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9/11 Plotters Go on Trial at Guantanamo; The Why of Gas Prices; The Anguish of Job-Seeking; One Company Making Money in a Hard Economy; The Super Moon; Controversial Alabama Drug Law Attracts Attention of Women's Groups, ACLU; Interview with Floyd Mayweather
Aired May 05, 2012 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us. We're awaiting the president. As soon as he speaks, we'll bring it to you live.
In the meantime, we're going to start with this. They are the men accused of the ultimate evil against the United States, plotting to fly planes full of Americans into the World Trade Center and into the Pentagon, as well, alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects facing arraignment today in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Chris Lawrence is there for us. So Chris, it seems like these men are doing whatever they can to drag this thing out.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You said it, Don. The 9/11 terror suspects have really turned the arraignment into a chaotic court appearance. One of the detainees, one of the accused, refused to come to court. He had to be hauled in, shackled to a chair.
Another shocked the courtroom when he shouted out, comparing some of the camp guards here in Guantanamo Bay to dead Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and suggesting that the guards may try to kill the detainees and make it look like suicide.
And Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who once boasted during a previous court hearing that he was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, has kept completely silent. He has ignored the judge and refused to participate because, as his attorney has said, he feels these hearings, these military commissions, are not fair, and this is a choice not to acknowledge them -- Don.
LEMON: And Chris, I understand there was an outburst during the proceedings. What exactly happened?
LAWRENCE: Yes, that was when Ramzi Binalshibh -- he is the man who is -- he's from Yemen. He was accused of financing al Qaeda and helping to get some of the hijackers into the United States.
He was sitting there, and all of a sudden, again, after a morning of silence, he just blurts out that, Maybe this is the last time you will see me. The judge told him he was out of turn, that this is not the time and the place for it.
But that's when he continued and said -- you know, mentioned Moammar Gadhafi, said that perhaps there were threats to them that they could be killed and that it would be made to look like suicide. It shocked the courtroom, but then that was it. They quieted down and didn't say much.
But Don, the interesting thing is, although they're not participating in the actual court hearing, when we're on recess and the cameras are off, you can see the five of them, they're talking amongst each other. They are laughing. At one point, a few of them even had a copy of "The Economist" magazine that they were passing back and forth between them -- Don.
LEMON: Chris Lawrence in Guantanamo Bay. Chris, thank you very much.
In other news tonight, a former adviser to John Edwards has testified that he repeatedly urged the candidate to steer clear of Rielle Hunter, later revealed to be Edwards's mistress. He told jurors Friday that Edwards refused and then told him to back off.
Prosecutors say Edwards broke federal law by accepting money from wealthy donors to pay for Hunter's living and medical expenses. Now, if he is convicted, Edwards could face up to 30 years in prison.
They're a bunch of fools, says the escort whom the Secret Service probably wishes it could forget. Dania Suarez said she is the one -- she is the one who got into a fight with an agent in a Colombian hotel over $800 that he supposedly owed her.
Now, that fight snowballed into a massively embarrassing scandal for the agency. Suarez says she didn't even know these guys were agents at the time, and they didn't seem too concerned about their own security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIA SUAREZ, CARTAGENA ESCORT (through translator): Of course, at that moment, if I had been a member of one of those terrorist gangs, it's obvious that I would have been able to get everything. Just like the newspapers say, I put them in checkmate.
They're a bunch of fools. They're responsible for Obama's security, and they still let this happen. I told them, I'm going to call the police, so that they would pay me my money. They didn't care. They didn't see the magnitude of the problem, even when being responsible for Obama's security. I could have done a thousand other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Eight Secret Service agents have lost their jobs over this prostitution scandal.
We'll have to wait to learn whether Junior Seau's career in football played a role in his suicide. The 43-year-old former star linebacker killed himself on Wednesday with a gunshot to the chest.
His family's pastor says scientists will be allowed to examine his brain. They'll look for signs of trauma from the punishment he took over 20 years in the NFL. Results are expected in four to six weeks.
And so it begins. It's the president's first official campaign rally, and he's already taking jabs at his opponent. Hear what he has to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We're here because we want to restore...
LEMON: All right, you're looking at live pictures now. This is Virginia Commonwealth University, live, Richmond, Virginia. That is the first lady speaking. And as we know, this is the president's -- his first official reelection campaign. That kicks off today.
Earlier, he made a stop in Ohio, Ohio State. Now he is in Virginia, he and his wife. You see they're getting -- it's getting revved up. It's going to get heated and it's going to get very tense. So we will be following all of it for you -- the first lady speaking now in Richmond.
And they're the opening shots in a political battle that we'll be tracking all the way through November, President Barack Obama making stops in, as we said, Virginia and Ohio, two hugely important battleground states.
Just a few hours ago, at Ohio State University -- there he is -- Mr. Obama laid out his case for a second term, reminding the crowd how much progress has been made on the economy, he says, by reminding them that there's lots more work to be done, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, there were setbacks. Yes, there were disappointments. But we didn't quit. We don't quit. Together, we're fighting our way back!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: I probably should tell you the president also warned the audience that Mitt Romney will work with Republicans in Congress to do, in his words, "rubber stamp their agenda."
Now, as you heard just moments ago, the unemployment rate dropped because some people just stopped looking for work. Well, how does that make sense? A clear explanation of how the jobless rate is determined -- that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" (via telephone): Quoting an average gas price in America is like quoting the average temperature. It's different depending where you live.
The difference is the taxes. The government breaks down gas prices like this. Taxes make up 12 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, 6 percent of the cost is shipping and advertising, 6 percent is refining it, and 76 percent is the cost of crude oil. High oil prices mean high gas prices.
(on camera): People see those numbers and they cannot understand how everybody who's reaching into their pockets isn't making money. But not everyone's making money at gas prices at $3.80.
TOM KLOZA, OIL PRICE INFORMATION SERVICE: No, the big profits have been in exploration and production. And if you look at multi-national oil companies, a lot of them are getting out of retailing. A lot of them are getting out of refining.
ROMANS (voice-over): The good news for you, the average gas price is now below where it was a year ago.
MIKE FITZPATRICK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "ENERGY REVIEW": I think you'll probably see prices retreat as we get into the season. Normally, prices peak around the 4th of July. I think you're going to see them peak -- I think they're peaking right now.
ROMANS: But here's that pesky average again. If you live in the Northeast, refinery closures mean prices could stay high. And every dollar in here is a dollar not spent on consumer goods or on a 529 college savings plan or your retirement savings. And that's why gas prices are the economic indicator we love to hate.
Christine Romans, CNN, Clifton, New Jersey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, hold on. This isn't the segment that you think it is, I promise you. The unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point this week to 8.1 percent, but that's mostly because some people simply stopped looking for work. They're still unemployed, so why does the jobless rate go down?
Matthias Shapiro breaks down the big deal -- the big ideas visually for us, and he explains the unemployment rate to you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHIAS SHAPIRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): A lot of the time, people think about the unemployment rate, they think of it as just a measurement of people without jobs. But the unemployment rate comes from a definition that isn't exactly what we might expect.
If the U.S. was made up of only 100 people, 21 of those people are too young to have a job, 5 others are in college, 1 is in jail, 1's in the military, 13 are retirement age, 46 of them are working, 5 match the technical definition of unemployed, and the rest of them may or may not want a job, but they haven't really been looking for one. Of all of these, to get the unemployment rate we see in the news, we only look at two groups, the 46 with jobs and the 5 people who have been looking for a job some time in the last four weeks. If all these people suddenly had a panic attack and barricaded themselves indoors to avoid the zombie flu apocalypse, four weeks from now, the unemployment rate would be zero percent.
This doesn't mean everyone's got a job, it just means that people who are stocking up on zombie repellent no longer get counted as part of the labor force, and that makes sense. Someone can't find a job for long enough, they might go back to school or stay at home with the kids. They're now out of the labor force.
And that's a growing concern because the working group has been shrinking for the last decade. The unemployment rate will recover in time, but as the Baby Boomers begin to retire, we're going to see a smaller and smaller percentage of people with jobs.
It's the money that these 46 people make that helps support the 54 other people. They may do it directly, by paying for their kids' food, or they may do it indirectly, through charities, unemployment benefits, Social Security payments and zombie flu vaccinations.
So as the jobless numbers rise, more people move into the top group, which means more weight on the dwindling support group. This kind of support isn't unprecedented, but getting people out of the unemployed category and into the employed category is what we really need for an economic recovery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Thank you, sir.
You know, being out of work can really be traumatizing. You know this, or you've seen others go through it.
Dr. Wendy Walsh, a human behavior expert in Los Angeles. Career counselors, Dr. Wendy, say one of the most important tools for someone out of work is their team, their friends or families cheering them on. So how valuable is that?
WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Well, not to just cheer them on in an artificial way, but to give them usable connections. And having -- the bigger your social network is, whether that social network is your family and friends in your neighborhood or former work, but also the ones you can meet on line. So it's very important to get connected and have a lot of people rallying around you.
LEMON: And for people who are trying to find work, they're struggling now, how is the experience different for men and then for women?
WALSH: Well, you know, it's hard to generalize about any gender, Don. I hate to do that. But traditionally, jobs have been so associated with men's identities, so part of their depression, if they're feeling it after a long-term job search, is that they're losing a piece of their identity when they're not working. And you know, we don't often see the same signs of depression in men that we do in women. They're more quiet about it. They may go home and drink a beer. So it's really important that we watch for that in our men.
The women, the big challenge for them, of course, especially the ones in the sandwich generation, is they also have the burden of care- giving. Many of them are taking care of elderly family members. Many of them are taking care of children. So as they're hunting for a job, they're also taking care of these other people and looking for affordable child care.
LEMON: Yes, and you know, you've got to really feel it out because if you're close to someone who's looking for a job and they could be getting discouraged, how do you know -- especially with unemployment like it is now -- how do you know, Dr. Wendy, when to push and when to just sort of lay back and just play the cheerleader?
WALSH: You know, that's a $2 million question, and family members have been asking it for all kinds of family -- about family members who are in need. When does your support become enabling?
And I would ask myself, you know, How much is this person tying into the victim motif? You know, I'm -- I'm a victim of this awful recession, I'm a victim of this. But yet, have they used the last two-and-a-half years to really look for jobs or retool themselves, or are they flying on the victim thing? And that's -- you know, sometimes it has to be some tough love from family members who are still feeding these people.
LEMON: And you know this story personally because you went back to school, and so you were unemployed for a while, going to school. You had to downsize. And you had your team there cheering you on, but you also had to support that team and that family. You had to pay the bills.
So what if someone doesn't have a support system like you? What should they do?
WALSH: They should do exactly what I did, is I built a brand on FaceBook and Twitter. I am not joking. I found every colleague I had ever worked with before, and rather than saying, I'm desperate, I need a job, I wrote really interesting blogs so people could see my ideas in action. I put posts on books on Amazon.com that I thought were very fascinating so that people -- I looked at my on-line Google search and I constantly messed with it and messed with it.
And you can do that in numerous ways. Learn about how you can have an electronic footprint that will look great to an employer.
LEMON: I also think this is a very valuable piece of advice. Not only did you do that, but you also downsized. And I know there's -- I don't want to get too personal here because I know...
WALSH: You're going to tell stories out of school?
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Well, I mean, you told me how...
WALSH: I did.
LEMON: You told me you downsized. You rented out your home...
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: ... and moved into the...
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: ... downstairs apartment. And you also said you went to Target or to a discount store...
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: ... and you bought just several colorful sweaters, inexpensive. And that's what you wore for a while when you were on television, and you dressed them up. I think that's valuable advice.
WALSH: Yes, no, I not only moved to a small apartment, my two children and I lived at the height of the recession in a one-room apartment -- not a one-bedroom apartment, one-room apartment.
And yes, I went to Target because, you know, America was on sale in 2009 and 2010. And I found these brightly colored sweaters that were $6.66 each, and I bought 10 of them, and that's what you saw on CNN in the past few years.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Well, look at you now. Look at you now. Thank you.
WALSH: Look at me now!
LEMON: Thank you, Dr. Wendy. And it was good seeing you.
WALSH: Thank you.
LEMON: Happy birthday. I really enjoyed it. Thanks very much.
WALSH: Thank you. It was a great party.
LEMON: Yes, just great. Look at her now, from the height of the recession to this. Very successful. Dr. Wendy.
All right, you know, in this tough economy, one company has stayed in the black by finding buyers for its protects beyond American borders. Athena Jones has that story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Business is good at Marlin Steel. Workers here make steel baskets, wires and other components for industries like mining and telecommunications.
DREW GREENBLATT, PRES., MARLIN STEEL WIRE PRODUCTS: Over here, these are some parts that we make for the military, so...
JONES (on camera): For the military? All right.
GREENBLATT: These are components that will be used in Afghanistan and Pakistan by our soldiers.
JONES (voice-over): Marlin's revenue grew 20 percent last year, and the company added three jobs to its staff of 25. They've expanded their floor space and are planning to fill two more positions in the coming weeks.
GREENBLATT: We're hiring a mechanical engineer on Monday. We're hiring a new controller the following Monday.
JONES: Company president Drew Greenblatt says he expects to hire as many as 10 more workers this year. The Baltimore-based firm represents a bright spot in an otherwise mediocre economic recovery. While the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent last month, the economy added just 115,000 jobs, not nearly enough to plug the hole left by the recession, a fact the president acknowledged Friday.
OBAMA: There's still a lot of folks out of work, which means that we've got to do more.
JONES: In fact, the dip in the jobless rate came as more than 300,000 people dropped out of the workforce.
CHAD MOUTRAY, ECONOMIST: We saw enormous growth in November, December, January in terms of overall economic activity, and yet we've seen a little bit of a slowdown in the economy in March and April.
JONES: Still, the manufacturing sector has performed well, adding 16,000 jobs in April, a continuation of a two-year trend.
MOUTRAY: Manufacturing has added just shy of a half a million workers in the U.S. That's -- that's about 13 percent of all of the jobs created in the economy.
JONES: Much of Marlin's success is due to exports, which now make up 25 percent of its sales, compared with zero a few years ago.
GREENBLATT: When first I bought the company, we were in Brooklyn, New York, and an export to us was exporting to the Bronx, OK? Now we're going to China. Now we're going to Mexico.
JERAS: The company, which buys its steel domestically, ships its product to 36 countries. It's a list Greenblatt hopes will keep growing.
Athena Jones, CNN, Baltimore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thank you, Athena.
Remember all those stories about how the full moon makes people crazy? Well, how crazy are they going to get with tonight's "super moon"? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OBAMA: We don't quit! Together, we are fighting our way back!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
LEMON: That is the president speaking now at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Today, you know, everyone's been saying he's been campaigning, he's been campaigning for a while. Now, this is his first official campaign rallies today. Earlier, it was Ohio. Now it is Richmond, Virginia. It is his reelection campaign. And we will follow that, the president speaking live. Earlier, you saw the first lady here on CNN. We're going to monitor that for you.
In the meantime, I should tell tonight, the moon is going to be a "super moon." What does that mean? Some people are freaking out about this. But astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says, "Moon lunacy strikes again. The impending super moon is to an average full moon what a 16-inch pizza is to a 15-inch pizza. So chillax."
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: That's official...
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Come on! It's fun!
LEMON: That's official astrophysicist language there, "chillax."
JERAS: I know.
LEMON: OK, so we're not going to turn into werewolves, right? But exactly -- I said...
JERAS: Come on, howl for me, Don.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: She's trying to get me in trouble. You're always trying to get me in -- you first.
JERAS: No.
LEMON: I see!
(LAUGHTER)
JERAS: I had to try.
LEMON: Beautiful moon behind us.
JERAS: Yes. LEMON: So what is that -- what is a "super moon"?
JERAS: Well, a super moon is basically when there's a full moon, and it's within 90 percent of its closest approach to the earth, OK? And so this -- like our friend just said, it happens on average four to six times per year. So it's not terribly unusual.
But what makes this one kind of unusual is that we're at almost 100 percent. So this happens at 11:30 tonight, is when the moon is full. And at 11:35 is when we're at perigee. And perigee is when the moon is at its closest point. We don't have to use technical...
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: OK, so think about it. So we've got our earth. We've got our moon. And the moon, right, goes around the earth. But it's not a perfect circle when it does that. It's an elliptical pattern, right? OK? And so at one point, it's at its farthest away from the earth, and one point, it's at the closest point.
So when it's at its closet point, it's going to appear bigger. We've got a couple of graphics.
LEMON: Perigee...
JERAS: Go ahead and pull up the graphic here. And it kind of spells it out for you a little bit. There you can see the perigee that I was referring to. And so the moon comes within about 222,000 miles from the earth.
So astronomers love this because they're going to get, you know, a slightly clearer view than what they would normally get. And the moon's going to be about 30 percent brighter...
LEMON: That's a lot brighter!
JERAS: ... and 14 percent bigger. Yes. You know, this happened last year. Remember last March, we had a super moon? And that one was actually a better show than this time around.
LEMON: I remember talking to you about it, saying, My goodness, it was bright last night, right...
JERAS: Yes!
LEMON: ... because of the super moon. I just...
JERAS: You might notice that more.
LEMON: What I want -- crazy things happen when there's a full moon.
JERAS: So they say.
LEMON: So are we 30 percent more likely tonight to have crazy things -- by the way, that...
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: I'll let you know in a few hours.
LEMON: ... in the way the moon...
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: Oh, there it is. Yes. I love that. Not necessarily. One thing it will do, it'll create greater tides. So we actually have, like, coastal flood advisories in effect for, like, the New Jersey coast because that greater gravitational pull when the moon is closer toward the earth creates slightly bigger waves.
LEMON: I can't wait to see it. But so anytime -- there's not a special time to watch it. Anytime tonight when the moon is up, it will be...
JERAS: Well, it's at that big peak around 11:30 Eastern.
LEMON: Around 11:30 Eastern.
JERAS: ... time, but as it's rising on the horizon, it will actually appear bigger than normal. So if you can especially get, like, a tree line or a house or something in the foreground...
LEMON: Got it.
JERAS: ... it'll make it look bigger than normal.
LEMON: So when we're driving home tonight, it'll be at peak time. I'll be looking...
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: ... driving around, looking like that.
JERAS: Yes.
LEMON: Thank you, Jacqui.
JERAS: Be safe, though.
LEMON: See you soon.
JERAS: Pull over.
LEMON: All right. Will do. Thank you very much.
We want to talk to you about this now. One baby an hour, believe it or not, born addicted, a shocking statistic. And now in one state, a felony for the mother. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, that sound right there means it's time to check headlines. Five men accused of plotting the September 11th attacks are being arraigned in Guantanamo Bay, among them, alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The suspects have been silent for most of the proceedings, but there was a brief outburst when one of them yelled, quote, "They are going to kill us."
President Obama speaking this hour in Richmond, Virginia, the second of two stops as he kicks off his re-election campaign. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- friends in Congress think that the same bad ideas will lead to a different result.
(SHOUTING)
OBAMA: Or they're just hoping that you won't remember what happened the last time we tried it their way.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Virginia, I'm here to say that we were there.
(SHOUTING)
OBAMA: We remember.
(SHOUTING)
OBAMA: And we're not going back.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: We're moving this country forward.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, the president in full campaign mode in Richmond, Virginia. He's highlighting his accomplishments there while also reminding the crowd that he's well aware there's still plenty of work to do on the economy. We'll continue to monitor.
A former adviser to John Edwards has testified he repeatedly urged the then-Democratic presidential candidate to steer clear of his mistress, and that Edwards refused and told him to back off. Prosecutors say Edwards broke federal law by accepting money from wealthy donors to pay for Rielle Hunter's living and medical expenses. Convicted, Edwards could face up to 30 years in prison.
Tennessee state police have issued an Amber Alert for three sisters seen over a week ago. Police say the girls, ages 14, 12, and 8, may be in extreme danger after they were abducted by 35-year-old Adam Mays. He is thought to be armed and possibly taking the children to Arizona or Mississippi. Keep an eye out.
A controversial Alabama law has attracted the attention of a number of women's groups and the ACLU. It's was designed to crack down on parents who expose their children to methamphetamine labs, but now that same law is being applied to women who take illegal drugs while pregnant.
Attorney Karen Conti joins me now from Chicago.
Thank you for joining me, Karen.
First of all --
KAREN CONTI, ATTORNEY: Hi, Don. How are you?
LEMON: I'm doing very well. Thank you.
First, are health officials allowed to drug test a newborn without the mother's consent?
CONTI: They are. The Supreme Court said no, that is a circle seizure, and it's illegal if you don't give consent. What the hospital staff would have to do is, if they suspected a drug or alcohol problem, they would have to get a warrant.
LEMON: Some are saying and arguing that the law as it's being applied now violates a woman's constitutional rights. So what are those rights?
CONTI: Well, you know, a woman certainly doesn't have a constitutional right to do drugs and a pregnant woman doesn't have the constitutional right to harm her child. But there are issues, are we focusing on just pregnant women, just women, and is that discriminatory in nature. And that's a question.
LEMON: Yes. As you say, they don't have a right to do drugs. Absolutely. People say a constitutional right to privacy, no one is saying it's right to do drugs, but a constitutional right to privacy.
CONTI: That's right. There is some thought if you have a human being inside of you and you're doing something to harm that human being, the law does allow the government to step in and say you can't do that.
LEMON: Harming someone else.
OK, so listen, according to "New York Times," the case is going to the Alabama Supreme Court in the next few months. So what is the court going to consider when making this decision?
CONTI: Well, the terms of this statute really apply to people bringing their kids to meth labs and having the meth labs explode in their faces. That's what this law was designed to do. Nowhere in the statute does it say this is about a pregnant woman or the womb or a right to fetus to life. None of that has to do with this law. I think the Supreme Court here, the state Supreme Court is going to strike down the law and say, listen, if you want to make it illegal to take drugs while you're pregnant, then pass a law that says that. This law does not say that.
LEMON: Karen, the interesting thing is, I guess, you know, everyone wants to help the mothers and to help the child, right? This is about addiction, and when you're addicted, many people can't help themselves. Do you actually think that this is going to deter mothers from doing drugs while they're pregnant?
CONTI: I think not. And it's going to have very bad adverse effects here because what is going to happen is the women aren't going to seek addiction treatment, aren't going to seek addiction care, and many are going to decide to have the child in their home and not go to the hospital because they don't want to be arrested. Though we want to protect the kids, right, we can't do these things if it's going to harm the child more.
LEMON: Karen --
CONTI: I think that's what's going to happen.
LEMON: -- the question is, too -- you touched on this -- where does it end? Is the mothers who smoke, because smoking is harmful; mothers who drink, because drinking is harmful? If you eat bad foods, that could be harmful to your child? A number of other things --
CONTI: Right.
LEMON: -- not getting enough sleep, not exercising, what have you. Where does it end?
CONTI: Where does it end? And what about the woman who is anorexic and doesn't eat enough to nourish her child? About a guy who has sex with a known meth addict? Is he conspiring to commit chemical endangerment? It's a slippery slope. The law needs to be firmed up if we're going to have one.
LEMON: Karen Conti, appreciate your advice. Thank you so much.
CONTI: Thanks, Don. Take care.
LEMON: He's known for his punches from his fist and also his mouth. Boxer Floyd Mayworth, hear what he has to say about jail, his dad, and oh, yes, this year's biggest, biggest fight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CNN HEROES)
LEMON: All right, so this is what everyone has been tweeting me about. Here you go. Sit down. The biggest fight of the year so far, just hours away in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather Jr challenging Miguel Cotto for the WBA super welter weight title. With a mouth as quick as his fist, Mayweather has never lacked for talent or trash talk. You better believe that. I spoke with him about what will happen tonight after he and Cotto touch gloves. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR, FIVE-DIVISION WORLD CHAMPION BOXER: It's going to be a real exciting fight. The Puerto Rican boxing background is truly amazing. He's the king at 154. I'm the pound-for-pound king. So when you bring the two together, you get a very, very exciting fight.
LEMON: But I already know who you say is going to win, and that would be who?
MAYWEATHER: I believe in my skill. I believe in myself always.
LEMON: Hey, listen, I have to ask you this because I have been reading a lot about you today. You have been everywhere. They're saying this is like the largest -- the biggest amount of money anyone, any athlete has ever gotten. Does that put any added pressure on you?
MAYWEATHER: I'm just very, very thankful. You know, I'm blessed to be in this position. The fans, you know, all the fans, the fans have supported me for 16 years. And I have been just dedicated to my job, which is boxing.
LEMON: Do you put a time limit on yourself? You have a handful of fights left. It's not going to last forever. Are you ready for that?
MAYWEATHER: Well, you know, nothing lasts forever. But you know, you just be thankful for the position that you're in. You take advantage of it while you're in the position.
LEMON: Even you, you put a deadline on yourself. You said, "I'm only going to do it so long. I only have so many fights left in me." Why put a deadline on yourself? It seems like you're at the top of your game right now.
MAYWEATHER: There's a limit to everything. I want to move on to different things. Spend more time with my family, and do a lot of things I didn't get to do. So you know, it's a deadline for everything.
LEMON: You want to move on and do what, like what?
MAYWEATHER: The main thing is just, you know, give my children a lot of my time, and spend a lot of time with my mother. She's getting older, and that's very, very important to me.
LEMON: Yes, I'm going to quote you here. You said that you're guaranteed the $32 million -- the $32 million that you're guaranteed. You said money to you is "nothing but comfort." You know, why do you say that, when your name is Money Mayweather?
MAYWEATHER: It's out with the old, in with the new. I didn't give myself that name. Everyone else gave me that name. It's just a nickname. It doesn't have to do with money. But they call me Money Mayweather. And you know, I make a lot of money in the sport of boxing, but I'm blessed to be where I'm at. LEMON: All right.
MAYWEATHER: I'm blessed to be where I'm at.
LEMON: Listen, you make a lot of money, and I'm going to ask you this, because I ask every professional athlete this. I read about you and it said, "In recent weeks you put a single bet for $1.3 million Kentucky's basketball team, you sent an assistant to fetch $2,000 in lottery tickets, you put your Rolls Royce Phantom, on eBay," and on and on. Are you going to have money in 10 years at this rate?
MAYWEATHER: A lot of these stories that you are hearing are not true. I mean, no one can predict the future. I can't say what the future will be. Floyd Mayweather or anyone else. Only God knows what the future is going to be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Tonight, Floyd Mayweather will be in a ring, and in less than a month, will be in a cell for domestic violence against his ex.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYWEATHER: It's just like any situation. With O.J. and Nicole, you saw pictures of her battered. And a lot of domestic cases, you see the women battered. And beat up. You have yet to see pictures of a woman battered or beat up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We'll hear more from Floyd Mayweather on the jail sentence that looms after his payday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Floyd Mayweather Jr will pocket a guaranteed $32 million regardless of whether he beats Miguel Cotto in the ring. In less than a month, he reports to jail for battery of his ex-girlfriend. I got into that with him and the often volatile relationship he has with his father.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I watched the HBO special with you and your dad. You have this very tense relationship. You enjoy each other and then, all of a sudden, a big fight breaks out. And you also said you want to try to repair your relationship with your father. What do you mean by that? How are you doing it?
MAYWEATHER: I just -- I wish my dad nothing but the best. No hard feelings. It's like any family. Different families go through downs. But the thing is with me and my father, my father, he sometimes can be stuck in his ways. But it's no hard feelings.
LEMON: After this fight, you're going to -- you live in a mansion now. You're going to have to spend time in the confines of a small jail cell. Does that -- is that a distraction for you? You smile when I ask you that question. Why do you smile? You're not worried about that, Floyd?
MAYWEATHER: No, I just like how you said it.
(LAUGHTER)
When that presents itself, I'll deal with it. But as of right now, my main focus is just going out there and performing and performing well. When my jail sentence -- when it's time to deal with that, I'll deal with it.
LEMON: There may be some women out there who might be fans of yours but then they hear about domestic violence and that sort of thing, and they go, oh, that guy. If you're not guilty of it, of your -- hurting your ex-girlfriend, then why -- why take a play then?
MAYWEATHER: You just said you have watched 24/7. I don't want to drag my children or my family through the mud. It's just like any situation. With O.J. and Nicole, you see pictures of her battered. In a lot of domestic situations you see the woman battered or beat up. You have yet to see pictures of a woman battered or beat up. When all is said and done, only God can judge me.
LEMON: You're going to be spending time in jail when Manny Pacquiao is going to be fighting in Vegas. Did you ever think about that, the irony that you guys haven't fought each other yet, you're going to be in jail, he's going to be fighting, and where you are in jail in the same city?
MAYWEATHER: I wish Manny Pacquiao nothing but the best. I think he's fighting Timothy Brownly (ph). I wish him nothing but the best.
LEMON: When are you two going to fight? That's the match everyone wants to see. They keep saying there's an excuse there, there's an excuse there. When are you two going to get into the ring?
MAYWEATHER: Bob Aaron, which is Manny Pacquiao' promoters, he's in the way. I can't be out here chasing a fighter. Only thing I ask is that if you're the best, take the test. Miguel Cotto took the test. Shame Mobley (ph) took the test. Marquez took the test. I mean -- Ortiz took the test. I'm taking the test just to clean up the sport of boxing.
LEMON: If we held this interview on Sunday, the day after the fight, what will I be interviewing? Will I be interviewing you or will I be interviewing Cotto for the win?
MAYWEATHER: Most likely, 90 percent --
(LAUGHTER)
-- 100 percent chance you're going to be interviewing me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Oh, yes. He is confident. He is confident. That fight just hours away. Great conversation.
Thank you, Floyd Mayweather.
Good luck to both men.
Coming up, teaching dolphins how to be dolphins again. Rescued from disgusting conditions at a tourist attraction, they had to relearn their natural instincts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In today's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with a firefighter who battled to reclaim his life after nearly dying on the streets of New York.
(HUMAN FACTOR)
LEMON: All right, Doctor.
Two rescued dolphins are ready to head home. Our Ivan Watson tells us about the group that had to reignite the dolphins' natural instincts so they could live in the wild.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Tom and Misha, two male bottle-nosed dolphins on a remarkable journey.
Originally captured in the wild and now, after years in captivity, they're about to get their freedom.
JEFF FOSTER, DOLPHIN EXPERT, BORN FREE: What we're trying to do is right a wrong, trying to bring them back and give them an opportunity to be wild again.
Hi, Thomas.
WATSON: Tom and Misha first attracted the attention of animal rights activists two years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
WATSON: They were being kept at this Turkish resort where tourists paid to swim with the dolphins in a shallow, filthy load.
FOSTER: The fecal material was building up on the bottom and the water was turning green like a stagnant swimming pool basically. So they were living in their own feces.
WATSON: Activists successfully campaigned to rescue the dolphins and eventually brought them to this sea pen off the Turkish coast. For more than a year, the animals have been in the care of a team from the wildlife conservation group Born Free, led by Marine mammal expert, Jeff Foster.
FOSTER: It's like taking your dog. For years, you've been training these animals to interact with people and depend on people, and then we have to retrain them to be wild.
WATSON: One of the biggest challenges has been teaching these dolphins how to hunt for their own food.
FOSTER: We had literally thousands of fish in the pen and they just would look at them because they've been so used to being hand fed in a captive situation that they didn't recognize fish as a food source.
WATSON: But now Tom and Misha somersault and flip like pros in pursuit of their prey.
They'll be suited with satellite trackers in a couple days so Foster can monitor these animals after their release.
(on camera): Your dream for this guy when he's released is what?
FOSTER: Is a lifetime in the wild, if possible?
WATSON (voice-over): Their biggest danger in the wild will come from human beings, from their fishing nets, their motor boat engines and propellers and from the pollutants that come out of cities like this, from the very same species that have held them captive and that have fed them for years.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Ah, there's hope.
I want to get you back to Virginia now before we get out of here. Commonwealth University, the president on his first official day of campaigning. Obviously, there's going to a lot of this, a whole heck of a lot of this. Everybody's campaigning. It's not giving policy, he's campaigning, folks.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Mr. Wolf Blitzer begins right now.
