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Perry Loses Straw Poll Votes; Romney to Meet with Trump; Obama Courts African-American Vote; Saudi Women to be Allowed to Vote; Australia to Allow Women in Combat; Home Prices Up for 4th Month; Napster Co-Founder's Next Move; Commodity Prices Plunge; TV Run Amok

Aired September 27, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Thanks so much.

We begin this hour with the power of politics. Candidates reach out. Congress digs in. And a new government shutdown could be just days away.

Paul Steinhauser has the latest stumbles in Rick Perry's presidential campaign. Dan Lothian, following the president's courting of black voters. And Roland Martin looking at the message of tough love.

Let's get live to Capitol Hill for yet another partisan stalemate as well. But first, the presidential race. Our deputy Paul Steinhauser in Washington.

So, Paul, Rick Perry's campaign suffering a couple of big blows this weekend. So how about that unexpected victory from Herman Cain?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And this was a big unexpected defeat, you could say, for Rick Perry, the Texas governor, who's been the frontrunner, Kyra, in the national polls.

Let's look at those results from that Saturday straw poll in Florida. A very crucial state in the battle for the nomination.

Presidency 5, and look at the top ranked right there. Herman Cain. The former Godfather's Pizza CEO and talk show host. And a distant second is Rick Perry, who spent a lot of time down there in Florida, and pundits thought he would be the one to win that straw poll result.

Let's go to the other one that came out this weekend in Michigan, and there's Mitt Romney at the top. Now no surprise here. Listen, Romney was born in Michigan. His father a former governor there. Very popular. Romney won the primary there back in 2008. He was expected to win. But Perry did go up to Michigan and campaign and he was a distant second.

So, for Perry, Kyra, I think a lot of people are saying that those uneven debate performances, especially the one last week, and the attacks on Rick Perry by a lot of the other candidates over his stance on illegal immigration, may be taking a toll. One other thing from these debates or from the straw polls, Michele Bachmann, nowhere to be seen near the top. Remember she won that straw poll back in Iowa in August. But she finished very low down in both of these straw polls.

Kyra, one thing about these straw polls, yes, they are important. They are a gauge or a test or a barometer of a campaign with a lot of activists. But remember they're not the end all. If they were, Herman Cain or Ron Paul who also does well on these straw polls, well, they would be the nominee, and -- well, nobody thinks that is that likely -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, now let's talk about the latest blasting seeker, Mitt Romney going to meet with Donald Trump today. What is it about Trump and these presidential candidates that keep going to see him?

STEINHAUSER: I guess it gets you in the limelight. When you go to New York City, I guess one of the things you've got to do if you're a Republican is meet with Donald Trump. Rick Perry did it about a week and a half ago. Today, Trump -- Romney does it as well.

Remember it was just a couple of months ago, Kyra, we were talking about Trump himself, he was flirting with a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. But when you meet with him, and if you get his blessing, it does -- it does in a way put you in the spotlight -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, Paul. Thanks.

And here's a measure of just how challenging President Obama's reelection is. He's having to devote precious campaign time to win over African-American voters. And he's delivering the message of tough love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining. Stop grumbling. Stop crying. We are going to press on. We've got work to do.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian at the White House.

Dan, it was once unthinkable that the African-American vote would abandon him. What happened?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what you have seen certainly over the last year or so is that there's been this ongoing frustration among African-Americans, in particular some of the black leadership up on Capitol Hill, that the president has not been able to focus on some of the issues that are important to their communities, in particular the unemployment problem, which is much worse than the national average. Unemployment among African-Americans greater than 16 percent. And so there has been this frustration. And so the president is realizing this, and tapping into this group because he realizes he also needs their support in order to win in 2012.

And so you saw the president at the Congressional Black Caucus' speech over the weekend. He also sat down for an interview with BET, which will be airing tonight, where the president made it clear that he needs African-Americans to step up for him in 2012.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I am spending all my time in this office trying to make sure that if there is some kid in the south side of Chicago that doesn't have a shot right now, isn't going to a good school, parent doesn't have a job, that I'm fighting for him.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Now the president on this West Coast swing reaching out to his base, telling them that they need to be passionate, more motivated even than the other side, laying out his records, pointing out that -- his record, rather, pointing out that he has helped the auto industry, he's been able to go after and catch Osama bin Laden. And the president is hoping that that in turn will fire up the base and help shore it up in -- over the next few months -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dan, thanks.

Well, let's get right to CNN political analyst Roland Martin joining us from Washington.

So, Roland, is it working?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, your question to Dan is important because African-Americans are not abandoning the president. Understand that when you look at presidential politics, Democrats typically get about 90 percent of the black vote. President Obama got 96 percent.

But the question is intensity. That is, for instance, black women voted at a higher rate than any other group in America in 2008. The question is, are you going to see the same numbers or are they exceed that in 2012?

He won by 10 million votes in 2008 over Senator John McCain. So therefore, they are expecting it to be a smaller number. Also, it's going to come down to certain states. So he needs a huge black turnout in Georgia. You also look at Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, among several other states.

And so they have to make sure the fervor and intensity is there, not just a percentage. That's the key.

PHILLIPS: But you even pointed out this morning, Roland, you and I were talking about this, that the president is actually using specific words the black community has been looking for. For example --

MARTIN: Of course.

PHILLIPS: Black workers, black voters, black jobs.

MARTIN: Well, absolutely. Look, you have to be able to tailor a message to your audience. Also it's very interesting when people say the African-Americans should not be advocating an agenda for them when gays and lesbians have been very clear on their agenda. Latinos, clear on their agenda. Rural mayors, clear on their agenda.

And so -- women, clear on their agenda. So all groups across this country have clear agendas. Why shouldn't African-Americans be asking the same of President Obama? And so you have -- clearly you have a relationship there where African-Americans are very protective of the president, don't like any public criticism, because they believe that it fuels criticism on the right.

But we look at the unemployment numbers of black men, black youth, at the end of the day, people are saying I want a return on our investment of 96 percent of the vote in 2008.

And so, look, it's a question of, you need the votes. Folks are saying, how are you delivering? So therefore, they are asking for those things. And so he knows he has to get that large number or he will not be able to win in 2012.

PHILLIPS: Roland, thanks.

Two U.S. hikers back on American soil blasting Iran's brutality during their imprisonment. Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer arrived at New York's JFK airport and talked about living two years in isolation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH FATTAL, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: From the very start, the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are American.

SHANE BAUER, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: Every time we complained about our conditions, the guards would immediately remind us of comparable conditions at Guantanamo Bay.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Fattal says the two men had to wage repeated hunger strikes just to receive letters from their families.

All right. Let's talk now about a revolutionary move that's going on in Saudi Arabia.

Zain Verjee, women can vote and run for office?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Oh, my god. Can you believe that?

PHILLIPS: No, no. I mean that is definitely the headline. VERJEE: Oh, my god. What's happened? It's the end of the world.

(LAUGHTER)

VERJEE: Well, it's Saudi Arabia. And, yes, you know what, Kyra, this is a really big deal. It's a very significant step. Women can vote and they can run for elected office in a local government position.

Now there are local elections happening on Thursday. But you know what? It's not going to start then. It's going to happen when there are future elections. But no date for those elections has actually been set.

There was one woman who said, you know what? This is fabulous. This is what was been in the pipeline for so long. And they are looking forward to it. But she also says, if I want to run for a local government position, I can't drive. So how am I supposed to go and campaign?

And that's one of the things in Saudi Arabia, women still can't drive.

Let me show you some of the headlines. The "Independent" here in the UK has this headline. It says, "Veils and Votes." It goes on to say, "This falls well short of full equality. There was no news on whether the ban on the issue of women drivers would be lifted, but it represents startling and welcome progress in the very land where it seemed least likely."

And then "The National" in the United Arab Emirates says, "A milestone for the political rights of Saudi women." It says, "The extension of political rights to Saudi women is a momentous step and likely to be remembered as a turning point in the country's political development."

One analyst said that, you know, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, you know, has been trying to push ahead on some of these reforms, but don't forget he also has to navigate a very conservative, religious, puritanical group known as the Wahabis who don't want women to have any of these kinds of rights.

So it's also look at in terms of political maneuvering in terms of behind the scenes in Saudi Arabia.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's stay on the scene of things happening -- remarkable things for women.

VERJEE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: A Nobel Peace Prize winner who's a friend of yours and quite an inspiration to you --

VERJEE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Throughout many years.

VERJEE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Has passed away.

VERJEE: Yes. Wangari Maathai. She's known as an environmentalist. She won the Nobel Peace Prize. She did some really amazing things. I mean I grew up in Kenya. And think of Central Park in New York, Kyra. Think of the U.S. government grabbing the land, dividing it amongst themselves and then selling little pieces of Central Park off and cutting down all the trees and the green space for the city.

Well, that's kind of what the government of Kenya wanted to do to a couple of places. And what Wangari Maathai did, she said no, and she stood up against an autocratic dictatorial regime as a woman in a very chauvinistic society in Africa and she had herself beaten, bruised, hurt, lying in hospital, and she created this movement called the Green Belt Movement.

And she was able to succeed. She kept the green spaces. And then it became a massively global movement where trees were planted. Because a lot of women in Africa rely on firewood in order to cook food and boil water and things like that. And because of deforestation it wasn't happening.

So she planted all this stuff. So it really is a big loss, and she has been an inspiration to so many people around the world, but particularly women in Africa.

PHILLIPS: And in particular you. Glad we had a chance to lift her up.

VERJEE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Zain, thanks.

Well, coming up, her majesty, the wedding planner. We're going to tell you about some of the Queen's advice to Prince William and her orders. Details straight from the Prince's mouth.

Plus, they say it's meant as satire. But a college bake sale with prices based on race and gender? We'll debate it after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Checking stories "Cross Country."

A North Carolina man survived four days in the Utah desert after breaking his leg on a solo hike. Wayne Richards says that he lost his footing and fell 10 feet into a canyon. He then managed to drag himself five miles back to his car. Eventually a helicopter spotted him and got him straight to a hospital.

And check out these amazing pictures of water spouts along Lake Michigan. Dozens of funnel clouds were spotted, but there were no reports of any damage or injuries.

And in Reno, Nevada, more than 400 people attended a memorial service for the victims and families of the deadly air race crash that killed 11 people. Reno's mayor says it was a chance to show support for the victims and everyone related to them.

Well, tomorrow, UC Berkeley, campus Republicans are holding a bake sale. And if you're white, you're going to pay a lot more for your cookies that a black woman. The point, SB 185. The California bill that would allow race and ethnicity to once again be factors in student admissions.

We're going to get to the politics in just a minute. But first, here's what the sweets will cost you. If you're white, two bucks. If you're Asian, buck, 0.50. Latinos, $1.

Hold on, it gets cheaper. Seventy-five cents for African- Americans, 25 cents for American Indians, and women? Well, guess what? We get a 25 cent discount. And on campus, young Dems and Republicans are going at it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Stories making new cross country now.

A controversial bake sale starts today at U.C. Berkeley. Campus Republicans are pricing the cookies and brownies according to race. White men will pay 2 bucks. The Asians, Latinos, blacks and women will pay even less. It's all to protest a bill that would allow race, gender and ethnicity to be considered in university admissions.

In Indiana, a woman whose same-sex partner was killed in last month's state fair stage collapse is joining a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn the state's $5 million cap on total damage payouts and will try to get equal treatment for gay and lesbian survivors.

University of New Hampshire is delaying its just-announced ban on energy drinks. Administrators say they're dangerous when mixed with alcohol. The school says they need more time to study the issue and to hear from students.

When the U.S. military ended its ban on gays serving openly, many people said it was only a matter of time before women were allowed in combat. One U.S. ally, Australia, is now removing that barrier.

Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon.

So, Barbara, how much pressure will this put on Washington to reconsider its policy?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Kyra, says he's going to think about it, allowing women in all combat roles, but no movement here on that subject at the Pentagon.

But in Australia, as you say, they have now decided and made the announcement that all combat roles, including commando units, will be open to Australian military women.

I want you to listen to what the Australian minister of defense had to say at a press conference about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN SMITH, AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: And now all of the roles on the front line will be determined on the basis of merit, not on the basis of sex. So, a very significant reform announced by the government today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now, it will take a five-year implementation period but the Australians making it very clear in their military, they want all roles open to women. That will put them in line with New Zealand, Canada, and Israel, which allow women in all combat roles.

Here in the United States, the rules still stand, the law still stands. Women are not allowed in front line combat units, like infantry platoons and that sort of thing. But, you know, it's very clear to everyone over the last 10 years. So many women have served and fall on the battlefield.

We looked up the latest numbers. U.S. military women, over 140, killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and over 800 wounded, according to Pentagon statistics. So, you know, women already clearly serving in combat, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara, I tell you what, I want to see you in Australia going inside the training with these women. I tell you right now, we'll run that three-part series. That would be pretty amazing.

STARR: Sign me up.

PHILLIPS: I can see you -- I can see you right now doing it, too. Barbara, thanks.

Well, coming up, the humble "post-it" note becomes ammunition in a pretty unique war. We're going to tell you why Paris is papered with them.

Plus, a red face for Nancy Grace. We'll tell you about her wardrobe malfunction on "Dancing with the Stars" last night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, let's get to your "Showbiz Headlines."

The millionaire matchmaker is dishing out a million apologies right now. Reality star Patti Stanger managed to offend gay men by saying they're incapable of monogamy, Jewish men by saying they lie, and most women by telling them to dumb it down to land a guy.

The huge battle between Charlie Sheen and his old bosses on "Two and A Half Men" over. Sheen sued Warner Brother's TV and the show's creator for 100 million bucks for firing him. And he'll reportedly get 25 million bucks in show profits. Warner Brothers and CNN are both Time Warner companies, by the way.

Week two of "Dancing with the Stars" and there were a couple missteps during the quick step.

HLN host Nancy Grace -- well, accidentally flashed the audience, thanks to a little wardrobe malfunction. The judges gave her high marks, though.

Meantime, Chaz Bono struggled with two bum knees. His partner did most of the tricky steps. And the judges noticed. They got the lowest score of the night.

All right. Most of us use notepads for notes. But in France folks are using post-its in a bit of an avant-garde art battle.

Zain Verjee, fill us.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: (SPEAKING FRENCH), Kyra.

There is a war going on in Paris and it involves weapons of glass obstruction. Let me explain what's going on here.

(LAUGHTER)

VERJEE: Let me explain, Kyra. OK, so, what's happening is in all of these offices around Paris, you know, the high-rise buildings, people are putting teeny, tiny little post-it notes in such a way that it's actually creating something incredibly artistic.

And what's happened is that the office block or office building across the block or across street that sees it kind of retaliates with their even better artistic version that can be created out of post- its. Just look at those pictures.

I mean, it's going to be hard to devise something like that across sometimes seven to eight floors. It's like military precision. You know, you need to plan and to be able to organize something like that because it's hard, Kyra.

And I can prove it to you, although I'm quite talented. I did come up with my own post-it. This is a Z.

PHILLIPS: And that would, of course, be for Zain, you lost your zany mind, for -- you're sleeping.

VERJEE: Right, exactly. It could also be an N. So, this is

PHILLIPS: And that would stand for? This is nonsense.

VERJEE: A nut.

PHILLIPS: A nut, there you go.

VERJEE: Maybe something like that. But you know what? The bosses of all these companies are having different reactions. You know, like, some of them are saying, well, this is really good. This is for team building, because everyone gets together and plans it and what they're going to do. And other bosses are like, this is a total waste of time. You cannot do this, get back to work.

I mean, that's hard to do that, Kyra. Should we do that at CNN Center in Atlanta?

PHILLIPS: You know what? I think we have plenty of other things on our plate. We better leave the post-it. And, you know, it's a hard time, it's a tough economy. We might get in trouble for, you know, wasting all the post-its.

VERJEE: Well, the people that produce the post-its are doing pretty well, though, aren't they? They're making money.

PHILLIPS: They're making an extra buck and they're getting all this free publicity. Pretty good. Zain, you're so artistic. Thank you, my friend.

VERJEE: I am. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Coming up, middle class families feeling the pinch of our sour economy, but where you live may actually determine how much you lost. We'll explain.

And he was there at the birth of Napster. He helped Facebook become the world's most powerful social network. So, what's next for Sean Parker?

CNN's exclusive interview with him, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

Opening statements set for today in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the pop star's death.

Senate Republicans and Democrats have worked out a compromise to keep the federal government from partially shutting down. The FEMA funding agreement still needs House approval before the end of the week.

And fighters for Libya's new leaders say they now control the port in the city of Sirte. Those fighters have been in fierce clashes with Gadhafi loyalists.

Well, across the country, middle class families are feeling the sting of the great recession in the typical American household saw 1.1 percent of its income just evaporate -- and where you live might actually determine how much you lost.

Christine Romans, let's break it down, shall we? Which states are the winners and the losers?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, the great recession for people overall, their wealth declines since 2007, Kyra. But there are some places that did a little bit better than others.

To say overall blanket statement, middle class incomes fell. Middle class financial well being is down from the great recession isn't true if you look at a few little places where it has done better. One of them, North Dakota, for example. You saw household median income actually -- look at that -- rise 11.2 percent. Washington, D.C., up 12 percent. Any place where you had come out of these energy, federal government spending, those are places where money continued to flow even during the great recession.

But you saw those other places like Florida and like Nevada where median income, families in the middle class lost ground during the great recession. One big reason there: the housing bubble. Wherever there was a housing bubble, housing pain, you saw that spread over the past three years.

So, in general, over the past 10 years, middle class incomes are flat to lower, that's a painful place to be overall. You want to be a country that's moving forward, but that just shows you where you had energy, you had commodities, agriculture, where you had federal spending -- those places did a little better, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, you actually have new information you mentioned, the housing bubble -- you have new information on home prices today, right?

ROMANS: I do. This is from S&P/Case-Schiller. It's about 30 minutes old. Home prices climbed -- climbed -- for the fourth month in a row. Four months in a row. That shows you home prices creeping slightly higher. They are still year over year down 4.1 percent.

That means if you took sort of the middle level of all these big housing markets, you would actually have home prices down 4 percent. So, think about where you live, think about what you thought your house was worth last year. It's probably worth 4 percent less right now.

This is far from a sustained recovery. These four months higher in a row says David Blitzer.

But a couple places I want to tell you that are doing well: Detroit prices are up. Minneapolis, prices are up. Washington, D.C., again, that same story of federal government spending, prices are up.

Weakness continues in Las Vegas and Phoenix, housing bubble there still hurting -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Christine Romans, thanks.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's not too early to start thinking about the holidays, especially if you're looking for a job.

Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

All right, there are some positive news about hiring, of course, during the holidays.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. And the jobs market is definitely long overdue for some good news. Macy's says it's hiring 78,000 holiday workers this year, Kyra. Most are going to be part-time jobs. So, you're going to have to be able to work holidays, weekends or overnights.

Now, what's interesting with this is this 78,000 is up 4 percent from last year. Macy's says its sales are rising, despite the slowing economy. Plus, Toys "R" Us said last week it's going to hire 40,000 temp workers this year, but that's the same amount it hired last year. Now, both of these places are holding out the prospect that some of these jobs could wind up leading to full-time year-round positions. That's really a good sign of confidence.

We did see Macy's shares pop 6 percent on this good job's news -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Speaking of confidence, we're about two minutes in after the opening bell. We're in positive territory. That's a good thing.

KOSIK: And the bulls continue moving forward. The Dow up now 228 points. We're just two minutes into the trading day. This followed the surge in the final hour of trading yesterday.

And guess what? It's all about Europe. This time, it's positive news. We got some hope yesterday that there's a new plan to help European banks wipe bad debt off their books.

Don't charge forward completely just yet, though. A lot of investors are still nervous about the commitment level from officials in this debt plan for Greece. So, keep in mind, this is going to be a headline-driven market.

We also got some, as you heard, good news on the home front about housing prices that is keeping the rally going as we speak -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Alison, thanks.

Well, all this week, we're taking a look at why our government is so broken. Well, my next guest says it's our fault, the voters. LZ Granderson with his op-ed, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this week CNN in-depth explores our broken government and headlines burst with examples of it every day, but why is it so broken?

CNN.com opinion writer LZ Granderson says it's your fault -- you and me, the voters.

You say, in fact, LZ, sometimes we act like a country full of idiots. Those are some harsh words, my friend.

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN.COM OPINION WRITER: Well, you know, that's the harsh reality, is that sometimes we do behave like children -- like complete idiots the way we gravitate towards the most simple campaign slogans and the most simplest plan that is introduced to us, or the simplest ideas about taking time to stop and think is this even really feasible. We don't want to do that.

PHILLIPS: So, give me two concrete examples of where we have screwed up so badly as voters.

GRANDERSON: OK. Well, one I can give you right here in my city of Detroit. The former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, was investigated, was accused of a lot of wrongdoings. During his reelection campaign, played the race card, tricked Detroit for voting for him again, he eventually (INAUDIBLE) crook and cost the city $8.4 million in the process. Eight-point-four million dollars in a struggling city.

So, that, to me, is just one example of just us being stupid. He was a crook, we reelected him anyway because he played the race card, and then he ended up costing us like $8 million, right?

And then another example, I wrote in the piece was about the governor of Arizona, who clearly had some conflict of interest in trying to push this immigration bill through and then he found out during the campaign that she actually had close ties to the private prisons. Her campaign manager was a lobbyist for private prison companies that were set to profit from this bill. They still pushed it through and the voters elected her anyway, despite that conflict.

So, to me, these two examples, and there's a whole across history where we as voters see what's wrong, see the blatant injustices that are happening because our politicians, and elect them anyway.

PHILLIPS: So, what's your solution, my friend?

GRANDERSON: We can start with picking up a book, books are good. Not necessarily see everything off of television like right now or the Internet from bloggers or who know what site, but actually just reading, you know, picking up sound newspapers, reading books, educating ourselves.

I know, it's time consuming. I know we have a lot to do. I know politics can be frustrating and boring.

But we do not live in a vacuum. If you're an American citizen, the responsible thing to do now, especially now, is to educate yourself about the topics and about who we're voting for, and not just going along with the simplest ideas or this "American Idol" notion that we feel good about.

PHILLIPS: Point well-made. Now that you told everyone not to listen to you or to me and rather pick up a newspaper, then again, that's what we do every day, too, LZ. So, it all makes sense. We try to have the whole picture.

You can read LZ's latest piece at CNN.com/opinion. If you like, join the conversation and leave a comment for him. He loves the back and forth.

Well, he changed the word with his involvement in both Napster and Facebook. So, what's next for Sean Parker?

(BEGIO VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PARKER: By bringing network effects and the power of social to the music business, you know, we will create the dominant music platform in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN's exclusive interview with Parker coming up.

The dog stopped traffic in Portland and mesmerized viewers who watched it all unfold live. We're going to tell you about the wild adventure next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this morning in the nation's capital, engineers will actually rappel down the sides of the Washington Monument to assess the damage to the outside of it from last month's earthquake. It comes as we're getting a first look at pretty dramatic video from inside the observation deck, some 500 feet up, by the way, at the time the quake hit.

You can actually see the monument shaking. You see some of the debris falling and you also see tourists running for the stairs.

Now, earlier on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING, National Park Service spokesperson Bill Line talked about the Park Ranger in the video you see there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL LINE, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: What it shows is that one of our rangers, Nicky Williams, you see her in the Park Ranger hat as I'm wearing is, she's helping visitors. Obviously, they are well aware that something is happening. Something dangerous is happening. She had the presence of mind, she had the composure to make certain that she got people down to the 490-foot level and started walking down the stairs. She showed a lot of courage, in fact, by coming back up to the 500-foot level to collect the last remaining visitors and to ensure their safety and put their safety ahead of her own in order to get everybody out safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, check this out. We actually have a live picture of you for the Washington Monument. You can see the crack -- one of the cracks there that the engineers will be checking out. They'll be rappelling down the side of the monument. We're keeping an eye on that for you. Keep you updated.

Stories making news cross country now.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn wants the civil case from his maid accuser tossed out. His argument: diplomatic immunity from prosecution because he's the former head of the IMF.

And the FBI is joining the investigation of vandalism of a key rail line in Washington state. Service between Portland and Seattle was shut down for several hours yesterday when the crew noticed the tracks had been tampered with. A closer intersection revealed other instances of vandalism along a 60-mile stretch of track.

And this dog that on the run snarled traffic in Portland, Oregon. And it captivated viewers who saw it all live unfolding on TV. The little dog actually got loose on I-84 during the evening commute and for 15 minutes, just ran in and out of traffic before it was caught and returned to his owner here.

From the hacker to Internet trailblazer to social media architect. Our Dan Simon spoke exclusively with Sean Parker, one of the people controlling how we live and listen on the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Snoop Dogg performing at a private party for Silicon Valley's young elite, just one of several marquee acts that also included the Killers and the band Jane's Addiction. An event that had incredibly had been planned only two days earlier by technology pioneer Sean Parker. He decided at the last minute to throw a party to coincide with the big Facebook conference in San Francisco and bring attention to his latest Internet adventure, but more on that in a moment.

(on camera): How much fun are you having?

SEAN PARKER, INTERNET ENTREPRENEUR: Putting this event together in the last 48 hours was both incredibly fun and also incredibly stressful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a zillionaire.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, ACTOR: Not technically.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you?

SIMON (voice-over): To many, Parker is best known as the guy played by Justin Timberlake in the movie "The Social Network". Parker was the first cousin in the Facebook, and advisor to company founder Mark Zuckerberg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the "The", just Facebook.

SIMON: In Silicon Valley, Parker was already a legend as the co- founder of Napster, the music piracy site that fundamentally shifted how consumers get their music from store-bought CDs to the Internet. He talked about he and another Sean, Sean Fanning went from being hackers to Internet trailblazers.

PARKER: Fanning and I immediately realized that we had an interest in more than just computers and software and hacking and security that we actually had an interest in doing something with a broader cultural importance. One of those ideas was Napster.

SIMON: Eleven years later, Parker has returned to his music roots as one of the largest investors in Spotify, a London-based music service he recently helped bring to the U.S. He has stirred the company into an alliance with Facebook where users can now listen and share music with their Facebook friends in real time.

PARKER: It's my belief that by bringing network effects and the power of social to the music business, you know, we will create the dominant music platform in the world.

SIMON: A bold statement in a business category now dominated by Apple. But Parker's intuition has served him well. And though he says being rich isn't as glamorous as it seems, it certainly wasn't evident on this night.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, baseball's wildcard races are coming down to the wire. A tie in the American League, one game difference in the National League and we've got the highlights in sports, eight minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right, Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. A big tumble in commodity prices: gold, oil and other metals falling right?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh you said it. And this is looking at of the month overall, it's definitely out looking at today per se, but I'm talking about pretty big drops. I want to show you just how gold and gold has really been all the rage lately.

But look how it's performed over the past month. It's down seven percent, that's more than $300 an ounce. It's at its lowest level since July, but it's not just gold. You're seeing this happen to commodities across the board. Oil, oil prices down five percent over the past month and we've seen that translate at the gas pump, so, that's good news for Americans -- for Americans and consumers.

Silver and copper down 19 percent and that's because -- all of this is because of the fears of the global economy is slowing down. You have to remember with copper it's used heavily in manufacturing and which is often considered a good economic barometer.

And this comes after last week, the Fed said the worst isn't over. And China and Europe sounded their own alarm bells in manufacturing. So that's also putting a lot of weight on these commodities. But today we're seeing a spike, oil price is back up almost four percent and gold also up almost four percent.

So you're seeing this kind of play as the market surges. I'm talking about equity stocks. The DOW is up 222 points -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Alison, looking good, we're still in positive territory.

We will talk more next hour Alison.

Now, let's "Fast Forward" for stories making news later today:

At 11:45 Eastern, the trial begins for Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray.

At 2:00 Eastern the U.S. Census Bureau releases new numbers on same-sex households.

And then at 4:15 Eastern, President Obama visits a high school in Denver to pitch his American Dreams Act.

Well, we're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM for you. Let's check in first with our Don Lemon up really there in Southern Cal -- Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Kyra, two years -- two years after Michael Jackson's death, the doctor implicated goes on trial. Will we finally know what happened in the last moments of his life? I'll talk about that coming up at the top of the hour.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christine Romans in New York. It's your biggest debt, your biggest investment. You live in it, it's your house. And I've got some good news for you if you live in Washington D.C., Detroit or Minneapolis; some bad news for you if you live in some of the old bubble -- bubble towns. I'll tell you where the prices of homes are going up at the top of the hour.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill where the Senate has pulled off something that hasn't been able to do to this point, reached bipartisan agreement to avert another government shutdown. But now all of the focus turns to the house. I'll have more on that at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys. Thanks so much.

Also, next hour, some very special guests in the studio with me today, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, they're going to tell us about their new father-son film with father-son conflict at its core.

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PHILLIPS: All right. Today's last in baseball (ph) , we're going to see them. A couple playoff spots still up for grabs, Jeff Fischel?

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: That's right. We played 160 games and it comes down to the last two. Right? It seems like the playoffs were set just a month ago but since then teams have made runs, teams have taken dives and it's getting close.

In the American League, the Rays have pulled into a tie in the wildcard race. Desmond Jennings out in left field, just steals one from Derek Jeter. Look at that catch. Jennings also scored a run. The Rays beat the Yankees 5-2.

Meanwhile, Boston is imploding; 6 and 19 in the month of September. Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury catches the deep fly ball in his glove but it pops out after it hits the wall; it turns into a three-run inside the park homer for Baltimore's Robert Endino. Orioles win. The Red Sox now tied with Tampa after leading them by eight games.

This thing is going down to the wire. In the end though (ph) the Cardinals in the wildcard rice. But in the tenth inning it's the Astros. The Astros pulled a squeeze. Angel Sanchez with (INAUDIBLE), Brian Bogusevic scores, the Astros win.

The Braves can't come late in the heroics. That's Jason Hayward with his game time run on Bays, the bottom of the ninth, the ground out. So after the loss by the Braves, the Braves and Cards, still status quo. Atlanta leads St. Louise by one game in the NL wildcard. Again, two games left for everybody in the regular season.

Look who was able to play on Monday night football. Cowboys QB Tony Romo wearing a bulletproof vest to protect the broken rib and the punctured lung. His new wife told him he had to tough it out against the Redskins. The Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey made six field goals including the game winner with less than two minutes left. It wasn't always pretty. Dallas gets the 18-16 win.

Let's go back to baseball. Look at this photo from Yankees.MLB.com. Those are Yankees rookies forced to dress like retro rock stars.

PHILLIPS: Hey, there's Slash.

FISCHEL: It's called hazing. That's right. That's Slash there on the right. The veterans do it to rookies on every team. Let's see, I see Milli Vanilli there --

PHILLIPS: Yes, who else do you see?

FISCHEL: George Michael, yes. Prince.

PHILLIPS: Is that Madonna there?

FISCHEL: That is. That is. I think that's Austin Romine who drew the short straw and had to be the Material Girl. Jesus Montero is MC Hammer. Yes, with parachute pants and there's Slash from DNR (ph).

PHILLIPS: Can't touch this. Thanks Jeff.

FISCHEL: All right.

PHILLIPS: All right. When it comes to TV news bloopers, sometimes delivering the news can be a case of weather permitting. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on weather graphics and robotic cameras run amok.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes those pesky weather graphics escape from the weather segment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A loading ramp fell off of a flatbed trailer headed north on -- I'm sorry.

MOOS: And shine where the sun isn't supposed to, giving anchors doing serious news the giggles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We're trying to figure this out. A jeep had stopped at the crosswalk to allow a pedestrian to cross the street --

MOOS: So what if it turns out the blooper was two years old. The anchors don't even work at KIDK in Idaho Falls, anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. This is a serious story, folks.

MOOS: Once Ellen DeGeneres played the clip on her new "Local Focal" segment and Ellen came out of it dodging her own graphics.

ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: Dr. Drew is on the show. That's not Dr. Drew.

MOOS: The weather graphics gone amok went viral.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lincoln High School student Josh Foster was hit by a vehicle at 9:33 Monday morning during a (INAUDIBLE)

MOOS: But even more aggressive than the weather graphics are the robotic cameras. The robo cams, you really have to watch your back. Excuse me. You never know where they will go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heavy rains across --

MOOS: Especially in the old days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Losses against the Yankees. The Blue Jays --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One will merely get you a motorcycle or rocking chair and --

(CROSSTALK)

MOOS: Push a wrong button, toggle the wrong way. Down boy down. Up, up, up.

Next thing you know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) is now part of the Florida Constitution and like it or not local governments say --

MOOS: Like it or not, the floor manager is stuck on camera.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to find a way to make it work. (INAUDIBLE) Take a look.

MOOS: On Danish TV, the camera attacked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Australian Radiation Service -- this camera --

MOOS: But if you really want to see a TV camera on a rampage --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the heck's wrong with that camera?

MOOS: Don't let the laugh track fool you. This really happened on New England Cable TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to hit us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God it's coming into the picture.

MOOS: Anchors away.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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