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Typhoon Devastates Parts of Philippines; Doctor Found Guilty of Murdering Wife; Navy Captain Indicted for Taking Bribes; Satellite Soon to Plummet to Earth; President's Recent Poll Numbers Low; Johnny Cash Biography Published

Aired November 09, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, having reviewed the evidence of the testimony in the case find the defendant as to count one, murder, guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: An early morning guilty verdict for the Utah doctor accused of killing his wife.

Good morning, everybody, I'm Christi Paul. We're so glad to have you with us.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. 10:00 on the East Coast, 7:00 out West. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: Yes. We're going to get to that verdict in just a moment, but we do not want you to miss history in the making, and that is what we have right now at the International Space Station.

BLACKWELL: It's really cool. Look at this. The Olympic torch is on its first spacewalk. Two Russian cosmonauts carried out of the International Space Station. Now, the torch has been in space before, in '96 for the Atlanta games, but not outside of the space craft. The torch will leave tomorrow with three crew members who are returning to earth. Now, just a moment ago, they were holding the torch, waving -- of course, it was not lit because there's no oxygen to support a flame in space -- but then, this will continue on the relay route leading up to the winter games in Sochi, Russia.

PAUL: Take a look at -- this cannot be easy, you know, maneuvering anything out there, but with this in hand, as well. You know he doesn't want to let go of it and lose it.

BLACKWELL: That's true. I'm sure it's a great honor to be able to carry the torch. But I'm sure when he got the news, he said, I have to hold the torch and do the spacewalk at the same time? But the cosmonauts are doing a good job.

PAUL: Yes, they are. Live pictures here from the International Space Station. And it will be interesting to see what Russia does with this. You know, if they're going to re-air it somehow when we have opening day, because it is such a momentous occasion here.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The first time it's made a spacewalk.

PAUL: All righty, anyway, we just wanted to make sure you didn't miss that.

But we do need to talk about what's going on in the Philippines, because the damage there is so severe from what was super typhoon Haiyan that many towns are only accessible right now by helicopter.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the roads are just washed out. A U.N. damage assessment team arrived on the ground in the coastal province of Tacloban early this morning. Now, one team member said the last time I saw something of this scale was the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami. And you remember those pictures.

PAUL: Oh, my goodness, yes. So we want to take a moment to walk you through some of the new video, take a look at this, that we're getting it in from the hardest-hit areas, f Frightening to see it. One of the CNN crews described the scene in Tacloban as being like a tsunami. And you get that by watching this. The storm surge is what you're seeing here, as that typhoon made landfall. Some reports indicate the waters were as high as 16 feet in some places.

BLACKWELL: Unbelievable. And when those waters receded, this is what was left, just complete devastation. And you see the waters here. But the water is just so bad. We're just now starting to get the sense of the number of casualties. The Red Cross says at least 1,200 people are estimated dead.

BALDWIN: Numerous body, we know, have already been found. The death toll, as you can imagine, expected to increase as investigators and people there on the ground and rescue crews, who knows what they'll find. But CNN's Paula Hancocks, she was one of the first western journalists to arrive in Tacloban, and here's what she's saying.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Loretta lost three of her daughters in a matter of seconds. The storm surge from typhoon Haiyan tore them from her husband's arms, aged 15, 13, and eight. Only two bodies have been found.

MARVIN ISANAN, BEREAVED FATHER: Only one is missing, is my eldest daughter. I hope she's alive, and I'm hoping that she -- she's alive, and she was only -- she's somewhere, but she's alive.

HANCOCKS: This woman became emotional as she saw bodies float past her home. She said she was on the roof to avoid the water. They are just some of the victims congregating at the airstrip. Many have walked for hours to get their first food since the storm. It's become the military's staging area, a first aid center set up for cuts and bruises, but they can do little for a serious gash to the head.

One of the first priorities, restoring communications.

PETER GALVEZ, PHILIPPINE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE: From today, maybe in 48 hours, hopefully, we're not relying on satellite phones.

HANCOCKS: As we move further inland, we come across more bodies. This is the local chapel here, which is effectively being turned into a morgue. Inside, there are nine bodies. Five of them are children.

The military planes that bring life essentials in take the body bags out as well as the injured that need to keep their hope for the future.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Tacloban, in the Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: There are rescue crews coming in from around the world this morning, and the ground crews, they're facing enormous challenges, as you saw, in the Philippines. The water's rushing through, some of the roads just washed out. In some areas, look, it's waist high. Vehicles are floating. Downed power lines are making the rescue efforts extremely difficult.

We've got Orla Fagan with us, the public information officer with the United Nations disaster assessment coordination team. It's good to have you with us, from the capital city of manila. Orla, we saw some of the pictures. Give us an idea of what it's like on the ground, and the difficulty of getting to the people who need you most right now.

ORLA FAGAN, U.N. OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: We spoke to our team this morning on the ground. We had about half an hour with them. Their communications are really bad. There's no telephone lines. There's no power. There's no water. There's no food. And it's all -- the government are leading the response here. We're in to help the government. We're in to help them with the assessment. They have two c-130 military airplanes. They delivered 6,200 food packs to Tacloban today with enough food to feed a family of five for three days. There are areas in the west that nobody has been able to get to yet, and we're actually very concerned about that.

BLACKWELL: I'm reading the release from the U.N. disaster assessment coordination. It says "This is destruction on a massive scale, cars thrown lime tumbleweeds into the street." We got the number from Tacloban of 1,200 dead. Are we expecting that to go much higher? I mean, talk about the concentration of that -- that assessment. Are we expecting that to spread, as well?

FAGAN: This has been over a vast area of the country, this typhoon has hit. Fortunately, where the earthquake happened on the 15th of October, they received a fairly lightly, which is fortunate for them, especially after experiencing that level of trauma.

And it's just over an enormous tract. It's impossible to get everywhere at once. We are doing our best. We have another team who are going to Cabu tomorrow to see what the situation is on the ground there. The team on Tacloban will split up and go to two separate areas now to see, again.

But there are other areas we have not been able to get access yet. The government are providing the C-130s to get us in there, to see what the situation is on the ground. Everything is needed at this stage. You know, we're talking about food, water, health needs, children's needs. We're talking about shelter. We're talking about nonfood items, setting up pipelines for food and for water. And it's a big logistical feast to get this done, and to get the roads and get the transport -- and transport will be our main issue in this response. And it is to get this organized so that we can get in and start the relief operation.

BLACKWELL: All right, Orla Fagan with the U.N. disaster assessment coordination team. Thank you so much for the work you're doing there and for speaking with us this morning.

FAGAN: You're welcome. Good morning.

PAUL: We'll keep you posted on how things continue to progress there today.

But also, still to come in the Newsroom, Martin MacNeill didn't say a word when he heard jurors convict him of murder. If you missed it, it happened overnight. His daughters let all their frustration out, though, when they heard the verdict.

BLACKWELL: Plus, how a ban on trans-fats can change not only how your food tastes -- the pancakes, the muffins, the Danishes this morning -- but also how it feels.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Parts of healthcare.gov are down this weekend for upgrades. You can set up an Obamacare account on the website and logon, but it will probably be maybe Tuesday before you can complete your health insurance purchase. Officials are pointing to website improvements, though. They say the average page load time has been cut from eight sections to less than one.

Hawaii could be the next state to legalize same-sex marriage, because the state's House of Representatives approved the measure last night. The Senate passed it late last month, and Governor Neil Abercrombie says he plans to sign the bill into law. Also, you may remember Illinois lawmakers passed a bill this week to make same-sex marriages legal.

PAUL: OK, this was the shocker overnight. Martin MacNeill stared straight at the clerk as she read the verdict at his murder trial. This was at 1:00 in the morning their time, 1:30. He didn't move. But behind him, his family erupted as they heard the word "guilty."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, having reviewed the evidence and testimony in the case, find the defendant as to count one, murder, guilty.

(SHOUTS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to count two, obstruction of justice, guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: MacNeill's daughters, you see them there, they have waited years for this verdict, so no surprise that they cried, as I understand it crying uncontrollably at one point after they heard it. CNN's Jean Casarez is live in Provo, Utah. She has been up all night. She's been following this trial, and I know everyone, Jean, gosh, everybody has to be so exhausted, especially when this verdict was read. How much -- what did they say? What did the daughters say once it was done?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: They were overcome, just like you're saying, with emotion, and they were shaking as the jury walked in. It was and stoic silence in that courtroom because you didn't know which way this verdict was going to go. You know, during the course of the night, the jurors just didn't want to go home. And they had four different questions, one being they wanted gloves to be able to open up the sealed evidence, which was the last item of clothing that Michele MacNeill was wearing when she was found in the bathtub, a dark-colored shirt. And then we knew a verdict was close, because the final question said, we are about to make a determination, but first, we want to listen to the 911 call. And it wasn't more than 20 minutes later we learned there was a verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, having reviewed the evidence and the testimony in the case find the defendant, as to count one, murder, guilty.

(SHOUTS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to count two, obstruction of justice, guilty.

CASAREZ: Screams of emotion echoed through the tense courtroom as martin MacNeill heard his fate sealed seven long years after the drowning death of his wife, Michele, in their family bathtub. Her daughters and sisters shaking and sobbing uncontrollably as they shed bittersweet tears.

JILL HARPER-SMITH, VICTIM'S NIECE: When it happened, we were kind of, like, did we hear that right, because it's so surreal. We've been waiting for this for so long.

CASAREZ: After 14 days of testimony, it took the eight-person jury nearly 11 hours to come to a verdict. Despite relying on circumstantial evidence, prosecutor Chad Grunander had told the jury to do the right thing.

CHAD GRUNANDER, PROSECUTOR: We're absolutely thrilled. It's an amazing moment to meet with the family. This has been so long coming for them. Emotionally, they found Alexis Summers to be totally credible. I think they believed her. Such a wonderful, strong woman who did not give up on her mother. CASAREZ: MacNeill's daughter, Alexis was the impetus behind the case and pursued her father's prosecution with a vengeance. The verdict was her victory.

ALEXIS SOMERS, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: We're just so happy he can't hurt anyone else. We miss our mom. We'll never get her back. That courtroom was full of so many people who loved her. I looked around, and it was full of everyone who loved my mom. I can't believe this has finally happened. We're so -- we're so grateful.

CASAREZ: Friday's closing argument by prosecutor Chad Grunander convinced the jury that as a doctor and lawyer MacNeill had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill his wife. It was planned all along, he said, and MacNeill left plenty of clues along the way.

Prosecutors proved MacNeill plied his wife with a deadly dose of drugs after insisting she have a face-lift then held her head under water in the bathtub until she drowned. All so he could marry his mistress, Gypsy Willis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's in the bathtub?

MARTIN MACNEILL: My wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's an hour-and-a-half period of time where no one really knows where Martin is. Rush home, take care of your business, give Michele the drugs, fix her up a bath, get her in the tub, hold her head down for a little while, and help her out.

CASAREZ: Defense attorney Randy Spenser spent a year preparing for the trial, devastated by the outcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, I'm disappointed, but I don't have any comments right now.

CASAREZ: MacNeill faces 15 years to life for the murder of his wife of 30 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you want to say to Michele right now?

LINDA CUFF, MICHELE'S SISTER: I love you, Michele. I'm glad we could do this for you, and I felt her with us in there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: So the once very respected doctor and lawyer right here in Provo, Utah, is now a convicted murder. Victor and Christi, his sentencing is set for January 7, 2014.

PAUL: Jean Casarez, thank you so much, we appreciate it. And for more on the MacNeill verdict, including testimony from the riveting trial, just head over to CNN.com.

BLACKWELL: The FDA's move to ban trans-fats could change some of your favorite foods. We'll hear from a baker who says, oh, this is a bad idea. Also, take a look at this. The International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts are taking the relay torch, the Olympic torch, on its first spacewalk. Live pictures from outer space, something that's never done for the Olympic games before.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. It's 22 minutes after the hour now. There is a bit of a scandal with the U.S. Navy, bribery scandal that has rocked fleets across the globe.

PAUL: Yes, we're talking about three Navy officials who are now charged with selling classified information in turn for prostitutes, free travel, and allegedly even Lady Gaga tickets. CNN's Kyung Lah has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dressed in civilian clothes for court --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, I can't comment.

LAH: -- Commander Michael Misiewicz had nothing to say about his role in a suspected multimillion-dollar international bribery scheme. Prosecutors say the Commander Misiewicz received thousands of dollars in gifts, in Tokyo, tickets to see "Lion King," in Thailand, more tickets, this time to Lady Gaga. Then, there were prostitutes and free hotel rooms. Why? This man, Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, known as "Fat Leonard" for tipping the scales at more than 400 pounds. Francis runs defense contracting firm Glenn Defense Marine Asia that helps port U.S. naval ships.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A specialized team of professionals --

LAH: Prosecutors say Fat Leonard and Misiewicz became close friends over private e-mails, calling each other "big bro" and "little bro." After Misiewicz received some gifts, the government says a Fat Leonard associate eventually declared, "We've got him." Prosecutors say the two men moved U.S. Navy ships around east Asia like chess pieces, using classified information, ending up at ports where Francis' firm would overbill the U.S.

CAPTAIN KEVIN EYER, U.S. NAVY (RET): I think it would be fair to say that they were seduced by Mr. Francis.

LAH: Retired Navy captain Kevin Eyer understands this like few others. He served 30 years and was a commanding officer of a ship in Asia that frequented some of the same ports where Fat Leonard operated. He and even attended parties with the businessman.

Having looked this man in the eye, can you see how that seduction could happen?

EYER: I do. He's very charming. He's very social. You know, whereas I might go -- I might be at this party, and I'll have a Budweiser. Leonard is drinking Dom Perignon.

LAH: Only the finest for Francis, says Captain Eyer. The big man loved the big life with fast cars, women, and travel, and he seemed eager to share with his military friends. In court, Francis appeared next to his alleged co-conspirator, trading in his tuxedo for a jail jumpsuit and shackles.

EYER: You can kind of see how if you fell into the mode of socializing with him, it might be possible to get swept up by that. And that's why, you know, so many military officers are a little bit wary of him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Court documents reference a wolf-pack. It's unclear how many other people that pack includes and how far this will widen. As far as the three officers who have been charged, they've all pled not guilty.

PAUL: All right, Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Fresh poll numbers o on the president. They're not so good.

PAUL: We'll break down the numbers with our experts, find out why they are so ugly. Get ready for Saturday politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Half past the hour. You just rolling out of bed? It's Saturday. You're allowed. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: Stay in bed. I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five stories we're watching this morning.

Number one, Martin MacNeill could spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of murdering his wife in 2007. His daughters wept as that verdict was read. They suspected MacNeill of killing their mother so he could be with his mistress. And he faces sentencing on January 7.

PAUL: Number two, typhoon Haiyan is weakening as it heads towards Vietnam, which is good news, because it left death and utter destruction in so much of the Philippines. The local Red Cross is estimating 1,200 people were killed when the typhoon rolled ashore, flattening buildings, and of course they expect that toll to go even higher.

BLACKWELL: The Olympic torch is making history this morning. It's outside the International Space Station on its first spacewalk. Two Russian cosmonauts carried it into space earlier this hour,just a few minutes ago really. The torch will return to earth tomorrow to continue its relay leading up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

PAUL: And number four, the FDA is moving to take trans-fats out of the food you eat. Now, it's in a lot of processed foods -- frozen pizza, desserts, microwave popcorn, even maybe the coffee creamer you used this morning. The major source of trans-fats, partially hydrogenated oils. It increases the shelf life of the food and enhances the flavor, but the FDA says it is no longer generally recognized as safe.

BLACKWELL: Number five, diplomats are inching closer to a breakthrough deal on Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to take part in talks in Geneva. Britain's envoy says there's been, quote, "very good progress, but several issues need to be resolved." Israel's prime minister, he says the proposed deal is, quote, "very dangerous."

PAUL: The disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website is still hitting the president squarely in the polls. A Pew Research Center survey finds just 41 percent of those polled approve of the president's job performance. That is a 14 percent point slide since December. Now, the poll also shows people aren't convinced the economic recovery is that rosy, 65 percent say they disapprove of the way the president is handling that.

BLACKWELL: So let's unpack some of the poll numbers and look into them and the botched Obamacare rollout with our political experts. We have got Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator, Democratic analyst, and Reihan Salam, also a CNN political commentator and contributor to the "National Review." Good to have you both here this morning.

We learned last week -- we learned last week how quickly the segments go by, so let's get to it. Let's put the numbers up, the graphic. Put the graphic up again, 65 percent disapprove of the president's handling of the economy. But the economy is growing, job climate is improving. We saw more than 200,000 jobs added in the month of October. Housing is coming back. Reihan, is this about the president and the dislike of him? Why the 65 percent disapproval?

REIHAN SALAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think people are concerned that the economy isn't improving fast enough. I think that the economy keeps teetering onto brink, and though you had reasonably decent numbers over the last few months, they're not nearly as strong as you need to get the economy back to full employment. So I think that that's why that dissatisfaction is building. The dong people have been expecting still hasn't arrived.

BLACKWELL: Maria, the numbers can say whatever they are, they can be accurate. But if people don't feel it, then does it really matter?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's exactly right. And so I do agree mostly with Reihan in terms of the number might be good on paper, but unless people are feeling it, that's not something that's going to be reflected in poll numbers.

And look, you know, this is why the president is focused on infrastructure. He's focused on talking more about the economy. I think this is frankly another reason why Americans don't believe not just the president but Washington is not focused on the economy. When they don't hear talk of the economy from their legislators, from the leaders that they elected, they feel like it's falling by the wayside and it's reflected in the numbers.

The president wants to continue to talk about the economy. The Republicans want to continue to pummel him on Obamacare. You know, obviously, that's a big disconnect. But the president's going to continue to focus on the economy as well as focused on getting the Obamacare fixed.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Obamacare, Maria, because the president this week apologized for the bungling of the start of Obamacare and the website. Let's listen to what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am sorry that they, you know, are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me. We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and that we're going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequences of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And we've seen the low numbers of people who have enrolled. But I want to talk less about the apology to the people for not being able to log on. Is it the president and those who support Obamacare, are they going to be sorry? Because to make this plan work, they need young people, healthy people to enroll, and how do young people, healthy people, who they want in this program, they go online and sign up. They're not calling the 1-800 number. Isn't this just making it more difficult for this program to work potentially, Maria?

CARDONA: Oh, sorry. Well, look, this is going to continue to be a question and an issue until Obamacare, the website, gets fixed. And we have heard time and again, and the president said this, and the head of HHS said this, the head of CMS said this, that the website will be fixed by the end of November. We already heard that there was -- there's been some updates that the speed in terms of people being able to enroll is getting faster. So it is getting better day by day.

The deadline, I think, is critical. And if we can get young people to start signing up once the website gets fixed completely, then I think all of this will be a faint memory once everyone is able to enroll that wants to enroll and are able to get the plans that they want.

BLACKWELL: And Reihan -- go ahead.

SALAM: I think the issues are much deeper than the website. A new Gallup survey found that only 30 percent of uninsured Americans are familiar with the exchanges. So what may well happen is that a lot of people are only going to learn about the exchanges once they start getting hit with penalties. I think that there are a lot of huge issues that we haven't anticipated.

Also, the law has cuts in payments that are provided to hospitals that provide care for the indigent, because the expectation was many people who are uninsured would get coverage. If you have those cuts happen before you see that robust coverage expansion, that's going to cause a lot of big headaches, as well. This law involves a lot of unintended consequences that will keep having political consequences, not just for the next few months but for the next few years, whether or not the exchanges are fixed.

BLACKWELL: All right, CNN political commentators -- I have to call it there - Reihan Salam, we got a lot more in this week. Thank you for joining us.

CARDONA: Thanks, Victor.

PAUL: Next, the book on Johnny Cash and the man who wrote it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: A new perspective on the man in black 10 years after his death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Live pictures from just outside the International Space Station. You're watching Russian cosmonauts on a spacewalk. And it's historic, because you see that in the right of the screen there? That is the Olympic torch ahead of the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. The torch is on its first spacewalk ever. Now, the torch has been in space before, before the '96 Atlanta games, but for the first time outside the ISS. Live pictures from outer space. Christi?

PAUL: Makes you wonder how they'll top that, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes, we know they can't light the flame, because there's no oxygen.

PAUL: Right. What will they do next time around? Good to see you, though. Thank you, Victor.

Johnny Cash, you know, a monumental figure in music, not just country music either. Cash crossed over with rockabilly, gospel, and even some bluesy hits. So if you're a fan, take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So you think you know the man in black? This next interview may change your mind. Robert Hilburn, former music critic for "Los Angeles Times," has written a biography of Johnny Cast that's titled simply "Johnny Cash, The Life." And what a life it was. Robert joins this morning. Robert, thank you so much for being with us. I know you interviewed Johnny Cash, gosh, you know, across the decades, and you really had access to his inner circle. So help us understand, who was the real Johnny Cash?

ROBERT HILBURN, AUTHOR, "JOHNNY CASH, THE LIFE": Well, the fascinating thing, Christi, seeing the footage, I was with Johnny Cash at Fulsome prison in 1968, can you believe that. And it was the first time --

PAUL: Yes, great, I was going to ask you about that, but go ahead.

HILBURN: It's the first time I'd been in a major concert. I was trying to get a job at the "Los Angeles Times," and I was the only music journalist there, because the record company didn't want to invite journalists, because they were afraid John would show up stoned and they'd have to cancel the concert.

But anyway, I stayed with him pretty much his entire life. I interviewed him until even just a few months before his death. And he was a terrific, warm person, but he had demons. And the drama of his life is in his music he was always trying to lift other people's spirits, making them feel there's hope, but in his private life he was fighting the demons, and it was a dramatic struggle.

PAUL: What demons specifically was he fighting?

HILBURN: He had a lot of guilt. He abandoned his children. He felt insecure because he never had love from his family -- his father, I mean. And that sent him -- he took drugs to try to block a lot of that out. And those drugs kept escalating, because he was an addict, and he would sometimes -- other people in the country music, everybody was taking pills in country music just to give them energy. But John was taking pills to block out the pain. And he would sometimes take 20, 30 pills a day.

PAUL: Good heavens. You know, I know, Johnny Cash frequently called himself a C-plus Christian. What exactly did that mean, and how did his faith play a role, if any, in his music?

HILBURN: He lived on kind of a cotton patch in Arkansas that was given to his father by the federal government. His father was one of several destitute farmers who were given a second chance. And in that environment he would go into the cotton field and pick cotton with his family in the hot sun, and they would sing gospel songs all day long to give them comfort. And then he'd go to the Baptist church three times a week, and they would again sing gospel songs to give them comfort.

And it was that experience of seeing how music comforted people and gave them hope that gave him his philosophy of music. And he -- while everybody else in country music and rock in the '50s had no more ambition than another hit on the jukebox, Johnny Cash was always trying to give a message. He was trying to lift people's spirits, to give them hope.

PAUL: And I'm sure that was the point of the Fulsome Prison concert in 1968. You mentioned that, but you called that date majestic. How so? HILBURN: It was one of the first big concerts I covered as a music journalist. And it was -- it wasn't just entertainment that day. Johnny Cash was speaking to those prisoners, again trying to give them hope, because he had been in jail. He knew what it was like to be in jail. He had been in handcuffs and had his photo taken in handcuffs on the front of his hometown paper, so his mother would pick that up and see it.

So again, the prisoners sensed that. It wasn't just entertainment. Johnny Cash was spreading a message, and they loved him because they felt this was a real man speaking to them in real terms. I saw -- Christi, I saw him that day make those prisoners laugh, and he made those prisoners cry.

PAUL: Let's listen real quickly here to the song "Hurt."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: "Focused on the Pain," it says. It's a powerful song back in 2002, a year before his death. What do you know about that song and the background to it?

HILBURN: That is the most inspiring story. This is now Johnny Cash in 1968, Fulsome Prison, he was viral, strong, healthy. 2002 in Los Angeles he recorded that song. And the video, he recorded the video in Nashville. He was nearly blind. He had lost the feeling in his fingers. He couldn't feel the guitar. He had diabetes. He had neurological problems.

And just the courage of letting someone see you at that state. The song was about lost, misplaced values, false values. He was trying once again to show that a person should have good values and live a strong life, again, which he wasn't always to do. But at the end, the last 15 years of his life, he had the love of his children back. He had the kind of fairytale relationship with June Carter that most people thought he had all along, but didn't. And he had his -- and he had his faith. He felt redeemed at the end of his life.

PAUL: Well, Robert Hilburn, we want to let our viewers know your new book, "Johnny Cash, The Life" is was called. Thank you for being so candid. It was a pleasure.

HILBURN: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, take care.

BLACKWELL: That was really fascinating.

HILBURN: Isn't it?

BLACKWELL: What do you have planned this weekend? Shopping? Maybe a movie? Restaurant with friends? OK, put this on your calendar -- a 2,000-pound satellite could be on a collision course with earth sometime this weekend. The question is, do scientists have any idea where it's going to fall, and exactly when? We'll talk about that next.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- following that storm, and you can find out more about that mission online at --

PAUL: Look at that. What you're looking at there is typhoon Haiyan, and it is now a category three typhoon, no longer a super typhoon. Its track is northern Vietnam at this point. Rainfall and flooding apparently will be the biggest threat at that point once it hits landfall. But 115-mile-an-hour winds, sustained at 145-mile-an-hour gusting winds right now. And what's I think amazing about this, when you look at it, is how massive in size it is. They were comparing it to covering Canada -- from Canada down to Florida, just to give us some perspective.

BLACKWELL: And we've seen the damage it's caused in the Philippines, and we will see over the next day or so more of the damage. Thus far, the estimate from the Philippine Red Cross, 1,200 dead, and that's just mostly in the city of Tacloban. We'll continue to cover that, of course.

But let's stay in outer space for just a moment, a sentence I've never actually said.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: So asteroid, space rocks, let's not think about that threat. There is another one possibly.

PAUL: Yes, this 2,000-pound satellite. It ran out of fuel, and it will, make no doubt about it, fall back to earth.

BLACKWELL: So there are two issues here, right? When will it fall? Where will it fall? It's 17 feet long. It's going to fall, that we know.

PAUL: That we know. Well, CNN's Chad Myers to the rescue with more information for us in this weekend's "The Science Behind."

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christi, we're talking about a satellite called Goce. It ran out of fuel and will fall back to earth. It seems like a lot of things are falling back to earth these days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: Remember back in February, a meteor slammed into a small Russian town. We never saw it coming because it came from the direction of the sun, and the telescopes were blinded by the light. This is different. This is Goce, a satellite launched by the European space agency in 2009. Its job was to map the earth's gravitational field. Ironic, now Goce, at more than 2,400 pounds is drifting back toward earth.

It's expected to come crashing down soon, but exactly where is much less clear. On timing of impact, an official with the European Space Agency told "The New York Times," "Concretely our best engineering prediction is now for a re-entry on Sunday with a possibility for it slipping into earth Monday." It's easy to track satellites, because they're always close to the earth, but asteroids are much harder to find and much more dangerous. So the question is, do we know where they all are?

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: If it's really big, we -- we know where they are. We know where the big ones are, the ones that would render us extinct or possibly disrupt civilization as we know it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: As far as Goce and all the other satellites, they're easy to track. There's an app for that, right there. Here are all of the satellites still pinning around the earth, and most of them will someday have a date with gravity. Scientists say debris is falling to the earth all the time, most of it harmless. But at more than 17 feet long, three feet in diameter, Goce has the potential to do damage. To what extent depends on where it will land.

Victor, we don't know where it is going to fall. It will likely fall in the ocean, because there's more ocean than land. But it could be quite spectacular, and a few pieces could make it all the way down to the ground. And maybe wear a hardhat this weekend. No, no, just kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: All right, Chad, thanks. I'm surprised there are that many satellites just floating around the area.

PAUL: It would be something to see, wouldn't it?

Here's something else. The rivalry express bus on the road checking out the game day scene across the country this season. We'll have a live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: For the last eight weeks, Rivalry express has been hitting the road taking you inside the biggest rivalries in college football.

PAUL: And this week, Carlos Diaz is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for the last stop on a nationwide tour. Are you bummed?

CARLOS DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm bummed. But you know what, I'm happy to be here in Tuscaloosa, because the fans are here amazing. They've printed up these shirts. Instead of, you know, after Oregon lost on Thursday, instead we want 'Bama, now it's we want to be 'Bama. Now in the BCS Hunt and Alabama still at number one. Alabama taking on number 13 LSU this weekend. It is a big-time rivalry here in Tuscaloosa. Alabama going for their third national championship in a row, and LSU hoping to, I guess, ruin that party, if you will. These two teams have combined to win five of the last ten BCS national championships. But, of course, the last time they played here was two years ago, and LSU won that one, 9-6, in overtime. That was dubbed the game of the century. Tonight's kickoff is in primetime at 8:00 p.m.

Moving on to the NBA, the Indiana Pacers are off to the best start in franchise history. They beat the Toronto Raptors last night, winning for the sixth straight time to open the season. Paul George led the way with 23 points for the NBA's only undefeated team. The last time the Pacers got off to a hot start like this was 1970-71, that season when they played in the ABA.

And on bleacherreport.com, you can't play like Michael Jordan, but you can live like him. The basketball hall of famer is putting his suburban Chicago mansion up on the auction block on November 22nd. Bidding for the nine-bedroom, 15-bathroom estate starts at $29 million. Don't expect an open house for this one. A deposit of $250,000 is required to enter this auction.

And Christi asked me at the beginning of the "Bleacher Report" if I was bummed, you know, we're ending "Rivalry Express." I think this face say it all. This face says it all.

(LAUGHTER)

DIAZ: This is my bitter -- my bitter face for the ending of "Rivalry Express." It's a bitter Carlos face. I just want to say right now, I'm going on the record, this is how I feel about "Rivalry Express" ending. We'll see you in 2014. OK?

PAUL: We look forward to it. That is a big head, though.

BLACKWELL: Yes. A large sign, too.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Oh, no. We're getting wrapped.

DIAZ: See you in 2014.

BLACKWELL: Thank you. That'll do it for us today. Thank you so much for watching, everybody.

PAUL: Yes, you don't want to go anywhere. There's so much more news ahead in the next hour with our own colleague and friend Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you guys. Thank you so much. We do indeed have a very busy day ahead. Thank you so much. We'll pick up the baton from where you left. Thanks so much, have a great day.

BLACKWELL: You, too.

PAUL: You, too.