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"Occupy Wall Street" Gains Momentum; Seizing on the Wall Street Protests; Hackers Threaten NYSE Website; Iowa's Race to Vote; Jobs Bill Faces Senate Showdown; "Operation Fast and Furious" Fallout; At Least 25 Killed in Egypt Clashes; Boat Sinks Off Florida Keys; Runner Dies 500 Yards from Finish; California Bans Tanning Beds for Minors; Whistleblower Exposes Medicaid Fraud; Best Jobs in America; Rosie O'Donnell Returns to TV; Former Weezer Bassist Dies; Michael Jackson Tribute Concert; Jackson's Kids Center Stage at Tribute; 21 Deaths Linked to Cantaloupes; NBA Deadline Looms Today; U.S. Professors Win Nobel Prize; Miss Iceland 1974 Turned In Mob Boss; Paul McCartney Walks Down The Aisle
Aired October 10, 2011 - 09:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Occupy Wall Street is 24 days old now and it seems to be gaining some momentum. Take a listen.
We've seen it spread throughout the country. Presidential candidates can't ignore it. Neither can the president. Protests came to his front door as well. Now hackers are threatening to crash the New York Stock Exchange's Web site.
We have team coverage of the story. Karina Huber to the stock exchange, Paul Steinhauser is in Washington. Let's go ahead and start with you, Paul, and the political fallout here. It seems everybody is trying to capitalize on the movement now.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You're absolutely right, Kyra. Listen, politicians love an opportunity and this movement seems to be getting bigger by the day and more important stronger.
So yes, it's an opportunity for both sides. You mentioned the Republican presidential candidates. They are definitely speaking out about this and trying to redirect the anger of these protesters at the White House. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Wall Street didn't pass a trillion dollar stimulus bill that didn't work. Wall Street didn't create these economic policies that are not working. This was done by the White House. They need to be protesting the White House, not Wall Street.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From what I heard so far most of the Wall Street activists are a tribute to the bad education that they get nowadays. They don't understand free enterprise. They don't understand the American system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: You also heard the same thing from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who is also running for the nomination. She was with Candy Crowley yesterday saying the same thing, blame the White House -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And what are Dems saying?
STEINHAUSER: They're trying to monopolize or capitalize on this movement as well and basically they're saying they're in solidarity with the protesters and unions, which are also aligned with the Democrats are also trying to cozy up to these protesters. Take a listen to the House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: Well, I support the message to the establishment, whether it's Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest that change has to happen. We cannot continue in a way that does not -- that is not relevant to their lives. People are angry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And Democrats go one step further. They blame Republicans and they say to the protesters, listen, we, the president and Democrats in Congress, passed those Wall Street reforms, which keep Wall Street in check and they say Republicans are trying to repeal that -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Paul, thanks. Let's head to the New York Stock Exchange. Now Karina Huber, what this about a cyber threat now?
KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. What we think this cyber threat is coming from the group of hackers known as "Anonymous." Now that's the group that crashed the web site of a wide variety of corporate and government institutions, everything from Sony to the Egyptian government.
Now the threat is being attributed to a Youtube channel called the "Anon Message." And in a video, a computer voice says on October 10th, the New York Stock Exchange shall be erased from the internet. On October 10th expect a day that will never, ever be forgotten.
Now, it's important to note by NYSE, the New York Stock Exchange, they mean the web site and not the trading platform. So trading would not be affected at all, and there is some dispute over whether this will even happen.
"Anonymous" is saying it's not really them, that it's some independent hacker, if it's anyone at all, Kyra, so it's a bit murky right now.
PHILLIPS: Well, what are those at the New York Stock Exchange staying about this? HUBER: Well, they're calling it a rumor, and the exchange says it does not comment on rumors or security matters, and we can tell you that physical security though, which is always extremely tight down here at the stock exchange has been stepped up ever since the occupy wall street protests began. So it's probably safe to say they've bolstered cyber security as well, but again, officially no comment -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Karina, thanks.
Let's head to Iowa now where all eyes are on the candidates and the calendar. Republican leaders are jockeying for an early caucus date. Shannon Travis is joining us from Des Moines once again. So Shannon, if voting happens in early January, you know, time is running pretty short. Who has been there the most?
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes, so many minds to convince and so little time, Kyra. In terms of who has been here the most, Rick Perry since he jumped into the race in late summer, he's been coming pretty faithfully pretty much every week to Iowa in addition to going to other states.
Michele Bachmann, you know, she won the Ames straw poll in the summer time. She's been here a lot also. Ron Paul, he has a solid base of support. He's been pretty regularly campaigning here as well.
And Rick Santorum, somebody we don't talk about that much, he's not in the top tier of candidates, he is intent on visiting all 99 of Iowa's counties. He's been through about 70 so far. He kind of says that Iowa is a must-win for him. It's kind of his political firewall.
So those candidates have been here a lot. We expect to see them a lot more -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, not so much for Romney?
TRAVIS: Not so much for Romney. Romney has been a bit of a no- show. He hasn't been here that much. He certainly hasn't been campaigning here very much at all, but one really funny anecdote, Kyra.
He has a guy, one of Romney's field directors, he goes around and stands outside and he says, you know what folks, Romney may not be here, but we want you to know his campaign is alive and well -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Shannon Travis, appreciate it.
And this could be a critical week for President Obama's plan to put more Americans to work. The $450-billion bill is likely to face a vote in the Senate this week and even members of his own party have been slow to rally behind it.
The measure faces even longer odds in the Republican controlled House. Lawmakers there are expected to block the bill in its current form.
The Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder could be facing subpoenas over the botched sting operation fast and furious. It funnelled illegal guns into Mexico with the hopes of building new cases against the drug cartels. It's blamed for the death of a U.S. border patrol agent and congressional Republicans are demanding answers beginning with Holder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM CHAIRMAN: Clearly he was overseeing an organization that let 2,000 weapons walk, knew they were letting it walk, and concealed that from not just Congress, but also from the ambassador in Mexico, the Mexican people, and so on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Issa also says that Holder has showed little cooperation explaining the operation. Holder denies misleading lawmakers when he testified back in May that he only recently learned about that sting.
Let's head overseas. A tense situation once again in Egypt. At least 25 people are killed after violence erupted at a gathering to protest the burning of a Christian church.
CNN's Max Foster joining us from London. How did it start, Max, and what's made these protests so different from before?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, about 9 percent of Egypt's population are Coptic Christians. They felt targeted ever since the Arab Spring really. And that really escalated about a week ago when a church, a Christian church, was burned down, and it all erupted really on Sunday.
You see these pictures here, major unrest and violence on the street and a great deal of concern that is happening after all the positivity of the Arab Spring. But let's have a look at how it's being summed up in the international press.
The "Arab News" is saying cops, troops in deadly clashes. As Egypt undergoes a chaotic power transition and security vacuum in the wake of this year's uprising, Christians are particularly worried about the increasing show of power by ultra continental Muslims.
"Daily Telegraph" though saying under its headlines, sectarianism will only get worse in Egypt. The army has inherited all the vices of Mubarak rule without any of the certainties of permanent or all-pervasive control.
Until it either steps out of politics or comes up with its own plan for stabilizing the country, sectarianism and all ever its many other problems will only get worse. A real push for more democracy right now, Kyra, in Egypt after the uprising.
PHILLIPS: And there's also been a call for an emergency meeting of the National Justice Council?
FOSTER: Yes, absolutely. There are lots of questions about authority right now and who is in charge and the army should not be charge, it should be democratically elected. So questions really coming up now about how Egypt is run.
It was great while the uprising was taking place but things are settling down. They're not sorted, and there's a lack of accountability in Egypt right now.
PHILLIPS: Max Foster, thanks so much. Blowing the whistle on Medicaid fraud. We're going to tell you what one man did to expose it and how it nearly killed him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country now. In the Florida Keys, four people treaded water for 20 hours, including a 4-year-old girl, after their boat sank Saturday afternoon. The Coast Guard managed to rescue them, but one woman drowned.
In Chicago the Firefighters Burn Foundation lost one of its heroes in a marathon yesterday. William Cavanos (ph) was running to raise money for burn victims, but collapsed just 500 yards from the finish line. He raised over $2,400, which far exceed his goal.
California now has the toughest law in the land concerning teens and tanning. The new law makes tanning beds off limits to kids ages 14 to 18. Previously, they were allowed to tan with a parent or legal guardian's permission.
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on what's been called a culture of corruption in the health care industry. Medicare and Medicaid patients being charged too much or billed for treatment that they never got.
CNN's Deb Feyerick tells us about the Vietnam vet who blew the whistle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Going through his Medicaid statements one day, Richard West realized he was being billed for nursing care he wasn't getting.
(on camera): You weren't even here on some of the days that the company alleged they provided services for you.
RICHARD WEST, BLEW WHISTLE ON MEDICAID FRAUD: I wasn't here. I got no service.
FEYERICK: And yet here it is. It's billed.
(voice-over): The 63-year-old Vietnam veteran suffers from muscular dystrophy and requires nurses seven days a week just to shower, dress, and replace the oxygen tank he needs to breathe.
Yet when he called the Medicaid hotline to report Maxim Health Care Services and complain his nurses were leaving early or not showing up at all, he was told he was wrong.
WEST: They were getting paid for eight hours and I was getting sicker and sicker, and they did nothing.
FEYERICK: His spirit intact, the former U.S. Infantryman hired a lawyer and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in 2004 triggering a six- year criminal investigation.
(on camera): Are you surprised at just what people will try to do to rip off the Medicaid system?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm surprised every day.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Tom O'Donnell heads New York's Office of Investigations for Health and Human Services. It turns out Maxim with hundreds of offices wasn't just overbilling Richard West, but Medicaid recipients across the country.
SAC TOM O'DONNELL, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS, HHS: Probably the most egregious thing that they did was they were overbilling and they were fraudulently altering the time cards.
FEYERICK (on camera): How much money were they essentially ripping off?
O'DONNELL: I think the actual amount was about $61 million.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Prosecutors recently announced they had reached a deal with Maxim Health Care services, which cooperated with investigators and has now restructured under new management.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of us can afford our government's coffers to be bled by fraud.
FEYERICK: The company will pay $150 million. Half of it to reimburse 41 states that were overcharged. Nine Maxim executives and employees have pleaded guilty to various charges. Others were fired for misconduct.
In a statement to CNN, Maxim's new CEO praises Richard West for uncovering the fraud saying the company takes full responsibility and has established a new infrastructure, quote, including an entirely new senior management team and an unrelenting commitment to strict compliance with all laws.
Although prosecutors did not accuse Maxim of compromising patient care, West says he almost died twice because of life threatening infections he got when nurses failed to show.
WEST: There were nights I didn't know if I would wake up, and that's the reality.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick joining us now live. So how is the company still able to do business?
FEYERICK: You know, that's what's so interesting. The company reached a deal with prosecutors. They took what's called a deferred prosecution. They've cleaned up their act. They've promised that they're not going to let this happen again. They made sure that throughout the country, all their offices know that there's one way only to do it and that is the right way.
They have changed their forms. So they're really trying to fix the company so that the people who are receiving services don't suffer. The problem is there's no overall oversight in terms of who is watching each dollar as it is spent.
So what ends up happening if you don't have whistle-blowers or if the strike forces you heard Tom O'Donnell talk about, if you don't have the strike forces out looking for this kind of fraud, well, it just doesn't come to light. So it's really a difficult situation, especially because people rely on these services, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, and Mr. West could probably get some serious cash for exposing this scheme.
FEYERICK: Yes, he could. He's bound to get $15 million. Of course, there are the lawyers' fees. He's going to run that down. Now he has to start paying for his own health care and that's expensive. So there's not going to be that much at the end of the day.
PHILLIPS: Deborah Feyerick, we'll follow up for sure. Thanks.
Coming up, Michael Jackson's kids join a superstar tribute to their dad. More on the concert and the rest of your showbiz headlines straight ahead.
First though, "Money" magazine out with its list of the best jobs in America. This year, it features jobs in growing fields for people thinking about a career change. Here is a peek.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want to go from a top gun to a top job, then become a pilot. Pilots make an average of $89,000 a year and more job openings are expected over the next few years. It's easy to see why it landed on "Money's" best jobs list, especially if you are leaving the military. As a pilot you enjoy a flexible schedule and never have to take your work home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, she's been gone for a minute, but Rosie O'Donnell is returning to TV. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host A.J. Hammer has that and a couple other stories that everyone's talking about in the entertainment world -- A.J.
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Hi, there, Kyra. Yes, a lot of people are excited about this. Rosie is back in the daily talk show game with a return to TV tonight. Her all new show is called "The Rosie Show." It's going to kick off at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network.
Rosie's first guest is actor/comedian Russell Brand. The first show will air live. She relocated to Chicago for the new show. In fact, she took over the Oprah Winfrey's show former offices at Harpo Studios.
Rosie is revealing that she's going to have 10 minutes of standup that's going to be followed by the guest interviews, and then she's going to be playing games at the end of every program, which should be interesting.
A lot of buzz around Rosie's return because really this marks the big reboot of Oprah's OWN Network. Of course, O'Donnell's last talk show ran from 1996 to 2002 and we all know she later did a short stint on "The View" that was back in 2007. So we are welcoming Rosie O'Donnell back to daily television.
Moving on to some sad news today. Mikey Welsh, who was most famously known as the bassist for the rock band, Weezer died Saturday in Chicago at the age of 40. Now Welsh hadn't played with Weezer in 10 years. He planned on attending the band's riot fest show in Chicago on Sunday according to a statement on Weezer's web site anyway.
Now Chicago police tell CNN, officers responded to a call on Saturday at a hotel after staff had entered a room. Apparently, they found someone who was unresponsive and not breathing. According to the "Chicago Sun Times," authorities say Welsh died of an apparent drug overdose. The results of an autopsy performed Sunday have not yet been released.
Welsh did play with Weezer from 1998 until 2001. He left after suffering a nervous breakdown and became a painter, Kyra, always sad news to report something like that.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, let's -- we've got one more story to talk about and that's Michael Jackson's kids. The highlight, shall we say, of a tribute concert for their dad.
HAMMER: Yes. I think it really was. Now, there were moments that were leading up to this "Michael Forever Tribute Concert" organized by some members of Michael's family where we actually thought this thing wasn't going to go down.
There had been some disagreement we talked about within the Jackson family over whether or not it was appropriate for a concert to take place while Michael's doctor, Conrad Murray was on trial and still is on trial for Jackson's death.
Acts kept pulling out of this thing so we didn't know if it was going to fly, but it did. Saturday night in Cardiff, Wales, Christina Aguilera, Cee-Lo Green, Neo, Jamie Fox, Gladys Knight, they all showed up right alongside Michael's siblings and they performed in front of about 50,000 ticket holders.
And yet Michael's three children were there, Prince, Paris and Blanket. It really is a rare appearance for them. They showed up on stage during the four-hour show and they were actually dressed in outfits as you see reminiscent of what we might see their father in.
They went on stage briefly to introduce a video that was recorded by Beyonce. Now the stadium was not sold out. It holds around 75,000 people, Kyra, so it was really only about two-thirds full.
In fact, some reports said that scalpers were offering tickets for 50 bucks. That's a discount from the original prices of $90 and $300, but hopefully enough money was raised that went to some of the charities that were involved. Now it's over and the controversy goes away.
PHILLIPS: All right. And we'll talk about another story in entertainment. A.J., thanks. If you want information on anything breaking in the entertainment world, well, A.J. has got it, every night. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 p.m. on HLN.
Well, Mitt Romney's religion under the microscope. A prominent Texas minister calls Mormonism a cult, but did 2012 voters care about the religion of their president? We'll ask our political buzz panel next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now. Twenty one deaths have been linked to the cantaloupes contaminated with listeria bacteria. More than 100 people have been sickened in two dozen states.
It looks like the upcoming NBA season just keeps shrinking. Labor talks between the players and owners show no promise of reaching a compromise before today's deadline. That likely means at least the first two weeks will be canceled.
Two American professors have won the Nobel Peace Prize for economics. Thomas Sergeant of New York University on your left and Christopher Sims from Princeton studied how changes in government policies affect a nation's economy.
Stevie Wonder sings and President Obama sends his congratulations to Civil Rights icon. The Reverent Joseph Lowry celebrated his 90th birthday this weekend with Soledad O'Brien hosting the big event.
"Political Buzz," your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, Sirius XM political talk show host and comedian, Pete Dominick, Lexus McGill Johnson, executive director of the American Values Institute and CNN contributor, Will Cain.
First question, guys, a Texas pastor who backs Rick Perry says Mormonism is a cult. Do 2012 voters care about the religion of their president? Will?
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, to some extent, Kyra, but the question is how much. I contend that Mitt Romney's Mormonism in particular won't count that much. I think the more interesting question is should it matter.
You know, for religion to be so important as it is to people, for it to be our intellectual foundation, or philosophical bearing, how we make decisions, I don't know why we have exempted it from the conversation.
I feel we've walked this political correctness one bridge too far. I don't think religion should be outside the realm of debate.
PHILIPPS: Alexis?
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN VALUES INSTITUTE: I think Americans care that our president believes in a God, but I don't think they are particular about what that God looks like.
I think this is a conversation for Evangelicals and 50 percent of the GOP base is Evangelical, at least the primary voting base, and I think that's really where all of these commentary are going, but I think really this has been a bad couple weeks for Rick Perry and the fact that he's been dealing with the Mormonism issue and also the Niger head issues. I think it really about whether or not there's tolerance in the GOP.
PHILLIPS: Pete?
PETE DOMINICK, SIRIUSXM POLITICAL TALK SHOW HOST: This guy said Mormonism is a cult. Kyra, I looked up the definition of cult. It's a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
There are about 6 million Mormons in the U.S. and 12 million worldwide. I mean, if you ask me all religions have strange and sinister beliefs, but unfortunately American voters do still care about religion, unlike the U.K. and places like Australia.
And certainly Republican voters are divided between Evangelicals who believe hate mongers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and those atheists that support Ayn Rand.
PHILLIPS: All right, second question, Ron Paul wins a the Values Voter straw poll over the weekend with a different frontrunner every week. Are Republicans any closer to settling on a candidate? Alexis?
JOHNSON: It's like ideological speed dating. I keep watching the Republicans shift people in and out, and, you know, and I think it says a lot not only about the fact that the field is so weak, but also poor Mitt Romney. I mean, he can't get any love whatsoever. I have this image of him like a Cinderella with, you know, one shoe on just limping around the ball waiting for people to anoint him because he's been running for like five years.
So, you know, I think they'll settle on Romney, but they'll be so sad about it that I think it's going to have -- they're going to have a hard time in the general.
PHILLIPS: Will?
CAIN: You know, it's funny that the candidate who argued for the legalization of heroin just won the Value Voter Summit. You know, Tony Perkins, the leader of the Family Research Council, said that this thing has been fixed. That 600 Ron Paul voters showed and cast their votes.
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: You know, Tony Perkins, the leader of the Family Research Council said that this thing has been fixed. That 600 Ron Paul voters showed up and cast their votes. You know, the thing about it is, I think, the support will end up with Mitt Romney.
Back to your previous question, Mitt Romney won the Value Voter Summit back in 2008. So, how much more monism (ph) will play, I think the Value Voters Summit four years ago suggests something there. We're still looking for a candidate. We'll probably center on Mitt Romney here in a couple of weeks. (BUZZING)
PHILLIPS: Pete.
PETE DOMINICK, SIRIUS XM POLITICAL TALK SHOW HOST: I mean, listen, I'm not a Ron Paul fan, but the difference between Ron Paul and Barack Obama and Ron Paul and Mitt Romney is Ron Paul doesn't hold up his finger and test the wind and decide which way he's going to advocate for policy. Ron Paul is not influenced by special interests and corporate money the way mainstream candidates and the Democratic and Republican parties are.
Again, I don't agree with a lot of what Ron Paul says. I think a lot of what he says is bizarre, but the guy is not as influenced by special interest. And that's important. People should take that seriously, and people should take his voice on that stage seriously, and I'm always glad he's up there to mix it up -- (BUZZING) -- with the rest of these carnival barkers.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: OK. Your buzzer beater. Twenty seconds each on this, guys. Michele Bachmann dismissing her latest poll numbers in an interview with our Candy Crowley. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Candidates go up, candidates go down, and what we're very concerned about is making sure that the message gets out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So, is Bachmann realistic about her campaign's future? Alexis.
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, AMERICAN VALUES INSTITUTE EXEC. DIRECTOR: You know, I think anybody donating to Michele Bachmann's campaign at this point is really donating to her psychotherapy fund, because she is completely delusional. She has no opportunity to go up at this point. No opportunity really to be VP much less win the nomination or the general. So, I think she should let it go.
PHILLIPS: Will.
CAIN: Let me be contrarian for a minute. Look, we've seen over the past couple of months little booms, two to three-week booms in each of these Mitt Romney alternative candidates. There are five primaries within a month's time in January. There could be another boom for who knows what candidate during that time, and they could get the election.
Michele Bachmann can hold on to that hope. That being said her biggest risk is that her message continues to get out. That's what will keep Michele Bachmann -- (BUZZING) -- from that she having one of those booms. She is her biggest problem.
PHILLIPS: All right. Pete, bring us home.
DOMINICK: Michele Bachmann, she's like -- she's like, I don't know, one of these Mike Huckabees without all the likability, Kyra, and, you know, she believes -- what she believes is realistic is comparing religion to science fiction. She believes that those things are equitable really.
Really, she's bizarre. I don't know -- still don't know why we're talking about her. And did Candy Crowley asked her -- (BUZZING) -- if she got stung by bees. She looks a little -- I'm concerned about her, seriously.
PHILLIPS: We're talking to the guy who has no hair and didn't shave today. What's up with that?
DOMINICK: Right, right.
(LAUGHTER)
DOMINICK: Listen, I just got done with a before picture for a hair loss pill.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: I'll see you guys tomorrow. Oh, boy.
Well, it's the competition for homemade flying machines, and it took off this weekend. I'll show you more of the fun when we go "Cross Country" next.
And Sir Paul McCartney ties the knot for the third time. Just about ten minutes ,we'll take you to London for all the wedding details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So, a quick look at those numbers. Karina Huber, good news. We're in positive territory.
KARINA HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are. So, the major indices are in positive territory right now. We've got the Dow up by 278 points. All 30 Dow components are in the green right now, and the other major indices are all up by almost three percent. So, nice little bounce today, and this is on the back of news coming out of Europe after France and Germany said they're going to do what is necessary to recapitalize the banks.
So, really, we're seeing a lot of bank stocks getting a nice bounce today. But keep in mind, we do not have the details on what exactly, how they plan on propping up the banks. Those details are going to be coming out in about three weeks from now, which is an eternity in Wall Street terms. So, we could expect to see some volatility later in the day today, and certainly, in the weeks ahead -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Karina, thanks.
Checking stories cross country now. In drought stricken Texas much-needed rain fell over the weekend. Some areas got more rain in one day than the state saw all summer.
And in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe says Miss Iceland 1974 is actually the woman who turned in mob boss, Whitey Bulger. She befriended him when the couple would feed a stray cat every day. She learned their true identity after seeing a news report while she was in Iceland and called the FBI.
Check this out in Florida. Red Bull held its 2011 Flugtag competition on Saturday. Competitors from around the world put their homemade, human-made flying machines, in some cases, sinking machines to work. Flew them right off the pier, at least tried to. Those who achieved the flight win some sort of cool prize.
Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel. There is a lot of mystique around the man and his brand. Alina Cho got a rare look behind the curtain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not just in France, but around the world, Karl Lagerfeld is mobbed wherever he goes. He's not just a celebrity designer, he's a celebrity.
Why do you think it is that people are so fascinated --
KARL LAGERFELD, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHANEL: It's a very good question. I don't know what it is. It's a strange scene. I think it's flattering. I don't sing. I'm not an actor. I have no scandals.
CHO: He does do this. Lagerfeld Chanel show is arguably the most anticipated fashion spectacle of the Paris collections. Something he's been doing at Chanel since 1983 --
LAGERFELD: (INAUDIBLE)
CHO: When he was hired as artistic director.
(on-camera) It's so much work, so many collections. How do you -- and you're so involved.
LAGERFELD: I have it in the blood. You know, when I was asked to do it, Chanel wasn't trendy at all. Like this, I'm not probe (ph) as a business. If you can make something, OK, if not, I sell it. And be made something out of it because he gave me total freedom.
CHO (voice-over): Lagerfeld answers to no one. Rare for a company the size of Chanel, a nearly $2 billion privately owned business that sells not just those iconic quilted handbags and ballerina flats, but clothes, jewelry, makeup, and perfume, you know, Chanel no 5.
(SINGING)
The one Marilyn Monroe famously said she went to bed with. An icon just like the company's founder, Coco Chanel.
LAGERFELD: The label has the name (ph). It's up to me to update it. What I did, she never reach (ph). She would have hated (ph) it.
CHO: Lagerfeld made Chanel cool again.
LAGERFELD: I had to find my mark and go from what it was, what it should be, what it could be, what it had been to something else. It sounds very complicated, but in fact, it's not.
CHO: What makes you do that?
LAGERFELD: I don't know. I have a flash like this. I don't ask questions. Thank God I get answers I don't know from where. When I make big efforts, it's for the garbage. When I make no effort and suddenly I don't know it happens, it's much better, but you cannot count on it. Sometimes, you work a lot for the garbage can for nothing, and then suddenly, a light goes on.
CHO: And it can happen at any time. In addition to his duties at Chanel, he's the creative director of Fendi as his own label, and this season launched a mine at Macy's. He's an avid photographer, an author, and owns a bookstore. Outside of fashion, Lagerfeld has designed bottles for Coca-Cola, and here he is in an ad for a washer and dryer?
LAGERFELD: I'm a walking label, huh? My name is Labelfeld not Lagerfeld.
CHO: How does he do it all?
LAGERFELD: I have a kind of Alzheimer for my own work.
CHO: Alzheimer's for your own work.
LAGERFELD: And I do that on purpose. It's a very good thing. Today, too many people remember what they did. Forget it all and start again.
CHO: Even at twice the age of his competitors, it's an attitude that has served him well, made him rich, and virtually, irreplaceable at Chanel.
LAGERFELD: It's a good thing for him, it's a good thing for me, and it's not such a bad thing for fashion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And don't miss Alina's special, "Fashion: Backstage Pass From Paris" that airs this Saturday, October 15th at 2:30 p.m. eastern.
Well, someone, apparently, wanted tiger Woods to wear a hotdog. The guy, he actually threw the delicious Frank right at Tiger over the weekend during a putt. Well, he could have at least thrown a bun too and some mustard. Let's play what happened coming up.
And Paul McCartney takes another trip down the aisle. We'll have all the details from the celebrity wedding right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a perfectly good hotdog was wasted in the final round of the Frys.Com Open in California. The target, Tiger Woods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Not everyone relishing the moment. PGA won't even release the video. Sorry. The hotdog thrower was charged with disturbing the peace, though.
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cardinals in the opening game of the NLCS. The Brewers exploded in the fifth inning. Ryan Braun smacked the two-run Braun level. Still, they're hit a two on homer. The Milwaukee got six runs in the fifth. They take game one, 9-6. Game two is tonight.
And the Raiders at Houston. They wore Al Davis stickers on their helmets in their first game since their legendary owner died. The Texans had a chance to win on very last play, but Matt Shaw was picked off in the end zone. Raiders hold on, 25-20. Coach Hue Jackson in tears after the game. Obviously, a very emotional win for everyone on that team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS (on-camera): Overseas, Paul McCartney is a newly wed. He tied the knot with his American girlfriend, Nancy Shevell. It's Sir Paul's third marriage. Will it last? Marriage counselor, Max Foster, joining us from London with all the details. Hey, Max.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. No access to the actual service itself, but we did see the couple going in and out of Marylebone Town Hall. Huge amounts of photographers have all been camping out, really, for the last few weeks, waiting for this moment to happen, and they're wearing outfits you might be interested to hear designed by Paul's daughter, Stella McCartney.
So, she's approved marriage. Other guests, Ringo Starr, the other surviving member of the Beatles, of course. But also Barbara Walters we're told actually introduced them because she is related, a second cousin, to Nancy Shevell. So it all went off very smoothly, we're told. and a happy married couple.
This was also Kyra, where Paul married Linda McCartney in 1969. So, he's been married twice in the same building.
PHILLIPS: And you and I were talking about how this relationship quite different from his past relationship that, shall we say, didn't work out so well. Nancy Shevell independently wealthy, got her own thing going on.
FOSTER: Heather mills less so. I think that's what you're saying, and she ended up taking Sir Paul to court and only getting a fifth of what she claimed. So, yes, she's a member of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, very successful career, independently wealthy. So, people are saying this is a better match than perhaps the last one.
PHILLIPS: We shall see. Max, thanks.
Well, coming up, when your kid who's raised by same-sex parents hearing words like this can be pretty frustrating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED KID: They would call me gay, faggot, fag boy, gay man, gay boy.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Anderson Cooper sat down with a few kids and experts. We'll explain why more needs to be done to stop bullying in schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Let's check some stories making news later today. At the top of the hour at 11:00 eastern, Republican presidential candidate, Jon Huntsman, outlines his vision for foreign policy. And then, later in the hour, also in New Hampshire, fellow GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, holds a town hall meeting in Milford.
And at 12:45 eastern, President Obama visits with wounded service members at Walter Reed Military Medical Center.
Almost every day, there are kids across the nation who fear going to school because they're bullied beyond the limit. Some don't even want to live anymore. Anderson Cooper sat down with these students and a few celebrity guests who are joining the fight to end bullying. Here are some of their stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How often do you get bullied, do you get pushed around?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Almost every day.
COOPER: Almost every day?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
COOPER: And Damon, how about you? You're straight, but your two dads are gay, and you're on gymnastics team which people make fun of you for. What do people say to you?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: They would call me gay, faggot, fag boy, gay man, gay boy.
COOPER: What do people call you?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: They call me dyke, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), faggot. I've been even called words I'm ashamed to say to this day.
COOPER: Dillon, you've recently been taken out of the school. You're now being home schooled. Did you just not feel safe in school?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Kids made me feel like I was the grossest person in the world, and they would just go against walls and say here comes the he/she or here comes the trash, and they just made me feel gross, and I didn't feel safe at school, so I just left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sitting here and I'm stewing with rage, and I just feel so angry and so upset for the four of you and your class experience, and it seems to me that this is all backwards. Instead of taking it up with the kids that are tormenting daily and using abusive language and being abusive to their students, this young man can't even go to school anymore.
He shouldn't be the one having to stay at home. I just want you to know that people do care about you. I care about you, and I really feel touched for your experience.
COOPER: You and your wife are raising a daughter. When you hear these kids, what goes through your mind?
JANE LYNCH, ACTRESS: Well, you know, these kids do need to know that they are loved, and it's really, really sad that they don't have an advocate, and I think this neutrality policy is abdicating the responsibility, the adults' responsibility of protecting these kids, and it's really very sad. It makes me very sad.
COOPER: How do you get through the day, Kyle?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I pray every day that I didn't have to go back to school. And --
COOPER: You pray every day you don't have to go back to school?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes. I'd hide under the seats of the bus, and I would --
COOPER: You hide under the seats?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: I would. And then, I'd go to the nurse three times a day at least.
COOPER: Just to get some place.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes, to go home.
COOPER: To go home. I understand at one point, how many kids did you know who were bullying you?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Forty.
COOPER: Forty kids?
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
COOPER: You could identify 40 kids.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.
COOPER: I want to thank you, kids, for your courage and your strength. I think you're just so impressive and so brave, and I think you have tremendous courage. Thank you. I appreciate that.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Yesterday, when I interviewed Kyle and I was talking to him, I said is there anything else you'd like to do or like to say. He said I would like to sing a song. So, he said that to me today when he came and sat down. Here is like, can I sing? So, Kyle is going to sing his favorite song.
(APPLAUSE)
(SINGING) Hold your head, girl, and you'll go far. Listen to me when I say. How beautiful in my way, because God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track baby I was born this way. Don't hide yourself and regret. Just love yourself and you're set. I'm on the right track baby I was born this way
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Wow. It's time for all of us to take a stand. All this week 8:00 p.m. eastern Anderson Cooper and CNN bring attention to America's bullying crisis. Then Saturday night, watch the "Bullying: It Stops Here" the town hall led by Anderson, eight o'clock eastern time.
President Obama steps up pressure on Congress to sign off on his jobs plan, a plan that's expected to come up for a key vote this week. But with fierce Republican opposition, can any part of this plan pass? We're talking about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's see what's crossing our 'Political Ticker" at this end of the hour. White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar, this could be a huge week for the president's jobs bill.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's a big week, Kyra, certainly politically, and we'll be following it all week long. You know, the president has been urging Congress to take up his jobs plan in its entirety. A few of the things in there, payroll tax cuts for employees as well as employers. There's also infrastructure spending for construction jobs.
There are tax credits for hiring veterans and for hiring the long-term unemployed. Well, this vote that we're expecting to see tomorrow evening in the Senate is likely the only vote that we will see on the president's plan in its entirety. It's actually expected to fail, because there's a couple Democratic senators who aren't on board, and Republicans almost uniformly are opposed to this.
The big sticking point, Kyra, how to pay for this $447 billion plan. Senate Democrats in the White House have proposed increasing taxes on Americans who make a million dollars or more. So, you can see how this is shaping up even though this vote is going to fail.
If it does, you'll see the White House and Congressional Democrats kind of accusing Republicans of trying to protect millionaires, and that's why this is going to be certainly a big week politically.
PHILLIPS: Well, Republicans on the Hill, too, pressuring the administration on another front. You're hearing about some subpoenas possibly being issued soon?
KEILAR: That's right. Congressman Darrell Issa, he is the chairman of a very powerful house committee and very much a thorn in the side of the Obama administration right now for sure. He is talking about issuing subpoenas, perhaps, this week having to do with that "Operation Fast and Furious." You probably heard about it. That's the failed program where ATF agents essentially allowed illegal guns to -- the plan was to let them walk across the border from Arizona into Mexico, and the idea was that they would trace those guns to Mexican cartels. But, of course, this whole program became quite controversial when some of those weapons ended up turning up at crime scenes where Americans as well as Mexicans had been murdered.
So, one of the big questions that you're hearing from Republicans has to do with Attorney General Eric Holder. He testified in May that he'd only known about the program for a few weeks. Well, some documents were released last week prompting Republicans to charge that maybe he knew much sooner than that.
The administration, President Obama, has stood behind Eric Holder, but that's what these subpoenas are all about, and it will continue to be a battle here.
PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar at the White House. Brianna, thanks so much. Your next political update just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, you know, you can go to our website 24/7, CNNPolitics.com.
That does it for us. We'll be back here bright and early tomorrow morning. Suzanne Malveaux takes it from here.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Nice to see you, Kyra.
