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Ahmadinejad Addressing The General Assembly; Ahmadinejad On The World Stage; The Future of Facebook

Aired September 22, 2011 - 13:15   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, in classic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad style here. The president of Iran there at the U.N. before the General Assembly, making a lot of -- posing a lot of rhetorical questions and, in many fashions, also making terse accusations about the intentions of the western world. Our Reza Sayah has also been listening in on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

No surprises that he would kind of take this position. This has been kind of his mantra before, making very strong accusations about the western world and the intentions specifically of the U.S. and how the U.S. imposes its positions on other countries.

Reza.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, this was vintage Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railing against colonialism, imperialism, Israel. But based on what I heard, he saved the brunt of his condemnation, the brunt of his tirade, for the U.S. He went way back in U.S. history, condemning slavery in the U.S. He described the U.S. as oppressors who have started numerous wars around the world. He ridiculed the U.S. being in debt. He described them as bullies who have used more bombs than bullets than any other country in the world. He also listed a number of U.S. military based around the world, condemning the U.S. military for being in sovereign countries, and essentially blamed the global crisis on the U.S., questioning the U.S. and its ability to have so much global control.

Look, President Ahmadinejad usually gets a lot of media attention and hype when he comes to New York and speaks at the U.N. and it's precisely because of these statements that are viewed by Washington and the west as provocative and controversial. And you heard him make many of those statements again.

But this was very predictable. You didn't hear anything earth- shattering. You didn't hear anything that you didn't expect to hear before. And that's perhaps why some of the audience members in some of his speeches have decreased over the years. And again, you saw -- if you saw the speech, many western diplomats, heads of state, walking out as he was making some of these provocative statements. But vintage Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once again. His seventh speech at the U.N. in New York, Fred.

WHITFIELD: He's been talking about 20 minutes or so. Nothing as earth-shattering as some of the statements he's made in the past, such as the holocaust never happened or that Israel should be wiped off the map or even going as far as, you know, demanding the U.N. investigate into 9/11. Did anyone have any expectations as to what his goal might be when he would come before the U.N. General Assembly like this?

SAYAH: Well, it's never clear exactly what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's goal is. But I think a lot of people view Iran as a country that has a lot of demands and they also view Iran as a country that is in a position that has enough leverage to make some of those demands and get something from the U.S. and other western powers. Iran wants more international recognition. They want a nuclear program. They want more influence in its own region, in Iraq and Afghanistan, as U.S. troops start pulling out of the region. A lot of people see President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran as having the ability at this point, with growing influence in the region, to make those demands.

And a lot of people also see Iran as no longer a pariah state that's isolated, that can be simply side-lined by the U.S. They see Iran as a country that you have to deal with diplomatically. The question is, how does Washington do that? The Obama administration, previous administrations, have struggled in doing so.

WHITFIELD: All right, Reza Sayah in Islamabad. We're continuing to monitor the remarks from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad there before the U.N. General Assembly. It will be interesting to see if he makes any mention of the two American hikers that were just recently released after being held and jailed in Iran for two years.

All right, up next, the other top stories of the day, including the big announcement from Facebook. That's happening right now. It comes on the heels of some changes that a lot of users don't necessarily like. We'll be right back with that and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, some other stories that we're following for you right now.

Oh, but despite that clapping and the big smiles, there's been no joy on Wall Street today. From the opening bell, stocks took a big nosedive and prices have stayed down all day long. The plunge is being blamed on familiar reasons -- a worse than expected jobless claims report today, a gloomy report from the Fed yesterday and the continued debt crisis in Europe. And, right now, take a look, the Dow down 417 points. We'll continue to watch the markets for you.

And despite efforts to stop it, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia for the killing of a police officer 22 years ago after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal. Davis was put to death by lethal injection last night. He maintained his innocence to the very end. Davis was convicted of murdering Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail.

His legions of supporters say he was the victim of mistaken identity. One of them, former President Jimmy Carter denouncing Davis' execution. In a statement Carter said, "if one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated. We hope this tragedy," this statement goes on to say, "will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment," end quote. That from the former president, Jimmy Carter. MacPhail's family said justice has finally been served.

And it now looks like Congress just might delay or maybe even cancel its upcoming recess to avoid a partial government shutdown. Yes, that's happening again. The House defeated a temporary spending measure last night. The measure is needed to fund the government for the first seven weeks of the fiscal year. That begins October 1st. Well, the sticking point -- money for disaster relief. If Congress doesn't pass the measure, it could mean a partial government shutdown at midnight September 30th. And we're going to have much more on this in the next hour.

All right. So what's next at Facebook? We're finding out right now. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the keynote speaker. Right now, live pictures. Kind of looking like he's looking at a mirror at the annual F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco. That's because it's almost as if he is -- there he is. That's the real one. Andy Sandberg, comedian and actor, was kind of standing on stage and he was looking at himself there.

So, at this conference, this is generally when Facebook would reveal kind of new features or plans for the company. So will the developments from this conference actually have users hitting that "like" button? Well, joining me right now is John Abell from wired.com.

So, John, what are you hearing so far? I know a lot of folks are pressing that unlike, don't really like, button for a lot of the recent changes on Facebook.

JOHN ABELL, WIRED.COM: Well, this is the trajectory Facebook always has. They introduce changes. A lot of people yell and scream. Tech writers like me say it's terrible, it's the end of the world. But (INAUDIBLE) 15 million users in a week, I exaggerate.

But that's really what's happening here. This is going to be pretty big. The word on the street is that these changes are very significant. They'll be unveiled in the next few hours and we'll be talking about it for at least the next two or three days.

WHITFIELD: Wow, he's getting a lot of pub, a lot of press for Facebook.

ABELL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: You know, let's talk about some of the things people don't necessarily like right now. So apparently, you know, putting the top stories over the recent posts. There are a lot of folks who are saying they don't like that. So might Facebook make a few adjustments as a result of the sentiment -- the growing sentiment out there?

ABELL: Well, Facebook generally doesn't respond terribly well to push-back from tech writers or even from users so much. They have been contrite here and there. But generally speaking, they're very self- assured about what they're doing and what they're doing is creating a huge sharing and collaborative network which will be valuable to advertisers, but also has value to us because it's sort of like a mini Internet.

WHITFIELD: And so is it the case that Facebook doesn't generally respond because they kind of get the sense that while users might complain at first and they may even threaten that they're going to leave the site, eventually they kind of learn to live with it and they just kind of deal?

ABELL: Membership numbers have been growing. They'll always go -- they always go straight up. They've never gone down. So it's like Apple and other companies which are very sure of themselves. They do what they think is right for their customer base. And when they're wrong, and if they're wrong, they attack in a different direction. So far, Facebook's been rewarded by huge numbers of members. So it would be sort of disingenuous to say they're doing anything wrong.

WHITFIELD: Well, let's talk about one possible direction out there, whether there will be some kind of incorporation of music, adding some sort of music component to this site. Is there any buzz that's believable on that?

ABELL: Yes. I mean the spotify (ph) has been on service for a while. Spotify is a very well received music service. Sharing music is a very big deal. Apple tried to do it with something called Ping (ph). There are all kinds of social networks for music. But the trick is that Facebook has the network. So what you want to do is go where the money is, as James Gang (ph) used to say, and that's Facebook. So I expect we'll see, in the music space, a lot more about sharing and a lot more providers.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Abell, thanks so much.

ABELL: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, he's not afraid of controversy and he's making a lot of it in a new tell-all book. Coming up next, I'll speak with Levi Johnston about "Deer In The Headlights." What's he saying about life inside the Palin home and life beyond it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, Levi Johnston revealed quite a bit when he posed for "Playgirl" last year, but the father of Bristol Palin's son, Tripp, is revealing even more in a new tell-all book.

In "Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs," Johnston reveals secrets about life inside the Palin family and how he is now moving on.

Joining me right now to talk more about some of these surprising claims stuffed inside that book, Levi Johnston.

Good to see you. LEVI JOHNSTON, AUTHOR, "DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS": Yes. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: OK.

So why are you doing this tell-all book? I guess many of us were led to believe that you were kind of moving on, that you had been very fatigued by all the attention that being associated with the Palin family had brought you.

JOHNSTON: You know, I am getting pretty tired of everybody talking to me. It is getting old. I'm a small-town guy from Alaska. I would love to go back to just being normal. And soon I hope that's the case.

But there's a point where you get so tired of people talking about you, not only the Palins, but her supporters and everybody who blogs out there. And when they start talking about my family and whatnot, I decided it was time to write a book and lay it all out there, tell the truth and my side of the story.

WHITFIELD: So you wanted to set the record straight, so to speak, about what your experience was like with the Palin family, because do you concentrate mostly on that.

JOHNSTON: Yes. I mean, there's been a lot of lies, a lot of accusations and just a lot of negative stuff said. And it is completely untrue. And it was time for everybody to know the real truth.

WHITFIELD: Like what? What is a big lie that you believe the Palin family put out there about you that you feel needs to be straightened out?

JOHNSTON: Well, there's a lot of them. I will start with --

WHITFIELD: Give me one.

JOHNSTON: -- calling me a deadbeat dad, my mother is a druggie, she's this, she's that, my sister is -- you know, there's a lot of things and I address them all in the book. There's much more.

And but the things that hurt most is when they attacked my mom and my sister, who didn't ask for this, nor did I. But they're not a part of this, nor should they be.

WHITFIELD: Do you feel like this is your opportunity to kind of get even then with the Palins? Because you talk about some very personal things, everything from what it felt like to be on that stage during that Republican National Convention. We saw some videotape when we all saw you kind of thrust into the spotlight for the first time.

And then you also talk about how Sarah Palin actually made offers to want to adopt the baby you and Bristol had produced to kind of shield the family of embarrassment? JOHNSTON: You know, more importantly, I'm doing this for my son to not -- obviously to read when he's older as just kind of some proof to him that -- who knows what they're feeding to my son about me?

And I damn sure -- that's my boy. I love him more than anything. And in the end, that's all I care about. And it is a little bit about getting back to them. They put me through a lot of stuff and threw me under the bus. But I'm big boy and I can handle it. But they're dealing with my son, so it's a little different.

WHITFIELD: OK. So do you get a chance to see your son, Tripp, very much? What is that relationship now like between you and Bristol?

JOHNSTON: The relationship is not good. And I expected that.

But it's not -- I don't see Tripp near as often as I would like to, but I'm sure -- we're going to court soon, and it will all be fixed.

WHITFIELD: What's the obstacle? What's the problem?

JOHNSTON: As far as court?

WHITFIELD: Being able to see your son more than you want to, than you are.

JOHNSTON: She's got a house in Arizona, as well as her mother. They travel a lot. She's filming in L.A.

And I am gone, too, but not near as often. I'm spending 90 percent of my time in Alaska. And I'm supposed to see him twice a week, but that really hasn't happened in quite some time.

WHITFIELD: Well, was that real, that you and Bristol tried to rekindle your relationship, you had kind of gotten back together again and were thinking you would able to, all the three of you, be as one?

JOHNSTON: That was something that I never thought was going to happen. I ended up going over to her house there in Anchorage. And we went for a walk. And then from there, just it went well. We started kind of coming back to how we used to be.

It happened very fast. And, yes, it was definitely for real and we were getting -- got engaged again. And just shortly after that, it fell apart within a week. It was terrible.

WHITFIELD: And you wrote that you voted for Sarah Palin, but remarkably, you say that Bristol didn't even register to vote. She didn't even vote for her mom. How do you know that?

(LAUGHTER)

JOHNSTON: Well, I dated her. I mean, I know a lot of stuff.

I'm sure if she would have went down there, she would have voted for her. It was not like she was going to vote for Obama. But she didn't. Whether she didn't have time to or she just didn't want to, she didn't.

WHITFIELD: The timing of your book now, as the nation gears up for 2012, Sarah Palin has not said whether she's definitively in or out. Where are you on whether you're voting Republican or Democrat, if you -- what would be your -- I guess your lean?

JOHNSTON: Well, we will see what Sarah decides to do. She's only 5 percent apparently behind Obama. And so it's got me nervous a little bit. It is hard enough for me now. So if she becomes president, I'm going to have to move to Canada or something because I don't think I'm going to be able to handle it.

But if she runs, I'm probably going to go the other -- if she gets -- if that's who Obama's up against, I'm going to have to go the other way and vote for Obama.

WHITFIELD: OK. And we did reach out to the Palin family, both Sarah, as well as Bristol, to get some comments on all of these things you write about from your experience was like with the family, what you reveal their behavior was like. And we have received no comment from the Palin family, just in all fairness.

A lot of your information comes from your recollection, your memory. You didn't necessarily reach out to the Palins for interviews to corroborate some of your material, correct?

JOHNSTON: I don't need to. They never came to me and asked all the lies they have told about me was real, and clearly isn't.

And I spent a lot of time there. I have known them for a long time. I dated Bristol for years. I was engaged. I was very close to their family. And even in my book, there is a lot of things that I do protect Sarah of. In the Joe McGinniss book, I do protect Sarah in it.

She's not all bad. I do look up to her in a number of ways. But there is a point where she is telling a lot of lies about me. And everything in my book is 100 percent true. And I don't need her word to tell me what is and what isn't.

WHITFIELD: All right, Levi Johnston, thanks so much. "Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs."

Thanks so much for your time.

JOHNSTON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And then there were two. At least, that's the way it is looking in the GOP presidential race, Mitt Romney vs. Rick Perry. But the Texas governor's spike in the polls, some say Romney has to change his strategy right away. That's next in fair game.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, time now to go beyond partisan talking points to the heart of the political debate, where all sides are fair game. Today, the focus is Florida. That is where the Republican presidential candidates will be tonight for another televised debate.

And then on Saturday, the state holds a presidential straw poll. And if the latest polling is any indication, Florida is now a two-man race. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney nearly neck and neck. But Perry is heading into Florida as the front-runner. So we could see his neck on the line tonight.

Joining me right now to discuss, CNN contributor Will Cain and Democratic strategist Kiki McLean.

Thanks to both of you for joining me.

OK, so, Will, let me begin with you. Clearly, if you're going to win the GOP nomination, you have got to win Florida.

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. It's an important state.

And we have seen Mitt Romney take up the issue of Florida. That's Social Security. Right? Social Security, we have seen a statement war going back and forth today between the Romney campaign and the Perry camp, with Romney saying Perry wants to dismantle Social Security and Perry saying Romney sounds like a Democrat.

And it is no coincidence that we have a GOP debate tonight in Florida, Florida, the home of old people. Romney has taken up this populist message. I think Perry has the intellectual high ground, but you're going to see a lot of Social Security talk tonight.

WHITFIELD: Yes, interesting.

Well, Kiki, do you think Romney has got to change his strategy now and Perry does have the advantage in Florida?

KIKI MCLEAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I will tell you what is interesting is that Romney has really shown a level of discipline this year to his campaign strategy, however smart or not smart you may think it is. And he's failed to take the bait.

The one thing that Perry's doing is he's swinging hard. He's trying to knock Romney off balance there. And so far, Romney hasn't fallen when somebody's taken a swing at him, but here's the deal. Perry is not afraid to swing and he's clearly more comfortable on the offense than on the defense. He was on the defense in the last debate.

But, you know, polls like this and front-runners like this, it is a weekly status report. Just because that's where they are today, don't expect them to be there next Thursday. What's even more interesting to me is the way the rest of the candidates have just fallen by the wayside.

(CROSSTALK) WHITFIELD: And what has happened? They have got to kick-start something to get the kind of attention that Romney and Perry are getting.

MCLEAN: Well, right now, I think what you have is a recognition that most of them are talking -- like Michele Bachmann -- about extremes that just aren't going to make it in the game, although one or two may have a moment tonight.

But what you're seeing now is a real debate about issues and the question is are either of these two guys, Romney or Governor Perry, going to show up with a new idea tonight?

WHITFIELD: OK.

Well, let's take a look at a new ad.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Real quick, though, Will, let's take a look at a new ad from Rick Perry. Maybe this will help set the tone of what we might be seeing this evening?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The United States of America really is the last great hope of mankind. It is time to get America working again. We don't need a president who apologizes for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK, clearly very dramatic, very Americana.

Will, is this a new Rick Perry or this much more of the same?

CAIN: I don't know that it's new. That is Rick Perry through and through.

And before from Texas, I can tell you, that's the Rick Perry we have seen for a long time. Real quick back to Kiki's point, I think it's a little premature to call this a two-man race.

WHITFIELD: Yes?

CAIN: Ron Paul is pulling second and fairly well in New Hampshire. Jon Huntsman is in third in New Hampshire.

WHITFIELD: And did well in California last weekend.

(CROSSTALK)

CAIN: And did well in California.

And, look, if you are just doing this on substance, Newt Gingrich is winning these debates. I don't want to call this a two-man race definitively just yet.

And, by the way, back to your ad on Perry, he's not just going to do these substance -- I mean these stylistic ads. He's got real substance with his campaign on the job creation. Economy, by the way, is going to be his number-one selling point. You're going to get that beaten over your head in the next couple months.

WHITFIELD: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

MCLEAN: Yes, well, here's the deal. I'm a Texan too and he will have to come up with more substance behind those jobs. And otherwise he's going to get smoked by Newt Gingrich, who's not going to get a vote and these two guys will continue to go at each other's throats because we haven't heard a new idea out of one of these two guys.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, if Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, if they don't get some sort of traction this evening, are their campaigns likely to try and start shifting strategy, they have got to change their game, because is it -- Florida is so pivotal?

MCLEAN: I don't know that they shift strategy.

If you look at Michele Bachmann, she's got a core group of folks who stand behind her out of the Tea Party. That may be enough to keep her at the table, just not in a dominant position at the table.

I think Mr. Cain has a different kind of challenge and I think the former speaker has a different challenge as well because he's got to be able to raise the money and I think That's a problem for him.

WHITFIELD: All right Will--

CAIN: Yes, I don't know, they could change strategy five different times if they want. At this point I can definitively say that those three candidates-(inaudible) to a lesser degree. Gingrich to a lesser degree, but Bachmann and Cain just aren't going to rise in the polls. You are not going to see them-- these are not going to be your GOP nominee for president.

WHITFIELD: All right. Will, thanks so much, and Kiki, always good to see both of you. Appreciate that.

MCLEAN: Thank you.

CAIN: Thanks.

WHITEFIELD: All right, this year is the fifth anniversary of "CNN Heroes" and over the years we've received more than 40,000 nominations from you, our viewers, in more than 100 countries. So we've introduced you to an extraordinary individual every week, and today we reveal our top ten CNN Heroes of 2011. Each of these ten will receive $50,000 and a shot at the top honor, CNN Hero of the year and you get to decide who that person will be. Here's Anderson cooper to show you how to vote. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (on-camera): Now that we've announced the top ten CNN heroes of 2011, I want to show you how you can vote for the CNN Hero of the year. This is the main page of CNNheroes.com.

Down here you'll notice the list of all top ten CNN heroes. Each one will receive $50,000 Plus a shot at becoming CNN Hero of the year. That's where you come in. Here's how you can vote for your favorite CNN Hero. First you can learn more about all the heroes by clicking on their fan pages. I want to show you how to do that.

As an example, I'm going to go over here, click on Patrice Millet (ph).We're just using Patrice as an example to walk you through the voting process Any of the nominees would be worthy of CNN Hero of the year And that is entirely up to you.

Now after you look at each fan page and pick the person who inspires you the most and click on vote now, which is right over here on right. Click on that and a new page comes up, it shows you all the top ten heroes. Choose the person you want to vote for. Now I'm going to say, randomly pick Taryn Davis (ph) .

So if I pick Taryn Davis, again just as an example. Her photo will show up here under the "Your Selection" area. Then it shows you a security code over here, , you type in that security code, you click on the red box which is over here for vote. Now something new this year , you can vote online, and on your mobile device, your laptop your tablet, pretty much any smartphone or cellphone with a browser. Just go to CNNheroes.com.

And remember you can vote up to ten times a day for your favorite hero through Wednesday, December 7.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Anderson. The CNN hero of the year will be awarded an additional $250,000. So who will it be? You decide. Go to CNNheroes.com now to vote For the most inspirational hero. Vote online and on your mobile device as well.

All top ten CNN heroes will be honored live at the "CNN Heroes, An All-Star Tribute" hosted by our own Anderson Cooper, Sunday, December 11th. But only one will be named CNN Hero of the year. And coming up in the next hour, I'm actually going to talk to someone who has been a top ten hero.

All right possible radioactive yellow cake discovered in Libya. Could it be part of Gadhafi's discarded WMD program? Details in an exclusive live report right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The American flag is once again flying over the U.S embassy in Libya. The flag was raised over the reopened embassy in Tripoli today, by Ambassador Gene Cretz. He returned to Tripoli earlier this week. The flag last flew over the embassy last month just before the embassy building was ransacked by a mob of Gadhafi supporters. Now, of course, Tripoli is in the hands of opposition forces who drove Gadhafi from power.

Well, today a startling discovery as well of what may be material from Gadhafi's past program of weapons of mass destruction. Opposition forces in the Southern part of the country found what appears to be radioactive material, including yellow cake. CNN's Ben Wedeman, was taken to the military site, he's joining us right now from Sabha. So Ben tell us more about what you saw.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes what we saw is just 15 minutes drive to the Northeast of here, a military compound on which there were two very large warehouses. Inside one of those warehouses, that the fighters to break the door down to. We found thousands of blue barrels with indistinct markings, but some of them had tape on them that said radioactive .Also in one of those warehouses we found several bags of yellow plastic bag of yellow powder, also with this tape marked radioactive closing them at the Top.

Now we sent pictures of those bags to experts in the field of nuclear weapons, and they said it certainly does look like yellow cake. Apparently the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, was aware of these sites. But what's interesting is that it was thought that these sites were secured, and clearly they're not. When we arrived there, there were four or five teenage boys maybe men in their early 20s guarding the site. But certainly that is not adequate, given the gravity of the materiel there. And right next to it was another huge warehouse full of old surface to air missiles.

And we're told that the fuses on those missiles have deteriorated and are very delicate. And if anybody just knocks them with a bar or something, they can explode and of course they're right next to the site full of what appears to be yellow cake, Fredericka --

WHITFIELD: All aright, incredibly volatile situation still thanks so much. Ben Wedeman, up next in this country, does a fictional television show go too far when using a 9/11 theme in its story line? Or does it, like the actor says, honor those lost that day? More in two minutes.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In today's "Big I," we're looking at how you can explore the final frontier from the comfort of your own home. Earlier this week, we told you about a group of gamers who discovered a possible AIDS breakthrough using the online game Fold It where users attempt to solve puzzles that stump scientists.

But not to be outdone, users of the Planet Hunters application found two possible new planet candidates. The first time ever a planet candidate was identified with the help of the public's analysis of NASA data. Computers can sort data from deep space with precision and speed. Sometimes, well people like you and me, can just do it better. Planet Hunters, has about 40,00 users across the U.S. and anyone can sign up. So they're hoping for many more discoveries somewhere down the road. For more about this super computer, check out Randi Kaye's Facebook page at Facebook..com/randikaye.

(BEIGN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's still so many people inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look I know you want to help. Listen to me, just stay on the phone and get as far away as you can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A scene there from the season premier of CBS's CSI New York which airs tomorrow with a 9/11 Theme. Some say focusing a fictional entertainment show on this day of tragedy hits to close to home. The wounds are still very tender. Well, I recently talked with CSI New York star Gary Sinise for his Thoughts on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY SINISE, ACTOR: Clearly, honoring those that sacrificed on that day and remembering what happened on That day is very, very important. And you know, there is a new generation of kids that don't even know what that day was about . And .so clearly, we went through a big tenth anniversary moment just recently where there was a lot of activity around the tenth anniversary of September 11th. The opening and the memorial there in New York City .A lot of looking back. A lot of retrospect and everything. And CSI New York, our show is based there. My character is a 9/11 family member. He is somebody who lost his wife at the World Trade Center and we thought it was appropriate to begin our season with, in tribute to what happened on that day and to take a look back and see what our characters were going through at that moment..

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can see my entire interview with Gary Sinise this weekends starting at noon eastern Saturday. He speaks more about the season premier of CSI New York and his work with the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial.

All right Brad Pitt's newest film "Money Ball" may be coming out but the star has been pretty busy explaining comments that he made about his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston in a "Parade" Magazine interview. His remarks suggested to some that he found his marriage to Aniston boring. Well he defended himself this morning on NBC's "Today" Show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD PITT, ACTOR: I think it is a shame that I can't say something nice about Angie without Jen being drug in. You know, she doesn't deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Pitt went to say that Aniston had not called him about the "Parade" interview.