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Occupy Wall Street: Day 22; Paul's Latest Straw Poll Victory; Raiders Owner Al Davis Dead at 82; Police: Parents of Missing Baby No Longer Cooperating; Mentors Help Foster Teens Stay on Track; Interview with Charlie Rangel on Protests; Afghanistan War Hits 10-year Anniversary

Aired October 08, 2011 - 17:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.

Let's get you some live pictures right now from New York's Washington Square Park. Look at that. A lot of people out there. We're reporting now on the Occupy Wall Street Movement, now entering its fourth week. Again, these are live pictures from New York City. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today blasted the demonstrators saying they are, quote, "Trying to destroy the jobs of working people in the city." Police and protesters have been trying to maintain a delicate balance between public safety and free speech.

Susan Candiotti reports on it now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHANTING) Occupy everywhere. Occupy everywhere.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marching around Manhattan's financial district, protesters are baiting the drama against corporate greed. Now in its fourth week, Occupy Wall Street is creating a delicate balancing act for police between free speech and public safety.

COMMISSIONER RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: As long as these demonstrations go forward, we're going to do everything we can to see to it that they are done peacefully and in an orderly fashion.

CANDIOTTI: But unlike most New York protests, 600 each year in Lower Manhattan alone, Occupy Wall Street isn't into applying for permits. Police say it's created a communication gap.

KELLY: We have nobody identified as a leader who we can communicate to. In a normal process, we talk to the leadership, sit down. There's a permit that's issued. We know the route of the march that people are going to take.

CANDIOTTI: The majority of marches are peaceful but there has been trouble, use of pepper spray, swinging batons and at a Brooklyn Bridge, a confrontation when some demonstrators sat down in the road locking arms. Protesters claim police trapped them into the roadway. Police say protesters ignored these warnings to stay off the bridge. During a Wall Street march, another tussle, and more complaints about alleged police abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing that's frustrated me most about it is that a lot of the escalation that happened could have been avoided. And so, it seems that they're trying to make a point about their authority rather than prioritizing public safety and efficiency.

CANDIOTTI: Actor Tony Danza, a native New Yorker supports the movement.

TONY DANZA, ACTOR: I think the police are in that spot, I think they got to control the crowd with. You know, I think people in America should be allowed to do, you know, this kind of gathering and protest. You know, I'm from the '60s. You know, I grew up from the '60s, and we did this all the time.

CANDIOTTI: Do you stand by the actions of your officers so far?

KELLY: We have an investigation -- a review board that's existing in New York City, specifically to do investigations of alleged police misconduct. And that's what's going forward now. But officers have a right to defend themselves. They certainly have a right to defend themselves if they're being charged on or attacked.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Let's get more now from CNN's Susan Candiotti. She joins us now from Washington Park in New York City. So, Susan, strong words today from the mayor, from the police commissioner as well. Other mayor, not very supportive. But first, why has the group moved to Washington Square Park, which is basically though on NYU's campus and maybe gives them more of a crowd?

CANDIOTTI: Well, it's because they have more people. So, that's why organizers of Occupy Wall Street have set up, you could say, a second base of operations. That's what some of their spokespeople are telling us because they have a larger number of people and because they say this location in Washington Square Park is in the heart of Greenwich Village and it is also in the heart of NYU's campus. So, that allows a lot of college students to participate more easily than going about two miles downtown to that part near Wall Street. However, the difference between this location and the other is that this one will not be operating 24 hours a day. People will not be camping out here because there's a curfew here that will still be going on at the other part -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. I kind of anticipated the answer to your question. I didn't know that was the sum of it. But again, as you said, that gives them more numbers, more people. And I think it's probably something they want. So they have moved. Susan Candiotti has been following this story for us. She'll continue. Susan, stand by. We'll get back to you a little bit later on.

You know, the Occupy Movement has also spread to numerous other American cities and towns. And just ahead here on CNN, we're going to talk with Congressman Charlie Rangel who has been a regular visitor to the protests and will speak with one of the organizers to learn more about what message they are trying to get out.

Top social conservatives have gathered this weekend at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. A straw poll of republican White House hopefuls was the headliner. But an unplanned back and forth over Mitt Romney's religion has added a dose of controversy, a big dose of controversy.

Peter Hamby was there. Peter, thanks for joining us. Let's start with the straw poll. Who won this time?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Ron Paul, the Texas congressman, who basically wins every straw poll because he gets his supporters out to these events. He won a big majority, 37 percent of the vote, 732 votes. I talked to organizers, 600 people registered on the same day, today. And then all of a sudden, Ron Paul wins. I've got to tell you, Don, there were a lot of Ron Paul supporter in the House today casting votes that we didn't see here yesterday.

LEMON: Here's what I have to ask you. Because even with the opinion polls, it's not just Ron Paul. Other people have won these straw polls. But they don't necessarily move anywhere on the opinion polls. So what gives here? How much attention should we be paying to this and does this actually mean anything when it comes to the person who's actually going to be the nominee?

HAMBY: That's a great question. And I got to tell you, among the campaign reporters and the political junkies who are following this stuff day in and day out, I mean this things have very little impact. Sometimes, they are telling in Florida a couple of weeks ago. Presidency five, a big Florida GOP conference, Rick Perry really stumbled in a straw poll that we thought he was going to win sort of after he revealed some of his positions on immigration and had a bad debate performance.

So, for a snapshot in time, you know, they are telling in certain ways. But do they have a big impact on the race? No. Again, Ron Paul wins most of these things but he's only registering around eight, nine 10 percent in most national polls. That's not very consistent. But his campaign has a knack for getting their supporters out, buying tickets for them and getting them here today. I mean, a ticket for this event costs $75 or $99. And, you know, they come out the day of the straw poll, cast their ballots and they win.

LEMON: They all show up to vote. And you know what, you can see the early straw polls, like the Iowa straw poll. Because it gives you an indication of organization, how well-organized they are. So, those do mean something in a sense. But then, you know, in the middle, you're like, what's going on here? No one has figured it out yet. I want to talk about a controversy there, Peter. And it's a Rick Perry supporter. It's a pastor, you know, church pastor yesterday who called Mormonism a cult, at least insinuated -- in fact, he said it was a cult. It's probably not good for Rick Perry even though he's a supporter because it doesn't reflect well on him. HAMBY: It doesn't reflect well on Perry. And today in Iowa, he was asked about it and really tried to put some space between himself and this guy. His campaign said, they didn't really approve of him speaking before. They didn't let him. But I have to tell you, it's also not good for Mitt Romney. I mean, you know, it does sort of put Romney, you know, you sympathize with him in moments like this. But he's forced to talk about Mormonism. And frankly, poll numbers show that 22 percent -- according to Gallup, of voters are skeptical about voting for a Mormon. He talked about some of this discourse today. We have a sound bite, I believe, of him just sort of talking about this debate and some of the comments that have really come up in the last few days. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Poisonous language doesn't advance our cause. It's never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us. Let no agenda narrow our vision or drive us apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMBY: So Romney was not referring to Robert Jeffress, the pastor that has parked this controversy. He's referring to another speaker on the agenda today who's questioned whether Mormonism is a Christian faith. But he was kind of speaking in broad strokes. Again, Romney want this is election to be about jobs and the economy. He doesn't want to be about social issues. Doesn't want to be about his faith because frankly those are not his strongest points with republican voters at this point -- Don.

LEMON: Most Americans probably want the conversation overall to be about jobs. Thank you very much, Peter Hamby.

A sad day for the National Football League and especially Oakland Raiders fans Al Davis, a legend who helped shape the game as we know it, has died at the age of 82. Davis had a stored six-decade career in pro football. He began coaching the Raiders in 1963. And took ownership of the team beginning in 1966. The Raiders won three super bowls under Davis. And iconic class, Davis was often controversial even with his own fans. He won a bitter legal battle to move the team from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982. Then he moved the team back to Oakland in 1995 after L.A. refused to build a luxury stadium. There's no cause of death. But Davis had been in declining health recently. We'll follow up.

The frantic search for baby Lisa. Baby Lisa is a 10-month-old missing since Monday night. And there's been mixed reports about whether the parents are cooperating. We're live at the family home.

And, hey, that's not a runway. A pilot has to ditch in the ocean off Hawaii when he runs out of gas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: OK. You know, a child goes missing and the suspicion grows around the parents. We have heard it before and it's happening again in this case. The case of a missing 10-month-old baby in Kansas City, Missouri. I want you to listen to the mother when baby Lisa first went missing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH BRANDLEY, MOTHER OF MISSING BABY: We just want our baby back. Please, bring her home. Our two other boys are waiting for her, please. Just drop her off anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Well, Kansas City police say the parents are no longer cooperating.

Let's get to the bottom of this now with CNN's Ed Lavandera who joins us now live from the parents' home in Missouri. So, Ed, where does communication between police and the parents now stand?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Don. It still remains kind of a confusing situation because we've just spoken with Kansas City police who say they've made several efforts to reach out to baby Lisa's parents today. They have extended those invitations to talk. But they continue to say that they are -- haven't had a sit- down with them in several days. When we've spoken with family members of baby Lisa, they say that they are cooperating. So exactly what's going on behind the scenes here is kind of very difficult to parcel out now. Having said that, listening to one of the relatives of baby Lisa's mother, it sounded like they wanted to do things in a different kind of way. That the family had gotten tired of going to the police station and being interrogated there. And they wanted to try to figure out different ways of helping out the Police Department. That's kind of what I've been able to gather. And they say all of this has really been a big miscommunication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LERETTE, COUSIN OF BABY'S MOTHER: I think it was just a lot of miscommunication, to be honest, that they were being interviewed again downtown. And after several hours, Jeremy -- Deborah was gone and Jeremy said, I've had enough for today. And as soon as he left was when they -- 20 minutes later, they announced there was an impromptu press conference. They said, you know, the parents aren't -- the family's not cooperating anymore. And that was that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. Ed, let me ask you this, so, this was the baby's cousin. I should have asked -- I was -- I should have asked you, are the parents talking today? Have you seen them today? Are they saying anything about their kid? Have they been out there pleading to try to get more media exposure with anyone to get their kid? Are they out front on this? LAVANDERA: No, they have not been today. In fact, they've left the home here and the neighborhood area. They've been staying somewhere else here in the Kansas City area the last couple of nights. They said that they wanted to take a break from doing media interviews. That's what we've been told here over the last couple of days. So, we have not seen them today around here.

LEMON: You haven't seen anything of them? OK. Except for family members who are showing up at the house. Let's go to police now and the investigation -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

LAVANDERA: No, no, no, I was just going to say they'd come out here last night and they put up some ribbon around the house and some signs that baby Lisa's older brothers had drawn. They put that in the front yard, that's all I'm going to say.

LEMON: OK. What about the investigation? Are there any new leads? Are police coming out saying, hey, we have a lead here, asking for anything? Is there a suspect sketch, anything at all?

LAVANDERA: Right. You know, the whole situation with the parents' kind of clouds over the really disheartening news at the center of all of this Don, is that police openly saying they have no leads in this situation. They had sent -- the FBI had gone out to a nearby landfill yesterday to look through there. That turned up nothing. FBI investigators and local police had also comeback out here to this neighborhood, were searching through the wooded area and a creek area behind the house here yesterday, presumably that hasn't turned up anything of significance. So, authorities here and investigators at a loss. And now five days after baby Lisa has gone missing, that is the truly disheartening news in all of this -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, 10-month-old baby, parents aren't talking, police aren't talking. Nancy Grace, I hope you're watching. Thank you, Ed Lavandera.

Let's move on now, a pilot forced to ditch his plane in the Pacific Ocean all because he ran out of gas. The crash and rescue captured on videotape. And you can see the plane here dropping and plowing into the water. The coast guard says, a 65-year-old man was piloting the Cessna 310 twin-engine aircraft, he was on his way from California to Hawaii but he alerted authorities that he was low on fuel. After the splashdown, well, he climbed out of the cockpit and on to the wing. Rescuers plucked him out of the water and he is reportedly OK.

Coming up here on CNN, a new way to exercise for people who hate to move fast. How tech addicts are losing weight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. A YouTube video leads to the arrest of a Florida man on child abuse charges. You won't believe this video. And get this, police reports show the suspect is the one who uploaded this video. His name is Devery Broox He was trying to show others how to discipline a child. But Orland police say, what Broox did wasn't educational, it was criminal. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEVERY BROOX, ARRESTED FOR CHILD ABUSE: You can't get hair back until you decide that you're going to behave yourself in school, all right?

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yes, sir.

BROOX: After I cut your hair, we're going to go in the room and put this belt back to work. And as soon as I finish whipping your ass, we're going to go outside and you're going to look like you just came out of boot camp, all right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, Broox was not the father but the mentor of this 7- year-old boy, police reports say. And then what you don't see and what I've seen in this video minutes after the clip, Broox allegedly uses a belt. You can hear him in the background. Likely the one around his neck on the boy. You can hear the child's screams. It's too disturbing for us to air. And police say, the boy had scars and loop marks on him.

Joining me now is Dr. Wendy Walsh, a human behavior expert and co-host of the show, "The Doctors," and we can say a regular on this show, as well. So, Dr. Wendy, I know what you're going to say. I know what you're going to say. Study after study shows corporal punishment does not work and can cause some serious psychological damage. But you know people say, spare the rod, spoil the child. So, how do you control a child that won't listen?

DR. WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR: There are two things that research has shown, Don. That really do work. One are simple, positive rewards. And I'm not talking about buying them material things. I'm talking them about giving them rewards like your time. My own daughter who's real challenged because she has Asperger's syndrome just earned a sleepover party last night for getting dressed without a tantrum for three weeks in a row and they're only costs me the price of a pizza. And my time with the girls. So, positive rewards that are relationships building. One-on-one time with mommy or daddy is a great thing to earn. Secondly, removal of pleasures. Not giving negative consequence that includes punishment and physical abuse. So, you know, these kids are so addicted to tech, I find once they're old enough to have technology like a cell phone or computer, all you do is remove it. And, boy, they behave so well.

LEMON: OK, just for people who are old school like me -- what this guy did was clearly wrong. What about a spanking? You can't even spank a kid anymore? That doesn't...

WALSH: Well, corporal punishment does not work. It teaches children how to hit and how to bully. Study after study shows they just become more aggressive in school.

LEMON: OK. All right. Let's move on now. Something a bit different here. We're talking about Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, visionary of the iPod, the iPad, the Mac. You know, he died on Wednesday. And the love for him is so deep, some techs created the church of the Mac for people to mourn Jobs in the second life. So, you said he had a profound influence, not just in personal computers but on the human brain?

WALSH: I think he's really shaped the way we behave, the way we think and the way we act, Don. I mean, I'm a Mac person myself. So, I know I'm preaching to the choir and I'm in my own church here as I'm talking. But truthfully, if you can remember just ten years ago, you probably had 100 phone numbers in your head of all your friend's phone numbers.

LEMON: I can't remember a single phone number. I don't anybody's phone number.

WALSH: Because what he's created is an external memory system for our brain. Secondly, because of all the scanning that we're doing, he's created us to be kind of ADHD, highly distractible, not intensive focus on things. Which is good and bad because our scanning ability has become great. Our social networking has become great. But we have trouble now sitting down with a book and being able to read it. Finally, emotionally, that iPhone has become an attachment figure. You don't have to actually have a relationship anymore. You only need 4,000 friends right here, right here. Your 4,000 friends connecting you so you never feel lonely. If you're in an airport by yourself, there's friends.

LEMON: Yes or no, because I want to go to this next topic. It's important. Are we more productive?

WALSH: We're certainly more productive but I think it's hurting our relationships.

LEMON: All right. Got you. All right. Let's move on. This is interesting. For tech addicts, talking about people who use these devices, there's a new therapy that helps them lose weight. Explain that one.

WALSH: Well, it's developed by a psychologist in Beverly Hills. His name is Dr. John Murphy. And basically, the theory is this. Most people who are sedentary, who are online all the time or watching a screen, a TV, don't really comply to traditional exercise programs. It's too much too soon. They quit, it hurts. So, why not incorporate their walking at a very slow pace so they don't even know they're exercising and combine that with their addiction to tech? So, while they're online, facebooking, twittering, youtubing, watching movies, they're walking at a very slow pace. What he's found is called modernwalkingtherapy.com. Is that teenagers and young adults are starting to walk two and three hours a day, Don. They're just the pounds are falling off them because they forget that they're exercising.

LEMON: These are going to be the new workstations, I'm sure. That's probably going to power the electricity for the company we're working for as we lose weight and do our work.

WALSH: Exactly. LEMON: Dr. Wendy, who is that person on the treadmill?

WALSH: That's my teenager. We're doing it and she loves it.

LEMON: Thank you, Dr. Wendy. Always appreciate it.

WALSH: Thank you.

LEMON: All right.

WALSH: All right. Take care.

LEMON: Our top story tonight, the Occupy Movement is growing, more participants in more cities and at least one congressman has been a regular visit to the protest. You might recognize him. There he is right there. Representative Charlie Rangel joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Raven Profit was 15 when she entered foster care after her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She knows how difficult it can be for foster children to think about the future, let alone a career.

RAVEN PROFIT, YOUTH AMBASSADOR, NEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN: They really don't have, you know, role models and parents to look up to, and actually, you know, gain advice from, you know, how to put together a resume or how to conduct themselves in an interview.

ROMANS: She's now a student at the University of Albany, studying biology and women's studies. She wants to be a role models for other foster children. She's a youth ambassador for career workshops like this one.

PROFIT: I learned how to be punctual, I learned how to be professional.

ROMANS: A three state study found former foster care youth are more than three times as likely not to have a high school diploma or a GED. Foster kids are even less likely to earn a college degree and are more likely to end up on the government rolls. Three quarters of women and one third of men who have aged-out of foster care received benefits like food stamps and housing assistant. It's a tough cycle to break.

GARY STANGLER, JIM CASEY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES INITIATIVE: Veterans and young people leaving foster care are the two largest pipelines to homelessness among young adults in this country.

ROMANS: For those young adults who aged-out of the system, suddenly being on their own can be difficult.

PEDRO RODRIGUEZ, JOB SEEKER: Right now, I'm looking for any job that's hiring at the moment. I just need to be financially stable at the moment.

ROMANS: Tom Hilliard is the author of a new study on employment and former foster children. These kids, he says, need mentoring and jobs programs.

TOM HILLIARD, AUTHOR: Any teenager who gets into a difficult work situation could just say, the heck with this, and then walk out. But what if you knew that you were going to be taken care of and nobody was going to say a word to you about -- well, then, you're a lot more likely to walk out, aren't you?

ROMANS: Raven Profit says mentors she met in her early teens put her on the right track and that's why she wants to help others.

RAVEN PROFIT, YOUTH AMBASSADOR, NEW YORKERS FOR CHILDREN: I was blessed to have a great support system and a lot of programs. So I feel like that's important and a vital to youth foster care.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, CNN's Christine Romans reporting there. And for more on careers for teens and young adults, make sure you check out Christine's book called "Smart is the New Rich".

As promised, we said we were going to talk about Occupy Wall Street, that movement. It has spread from Manhattan to towns and cities across America. It is still a mostly leaderless group. But the message is not well-defined. Some people say the message is kind of nebulous. They don't know exactly what's going on.

Let's talk about it now with Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel. He joins us from New York.

It's happening, shall we say, right in your back yard. You have been there for three weeks without leaving a park in lower Manhattan. The folks have been there. And you have been visiting them. You've met with them. How long is this going to go on? And as we look at you there in the crowd, what's the message here? People are saying they don't have a clear message. Do you get a clear message from these people?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, (D), NEW YORK: I sure do. Their dreams are being shattered. They may be an inconvenience to a whole lot of people in that area, but people are going to sleep at night with an economic nightmare. This is a very serious emotional, economic, as well as moral issue. And no one's saying anything. They're screaming out. They don't have to know what the solution is. One thing they know, there's something wrong, when so many people are out of work and we find the disparity between the very rich, the middle class moving into poverty, something is wrong. We don't hear from the ministers, the rabbis. We've got a bunch of young kids who say, I'm mad as hell and you're taking away my future.

LEMON: It's kind of what happened in the '60s, the uprisings. But there were protests in the '60s. They protested war and they protested Vietnam and all of that. And it was, of course, the civil rights movement. Let me play devil's advocate here for a moment for people who say, hey, listen this is a tough economic time. And when it's a tough economic time, you have to find a job where you can. Maybe you may think it's below your pay grade, but if you go to Wal- Mart, Home Depot or to Starbucks, if you go somewhere you can get a job rather than being out there protesting, do something that's going to help you and help the economy.

RANGEL: Well, I wish the president and the economists would hear what you have to say, because they're talking about 15 million, 16 million people out of work without hope. They're talking about the minority and the young kids, no place actually to go. I'm trying to put together a job fair and I can't find employers that are looking for anyone.

Listen, everyone knows this has never happened to our nation before. And what makes it really worse is that while those in Washington were trying to come up with answers, we have a group that are more concerned with getting rid of Obama than they are with growing the economy. Everyone knows it. And no one's saying anything. For god's sake, all I can say, Don, is that we should have more and more people protesting. If they want to get an agenda together to say to the Senate, to say to the House, to say to the president, get this jobs bill passed.

LEMON: OK --

RANGEL: Don't disturb my health care, my education, and let me get back on with the American dream.

LEMON: We've heard that. We've heard from the president. He's said, pass this bill, pass this -- it's been a talking point for the president, a theme that's been repeated over and over. But there are those who say the best way to protest is through voting. And that's what the Tea Party has done, by including themselves, really pushing, forcing themselves into the political system and making their voices known. Through their ballots, they have made a difference rather than just taking to the street.

RANGEL: Don, it is true that the Constitution does give voters an opportunity to express themselves in the Senate every six years and then the House every two years. But poor folks, homeless folks, people without jobs shouldn't have to wait for an election in order to express themselves. If my constituents were annoyed with me because of votes I'm not taking or should be taking, are you suggesting that they have to wait until next year? No.

I think the misery and the pain that we're going through as a nation, but more importantly, the loss of self-esteem, the fact that our schools aren't working, requires people to do something now. Suppose we were talking about the civil rights movement. I know nobody -- I know you're devil's advocate -- would say, you can get those rascals during an election. No, election is one way to do it. Another way is pull us out and shoot us, which they do it in some countries.

But the best way is to bring your grievance to the people. If it inconveniences someone, that's what the Constitution is all about. I just want more of our spiritual leaders to join in. LEMON: I'm glad you said that. I'm going to take a little bit more time. I'm telling the producers, so sorry about that.

And I'm glad you realize this is just devil's advocate. I have to ask the question as a journalist. And people go, oh, my gosh, I can't believe you said that.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So here's the thing. When you said, our religious leaders, I spoke with Reverend Joseph Lowery today. And he said this reminded him of the 1960s when people were fed up. I think maybe the religious leaders maybe coming on board. At least, when -- with Reverend Lowry, who is now celebrating his 90th birthday, by the way.

RANGEL: I know. He's a great guy and I saw the interview. It was really great.

But let me make it clear. They're out there. If you're talking about same-sex marriage and you're talking about abortion, you cannot stop hearing from the religious community. And so there's no moral reason why they have to wait for something to catch on. All of this is in the Bible. It's about the disadvantaged. It's about those that are vulnerable, about the poor, about the sick, about the old. What's missing in this scripture, except the spiritual leaders?

LEMON: Charlie Rangel, thank you, sir. Appreciate you coming on, on a Saturday, when you have all those people in your city there today. Thank you.

RANGEL: My pleasure.

LEMON: Make sure you stay with us here on CNN. We're going to be reporting more on the Occupy Wall Street protest. Coming up at 7:00 p.m. eastern, we're going to speak with one of the organizers. His name is Tyler Combelek (ph). And we'll ask him to explain the goal of the demonstrations.

War is hell and then there's the aftermath. 10 years in Afghanistan, how U.S. troops have been impacted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: 10 years ago marked the start of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. More than 100,000 troops are serving there. More than 14,000 have been wounded. And almost 1,800 of our servicemen and women have died.

CNN's Nick Peyton Walsh looks at what a 10-year war has done to our troops.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PEYTON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began when they landed in Bagram, and here it goes on.

CROWD: Our father who art in heaven --

WALSH: 10 years of jet fuel, faith and now fatigue. Here, you can see what it takes to carry on through this decade's wars.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Albertson is the chaplain to thousands, but in his several months here, affected by the very few.

LT. COL. ERIC ALBERTSON, U.S. ARMY CHAPLIN: A number of our soldiers on their third, fourth, in some cases, their fifth tour, there is a fatigue factor. Emotionally drained, physically tired. We've had instances where soldiers have taken their lives here, and that's tragic. We've had about six or seven since I've been here. When someone takes their own life, there's almost a sense of, you've reached out to me for everything else, why didn't you reach out to me for this?

WALSH: The ripples of a suicide reach far. Master Sergeant Guadaloupe Stratman is in this war so her three sons won't be. Her third tour was marred by the recent loss of a friend in Iraq.

MASTER SGT. GUADALOUPE STRATMAN, U.S. ARMY: It was actually -- she overdosed. She was younger than me. So I didn't -- I thought she had a lot to live for. I don't know why it happened. I wasn't necessarily talking with her frequently at that time. But it hurt me a lot.

WALSH (on camera): How?

STRATMAN: How? Because I knew her. I knew what some of her dreams were and now she didn't get to live those dreams. It's like it ended.

WALSH (voice-over): This was a dirt road a decade ago. Now it's home to one in nine of America's troops in Afghanistan.

(on camera): When the Americans landed here 10 years ago, it was on this Russian-made runway. And now they've been here nearly a year longer than the Soviets.

(voice-over): The cost to the Soviets, huge. The total cost to America, still unknown, although signs of sadness and change are everywhere.

The prison here, now gone. Its Afghan prisoners elsewhere. Soon troops will leave for good, but will carry away with them the scars of here and Iraq.

LT. COL. JAMES DAVELL, U.S. ARMY: What I do every year is I call the family, either the spouse or the parents of the individual, that has been associated with me that was lost in combat. And then I also call a very close friend of mine that was severely injured on the day that that occurred. Like I said, I make three calls a year -- actually four, four calls a year to family members. I wouldn't say it makes me feel good or bad. I just think it's something that I need to do.

WALSH: The closing stages of a war, longer than anything America's ever coped with before. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Just ahead here on CNN, the jury in the Michael Jackson death case, they hear from Dr. Conrad Murray and Michael Jackson himself in court this week. And the many loves of Conrad Murray as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Los Angeles, the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor is recessed until Tuesday. Of all the testimony this past week, perhaps nothing really is quite as disturbing as listening to an incoherent Michael Jackson apparently drugged up.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MICHAEL JACKSON, SINGER: My performances will be up there helping my children and always be my dream. I love them. I love them because I didn't have a childhood. I had no childhood. I feel their pain.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: Sad that he said he had no childhood, that he feels their pain.

Legal analyst, Holly Hughes, is here.

Holly, listen, this is unbelievable. It's incoherent. If you didn't have the words there, you would understand what he said. The jurors listening to this. The family, sadly, having to listen to this. Conrad Murray recorded it? Does this help or hurt Dr. Murray?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: I think it hurts him because, again, he's on notice that Michael Jackson is under the influence. If Michael Jackson is under the influence when Dr. Murray's not there, that means he is getting it from somewhere else. So that puts Dr. Murray on notice that Mr. Jackson has access to drugs that don't necessarily come from him. He needs to monitor his patient. He needs to be in room with him. He can't just walk out and leave him with all of those drugs if this man is going to help himself and put himself in this state.

LEMON: The reason I ask that is because you can hear Dr. Murray on that same recording saying, are you OK, talking to him. So he can say, I was there trying to help him.

HUGHES: Right.

LEMON: He was having trouble sleeping, I'm trying to wean him. That's why I asked if it helped?

HUGHES: Right, I think it hurts him.

LEMON: Michael Jackson also had a pharmacy on his nightstand. In his room, they found -- HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: -- so they're going to say that he knew that there were other doctors, as you said.

HUGHES: Right.

LEMON: -- and that Conrad Murray should have been aware of that. What was this with Conrad Murray's girlfriends?

HUGHES: There's a couple of things they accomplished with all of these honeys, if you will, OK. That's a polite word for them. All of these women help establish a time line and a state of mind of Dr. Murray. Remember, Don, he was on the phone with one of them just prior to discovering Michael Jackson in that state because the phone goes dead. She says, I can't get him back on. Then the next thing we know, he's in the ambulance and he is calling another girlfriend. He's texting a third girlfriend while his patient is under the influence of Propofol?

LEMON: And one --one is the mother of his child. It's like he's got all these -- they call them Conrad Murray's honeys.

Let's move on. I want to talk about -- it's just very strange watching that.

HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: Amanda Knox released from prison in Italy. Do you think she would have been released had she not been an attractive young woman?

HUGHES: Absolutely. I think she probably wouldn't have been convicted in the first place if she wasn't a pretty girl. Pretty people go to prison. Amy Fisher, the Long Island Lolita. Let's call her up, right? She shot Joey Buttafuoco's wife. She went to prison. Carolyn Warmost (ph), shot her lover's wife, gorgeous girl, comes from money. She went to prison. Debra LaFave (ph), who gets on TV and says, I'm too pretty to go to prison. Guess what, Don? She went to prison.

LEMON: Because that's when people saying --

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: She went to prison.

LEMON: -- oh, we're coming -- CNN and the rest of the rest of the media are covering this story because she's a pretty girl.

HUGHES: No.

LEMON: No.

LEMON: No. They released her because she's attractive and they --

(CROSSTALK) HUGHES: They released her because the evidence wasn't there.

LEMON: Unibomber --

HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: -- going on trial, representing himself.

HUGHES: No, underwear bomber.

LEMON: Underwear bomber. Excuse me.

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: Yes. Yes. OK. Let's talk about.

LEMON: He's going on trial, representing himself.

HUGHES: He is. But he does have court appointed counsel. Remember, you have a right to represent yourself, but the judge needs a clean trial. So she's giving him a court-appointed attorney. From what we're hearing, recent reports, he's actually going to let that attorney assist him instead of kicking him to the curb, which I think is a really smart move, Don.

LEMON: All right. That shows you how old I am. I'm going way back in time.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: Yes, Ted Kaczynski, we heard about the anthrax threat a couple of minutes ago, so we're going back 10 years. That's all right.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

She was a member of one of the most successful musical groups of all time but her struggle with a rare disease was kept quiet. Next, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces you to this one pop star, one pop star, who managed to beat the odds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SANJAY GUPTA, M.D.)

LEMON: Ahead here on CNN, more intrigue in the case of a missing baby girl in Missouri. 10-month-old Lisa Irwin has vanished. Investigators say the parents are not helping them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Check your headlines right now.

Occupy Wall Street entered its fourth week. You're looking live at pictures right now of Washington Square Park in Manhattan, really on the campus of NYU. The group took over a second location right there. That's the one I'm talking about. Many other Occupy rallies also popped up again in cities and towns across the country.

Make sure you tune in at 7:00 p.m. eastern. We're going to talk with one of the organizers by Wall Street.

A turn of events in the case of a missing baby girl that is pitting the parents against police. Kansas City, Missouri, investigators say Jeremy Irwin and Debra Bradley are no longer cooperating, although they are not suspects. Their baby, Lisa, has been missing since Tuesday morning. The parents are denying investigators claims, saying that they just need a break after hours of questioning. They needed a break after hours of questioning.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 7:00 p.m. eastern, right at the top of the next hour. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.