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CNN Live Saturday

Jill Carroll Retuns Home; Protests Continue Over New Immigration Laws; Stricter Fuel Economy Standards Imposed on SUV Makers.

Aired April 01, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: Former hostage Jill Carroll is headed for a homecoming. The American journalist is now in Germany two days after her captors released her in Baghdad. She is expected to arrive in Boston tomorrow morning. The latest straight ahead.
A U.S. military helicopter crashed today southwest of Baghdad. So far, there's no information on any casualties. The Pentagon says the chopper was on combat air patrol when it went down.

And anti-war protesters turn out for a secondary as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Britain. Several hundred were on hand when Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw visited Straw's hometown. The two met with Christian and Muslim leaders.

Across the U.S. a growing chorus of protests as Congress considers tougher immigration laws. This rally in New York City. Much more on the immigration battle coming up.

Well, will the sun ever come out again in Hawaii? It's still raining in the nation's 50th state, and that's causing some big problems. On Oahu, floodwaters have damaged a shopping mall and some homes and shut down major roads, as well.

Well, welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

I'm Sophia Choi.

It is Saturday, April 1.

Well, crossing the Rio Grande into America -- it's a life and death risk taken by many each day.

At this hour, one crossing that ended in horror and one that led to terrorism.

Also coming up, anyone can be a star, right, now that those viral videos are spreading across the Web? Find out how it all works.

But first, our top story.

Well, they were thousands of immigrants carrying the flags of dozens of countries, but they spoke with one voice. They're angry, worried, scared about legislation pending in Washington that would make illegal immigration a felony.

Our Chris Huntington joins us now with a live report on today's big immigration rally in New York City -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sophia, good afternoon.

I just returned from that rally. And, as you said, a huge crowd speaking with one voice. They are greatly concerned about this pending legislation that, in their opinion, would just further stack the immigration rules in this country against them.

These are people, the vast majority of them, who simply want their part of the American dream. They want to play by the rules. They want to work. They want to raise their families. But they feel that the current system is stacked against them and that this kind of pending legislation that would make anyone who employs or harbors or helps an illegal immigrant a felon, they just feel that that kind of legislation is going in the wrong direction.

Most of the people out at this rally in New York City this morning were from Latin America, many from Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic. There's a huge population of Latin American immigrants here in New York City. And as far as the estimated number of illegal or undocumented immigrants in New York City, perhaps as much as 10 to 15 percent of the national total, which is believed to be about 11 million. So more than a million potentially illegal or undocumented immigrants in New York City.

These folks, Sophia, they really just want a fair, a fast immigration policy. Even the folks that play by the rules here just have horror stories or red tape of what it takes to become legally documented -- Sophia.

CHOI: And, Chris, they were speaking out not only against those proposals, but also against President Bush today.

HUNTINGTON: Yes. It was pretty clear -- and, again, you know, we can't take any kind of a meaningful poll of everybody out there, but judging by the regular chants against President Bush, he's definitely seen as somebody who is not moving the situation forward, in their eyes. Most of the people we spoke to, Sophia, are not in favor of the guest worker program, which is something of a hallmark of President Bush's current policy stance.

CHOI: That is interesting to note.

Chris Huntington, thank you so much.

And speaking of the president, he is again pushing for that guest worker program for immigrants. He's spending the weekend at his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

And CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is there -- hi, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Sophia.

That's right, President Bush is spending a couple of days of down time here in Texas at his ranch nearby in Crawford. He is coming off of that summit in Cancun with the Mexican president, Vicente Fox, and also Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper.

Much of the focus, of course, on this issue of illegal immigration, with the Senate taking up that highly charged issue.

President Bush, during that summit, weighing in on that debate. He said that he wants lawmakers to send him a bill that includes three things -- border security, interior enforcement, but also that very controversial temporary guest worker initiative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A nation of laws can also be a welcoming nation. And I believe a guest worker program will help us rid the society and the border of these coyotes who smuggle people in the back of 18-wheelers. I believe it will help get rid of the document forgers. I believe it will help people on both sides of our border respect the laws of our border and enforce our borders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, at the same time, President Bush refused to say whether he would, in fact, veto a final bill on his desk that would not include that proposed guest worker initiative. Instead, he said he believed that he would, in fact, get what he called comprehensive immigration reform.

Now, the president's comments came just as Republicans, of course, some of his fellow Republicans, are saying that they are vehemently opposed to this idea of a guest worker program. They see it as amnesty. In fact, one Republican lawmaker, Congressman Steve King, saying that those people who do choose to vote for this program, should it get to that point, should be "branded with a scarlet letter A for amnesty." And he went on to say that those lawmakers should, in fact, pay for that at the ballot box come November -- Sophia.

CHOI: Wow! Some strong words there, Elaine.

OK, so we've talked about the immigration issue involving Mexicans.

What about the Canadians? How does that affect them?

QUIJANO: Well, on the Canadian side, of course, there are a couple of very different issues. It should be noted that this was the first opportunity for President Bush to sit down with Stephen Harper as the new prime minister of Canada. And, of course, this was what is hoped to be the beginning of perhaps a new chapter in U.S.-Canada relations.

And you recall, under the previous prime minister, there was quite a bit of tension, of course, namely over the Iraq War. Now, though, still, a couple of issues, really, that have no resolution despite this summit, and that would be the issue of softwood lumber. Canada opposing the U.S. tariffs being imposed on the softwood lumber coming in.

Also, at the same time, there has been this concern which Stephen Harper voiced yesterday about a new U.S. law that would require Canadians to, in fact, show a passport like document when they cross over the U.S.-Canada border. Now, of course, this is of great concern because it is a security measure, but at the same time, the Canadian prime minister thinks it's not going to help facilitate trade or travel. President Bush, for his part, said look, I believe that there is a way with current technology that we can, in fact, make it easy.

And so they are vowing to work together on that issue -- Sophia.

CHOI: Elaine Quijano, thank you so much.

And be sure to join Lou Dobbs tonight for a look at the immigration issue with his broken borders special report. He's reporting from Mexico, 6:00 p.m. Eastern, 3:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

Well, former hostage Jill Carroll is expected back in the U.S. tomorrow. The 28-year-old freelance journalist arrived at Ramstein Air Base in Germany today after a flight from Iraq.

CNN's Paula Hancocks describes her arrival.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 9:00 a.m. local time she touched down in Germany, that's 2:00 a.m. Eastern, after traveling overnight from Baghdad. So, inevitably, she looked tired, especially after being held captive for almost three months.

But she did look radiant, as one commentator said. She looked as though she was relieved. She looked as though she was excited and she was chatting away with the military personnel that were escorting her from the plane and then onto -- into a military car. And then she was whisked away.

Now, a Ramstein source did tell CNN that she was then taken to a hotel. They say that she wanted to write an article. We will obviously be looking forward to reading that article.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHOI: And our thanks to Paula Hancocks for that report.

Carol, by the way, is expected to get on a plane for Boston later today.

Well, protesters are on the streets of New Orleans today, trying to stop the city election. People taking part in a rally and march say the mayoral vote set for April 22 won't be fair. And that's because many people who would normally vote are living elsewhere because of Hurricane Katrina.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson helped organize today's rally and he points out that Americans overseas get to v.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: Can you imagine that we can have these opportunities set up for people in back there in Mexico City but not in New Orleans? It's not right. It's not fair. And we all deserve better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHOI: You know, satellite voting will be allowed across Louisiana. But thousands of Katrina evacuees living in dozens of other states won't be able to vote election day. Now, if they want to vote, it's going to have to be by mail.

Well, from the Midwest to Hawaii, the weather is hitting people hard across the country this weekend.

We're going to get the latest for you just ahead.

Also, she's now free, but it's what Jill Carroll said in captivity that's causing quite a stir. Coming up, we're going to take a look at the fallout from her taped statements.

And Justice Scalia speaks out. But should he have held his tongue? Our legal experts weigh in.

But first, a night at the opera for a whole new generation. That's our Tips From The Top.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Conductor Jay Meetze has been instrumental in making opera accessible to a wider audience. A former music teacher, Meetze founded the Opera Company of Brooklyn to attract a new generation of music lovers by offering tickets as low as $20 and performances in unusual settings, like someone's apartment.

Meetze keeps costs down by employing a small, part-time staff, while taking on multiple full-time jobs, founder, conductor and artistic director.

According to Meetze, life is all about taking chances.

JAY D. MEETZE, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR, OPERA COMPANY OF BROOKLYN: You must grab a hold of the opportunity and you must seize it and go for it. No one is going to do it for you.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Meetze hopes to take this idea of affordable opera in a unique setting and extend it throughout the country and into Europe.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHOI: It's raining, it's pouring. Some severe weather to tell you about today, beginning in Hawaii, where it seems it just won't stop raining. It's been pouring there off and on for about a month- and-a-half straight. The state is now under a flash flood watch.

Meteorologist Robert Ballard joins us by telephone from the National Weather Service in Honolulu now.

Thanks so much for joining us.

ROBERT BALLARD, METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Good morning to you.

CHOI: All right, so bring us up to date.

What's the weather like right now in Hawaii?

BALLARD: Right now we're in a little bit of a lull. Most of the heavy showers and thunderstorms are offshore. So the islands are getting a little bit of a break. We do expect new heavy showers and thunderstorms to form over land during the afternoon hours here. So some spots that have already seen torrential rainfall could get another dose of heavy rain this afternoon.

CHOI: Yes, I know you've seen a lot of flooding there from the soaking that you've been getting.

How unusual is it for areas in Hawaii to get rain nonstop like this for a month-and-a-half?

BALLARD: We're seeing rainfall that, in some cases, has been setting records for any month, the heaviest rain that has fallen in any month. And I will give you an example. At Honolulu, we've seen over 14 inches of rain and that compares to the wettest rain for March was 21 inches, back in March of 1951.

But that -- that total approaching 15 inches is more than -- it's getting close to what we normally see in a year at Honolulu.

CHOI: Well, as you said, another big band of rain is headed your way. That is unfortunate, but we hope that you get to dry out after that.

Thanks so much.

BALLARD: Sure.

CHOI: Well, Indiana is also reeling. Major storms there might have spawned as many as three tornadoes overnight. At least 20 homes were damaged. Some minor injuries reported, as well. And more bad weather is expected again today.

Let's head it over to Galen Crader in the Weather Center for a look at what we can expect nationwide.

GALEN CRADER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thank you, Sophia. Yes, and confirmation of at least one tornado now starting to trickle in from the Indiana area that was affected last night. The residuals of that system right now starting to rake across the Eastern Seaboard. Baltimore, Philadelphia, D.C. are seeing the effects of it right now.

Rain will increase for you in New York and up into Boston as the evening goes on, as well.

Just to touch on what Mr. Ballard was talking about in Hawaii for a moment here, yes, unfortunately another huge impulse is set up just to the south of the islands. The flow is northerly and -- is southerly, that is. So Oahu and Maui, you will get to enjoy some more heavy rains for you all evening and into the overnight hours. Unpleasant.

And speaking of unpleasant, we have an outbreak of some severe weather expected through the western portion of Oklahoma and in northern Texas and up into Kansas for you today. In fact, our True View weather satellite has a pretty good idea of what we're tracking for you right now.

In fact, we're following a complex of storms that are moving in the general direction of Springfield for you today. You do need to pay -- be on special alert, pay close attention to those local warning channels that will be broadcasting those warnings for you today in Springfield. A couple of these small cells do have the potential to turn tornadic for you.

All right, back into the -- the outlook for you today, generally, widespread rain across the Southeast. Some of these could boil over into thundershowers today, but nothing terribly severe for you. And the highs will be very spring like, indeed, until you get into California. Fifty-nine in San Francisco, 64 in Los Angeles as the high, Sophia. Go figure.

CHOI: Oh, that is a bit of a chill for out West.

Galen, thanks.

CRADER: You bet.

CHOI: Well, coming up, one river, two stories. A life saved, others lost. Heroism and horror on the border.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Pick a border crossing, you can find as many stories there as the people who risk their lives on it.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve went to the Rio Grande. What she found -- one tale of bravery and another of sorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have three that came out of that 14-14. They're already across the drag road.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Every day, Border Patrol cameras help catch illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass, Texas. But some days they capture much more -- events that tell us about the best within us and the worst.

ISMAEL MARTINEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Here's the point that we got into the water. We crossed through here.

MESERVE: Ismael Martinez, his mother, his sister and three others, waded across the Rio Grande to the United States in the early morning darkness of September 23rd, 2004, to join Ismael's father, who had a job milking cows on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Border Patrol cameras saw them, and agents found them.

STEPHEN F. WHITE, MARTINEZ FAMILY LAWYER: They came out, all six of them, and prepared to be arrested. But that's not what happened.

MESERVE: In a deposition, one of the agents says he told the Mexicans to go back to their F-ing country. The Mexicans say they were ordered back into the water at a deep stretch of the river.

(on camera): Could you swim?

MARTINEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No.

MESERVE: Could your mom swim?

MARTINEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No.

MESERVE: Could your sister swim?

MARTINEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): No.

MESERVE (voice-over): In a videotaped statement, a Mexican who was in the group says they asked the Border Patrol for help, but the agents instead threw rocks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERARDO OJEDA, BORDER CROSSER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Because of the rocks they were throwing, the women started panicking. And not being able to feel the bottom of the river, they became desperate and were grabbing on to us, trying to save themselves. The river's current kept taking us further out.

MESERVE: The Border Patrol's own infrared cameras captured the women's struggle. Eventually they disappeared beneath the water.

MARTINEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My mom and sister, I couldn't see them.

MESERVE: They drowned, along with another woman in the group. In depositions, the Border Patrol agents deny ordering the Mexicans back into the river or throwing rocks. And an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security did not result in any disciplinary action.

ALAN LANGFORD, U.S. BORDER PATROL: There was no -- no findings of misconduct. There is, to the best of my knowledge, it's been presented to the U.S. attorney and he declined prosecution. There was no evidence indicating that it occurred.

MESERVE: But Ismael's father is suing for $240 million. The case is pending.

WHITE: Because I don't think anybody should be put in the circumstance that they were put in. It shouldn't happen anywhere. It certainly shouldn't happen in the United States. MESERVE (on camera): The drownings and the alleged misconduct are horrific.

But in this very same stretch of river, a tale of heroism. And it happened right there.

(voice-over): Border Patrol Agent Daryl Lee was on patrol last February 22nd when, again, Border Patrol cameras saw illegal immigrants entering the U.S. When Lee approached them, the immigrants went back in the water and one got in trouble.

DARYL LEE, U.S. BORDER PATROL: They came to a point where he took his last little breath. He had kind of struggled up, his face barely broke the water this time and he just kind of bubbled a little bit and went down. And that's when I made my decision, you know, that he wasn't going to -- probably not coming back up.

MESERVE (voice-over): Video from Border Patrol cameras show Daryl Lee diving into the water, swimming towards a man he could no longer see. And then a bubble. A successful rescue.

LEE: I just felt that I couldn't live with myself if I stood by and didn't do everything within my ability to save another human life.

MESERVE: One river, two stories that turn a lens on us as well as our neighbors.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: And Jeanne also tells us that Ismael, whose mother and sister drowned, is now back in Mexico. His dad has returned there, too. They say if they try to cross into the U.S. again, they will go by dry land.

Well, criticizing the U.S. praising the Iraqi insurgents.

Why did Jill Carroll say what she said?

We're going to take a look at the impact of her taped statements, just ahead.

Also, later, one of the hottest sites on the Web -- can 30 million people a day be wrong? We're going to show you some more and you know you want to watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Now in the news, an American helicopter is down in Iraq today. The military says is crashed during combat air patrol near Baghdad. There's no word on the crew.

Former Iraq hostage Jill Carroll is due back in the U.S. on Sunday. She's resting in Germany right now. Kidnappers freed the journalist this week. She had been held since January 7th.

Thousands march in New York today. They're angry over plans to toughen immigration laws. One bill in front of Congress would make it a felony to be in this country without permission.

And a fresh crew hooked up with the international space station today. Brazil's first astronaut tagged along with the American and Russian. He's going to return to Earth with the departing space station crew.

And Catholics are gathering at the Vatican today. They will mark the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. His successor, Benedict XVI, will lead a memorial mass on Monday.

Former Iraq hostage Jill Carroll is seen and heard today on a new tape. She citizens the U.S. military and President Bush.

What's this all about?

Well, our chief national correspondent, John King, takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is journalist Jill Carroll before her release, a video now on radical Islamic Web sites that, for Iraqi insurgents, is a public relations gold mine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL CARROLL, FORMER HOSTAGE: There are a lot of lies that come out of the American government calling the Mujahedeen terrorists and other things. I think it's important for the American people to hear from me, the Mujahedeen are only trying to defend their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: But did she mean a word of it?

WALTER ZEINS, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, that's a question of, you know, to -- that she can only answer. But you've got to understand something. She wants to get out of there and she's going, you know, cross her Ts and dot her Is of everything they tell her to say. KING: Jill's father, Jim Carroll, told her employer, "The Christian Science Monitor," that his daughter told him in a long conversation Friday, recording the video was a final demand before her release.

Jim Carroll said her captors "obviously wanted maximum propaganda value in the United States. After listening to them for three months, she already knew exactly what they wanted her to say, so she gave it to them, with appropriate acting to make it look convincing."

This video immediately after her release was recorded at an Islamic political party headquarters. Carroll made a point of noting she was not harmed by her captors.

CARROLL: Never threatening in anyway.

JACKIE SPINNER, CARROLL FRIEND: She's still looking for sympathy for the people who held her captive and I think that speaks volumes about Jill and her mission in Iraq.

KING: Sorting her views from anything she was forced to say will be one of the many issues in Carroll's debriefings by U.S. intelligence expert and it will not be unusual for her initial statements to change over time.

ZEINS: We've had incidents where people just become empathetic towards the hostage-taker. So, you know, the bottom line to it is, there's a very strong possibility she might have fallen into the Stockholm Syndrome. Again, let time take its course in this particular debriefing.

KING: If nothing else, Jonathan Alterman and many others who study the Iraqi insurgency see a significant change of tactics.

JON ALTERMAN, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: The insurgency has gone from mindless killing of anybody they can get their hands on just to show they can do, something to a more self-confident series of choices about how they're going to act. For their audience, which is an audience of Iraqis, having an American say I was treated well, I was treated with respect, is priceless.

KING (on camera): I want you to listen to Jill Carroll's characterization of President Bush.

CARROLL: He knows it's built on a mountain of lies and I think he needs to finally admit to the American people and let the troops go home.

ALTERMAN: What it also tells me is that you're not just dealing with a bunch of unsophisticated gang members doing anything to get anybody to pay attention. These are people with goals. People with skills. And people who are making choices about what things get them farther along to their goals.

KING (voice-over): Jill Carroll will tell her story soon. Her father said she wasn't trying to help her captors, but had been taught to fear them. John King, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Now to other stories overseas, in our "Going Global" report. It's another weekend of protests in France. Left-wing parties today rejected President Jacques Chirac's offer to modify a controversial youth labor law. Opposition groups are demanding the measure be scrapped. They're vowing to join students and unions in more protests next week.

Floodwaters are rising across Central Europe today. Rivers have burst their banks forcing thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes in the Czech Republic and in Germany.

Divers in Bahrain are searching for one more person still missing after a cruise boat capsized on Thursday night, while the boat's captain is being detained for questioning. An interior ministry spokesman says the captain was not licensed to pilot the craft; 57 people drowned in the accident, 68 others were rescued.

All right, so you want to be in the movies, huh? Well, you don't have to wait to be discovered anymore. You can make your own films. There's been an explosion of homemade videos, viral videos they're called, because they spread like crazy on the Web. Entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They range from the bizarre and outrageous to out and out insanity. Short video clips that are sent from person to person throughout the Internet. You probably have had some show up in your own inbox. It is a phenomenon that some are calling viral video.

With dozens of Web sites featuring some of the most passed around clips on the Net, these viral videos are getting more exposure than ever. One site that is gaining enormous popularity is You Tube.

CHAD HURLEY, CO-FOUNDER, YOU TUBE.COM: We were taking photos and videos with our digital cameras and, you know, the next day realized how difficult it was to share the video files because they were too large.

VARGAS: You Tube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen had no idea when their creation went online last year it would generate such a wild response.

STEVE CHEN, CO-FOUNDER, YOU TUBE.COM: When we started this thing, there was virtually nothing like this out there.

VARGAS: According to the site's managers, You Tube attracts upwards of 30 million visitors a day, who upload as many as 30,000 different clips.

HURLEY: Well, what we're really doing is creating a stage for everyone. I mean, the personal content to the professional content. And now everyone, you know, has their time in the spotlight.

VARGAS: One clip that found itself in the spotlight was from an episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," a tongue in cheek rap video titled "Lazy Sunday." Days after it aired in December, the clip had been uploaded to several web sites and viewed by countless people on the Internet.

(on-camera): As its popularity spread, it caught the attention of NBC, whose lawyers contacted many of the sites, including You Tube, asking that it be taken down.

(voice over): After actress Natalie Portman appeared in a February episode of the show performing a hardcore rap parody, NBC once again found itself asking Web sites to take its copyrighted materials off the Internet. Shortly after, both of the clips from SNL appeared on NBC's page on iTunes, where users could now download them legitimately for a price.

NBC says, "As the broadband digital space develops, it's important for rules of the road to be clearly established. We want to find a balance between protecting our copyrighted material and meeting the audience's demand to watch video in new ways."

But it is not just NBC. A search of sites like You Tube reveals copyrighted clips from other broadcast networks, as well as CNN. And while NBC isn't saying much about its clips on the web, plenty of others are joining the conversation.

Shortly after SNL's "Lazy Sunday" made the rounds, a clip dubbed "Lazy Monday" started showing up on the net. A decidedly West Coast response to "Lazy Sunday's" New York-flavored rap.

It was followed by other responses from places like the Midwest with "Lazy Muncie" There is even a version from the UK.

MARK FEUERSTEIN, ACTOR: It is amazing that there is this medium now where anyone, anywhere can make a video and try to, you know, express themselves, show their creative voice.

VARGAS: Actor Mark Feuerstein and director Adam Stein, who created the "Lazy Monday" clip, say they're fascinated by the potential for viral videos.

ADAM STEIN, DIRECTOR: Traditionally television has been only one way, where you're just watching whatever is on TV. In this new system, you can watch what is on sites like You Tube and then you can also participate if you want to.

VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Fun, huh? Well that "Techno File" report comes to us from "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 p.m. eastern. Supreme Court justices are supposed to have strong opinion, right? Find out why Justice Antonin Scalia is catching flack for some of his.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: Supreme Court justices usually keep a pretty low profile. We seldom hear their opinions except for those expressed from the bench. Well, that's why some comments made recently by Justice Antonin Scalia at a Swiss law school are getting so much attention now.

Brian Todd shows us what took place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Supreme Court justice unplugged, or as a friend says privately, Nino being Nino. Take this exchange about the Iraq war debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States stands up and lies in front of the Congress because of the -- before going to war in Iraq.

JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA, SUPREME COURT: I listened to you, now you listen to me. You said that the president of the United States lied to the Congress about Iraq.

(CROSSTALK)

SCALIA: That is certainly not an established fact at all. It's a huge controversy about whether indeed he believed, as the intelligence service of every country in the world believed, that weapons of mass destruction were possessed by Iraq.

To come and state as a fact that the president lied about it -- I mean if that's the body of fact on which you are basing your question, it's no use answering it.

TODD: At another point Justice Antonin Scalia talks about the Supreme Court's ruling that upheld the right to flag burning, which he supported.

SCALIA: Now, I don't like that result. And if it was up to me, if I were king, I would take scruffy, bearded, sandal-wearing idiots who go around burning the flag and I would put them in jail.

TODD: On a question about gay rights ...

SCALIA: The question comes up, is there's a Constitutional right to homosexual conduct. Not a hard question for me. It is absolutely clear that nobody ever thought when the Bill of Rights was adopted that it gave a right to homosexual conduct. Homosexual conduct was criminal for 200 years in every state. Easy question.

TODD: Later Scalia turns a leading question about the American justice system into a dig at the French.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the impression that in America in some way, justice or not, if you are powerful enough, and if you have a good public relations operation, you can get away with whatever you do. Now, this is a problem -- a great problem. There are two problems.

SCALIA: Like using the budget of the French government to keep a mistress in Paris, which everybody knows about. There is not a scandal. The difference is in America there is a scandal. In Paris, hey. (SPEAKING IN FRENCH).

TODD: For the sake of context, Justice Scalia considered himself a judicial originalist, one who tries to interpret the original intent of the Constitution's framers. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said neither the court nor Justice Scalia would have any comment on that event at the Swiss law school

Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: Well, in today's legal briefs, let's see what our legal eagles think of those remarks from Justice Scalia. Avery Friedman and Richard Herman join us from New York.

You know guys, Justice Scalia also made strong remarks about military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, a case that the Supreme Court just heard this past week. So I got to ask Chief Justice Roberts -- he recused himself -- should Scalia do the same for make those kinds of comments -- Richard.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Sophia, his statement was, "War is war and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts." Give me a break. That's his statement, verbatim.

You would hope that judges come with open minds, and would listen and apply the facts as they're presented to the judges, along with the law. Here, we know what Judge Scalia's decision is going to be. We know where his vote is going to be, and the Supreme Court's most likely going to come down with a 4-4 vote with Roberts out.

CHOI: Avery, you agree?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes, no. No, I don't agree with that at all. I mean, look, Justice Scalia is an original. And I'm not sure that's a good thing. It doesn't deal with his role dealing with the Constitution. But he just basically shoots his mouth off.

The difficulty is that when you're a justice sitting on the highest court in America, you cannot convey information to the public where you have a preconception. And I think what Justice Scalia should have done, frankly, is recused himself from the cases dealing with military tribunals. The problem is -- and I think actually I disagree. I think we're going to see a majority of five in the Hamdan case involving military tribunals. Scalia's going to very well be in the minority.

CHOI: Well, you know, we have got to ask. Are military tribunals that we're talking about like the ones set up for bin Laden's driver, you just mentioned, Salim Hamdan, even legal? Are they legal -- Avery.

FRIEDMAN: Well, I -- in my opinion, they are not. Now, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on which the new chief justice sits, held that it was a proper exercise of presidential power. I think this majority, however, Sophia, will say that they were wrong, that this exercise of presidential power goes too far.

CHOI: Richard, you know this is clearly a case of just how much authority a president should have during times of war. So what's at stake here?

HERMAN: Well, Sophia, like the wiretapping case and now this case here, the Supreme Court and most likely Congress, is going to look to try to rein in the president who is really testing the waters, pushing the envelope, with what he perceives as his power and authority in a war time.

CHOI: All right, Richard, Avery, hang on with us. Our legal experts will be back. We've got to take a quick break. We're going to discuss a wild week in court for admitted al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui as well as another high-profile case, the Enron scandal. When we come back, will the former CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, take the stand when the defense begins its case on Monday? We'll talk about that and much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHOI: And we have this just in. CNN has learned the "Christian Science Monitor" will release a statement from former hostage Jill Carroll. We're going to get that statement at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. And, of course, CNN will carry that live for you. Carroll is due back in the U.S. on Sunday. She's resting right now in Germany.

Kidnappers freed the journalist this week. She'd been held since January 7th. And, again, she released a statement to the "Christian Science Monitor," whom she was working for as a freelance journalist in Iraq, and will carry that statement from The Christian Science Monitor live at 4:00 p.m. Eastern out of Boston. Stay tuned for that.

Meantime, "Legal Briefs" continues. Avery Friedman and Richard Herman are back with me. Some wild twists and turns in the sentencing of September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and what the defense will bring up next week in the Enron trial. So let's start with the Moussaoui case.

Avery, the jury is now deliberating. Will he or won't he get the death penalty? What's going to be the deciding factor here? FRIEDMAN: Nobody knows the answer. And the deciding factor will be if the jury determines that he is a deliberative active member of al Qaeda, or if he is a lunatic al Qaeda wannabe. Somewhere in the middle of that is where this guy is. I think it's a coins toss.

CHOI: How much do you think the scandal surrounding lawyer Carla Martin is going to impact this jury as they go about their deliberation?

HERMAN: I don't think that will have any impact on the jury. Because supposedly the jury doesn't know anything about that. They were not privileged to it. The judge has directed them not to read the newspaper, not watch TV. So you would hope that they don't know anything about that. And it will not impact their decision.

CHOI: Richard, I want to move on to another big case, Enron. We're getting to what everyone really has been waiting for. Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, testifying. What will the burden of the prosecutors be during cross examination of them?

HERMAN: Well, that's just an enormous decision in a criminal case to put a defendant on the stand. And if these gentlemen are going to take the stand in this case, I guarantee you, they are going to be prepared and they are going to be able to handle the barrage of questions.

When the defense -- if a defense person gets on the witness stand and they get caught in a lie, Sophia, the case is over. One lie and it's over. There's going to be a conviction here. Very very dangerous.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, no, no. In fact, these two guys are, extremely charismatic. They know what they're doing. They're going to take the stand, Richard, because they know how to handle this jury. They're smart. They're successful. And even if there's a twist and turn on some of the facts, I think they're going to be in very good shape. The government has done a very powerful job, but no smoking gun. So this case turns on how these two are going to testify.

CHOI: Avery, we only have a few seconds left and I've got to ask you, what's the outcome of this case? Any guesses?

FRIEDMAN: It's very difficult to predict. You know what, we're going to know in the next couple days based on what we hear on the witness stand.

HERMAN: They're not that smart, they got arrested and put behind bars. They're not that smart.

CHOI: We shall see how they fare on the stand if they take it. Avery Friedman, Richard Herman, always good to see you guys.

And now our planet. In his State of the Union address, President Bush declared America is addicted to oil and called for steps to increase energy independent. One strategy, improving gas mileage. CNN's Kyung Lah reports that Washington is taking a pretty close look at SUVs now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're among the biggest gas guzzlers on the road. Rules for them about to change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can and we must save more fuel.

LAH: How? New federal fuel economy standard. By 2011, light SUVs and trucks must get 24 miles per gallon, up from 21.6. The big change, SUVs weighing 8500 to 10,000 pounds, like the Hummer H2, will face federal fuel standards. Exempt, the biggest pickups made like the Ford f-250.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We took a look at this from a very pragmatic, realistic market viewpoint. So that we are pushing the envelope and at the same time some people will say we're bringing the industry along, kicking and screaming.

LAH (on camera): The Department of Transportation says the new fuel economy standards will save 10.7 billion gallons of fuel. It sounds like a lot, but it actually only amounts to a few weeks of oil consumption.

(voice-over): Environmental groups say the rules could be tougher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is a step in the right direction. It's a very small step, given very challenging times we're facing. So we don't understand why they didn't do something bolder.

LAH: Playing a role, says Minetta, is the economic impact on U.S. carmakers like GM. The other, the consumer dollar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to pay more for their vehicles just to maybe get one or two more miles per gallon so the extra cost of the vehicle may not pay off through savings at the gas pump.

LAH: Gm and Ford are reserving comment until they have the chance to get through the 400-page document. In Washington, I'm Kyung Lah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHOI: And now, a timely reminder. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 tomorrow morning. So you should set your clock forward one hour before you go to bed tonight. This, by the way, is the first year the entire state of Indiana will observe Daylight Saving Time.

"CNN PRESENTS" is coming up in a moment. This reminder for you, former hostage Jill Carroll has released a statement to the Christian Science Monitor. We'll get that statement at 4:00 p.m. eastern. CNN will carry that live so stay tuned for a check of your top stories after this quick break and then that news conference at 4:00 p.m.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHOI: Hello. I'm Sophia Choi. Here's what's making news right now. The scarf is gone. Journalist and former hostage Jill Carroll is headed home. Her captors let her go two days ago in Baghdad. The Christian Science Monitor is expected to release a statement from Jill Carroll next hour, that's the paper Carroll was freelancing for. We'll carry that live when it happens.

Another march opposing immigration reform, this one rooted in Brooklyn, New York. Most protesters today are from Latin America. Their national flags unfurled. All of them worry about proposed legislation that would crack down on illegal immigrants.

A U.S. military helicopter on combat patrol crashes southwest of Baghdad. No word yet on the status of the crew. But a military statement says information is being withheld until the next of kin are notified.

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