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Different Religious Groups have Different Views on President Obama's Declaration to Favor Same-Sex Marriage; Amy Copeland is a Victim of Flesh Eating Bacteria;

Aired May 13, 2012 - 22:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Camera three.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Barack Obama, "the first gay president." a controversial cover, yes, but is it fair?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don on camera two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say what I'm going to say.

LEMON: Parallels or hypocrisy. The black community's role in the fight for gay rights. One civil rights leader speaks his mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have about 30 seconds.

LEMON: And a flesh-eating disease, rare, un-curable and contracted right here in her own backyard. Tonight a father speaks out on his daughter's fight for her life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand by.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for joining us tonight on CNN.

Here are tonight's big stories and what we're working on for tomorrow.

The Senate Homeland security committee is going to hold a hearing on the secret service prostitution scandal. Agency director Mark Sullivan will testify at the hearing on May 23rd. The scandal erupted last month just before President Obama's trip to Colombia. So far, nine secret service employees have lost their jobs.

Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson padded his resume and now he is out of a job. Thompson's official bio stated that he held two degrees in accounting and computer science. But it turns out his only degree is in accounting. He -- the only CEO -- he's held the job since January. Yahoo! Says its media chief Ross Levinsohn will be named the company's new CEO.

The $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan is reportedly going to cost the top company executive her job, and it's renewing talk about how to prevent another wall street financial crisis. The "Wall Street Journal" and the "New York Times" report that JPMorgan's chief investment officer could be out as soon as tomorrow.

Lawyers for John Edwards will begin their defense of the former senator tomorrow. The judge on Friday refused a request to dismiss the case. The trial has been filled with testimony about efforts to keep Edwards' then pregnant mistress hidden from the public.

A call for prayer for the president. His approval of same-sex marriage at ads with teachings in many churches across America.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: In the pews and in the pulpits some followers open to the idea of two men or two women getting married. But many others side with Republicans like RNC chair Reince Priebus. Here's what he told NBC today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I don't think it's a matter of civil rights. I think it's just a matter of whether or not we are going adhere to something that's been historical and religious and legal in this country for many, many years. I mean, marriage has to have a definition, and we just happen to believe it's between a man and a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Priebus doesn't see it as a civil rights issue, but many renowned black leaders do. And you're going to hear from civil rights icon reverend Joseph Lowery in just a moment here on CNN.

Black searches in particular have a lot to reconcile over same- sex marriage. They are a major source of support for the president on most issues. But as our Athena Jones reports, some just won't follow him down this path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Baltimore --

REVEREND DOCTOR EMMETT BURNS, THE RISING SUN BAPTIST CHURCH: I love the president, but I cannot support what he has done.

JONES: To Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not mad with the president.

JONES: To New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's no one's business. It's only the couple's involvement so it shouldn't be a community -- shouldn't be a community concern. JONES: Black pastors and church-goers tackle the topic of same- sex marriage Sunday, days after President Obama expressed his support for t. At Shiloh Baptist church in Washington where the Obama's celebrated Easter last year, Reverend Wallace Charles Smith believes the president got it wrong.

REVEREND DOCTOR WALLACE CHARLES SMITH, SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH: We would have preferred, had he not, you know, weighed in on the issue.

JONES: But he and his congregation have been praying for President Obama every Sunday for years, and this day was no different.

SMITH: Will this hurt the African-American community support for the president in the upcoming election? Well, I would hope not. We've got some larger challenges that we've got to struggle with.

JONES: Darryl Wise, a Shiloh member who is gay, says the president took a courageous stand.

DARRYL WISE, SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH MEMBER: As a black gay male and also as a Baptist, I feel that, you know, things -- you know, will change and opinions will change. And I don't think I have to do is lift it up to the Lord.

JONES: While African-Americans have been a strong base of support for the president, polls show they are more likely than whites to oppose same-sex marriage, and that opposition has softened in recent years.

But in Baltimore Pastor Emmitt Burns is so upset, he publicly withdrew his support for President Obama Sunday and says the issue will cost him the election.

BURNS: People I know, people have come up to me, are saying that they don't support this. They don't like this. They are disappointed with the president, and they plan to stay home. I don't plan to vote for Romney for sure. Right now I plan to stay home.

JONES: Burns, who is also a Maryland legislator, is leading a petition drive to force a public vote on a new state law legalizing same-sex marriages.

Athena Jones, CNN. Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: President Obama does have supporters on this among black leaders. He has some support like Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, Melanie Campbell and the Reverend Joseph Lowery. They all sent him an open letter cheering his stance on same-sex marriage and Reverend Lowery says it's time for the black community to come around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Why isn't the black community more accepting, and why aren't they the first people raising their hands going, of course, all of us should be -- should have equal rights?

REVEREND JOSEPH LOWERY, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Well, I don't want to say what I'm going to say.

LEMON: But you're going to say it anyway?

LOWERY: I will say it anyway. There's a little hypocrisy here. We have had gay issues in the black church longer than we've been willing to discuss it. But we've got to come to the point, and we are coming to the point that we're going to accept the freedom of -- I mean, we're going to accept the fact that nobody has a right to dictate to you who you're going to spend your life with.

LEMON: Back in October when I -- you know, when you had your illustrious birthday, right? I asked you about this issue, and YOU said that you were for same-sex marriage then. You said it first you think it would have been easier if it was civil unions, but you can't tell someone that they shouldn't have the same rights as you.

You also said to me the bible says a lot of things about a lot of things and there are other things in the bible that people don't put as much weight on, and they -- they pick and choose things that they like to.

LOWERY: I don't see as much concern about adultery which the bible speaks against much more often than the issue of sex or homosexuality. And besides, there's some place in the bible, some guy named Paul says slaves, obey your master.

I'm sorry, but I'm not ever going to get in accord with that one and I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do before I obey. And so, we've got to understand that there is room in the bible to accept the spirit of Christ.

There's a book called "Red Letter Christians." What it means is that what he really puts all his heart and soul on in the bible are those things in some bibles written in red ink. They are the quotes of Jesus.

LEMON: Jesus, right.

LOWERY: And if you can find in that red letter some reference to this, we'll have another discussion, but right now Jesus didn't bother with it, and neither am I. And I think -- I think we've got to get our hearts and minds on jobs and the economy and stop letting these issues distract us.

LEMON: Can we talk about the letter. Because I know Friday there was a call with the ministers, and they wanted to get the church on board before mother's day, and you signed on to this letter.

According to -- to one source for CNN, the White House had another clergy meeting. That was yesterday. They are nervous, even before this polling of black folks, not what they thought it would be.

So you sign on to this letter. Do you think it's going to make a difference? Are you wore any way that this is going to hurt the president politically?

LOWERY: I don't think so. I think -- Martin Luther King said in addition to the bible that you can't discriminate against some and not against others, but he also said that America was a ten day a nation. He said we get excited and upset about some issues for ten days. After ten days it's back to business as usual.

I think these preachers are going to be upset for a month or two, but when election time comes, they are going to vote for the person who offers the most hope to America for a better day, for all of God's children. And I think they are going to vote a fellow named Barack Obama.

LEMON: My question last night, is it more important to be a good Christian or more important to support the first African-American president of the United States, and that's a dilemma for a lot of African-Americans.

LOWERY: It's easier to do both.

LEMON: To do both. Thank you, youngster. Always good to see you.

LOWERY: Thank you, old man.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Reverend Joseph Lowery.

Well, there is a controversial cover page, no doubt, that you're looking at, but did "Newsweek" hit the mark with this one? It's asking, well it's saying Barack Obama is the first gay president.

Plus, a story developing right now could impact your bottom line tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Who knew America had a gay president? "Newsweek" says he's in the White House right now. A provocative cover and a perfect way to get into our discussion with CNN contributors Will Cain and Lz Granderson. Is he the first gay president?

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, it's a provocative cover, but I -- I have no idea what they are supposed to mean by that headline. I mean, if they are saying, you know, as far as a president supporting gay rights, you know, General Ford supported gay rights before President Clinton did. And if they mean an actual gay president, you know, historians are looking at the letters of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and pegging those two guys as being gay presidents.

So, I'm not sure what they meant by that, but the cover at least is provocative. LEMON: Yes, I think -- I think I get it. I haven't read the article. I read what Andrew Sullivan wrote in "the Daily Beast" earlier in the week which was a very eloquent and heart-felt article. I haven't read the "Newsweek" article yet because it hasn't been released.

I think I get what we mean. It's kind a like we called Bill Clinton the first black president, so --

GRANDERSON: You might call him that. I'm not going to.

LEMON: Well, that's what people said. But judging from what Andrew Sullivan said about gay kids who were bullied and gay people who finally have some degree of validation maybe for the first time because of what President Obama said, I think that's what that cover means. That's just my interpretation.

Will, go ahead.

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first Lz, I would say, man, that's the first I heard of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. You are teaching me some history tonight. I would say the rumors have been flying about James Buchanan for about 150 years. So, I don't know that by any measure Obama qualifies as the first gay president.

But look. For anyone, and that would will include both Lz and myself who supports gay marriage, this is a good symbolic moment and the president deserves a round of applause.

You know, I don't think we should canonize him. I don't think we should carve out on a place on Mt. Rushmore just yet. I mean, he did adopt Dick Cheney position that he's personally for it but he is not going to fight for it. He is not going to advocate for it by any meaningful measure.

LEMON: At least not this time. At least not this time.

CAIN: That's right.

LEMON: Because you can always evolve.

CAIN: Right.

Right, right. We can -- I don't know how this evolution thing works. So, we will have to see about that.

GRANDERSON: You can --

LEMON: There's a joke in there, I'm not going to go there.

GRANDERSON: He has already taken steps. Because he, you know, he instructed his department of justice not to defend the defense of marriage act, and he called it unconstitutional. So, you can say he has already made steps prior to this announcement in terms of supporting marriage equality in a policy sort of way.

LEMON: OK. Rand Paul talking about this on Friday. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: The president, you know, recently weighed in on marriage, and, you know, he said that his views were evolving on marriage. And call me cynical, but I wasn't sure that his views on marriage could get any gayer.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So there were lots of laughs there, Will, for Rand Paul's comments. And listen, you know me. I've said this to you. I think the worst thing is for someone not to have a sense of humor, and I thought -- there's context for everything. I thought it was a funny joke. I probably would have laughed at it unless he was -- unless it was meant in a demeaning way. But otherwise as a joke, I think it's funny. What do you think?

CAIN: No, I don't even get it, Don. I might need you to explain that to me again. Because what does that mean? I don't think his position to get any gayer. Wasn't the president opposed to gay marriage just a week ago, so how was his position somewhere that Rand Paul would define as gay before that?

By the way, what does he mean by gay, does he simply mean in some kind of derogatory light? Does he mean it was actually a homosexual position? I don't get the joke.

LEMON: That's what I said, context is everything, but if he's just making a joke about supporting same-sex marriage, I didn't think you can get any gayer, then the joke is funny. As I said, if he means it in a derogatory way, then it's not funny.

Lz?

GRANDERSON: Yes. You know, I'm with you on this, Don. You know, without seeing what was before that clip.

LEMON: Right.

GRANDERSON: It's hard to tell exactly where he was coming from with it. But one thing I will say is that a number of people on both sides of the aisle are not necessarily surprised that President Obama feels this way, and that's because of the policies that he's placed in -- you know, on his agenda essentially since he got into the White House.

And so, for him to say this isn't really that big of a surprise. And I get that from, you know, Rand Paul's joke. And you know, Rand Paul is one of the guys I really like. I don't always agree with him, but there are things that I wish I join and things I disagree. But he seems to be the kind of voice that you want in Washington because he's able to go into that kind of a joke and -- and, you know, with his head up high and, you know, I thought he nailed it. LEMON: All right. Thanks, Lz and Will.

Fifteen months and more than 9,000 people killed since Syrians began protesting against their government. Next, a report from the Syrian border.

And don't forget tomorrow as you're heading out to work, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone, and while you're at work. you can also watch CNN live from your desktop. That's right, CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It has been one month since a ceasefire was declared in Syria. What does a country have to show for it now? More bloodshed, more turmoil and more questions about whether this rebellion could lead to real change.

CNN's Ivan Watson has more from the border between Turkey and Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is striking is that it's 15 months now that Syrians have been protesting and conducting this uprising against their government. We have seen incredible amounts of violence by conservative estimates more than 9,000 people killed with artillery and tanks and helicopters against opposition demonstrators, and they have grown increasingly armed. And despite that incredible loss of life, there is no sign in sight that the population is willing to give up this rebellion. You have people proudly flying the flag of the opposition.

We met rebels that are -- look to be better armed than we've seen in months past. They have better uniforms than they have had in the past. They seem to be better mobilized as well in preparing what appears to be for what they think may be the next phase in the fighting there.

And we also talked to some of the civilians who have suffered. I talked to a mother who had lost three of her sons, three of her sons who tried to defend their village from two subsequent Syrian military attacks on their village, and she described how her house was destroyed, how her life stock was even killed.

The conflict there is far from over despite the fact that there's been a ceasefire, that the Syrian government and the rebels have nominally agreed to for weeks now, and there are no signs that the population that is protesting against the government is going to give up the rebellion in the last 15 months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Ivan Watson reporting and Monday night's CNN Anderson Cooper reports live from the Middle East from the turmoil in Syria. Watch "a c360," live in the Syrian border with Turkey. CNN Monday night, 8:00 Eastern.

In Spain, police in Madrid proved that government wasn't bluffing when they demanded some 30,000 protesters leave the plaza.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: Early Sunday, they chased out demonstrators who spent the night in the city's central square. Eighteen people were arrested. Tens of thousands of people took part in the weekend of marches across the country to protest the government's austerity cuts.

Wall street's jitters over Europe may not be over. Greece could be heading towards a new election, one that could lead to its exit from the Euro Zone. Political leaders are set to meet tomorrow to discuss the new government, but no one seems able to pull enough support to create a coalition. That's a big problem because if they can't agree, Greece will have to hold a new election.

The war in Afghanistan claimed two more lives today while the peace effort lost a key figure. Gunmen assassinated a former Taliban member who had turned his back on the militants to work with the peace council established by President Karzai. NATO lost two soldiers as well today killed in an IED attack in eastern Afghanistan. Well, that brings the death toll for the coalition to eight in the past three days.

A gruesome scene in northern Mexico today where police found -- have found 49 bodies left along a highway. Some decapitated and dismembered. I talked with our senior Latin American affairs editor Rafael Romo about what police believe happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: This is all due to a big turf war between two drug cartels. One is the Los Zetas and the other one, Gulf Cartel. They are fighting for the territory because it's a big transit point for drugs coming from south America to the United States and that's one of the possibility.

The other possibility, Don, is that, it may be migrants coming from Central America. That part of Mexico, some refer to it as the Mexican Bermuda triangle because people disappear, people are robbed, people are killed in that part of Mexico. And one question that reporters had this afternoon in the middle of a press conference was why were they all decapitated?

LEMON: Right.

ROMO: Why were they all dismembered and this is what one of the prosecutors had to say. Let's listen.

JORGE DOMENE, NUEVO LEON DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY (through translator): In every single case and in order to complicate the identification process, the victims were missing their head, and they also had their upper and lower extremities mutilated.

ROMO: And so, the idea here was to make it as complicated as possible for police to identify these bodies.

LEMON: So was it then -- what does it say? Does it say that this fighting is between cartels, or were there any civilians or foreigners targeted or just the cartels, do they believe?

ROMO: No indication at this point that any civilians or foreigners are being targeted. There was a sign found right next to the bodies on a wall that said 100 percent z referring to the cartel that I was talking about. So, that's a big possibility and that's the line of investigation authorities are going through.

LEMON: So is it just -- is it just the drugs and the fighting? Is that what makes this part of Mexico so dangerous? Is that the main issue here?

ROMO: That's exactly right. All the border states, especially those south of Texas, we're talking about (INAUDIBLE) are very lucrative transit points for Mexico criminal organization. And all the violence you see there is because they are trying to gain control of that area because in the end the bottom line is money, and those areas are very lucrative.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Turning now to politics.

Mitt Romney got thunderous applause at Liberty University with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: But how might that sound a decade from now? You don't want to miss my "no talking points."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now to the big stories in the week ahead from Wall Street to Hollywood, our correspondents tell you what you need to know. We begin tonight with the week ahead in business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

Well, come up this week, some key economic news in earnings. We'll get the latest retail sales numbers as well as readings on inflation and home building. On the earnings front investors will be watching very keenly from results from group on. Those come Monday ahead of facebook's IPO set for the end of the week.

We'll also get the latest numbers from home depot, Target and Walmart. We'll track it all for you all week on CNN money.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: I'm "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer. Here's what we're watching this week.

Real housewife Teresa Guidice reveals to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" how her family went broke. And I'm going one-on-one with a superstar cast of "Glee." Be sure to catch "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" exclusively weeknights at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and pacific on HLN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. It is half past the hour now. Coming up on half past the hour, you'll get you updated on the headlines.

The Senate Homeland security committee plans a hearing on the secret service prostitution scandal. It is scheduled for May 23rd, and agency director Mark Sullivan will testify. The scandal erupted last month just as President Obama arrived in Colombia for a summit. And so far nine secret service employees have lost their jobs.

President Obama gave churches plenty of material for Sunday's sermons today. Five churches in particular having a problem with the support for same-sex marriage. One plaque minister in Baltimore even publicly withdrew his support for Mr. Obama, but the president does have the confidence of civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton and Joseph Lowery who sent him an open letter of support.

Yahoo! Has fired its CEO Scott Thompson because he claimed a college degree he never had. Thompson's official bio state that had he held two degrees in accounting and computer science, but it turns out his only degree is in accounting. Yahoo! Says its media chief Ross Levinsohn will be named the company's new CEO.

A legendary bass guitarist has dined. His name is Duck Dunn, and he played with some of the greats of rock 'n' roll. Dunn played bass for Booker T & the MGs. He was also a member of the famed Blues Brothers and was in the original 1980s film of the same name. He performed in recordings with Eric Clapton and Neil Young.

He died in Tokyo. He was 70 years old. Here he is playing the instrumental green onions. Good stuff.

Now to movies, "Thor, Captain America, the Hulk and the rest of the gang, they are on track to break a huge record. "The Avengers" is slated to top $1 billion in sales worldwide this weekend. The superhero flick already had the highest domestic box office debut of all time.

It is time now for "no talking points." All right. I'm going to warn you because I'm going to tick a whole lot of people off here. The subject tonight words that come back to haunt you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GEORGE WALLACE (D), ARIZONA: And I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Honestly, can you imagine having uttered those words in front of television cameras or being one of those people in the crowd cheering on Alabama's governor George Wallace? That wasn't so long ago. It was 1960s. Think about how far we have come and think about what this might sound like a few decades from now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I'm not singling out just Mitt Romney and Republicans, black folks, listen to some of your own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND RALPH MARTINO, FIRST CHURCH OF WASHINGTON: This is the fruit of a decision that is not grounded in scripture.

BURNS: It's opening the doors for gays in the military to serve openly. So, the next step is to go over the states period.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt very hurt and disappointed, surprised. I did not know that he would do that. I did not think he would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just disagree with him on the issue of gay marriage per se. I think -- I think it's between a man and a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It is certainly OK to disagree with anyone, to disagree with the president. But what's not OK is when your disagreement is based on interpretation and how someone told you to think or to feel. And when it's not based on fact and true self-examination.

Just the other day on another network Michael Eric Dyson offered some great advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Black Christians must be deeply rooted in their faith but not deeply entrenched in bigotry. And furthermore, do we want to become sexual red next? \ (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Sexual red next. What professor Dyson is urging black people to do is not fall for the same rhetoric, the same teachings and the same scripture that bigots used to keep black people on the back of the bus and to keep people from marrying outside their race. Do you really want to be less accepting than the man many of you thought cold hearted, vice president Dick Cheney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So I'll end where I started with Alabama governor George Wallace who once stood in front of the entrance of a school to block black students, who vehemently opposed blacks and whites marrying each other.

But he, too, evolved and later recognized his own ignorance, his own bigotry and his own hatred. And about those words that came back to haunt him and he said, and I quote here, "I never should have said it because it wasn't true. I saw then that a house divided could not stand, that black and white people had to live with each other."

It took him almost to the end of his life decades to get there to do it, so I will simply ask, when it comes to this marriage rights issue, do you really want to wait that long?

And that's tonight's "no talking points."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Flesh-eating bacteria. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, think about being forced to watch it ravage the body of someone you love. It's a reality for the Copeland family right here in Georgia. 24-year-old Amy is fighting to stay alive. Her life and the lives of her family turned upside down 12 days ago. That's when Amy and some of her friends went to the Little Pewsa river about 50 miles outside of Atlanta.

Amy was on a homemade zip line when it snapped and gashed her leg. That's when the violent bacteria entered her body. She has lost the leg and part of her abdomen to the tissue-destroying bacteria. And I spoke with her father this evening and found out what he is not telling his daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY COPELAND, FATHER OF FLESH EATING VICTIM (via telephone): She actually does communicate with us through a series of head shakes and nods. We just basically kind of have to also do a little bit of lip reading, so she's actually holding up very well. She is, of course, medicated throughout this period. And, you know, occasionally she will remember things. Sometimes she won't, but I think that's just a process of the medication.

LEMON: OK. So she lost a leg, part of her abdomen. She is fighting. You said she's medicated, and she -- just to breathe it's really hard for her. But because of this bacteria, she may also lose her hands and her remaining foot, but she doesn't know that yet, and you're not telling her?

COPELAND: Well, you know, no, we haven't. Probably if we were to tell her, she would probably forget it by the time she woke up the next day. I understand, you know, that in fact I believe when the time comes, it will be revealed. I really am leading to the experts here. Leaning on the experts to let them make the determination for when the time is right. But -- and there will be. There's some good therapy here. They have a good psychiatrist on staff. There's good support groups, and I have every confidence that Amy will be able to overcome this.

LEMON: At this point it's really not necessary. Why even add that extra degree of burden on her. She's already in pain.

COPELAND: Absolutely.

LEMON: You've been chronicling your daughter's fight with posts online, and you're counting down to what you're calling Amy day.

COPELAND: Yes.

LEMON: Tell us about it.

COPELAND: Well, I -- I believe Amy day is the day that we get to hear Amy speak. To me, Amy day is the day that they pull the tube out of her -- out of her chest and basically she is allowed to breathe on her own. When her lungs are fully repaired and healed, I think that's just a day that we can all join together and rejoice because that's really the first step toward I think what I would -- what I would call full recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Thanks to Andy Copeland.

After 70 years a world war II fighter plane turns up in Egypt. That's one mystery down. Next, trying to figure out what happened to the pilot and how it went unnoticed for so long.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A world war II plane found in the Egyptian desert. Will its discovery finally solve the mystery of what happened to its pilot?

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the story for you. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sat quietly for 70 years in the Egyptian desert, waiting for someone to find it. The wreckage of a British royal air force P-40, one of hundreds of Kitty Hawk fighter bombers that took on the Nazis across north Africa.

A polish oil worker exploring the Egyptian desert just came across the wreckage and took these extraordinary images. The plane mostly intact after decades in the desert. The cockpit controls from an era gone by, enough to inspire even modern fighter pilots.

COMMODORE KEN MCCANN, U.K. AIR ATTACHE: I just thought what an amazing, amazing story for an aircraft 70 years ago to have gone down in the desert to be in such good condition and to be found intact after all these years.

STARR: Even some ammunition and guns remain. This archive film shows the plane in action in world war II. In north Africa its job, to protect troops on the ground fighting the Nazis.

MCCANN: It was an absolute work horse. It flew extensively throughout that campaign, and -- and some may well say it was decisive in tipping the balance in favor of the allies in North Africa.

STARR: Records show the plane went down in the Sahara desert on June 28th, 1942. According to British newspapers, the pilot is thought to be flight sergeant Dennis Copping.

ANDY SAUNDERS, MILITARY AVIATION HISTORIAN: I think the important part of the story is the story of the man that was flying it and what happened to him.

STARR: It's believed he was flying the already damaged plane to a repair site when he crashed. These bullet holes, a mystery. Was he shot down? Parachute remnants suggest the young pilot survived and tried to make himself a shelter from the hot sun, but no remains have been found. He may have died in the burning desert looking for help.

The British military will now visit the desert wreckage site in the coming days and try to make a determination about whether it is feasible to begin a search for the remains of a young world war II pilot who's been missing for so many years.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. Speaking of world war II, never let it be said you're too old for anything.

Tonight the story of the 89-year-old who was sidetracked by war but never took his eyes off the prize. Janell Lily from our affiliate KATV in Arkansas has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANELL LILY, REPORTER, KATV (voice-over): The pomp and circumstance of graduation day. As proud parents scanned the capped crowd for their graduate, they might have noticed some silver hair peeking out from one of those caps.

That man with the contagious smile is Charlie Ball who first attended Arkansas tech back in 1941, but December 7th and pearl harbor changed his plans.

CHARLIE BALL, 89-YEAR-OLD GRADUATE: Joined the army air corps, and they sent me for pilots' training down in Texas.

LILY: When the war ended Charlie picked up a few classes here and there and went to work with his father. But, as the years went on, he became a grand parks and he knew he wanted to set an example so he worked with tech to compile his transcripts.

DOCTOR ROBERT BROWN, PRESIDENT, ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY: We were able to put all that together and we discovered and he discovered that it was possible to graduate.

LILY: He called his granddaughter Madeline to share the news.

MADELINE MEATTE, GRANDDAUGHTER: He says guess what I'm doing on May 12th, and I said what are you doing, grandpa Charlie, and he said I'm graduating from college.

BALL: They thought it was good. I said the reason I was doing it, so that it would get all enthused and my grandchildren would get their degrees, too.

LILY: Wasn't surprised by this so-called spit fire's decision. But when he sent the graduation invitation to a former high school friend, it caused some confusion.

BALL: Sure is good to see your grandchildren graduate. He thought -- he thought it was my grandchild and I had called him back and said, no, it's me.

LILY: As you can see his personality makes him easily the most popular student on campus.

MEATTE: Everyone knows he is, and they are all inspired by his story and that he never gave up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charlie Ball.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been in this business for 44 years, and I've never had such an honor as to be able to confer a degree on a gentleman like Charlie Ball.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Congratulations, Charlie, and thanks to Janell Lily from our affiliate KATV with that story.

He won "dancing with the stars," but he's also a soldier who was burned during war and he is speaking out about what it's like for vets returning home from war to no jobs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: For American service men and women returning from war, a new battle awaits when they try to get back into the job market. Many are struggling to find work.

A new CNN documentary follows Georgia National Guard soldiers as they strive to readjust to home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPC. THOMAS GOBER, 87TH ENGINEER: Not everybody is happy to see you, you know, but you've got to get back to reality sooner than later. If you have a job, you have to get back to work, and if you don't have a job, have you to look for work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The documentary is called "voters in America, vets wanted." You can catch it at top of the hour right here on CNN right after this broadcast. The man who narrates is "dancing with the stars" winner and brand new dad J.R. Martinez. I asked this veteran why he got involved in the project.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

J.R. MARTINEZ, ACTOR, VETERAN: Simply because of the fact, that you know, I felt -- I faced a lot of difficulties coming home when I got out of the military, you know. Luckily for me I had the amazing opportunity to become a motivational speaker and kind a create my own business, my own brand, so to speak.

But a lot of troops don't have that opportunity. A lot of troops don't know that the possibilities are out there and quite honestly there aren't sometime a lot of possibilities out there, opportunities so to speak.

And so, it's important for me to say, you know what, this is my way of continuing to serve. If I can sit here and read a script and narrate this documentary, then that's my part.

LEMON: So, listen. Why should - this is your appeal now. Why should people hire veterans when they come back?

MARTINEZ: Well, because of the simple fact that, you know, a lot of times you look on paper, you know, these vets don't necessarily on paper. That you think that what exactly can they do for this company.

But, you know, they are leaders. They are trained to perform under unbelievable circumstances and at the same time they are very resilient. They are very positive. They just want opportunities and they excel in every single opportunity and they are hard workers and they want to learn.

And you know, if we give this - it we ask these men and women to go overseas and sacrifice for six months a year to two years multiple times, let's give them an opportunity to be able to provide for their families and to be able to live a normal life that we all want to live in the United States of America.

LEMON: OK. So, I'm not sure about this. But I'm told that some employers are worried about PTSD or employees having to leave suddenly for the National Guard. What would you tell those employers?

MARTINEZ: Those four letters are an amazing four letters that's brought to a lot of people's attention which is PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and it's real. It exists. However, you know, a lot of people have the tendency to look at every single vet to see that they are walking tick time bombs, that they are unproductive, that they want to work, that they are lazy, that they have all these issues. And then, you know, they don't want to actually continue to life live.

That's actually not case. A lot of times when all these want is an opportunity and multiple chances of trying to get a job when they come home. Ultimately we'll break down any man and any woman and that's exactly what you see, when these men and women are having to interview for a convenience store job and do something that they did that's way below what they are qualified to do in the military, you know, and they are being rejected from even doing that, that will tear down a man.

So, it's yes, let's pay attention to PTSD. But also, I think one way to fixing that is giving these individuals an opportunity to learn something brand new and feel that they can do it and provide for themselves.

LEMON: And if they are worried about employment and having to go through National Guard members they are serving the country that should not be a worry.

J.R. Martinez, thank you very, very much. Continued success along your journey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Again, J.R. Martinez narrates "voters in America, vets wanted." And you can watch it 11:00 p.m. Eastern. Just in a few minutes.

Could dinosaur gas be the real reason behind global warming? It's a mystery we're exploring tonight.

And you know, don't forget this. I almost forgot it.

Tomorrow as you are heading out to work you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone, and can you watch it while you're at work. Just go to CNN.com/live on your desk top. You know what? Tell your boss CNN.com/TV. Tell your boss it's good for you. It's productive when you're doing it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Time now for Sunday night mystery, and we start with a new culprit for global warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to see the dinosaur's dropping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dino droppings, droppings?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And the source, Jacqui Jeras is here to explain more gas.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's gas, it's not the droppings actually.

LEMON: Are we talking about dinosaur farts.

JERAS: Indeed, we are.

LEMON: OK.

JERAS: I know, makes you want to giggle just a little bit. Go ahead and get it out of your system right now. We are all acting like a third grader at this point but it's a real deal.

British scientists have done some research, and they think that dinosaurs emitted gas that would in essence heat up the globe by as much as 18 degrees. So, that's serious business when we're talking about it in a state of climate change, 18 degrees globally would have massive consequences.

It's OK. Everybody at home is laughing with you. It's true. But, you know, imagine. They did this research because cows do the same thing, and they have been researching what happens with cows so they base their calculations off of that, and they figured out that 520 million tons of methane would have been released into the atmosphere and methane holds in heat so that's when n turn what would raise the temperature.

LEMON: Is this really happening?

JERAS: It's really --

LEMON: The people for --

JERAS: Move on.

LEMON: And can you read about this in their June issue. They got -- they got this great find, a Mayan calendar, that may contradict the doomsday one.

JERAS: Right. Well, the doomsday thing has kind of been debunked already, right, but this is more evidence, I guess you could say, of that. And this could be the earliest known Mayan calendar and also some murals. This was discovered in Guatemala. It's a well- known Mayan site but it's a new discovery within that site and a Mayan house and they found the preserved paintings of a Mayan king on his throne that date all the way back to the early ninth century.

There you can see a picture of what the site looks like. That was the house and it was inside of there when they have been excavating. And they found these murals in the paintings. Then, you have the "National Geographic" folks allowed to us show you these pictures and what they discovered with this Mayan calendar is that it had a bunch of bars and dots on it. This was on the roof there in there. And contrary to rumors and myths, each one of those record lunar cycles within six-month cycles, and it turns out, they say, that the Mayan calendar does not mean the end of the world or the apocalypse of December 12, 2012. It is actually the end of one 400- year cycle and the beginning of another.

LEMON: No, no, no. OK good.

JERAS: Put your stockpiles away.

LEMON: Quickly, almost off the air here, an asteroid Vesta is actually something else.

JERAS: Yes. Big announcement from NASA this week and it has to do with an asteroid that we've known for a real long time. It's a second largest asteroid that we've ever known. And they have been doing research with it from this vessel, this spacecraft called dawn, and they have decided that this is actually a proto-planet or a dwarf planet as they call it. And it may give us some clues as to how early earth was and how it evolved. This was almost a planet, and it had layers.

So, there you can see it had an iron core. It had a mantle and a crust, so a lot we can learn more about Vesta.

LEMON: All right. Very cool. Thank you, Jacqui Jeras.

And I want to say thank you to one of our best writers I know. He is leaving my team and going to another, does the "no talking points." Dan Hill (ph), traitor.

Thanks for watching, everybody.