone, is this what robots have evolved to?
DILLIONE: Well, everyone who knows me knows I loved "Astroboy."
(LAUGHTER)
DILLIONE: But I think Watson -- Watson will absolutely be deployed, it will be the evidence on the go. The clinician is the world's greatest untethered worker. Extremely mobile physicians, nurses, caregivers, it's what they do, they go to patients.
And absolutely, you have to imagine it's going to be Watson on the go at the moment the physician is interacting with the patient. That's absolutely where we want to drive this.
LEMON: Ms. Dillione, Dr. Chase and Dr. Ferrucci, thanks to all of you.
FERRUCCI: Thank you.
CHASE: Thank you.
DILLIONE: Thank you.
LEMON: And for links to IBM's Watson website, make sure you go to the Facebook account and the Twitter feed. Head to Ali's blog, all the information is there, CNN.com/Ali. Very interesting stories.
Let's turn now to politics now. It's time for the Political Update. Another senator retires this year and the Tea Party has picked its keynote speaker for its next big gathering.
CNN's deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins me now live from Washington.
Hey, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Don. Yes, a very busy, busy afternoon in politics, and let's talk about that retirement in the Senate.
We just confirmed it in just the last hour, it's Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. And he's going to announce later today that he is not going to be running for reelection next year. That brings it now, Don, to four the number of Democratic senators who just in the last month or two have said they are not going to run for reelection next year.
Let's go through those names. Besides Bingaman, you've got Jim Webb of Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman is an Independent, but is part of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate.
On the Republican side, you've only got two senators who say they are retiring, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutcheson of Texas.
Remember, Don, the Democrats have 53 seats in their coalition, Republicans 47. So the Republicans think that this is a good chance now with Bingaman out as well for them to grab back the Senate next year, but Democratic sources tell me this is actually a good sign. They say, you know what? We want to get these retirements out of the way and known early so we can prepare because last cycle some key Democratic senators retired late in the season.
The other thing you eluded to, Don, let's talk about that and this involves that Tea Party Patriots. Next weekend in Arizona they're having a big policy summit, and guess who will be the keynote speaker. We just found out today, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who, guess what, he's thinking about running for the White House. He hasn't announced it yet, but we're thinking he's a serious candidate. This is a big deal for him, then, to be keynoting the event.
And remember, this event comes as Tea Party activists mark the second anniversary birth of the movement -- Don. LEMON: Hey, I have a quick question for you. I saw something cross the Political Ticker and it had to do with the demographics of the country's, the numbers about the country's growing Hispanic population, Paul.
STEINHAUSER: Yes, and this is really interesting.
These numbers are being released by the Census Bureau late yesterday and it involves Texas. Of course, Texas, a state where Republicans dominate. But Look at these numbers, Don.
The Texas population has grown 20 percent over the last decade. And guess what. Two-thirds of the growth is Hispanic and Latino population. So that's where it's being fueled by Hispanic and Latinos in Texas.
And they now make up 38 percent, 38 percent of the state population. That's up significantly from 10 years ago. That maybe, maybe down the road could change the political structure of Texas. We'll have to see on that one -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Paul. Thank you very much.
Your next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" is an hour away.
OK, a buck-naked burglar breaks into a Florida retirement center, but that's not all. Wait till you hear what he is accused of taking. That's next.
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LEMON: Topping our segment that we call "Odds and Ends" here today, road rage really of a different sort. A Florida woman flips when she's booted off a bus for not paying her fare. Watch what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know your name and your number and I will sue your (EXPLETIVE OMITTED). You've got to (EXPLETIVE OMITTED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Ouch. The 72-year-old bus driver gets smacked in the face -- not once, but twice by the angry woman.
Police say the passenger was provoked when the bus door hit her in the back when she tried to exit, that sent her into a full-fledged fury. The bus driver said the enraged woman appeared between 25 and 30 years old and about 5'9" tall. She's got long, wavy hair, but apparently quite a short fuse.
More surveillance footage to show you now. This one's out of Florida, too, but there's no slapping here, just a buck-naked burglar. Take a look at this, a Florida retirement community surveillance video caught this naked man breaking into its clubhouse. The man took a shower first, then he bee-lined it straight for the food. You see him go in the kitchen there. Specifically, the sausage in the breakfast freezer.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lot of rules in here, but I don't think we have a rule against streaking in the clubhouse, but we might have to add that.
When you get up here at 55-plus, you don't get a whole lot of excitement, so this is great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Police say the sausage-loving squatter has been arrested, and that's a wrap.
