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Graner Lawyers Ask Case be Thrown Out; Def Poets Speak Up

Aired December 06, 2004 - 14:30   ET

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

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


TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's all -- what's all new this half-hour.

Safeguarding the nation's food supply. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details on some new rules designed to keep you safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): There is a terrorist threat in the land, and it's not just the boy band.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a pathetic man who...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow, and poetry never looked or sounded like this when I was taking English 101. Ahead, we'll meet some poets taking the art form to the next level. First, here's what's happening now in the news.

The fate of the intelligence reform bill is being decided in Washington. CNN has learned Vice President Cheney is involved in talks with a key House Republican who is holding up a vote on the massive legislation. Sources are saying if a deal isn't done today, the bill will die.

A U.S. official tells CNN al Qaeda is suspected in the consulate attack in Saudi Arabia today. Five gunmen forced their way into the heavily fortified U.S. compound. They failed to kill any Americans but eight people died in gunfire, including three of the five attackers.

The flu isn't catching at least not yet, according to the head of the CDC. Widespread flu has not been reported in any of the 50 states which is especially welcome news given the vaccine shortage.

PHILLIPS: You've seen the disturbing photographs and heard the allegations. Now the alleged ringleader in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is facing military justice. Charles Graner's lawyers say he can't get a fair trial. Our Susan Candiotti is at Fort Hood, Texas with the latest -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. It has not been a good day for the defense. Specialist Graner losing on two fronts. First of all, his attorneys lost a motion trying to throw out the case all together. They had argued that comments made by President Bush and other members of his administration, for example, that the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison was abhorrent would possibly taint a jury. The judge said, I'm sorry, but the president and others also made comments that would tend to make allowances for that, for example, that the defendants should also receive a fair trial. So that motion was denied.

The defense also losing an attempt to get direct testimony from General Ricardo Sanchez. They hoped that he would be able to establish that military intelligence was under a directive to get more actionable intelligence. And therefore, that the detainees should be questioned to try to soften that up -- soften them up. That has been the defense all along that they were just following orders. Now after the hearing, Specialist Graner had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPC. CHARLES GRANER, ACCUSED OF ABUSING DETAINEES AT ABU GHRAIB: The truth is going to come out, and we were doing what we were supposed to, and that's, you know, everything's going to come out well for the people that are remaining here. I don't know if that's a good enough answer for you or not, but that's how I feel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your defense is that you were following orders.

GRANER: Roger. Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From? Generally speaking, if you can't be specific?

GRANER: From -- yes, right now, when this is all said and done, I can tell you everything, but right now, I'm a little restricted to what the defense is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Specialist Graner has come to be known as the ringleader of the prison abuse scandal. You recall seeing him in many photographs, for example, one with his fist cocked as though he was about to hit a detainee in the head, another one where he is smiling and posing behind a pile of naked prisoners. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on January 7. The trial is expected to last about a week or so. And if convicted, Specialist Graner could get up to 24 years in prison -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.

Five U.S. soldiers who refused to go on a supply run in southern Iraq October will not be court-martialed. They and other members of their unit complained that faulty equipment made the mission too dangerous. The military says the five will face other punishment, however. Under military law that, that could include anything from a reprimand to a fine. HARRIS: News across America now. The U.S. military is supplying a new radio system to about 125 bases stateside that operates on the same frequency as a popular garage door opener. The military signal is so strong it can jam nearby garage door openers preventing the doors from opening or limiting the openers' range.

Sheriff's deputies in Orange County, California, taking in a group of people pulled from this SUV. Police say they were illegally parked drinking beer when their vehicle was swept out to sea by the rising tide. No one was hurt.

OK. If you're having lunch, do you know how safe that food is you're eating? Well, new government rules will make it easier to track contaminated food especially in the case of a bioterrorism attack. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson spoke about the rules on CNN earlier this hour. CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on food safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: People can be exposed to tainted food in one of two ways, either accidentally or intentionally. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. People may remember from 20 years ago, one of the most famous major U.S. terrorist attacks on our food supply took place in Oregon. It was by the Rajinish (ph) cult, an Indian cult that actually contaminated the salad bars in two counties in Oregon. Salmonella was used. 750 people were poisoned, 40 people hospitalized. The effects of salmonella on the body cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea. You can see all the symptoms there.

40,000 people are infected annually most common in the summer months and usually subsides in two to five days. In this particular situation, Oregon, back 20 years ago, it took them over a year to figure out that it was an intentional poisoning. And that can be the difficulty. There are 76 million food-borne illnesses, 5,000 deaths annually because of those, 325,000 hospitalizations. The food inspections have gone up from 12,000 to 98,000, still a very small percentage of the overall food that needs to get inspected.

There's a couple of examples I wanted to give. Hepatitis A, people may remember back in Pennsylvania, twice, late 2003, at Chichi's restaurant, there was a concern about Hepatitis A. Two separate outbreaks. Over 600 people fell ill. Three deaths and there were ten secondary infections. A lot of people thought this could be terrorism. Ultimately it was deemed to be accidental contamination from green onions imported from Mexico. You can take a look at all the symptoms from Hepatitis A but keep this in mind. It can take up to 50 days for someone to fall ill. During that time, they may pass the virus on to other people making it difficult to source not only the restaurant but also the food that may have caused the contamination in the first place. You can see how difficult this is.

Botulism ranks at the top of the list of many public health officials in terms of food safety. Lots of different symptoms from botulism poisoning, droopy eyelids, difficulty with swallowing, weak muscles, typically comes from home canned foods with a low acid content such as asparagus, green beans, beets, and corn. This is something public health officials worry about quite a bit.

To keep yourself safe at home might be a little bit easier. You don't have to worry about as much, check if the food package is intact. Note any abnormal odors, taste, appearance. Don't take antibiotics protectively. That can sometimes do more harm than good. Wash all your raw food products. Sounds like a simple thing. It could save your food in terms of its tainting. Cook your food thoroughly and report symptoms to local food authorities, as well local health authorities, to try and prevent further contamination. Some tips there on protecting yourself and your food safety. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And CNN primetime takes an in-depth look at the nation's food supply and how safe it really is. At 7:00 Eastern, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" gives us a food safety fact check. At 8:00 Eastern "PAULA ZAHN NOW" examines possible bureaucratic roadblocks to food safety and at 10:00 Eastern, "NEWSNIGHT" examines how cropdusters could be used as a bioterrorism tool.

PHILLIPS: Next up, it's poetry in motion.

The performers of the award winning Def Jam Poetry cast are taking their show on the road. I'll talk with two of them coming up next.

HARRIS: When teens and high fashion clash. Why one of London's most famous brands isn't courting the youth market.

PHILLIPS: And fake or real? The battle for your Christmas tree dollars is here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a party with words. Take a little Langston Hughes, a dash of L.L. Cool J, sprinkle in a little Walt Whitman and you've got the makings of poetry jam. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like this, it's like that. It was poetry but now they call it rap. Before players, hustlers, gangsters, crooks, it was Gill Scott Heron and Gwendolyn Brooks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never knew that I could be free. Until this new (UNINTELLIGIBLE) came to me and saved me, told me to look beneath the lies, always asking why, why, why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: It's a performance going cross-country called "The Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam." Two of the rhyme-time performers join me now, Stacey and Chin and poetry. I like how you're plugging your clothes there. Go ahead, what does it say? Read it. Life is a poem, live out the metaphors.

Great to have you guys here.

Some of us follow "Def Jam Poetry" and a lot of people don't know about it. I want you both to capsulize, each one of you, its mission for you. Stacey, I want you to tell me the mission of it for you.

STACEYANN CHIN, POET: I think for me, being an activist and a writer and you know, an immigrant and a lesbian and all those controversial things, half Asian, half black, it's a way to write myself into history. To quote Suhar Hamad (ph), with my poems I write myself into history where I place a face that is normally invisible in this world into that world. Try to do it with a little bit of fun.

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk -- we're talking about the deep issues and the laughter you guys always create, too. What about you?

POETRI, POET: Well, I'm a Christian so I love to touch, especially in Atlanta, we're going to be here in Atlanta. I love coming to different cities and showing that you can be funny. Because a lot of my poetry is funny and still have a gospel feel to it where it's very, very funny and you're still getting spiritually touched.

PHILLIPS: I was very lucky to have parents who are very multicultural and they taught me a lot about Harlem Renaissance and I've studied a lot of writers like Claude McKay and I was talking about him and Langston Hughes and you even mentioned these poets. You guys have the intellectual sense, obviously, and the writing and you talk about subject matter from everything from interracial issues to black apathy. You name it. But what is about you two and the other poets that resonate with the generation now for those that -- I don't know Langston Hughes but would probably think he's pretty cool if they read his stuff but they hear you and they go I get it.

POETRI: That's the beautiful thing that people come to us after the show all the time saying, you know what, I'm going to start writing poetry or I'll be reading more poetry now because poetry has a stigma of being boring. We get a chance to be entertaining on stage and break that stigma out.

CHIN: What's particularly interesting about this generation is that I think it's mirroring the 1970s when you had the Harlem Renaissance that you mentioned and there's a strong sense of something needing to be happening right now. I think that we've had the quiet -- the decadence of the '90s or the even more decadent '80s and I think the 1970s were the years we were most focused in terms of political activity in terms of -- I mean, the world historically is going crazy right now with what's happening with the different governments and what's happening and people feeling like we're doing things kind of interesting with first amendment rights and freedom of speech and all those kinds of things. I think now more than ever our voices are mirroring the 1970s and they're -- it's becoming really important for us to stand up as role models for the generation coming up to see that they can speak and that this way of action is fruitful.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned being role models. So Poetri, let me ask you this, is it about being role models for those of all different ethnicities more so than maybe educating white America on ethnic issues?

POETRI: It's definitely one of those two. It's definitely educating everybody. It's not just educating white people. We don't want people to think when they come to the show, we're educating white people. We're educating everybody. Her and her beliefs, she's educating people. I'm educating people. We've joined to meet all the wonderful people in the cast.

CHIN: It's interesting for us to talk about who are the other people on the show. We've got like a young black boy from Philadelphia. We've got Staceyann, who is the lesbian, We've got Poetri who is like the kind of funny big guy who is like black, but Christian which is kind of interesting. Who else? We've got Lemon (ph) and Faffo (ph). Lemon talks about issues of being a survivor of the penal system.

PHILLIPS: What do you think of hip-hop? The hip-hop you flip on and see the bling-bling and women portrayed as hos, they use these words all the time.

CHIN: Hip-hop has always been, you know, a range of different things and commercialism, where the money is has always been the worst of perhaps, you know, what the genre holds. You have people like Mos Def, people like Common, you have people who are not saying the bling and the hos and all those things that are so hurtful to us as a people and a nation and a society.

POETRI: We grew up in the hip-hop. She grew up in Jamaica but I grew up in hip-hop era. So that's why the play is based in hip-hop. We don't rap while we're doing our poetry but we live in hip-hop culture which is the culture...

PHILLIPS: As it is poetry is the kind of hip-hop we should be talking more about. "Def Jam Poetry." Got to plug the show. HBO. You can't miss it. You're on tour now. Your next stop after Atlanta?

POETRI: Los Angeles, January 15. We're going to be at the Kodak Theater. Two shows in the Kodak theater.

PHILLIPS: Thanks you guys. I hope you'll come back. This went by way too fast.

All right. Straight ahead, 'tis the season to shop for that perfect Christmas tree. Right? Why more and more Americans seem to think fake trees are better.

Plus, teens and plaid, a fashion don't? One high end designer draws the line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: I want that hair.

PHILLIPS: Isn't that cool. It's pretty awesome. HARRIS: I could add 20 years to this career.

PHILLIPS: I could have talked poetry there another half an hour. As all the producers know, let's go. We've got other news.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: In Britain, consumer confidence that's too hot to handle. Kids known as, help me, Kyra, chavs, is that what it is?

PHILLIPS: Chavs. Yes, they're all buying the latest name brand items.

HARRIS: Is that what they're doing? OK. However, some fashion houses don't want their business. CNN's Jim Boulden tells us why chavs are getting the old cheerio. Sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When going chav- spotting in London, you don't have to wait long for a sighting. There's one in the checked baseball cap with a mobile phone, of course. And this may be the ultimate male chav, jewelry, baseball cap and hood. The whole chav thing started with London's suburban white youth wanting to wear the check pattern from fashion house Burberry. Now it's also big gold chains usually on top of a track suit. And a female chav is known for sporting white shoes, usually pushing a baby carriage complete with big gold looped earrings.

DAVID BRITTAN, FASHION STYLIST: There is hideous mistakes going around. You know what I mean?

BOULDEN: The fashion world is not amused.

BRITTAN: They're young, good-looking, hyper kids that are walking around the streets making complete idiots out of themselves.

BOULDEN: That's why you'd better not call a chav a chav.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're a bit tacky, and they wear all the same clothes and stuff like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, to me it's a lot of -- there's a lot of bad feelings about chavs.

BOULDEN: There's now a book to help with chav spottings, and Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper has identified the top English brands worn, smoked and drunk by your average chav.

IAN KING, "THE SUN": A lot of young people, particularly young urban working class kids and youth, are very into branded fashion. These goods are not cheap, by and large. It's a way of flaunting your wealth.

BOULDEN: The chavs have their own hip-hop band, complete with a chav name, Goldy Looking Chain (ph). I wondered if they could explain the whole chav thing. I didn't get much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's over a chain made of gold.

BOULDEN: It's harder to find chavs in real Burberry baseball caps these days. The luxury goods maker has stopped selling them because it didn't want to be associated with this, well, demographic. That's not stopped the Burberry pattern however showing up on all kinds of goods Burberry's wouldn't dream of selling.

And what is it about those baseball caps in the land known more for cricket? Well, the anti-chavs will tell you it started with kids wanting to hide their face from CCTV cameras in stores. No wonder Burberry stopped selling them.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: I know there should be something said here.

PHILLIPS: ... your Burberry tie, you'll be wearing it tomorrow, that's right, all right.

HARRIS: Well, this could be the day the Washington reaches a deal on the intelligence reform bill.

PHILLIPS: And a surprise attack on a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia. We'll update you on the investigation, we'll check the rest of the headlines straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Some arm-twisting, a little compromise and high stakes on Capitol Hill right now. The lame duck Congress is under intense pressure to pass intelligence reform. We'll have a live report coming up.

Thousands of Americans in Saudi Arabia are told to take extra security precautions after a brazen terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah. Eight people, including three of the gunmen, are dead. We'll have details straight ahead.

Outgoing health secretary Tommy Thompson is changing his tune about the safety of the nation's food supply days after he warned it could be a terrorist target. He now says America is more prepared than ever to meet that potential threat. Thompson praised implementation of an FDA rule that requires manufacturers to keep a paper trail showing where they got and sent food products.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired December 6, 2004 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Tony Harris, in for Miles O'Brien.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's all -- what's all new this half-hour.

Safeguarding the nation's food supply. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details on some new rules designed to keep you safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): There is a terrorist threat in the land, and it's not just the boy band.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a pathetic man who...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow, and poetry never looked or sounded like this when I was taking English 101. Ahead, we'll meet some poets taking the art form to the next level. First, here's what's happening now in the news.

The fate of the intelligence reform bill is being decided in Washington. CNN has learned Vice President Cheney is involved in talks with a key House Republican who is holding up a vote on the massive legislation. Sources are saying if a deal isn't done today, the bill will die.

A U.S. official tells CNN al Qaeda is suspected in the consulate attack in Saudi Arabia today. Five gunmen forced their way into the heavily fortified U.S. compound. They failed to kill any Americans but eight people died in gunfire, including three of the five attackers.

The flu isn't catching at least not yet, according to the head of the CDC. Widespread flu has not been reported in any of the 50 states which is especially welcome news given the vaccine shortage.

PHILLIPS: You've seen the disturbing photographs and heard the allegations. Now the alleged ringleader in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is facing military justice. Charles Graner's lawyers say he can't get a fair trial. Our Susan Candiotti is at Fort Hood, Texas with the latest -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello. It has not been a good day for the defense. Specialist Graner losing on two fronts. First of all, his attorneys lost a motion trying to throw out the case all together. They had argued that comments made by President Bush and other members of his administration, for example, that the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison was abhorrent would possibly taint a jury. The judge said, I'm sorry, but the president and others also made comments that would tend to make allowances for that, for example, that the defendants should also receive a fair trial. So that motion was denied.

The defense also losing an attempt to get direct testimony from General Ricardo Sanchez. They hoped that he would be able to establish that military intelligence was under a directive to get more actionable intelligence. And therefore, that the detainees should be questioned to try to soften that up -- soften them up. That has been the defense all along that they were just following orders. Now after the hearing, Specialist Graner had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPC. CHARLES GRANER, ACCUSED OF ABUSING DETAINEES AT ABU GHRAIB: The truth is going to come out, and we were doing what we were supposed to, and that's, you know, everything's going to come out well for the people that are remaining here. I don't know if that's a good enough answer for you or not, but that's how I feel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your defense is that you were following orders.

GRANER: Roger. Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From? Generally speaking, if you can't be specific?

GRANER: From -- yes, right now, when this is all said and done, I can tell you everything, but right now, I'm a little restricted to what the defense is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Specialist Graner has come to be known as the ringleader of the prison abuse scandal. You recall seeing him in many photographs, for example, one with his fist cocked as though he was about to hit a detainee in the head, another one where he is smiling and posing behind a pile of naked prisoners. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on January 7. The trial is expected to last about a week or so. And if convicted, Specialist Graner could get up to 24 years in prison -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Susan Candiotti, thanks so much.

Five U.S. soldiers who refused to go on a supply run in southern Iraq October will not be court-martialed. They and other members of their unit complained that faulty equipment made the mission too dangerous. The military says the five will face other punishment, however. Under military law that, that could include anything from a reprimand to a fine. HARRIS: News across America now. The U.S. military is supplying a new radio system to about 125 bases stateside that operates on the same frequency as a popular garage door opener. The military signal is so strong it can jam nearby garage door openers preventing the doors from opening or limiting the openers' range.

Sheriff's deputies in Orange County, California, taking in a group of people pulled from this SUV. Police say they were illegally parked drinking beer when their vehicle was swept out to sea by the rising tide. No one was hurt.

OK. If you're having lunch, do you know how safe that food is you're eating? Well, new government rules will make it easier to track contaminated food especially in the case of a bioterrorism attack. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson spoke about the rules on CNN earlier this hour. CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on food safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: People can be exposed to tainted food in one of two ways, either accidentally or intentionally. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. People may remember from 20 years ago, one of the most famous major U.S. terrorist attacks on our food supply took place in Oregon. It was by the Rajinish (ph) cult, an Indian cult that actually contaminated the salad bars in two counties in Oregon. Salmonella was used. 750 people were poisoned, 40 people hospitalized. The effects of salmonella on the body cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea. You can see all the symptoms there.

40,000 people are infected annually most common in the summer months and usually subsides in two to five days. In this particular situation, Oregon, back 20 years ago, it took them over a year to figure out that it was an intentional poisoning. And that can be the difficulty. There are 76 million food-borne illnesses, 5,000 deaths annually because of those, 325,000 hospitalizations. The food inspections have gone up from 12,000 to 98,000, still a very small percentage of the overall food that needs to get inspected.

There's a couple of examples I wanted to give. Hepatitis A, people may remember back in Pennsylvania, twice, late 2003, at Chichi's restaurant, there was a concern about Hepatitis A. Two separate outbreaks. Over 600 people fell ill. Three deaths and there were ten secondary infections. A lot of people thought this could be terrorism. Ultimately it was deemed to be accidental contamination from green onions imported from Mexico. You can take a look at all the symptoms from Hepatitis A but keep this in mind. It can take up to 50 days for someone to fall ill. During that time, they may pass the virus on to other people making it difficult to source not only the restaurant but also the food that may have caused the contamination in the first place. You can see how difficult this is.

Botulism ranks at the top of the list of many public health officials in terms of food safety. Lots of different symptoms from botulism poisoning, droopy eyelids, difficulty with swallowing, weak muscles, typically comes from home canned foods with a low acid content such as asparagus, green beans, beets, and corn. This is something public health officials worry about quite a bit.

To keep yourself safe at home might be a little bit easier. You don't have to worry about as much, check if the food package is intact. Note any abnormal odors, taste, appearance. Don't take antibiotics protectively. That can sometimes do more harm than good. Wash all your raw food products. Sounds like a simple thing. It could save your food in terms of its tainting. Cook your food thoroughly and report symptoms to local food authorities, as well local health authorities, to try and prevent further contamination. Some tips there on protecting yourself and your food safety. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And CNN primetime takes an in-depth look at the nation's food supply and how safe it really is. At 7:00 Eastern, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" gives us a food safety fact check. At 8:00 Eastern "PAULA ZAHN NOW" examines possible bureaucratic roadblocks to food safety and at 10:00 Eastern, "NEWSNIGHT" examines how cropdusters could be used as a bioterrorism tool.

PHILLIPS: Next up, it's poetry in motion.

The performers of the award winning Def Jam Poetry cast are taking their show on the road. I'll talk with two of them coming up next.

HARRIS: When teens and high fashion clash. Why one of London's most famous brands isn't courting the youth market.

PHILLIPS: And fake or real? The battle for your Christmas tree dollars is here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a party with words. Take a little Langston Hughes, a dash of L.L. Cool J, sprinkle in a little Walt Whitman and you've got the makings of poetry jam. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like this, it's like that. It was poetry but now they call it rap. Before players, hustlers, gangsters, crooks, it was Gill Scott Heron and Gwendolyn Brooks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never knew that I could be free. Until this new (UNINTELLIGIBLE) came to me and saved me, told me to look beneath the lies, always asking why, why, why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: It's a performance going cross-country called "The Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam." Two of the rhyme-time performers join me now, Stacey and Chin and poetry. I like how you're plugging your clothes there. Go ahead, what does it say? Read it. Life is a poem, live out the metaphors.

Great to have you guys here.

Some of us follow "Def Jam Poetry" and a lot of people don't know about it. I want you both to capsulize, each one of you, its mission for you. Stacey, I want you to tell me the mission of it for you.

STACEYANN CHIN, POET: I think for me, being an activist and a writer and you know, an immigrant and a lesbian and all those controversial things, half Asian, half black, it's a way to write myself into history. To quote Suhar Hamad (ph), with my poems I write myself into history where I place a face that is normally invisible in this world into that world. Try to do it with a little bit of fun.

PHILLIPS: We're going to talk -- we're talking about the deep issues and the laughter you guys always create, too. What about you?

POETRI, POET: Well, I'm a Christian so I love to touch, especially in Atlanta, we're going to be here in Atlanta. I love coming to different cities and showing that you can be funny. Because a lot of my poetry is funny and still have a gospel feel to it where it's very, very funny and you're still getting spiritually touched.

PHILLIPS: I was very lucky to have parents who are very multicultural and they taught me a lot about Harlem Renaissance and I've studied a lot of writers like Claude McKay and I was talking about him and Langston Hughes and you even mentioned these poets. You guys have the intellectual sense, obviously, and the writing and you talk about subject matter from everything from interracial issues to black apathy. You name it. But what is about you two and the other poets that resonate with the generation now for those that -- I don't know Langston Hughes but would probably think he's pretty cool if they read his stuff but they hear you and they go I get it.

POETRI: That's the beautiful thing that people come to us after the show all the time saying, you know what, I'm going to start writing poetry or I'll be reading more poetry now because poetry has a stigma of being boring. We get a chance to be entertaining on stage and break that stigma out.

CHIN: What's particularly interesting about this generation is that I think it's mirroring the 1970s when you had the Harlem Renaissance that you mentioned and there's a strong sense of something needing to be happening right now. I think that we've had the quiet -- the decadence of the '90s or the even more decadent '80s and I think the 1970s were the years we were most focused in terms of political activity in terms of -- I mean, the world historically is going crazy right now with what's happening with the different governments and what's happening and people feeling like we're doing things kind of interesting with first amendment rights and freedom of speech and all those kinds of things. I think now more than ever our voices are mirroring the 1970s and they're -- it's becoming really important for us to stand up as role models for the generation coming up to see that they can speak and that this way of action is fruitful.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned being role models. So Poetri, let me ask you this, is it about being role models for those of all different ethnicities more so than maybe educating white America on ethnic issues?

POETRI: It's definitely one of those two. It's definitely educating everybody. It's not just educating white people. We don't want people to think when they come to the show, we're educating white people. We're educating everybody. Her and her beliefs, she's educating people. I'm educating people. We've joined to meet all the wonderful people in the cast.

CHIN: It's interesting for us to talk about who are the other people on the show. We've got like a young black boy from Philadelphia. We've got Staceyann, who is the lesbian, We've got Poetri who is like the kind of funny big guy who is like black, but Christian which is kind of interesting. Who else? We've got Lemon (ph) and Faffo (ph). Lemon talks about issues of being a survivor of the penal system.

PHILLIPS: What do you think of hip-hop? The hip-hop you flip on and see the bling-bling and women portrayed as hos, they use these words all the time.

CHIN: Hip-hop has always been, you know, a range of different things and commercialism, where the money is has always been the worst of perhaps, you know, what the genre holds. You have people like Mos Def, people like Common, you have people who are not saying the bling and the hos and all those things that are so hurtful to us as a people and a nation and a society.

POETRI: We grew up in the hip-hop. She grew up in Jamaica but I grew up in hip-hop era. So that's why the play is based in hip-hop. We don't rap while we're doing our poetry but we live in hip-hop culture which is the culture...

PHILLIPS: As it is poetry is the kind of hip-hop we should be talking more about. "Def Jam Poetry." Got to plug the show. HBO. You can't miss it. You're on tour now. Your next stop after Atlanta?

POETRI: Los Angeles, January 15. We're going to be at the Kodak Theater. Two shows in the Kodak theater.

PHILLIPS: Thanks you guys. I hope you'll come back. This went by way too fast.

All right. Straight ahead, 'tis the season to shop for that perfect Christmas tree. Right? Why more and more Americans seem to think fake trees are better.

Plus, teens and plaid, a fashion don't? One high end designer draws the line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: I want that hair.

PHILLIPS: Isn't that cool. It's pretty awesome. HARRIS: I could add 20 years to this career.

PHILLIPS: I could have talked poetry there another half an hour. As all the producers know, let's go. We've got other news.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HARRIS: In Britain, consumer confidence that's too hot to handle. Kids known as, help me, Kyra, chavs, is that what it is?

PHILLIPS: Chavs. Yes, they're all buying the latest name brand items.

HARRIS: Is that what they're doing? OK. However, some fashion houses don't want their business. CNN's Jim Boulden tells us why chavs are getting the old cheerio. Sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When going chav- spotting in London, you don't have to wait long for a sighting. There's one in the checked baseball cap with a mobile phone, of course. And this may be the ultimate male chav, jewelry, baseball cap and hood. The whole chav thing started with London's suburban white youth wanting to wear the check pattern from fashion house Burberry. Now it's also big gold chains usually on top of a track suit. And a female chav is known for sporting white shoes, usually pushing a baby carriage complete with big gold looped earrings.

DAVID BRITTAN, FASHION STYLIST: There is hideous mistakes going around. You know what I mean?

BOULDEN: The fashion world is not amused.

BRITTAN: They're young, good-looking, hyper kids that are walking around the streets making complete idiots out of themselves.

BOULDEN: That's why you'd better not call a chav a chav.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're a bit tacky, and they wear all the same clothes and stuff like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, to me it's a lot of -- there's a lot of bad feelings about chavs.

BOULDEN: There's now a book to help with chav spottings, and Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper has identified the top English brands worn, smoked and drunk by your average chav.

IAN KING, "THE SUN": A lot of young people, particularly young urban working class kids and youth, are very into branded fashion. These goods are not cheap, by and large. It's a way of flaunting your wealth.

BOULDEN: The chavs have their own hip-hop band, complete with a chav name, Goldy Looking Chain (ph). I wondered if they could explain the whole chav thing. I didn't get much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's over a chain made of gold.

BOULDEN: It's harder to find chavs in real Burberry baseball caps these days. The luxury goods maker has stopped selling them because it didn't want to be associated with this, well, demographic. That's not stopped the Burberry pattern however showing up on all kinds of goods Burberry's wouldn't dream of selling.

And what is it about those baseball caps in the land known more for cricket? Well, the anti-chavs will tell you it started with kids wanting to hide their face from CCTV cameras in stores. No wonder Burberry stopped selling them.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: I know there should be something said here.

PHILLIPS: ... your Burberry tie, you'll be wearing it tomorrow, that's right, all right.

HARRIS: Well, this could be the day the Washington reaches a deal on the intelligence reform bill.

PHILLIPS: And a surprise attack on a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia. We'll update you on the investigation, we'll check the rest of the headlines straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: Some arm-twisting, a little compromise and high stakes on Capitol Hill right now. The lame duck Congress is under intense pressure to pass intelligence reform. We'll have a live report coming up.

Thousands of Americans in Saudi Arabia are told to take extra security precautions after a brazen terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah. Eight people, including three of the gunmen, are dead. We'll have details straight ahead.

Outgoing health secretary Tommy Thompson is changing his tune about the safety of the nation's food supply days after he warned it could be a terrorist target. He now says America is more prepared than ever to meet that potential threat. Thompson praised implementation of an FDA rule that requires manufacturers to keep a paper trail showing where they got and sent food products.

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