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Family Pleads for Journalist's Release; Competing Proposals Made for Congressional Ethics Reform; Inside View of How Lobbying Works; Sago Mine Survivor Begins to Awaken

Aired January 18, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: I'm Kyra Phillips, and this is LIVE FROM.
Pleading for mercy. The family of a kidnapped American journalist cries out to her abductors. Jill Carroll, abducted 11 days ago in Baghdad. The Arabic language network, Al Jazeera, obtained this video of her. Carroll's abductors are demanding the U.S. release all female Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours or Carroll will be killed.

CNN'S Michael Holmes is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That video of Jill Carroll was seen on the Al Jazeera network. It was very short. There was no audio, although we could see her speaking in those picture. It's the first time we've seen her since January 7 when she was taken.

The demands are pretty simple: 72 hours has been given, in order for the U.S. to release all women prisoners held by them. Now, we've heard from the U.S. military that they are holding only eight women out of some 14,000 suspects being detained in relationship to the insurgency. According to Iraqi sources, six of those women were due for release in the days ahead anyway, unrelated to these demands.

The group holding her claims to be the Brigade of Revenge. We know nothing about this group. It's the first time we've heard about them. Jill Carroll, of course, was taken January 7 in a risky part of the city in what appeared to be a very highly organized attack. She was seized. Her 32-year-old translator was killed.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And the abduction of Jill Carroll is a stark reminder of the dangers journalists face in Iraq. Here's a quick look at the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): At least 60 journalists have been killed why working in Iraq since the war began in 2003. That's more than any other contact since 1981, according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The number of journalists killed in the Vietnam War was only slightly more. Freedom Forum says 66 journalists were killed in that conflict between 1955 and 1975.

In Iraq, most of the journalists were killed as a result of insurgent activity. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 13 died as a result of U.S. fire. The deaths occurred in the crossfire of war, suicide bombings, or targeted killings, or just through being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Kidnapping is also a major danger for journalists in Iraq. At least 36 journalists have been abducted and held for some period of time since 2004. The first to have been killed by his kidnappers was Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. He was abducted and killed in August of 2004. At least five other abducted journalists have been killed since then.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Eleven Iraqi police and troops have been found in a mass grave just north of Baghdad. The grave was discovered by Iraqi and U.S. soldiers. The U.S. military said that all the bodies were blindfolded and bound.

It's the second mass grave reported within a week. Police say another grave was discovered near Najaf on Tuesday. It has not said how many bodies it contained, but they believe it dates back to the 1991 Shiite uprising.

Back here in the states, it was a non-issue for decades, an uphill battle at best for the lonely few who thought lawmakers and well-heeled lobbyists got along better than they should. Now it's a juggernaut. Members of Congress literally racing to see which house or party can overhaul ethics rules the fastest and the strictest. What changed? Two words, Jack Abramoff.

CNN's Ed Henry can say a few words about that while he tries to avoid the stampedes on Capitol Hill.

Hey, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look out. I don't want to get knocked over up here. You know, there are people racing to the cameras, trying to see who's cleaner, who can find religion faster, stop me before I'm bribed again.

And today, we're going to see the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi. They've had a little fun with it, their reform plan. They're trying to make political hay out of this, beat up on the Republicans heading into the midterm elections. So their plan is going to have all kinds of provisions named after some of the players in this drama.

Like you said, Jack Abramoff, there will be a provision, since he was the one who took these lawmakers on lavish golf trips to Scotland, for example, there's going to be a Jack Abramoff provision banning all publicly funded travel, banning as well, the Democrats going so far as to say no gifts whatsoever from lobbyists to lawmakers or staffers.

The Republicans, as you mentioned yesterday, putting forth a plan similar on the travel. On the gifts, they're limiting it to gifts of $20 or less.

And what's funny, when you take a step back, Senator John McCain has been pushing for some of these changes for years to no avail. Said yesterday, you know, this is reminding him of the fact that if you live long enough up here on Capitol Hill, you end up seeing just about everything, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Twenty dollar limit on meals. Where the heck can you get a good meal for 20 bucks in Washington? Just tell me, Ed.

HENRY: Well, you know, I can tell you almost nowhere, except in the cafeterias in this building. I can tell you, they're pretty cheap. And they also serve good meals.

But you know, Trent Lott, in fact, who just announced yesterday he's running for another six-year term, he wants to stick around and take some of those cheap meals, I guess, not the expensive ones. He was making a little fun of some of the reform efforts and making the same point you are, Kyra.

Take a listen to what Lott said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: I do think there are some things that need to be tightened up. But it's not just lobbying. It's also some of the rules and some of the ethics. Some of it is outrageous. I mean, now we're going to say you can't have a meal for more than 20 bucks. Where you going, McDonald's?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Lott -- Lott also pointed out some are getting carried away with just how lavish some of the dinners are with lobbyists. He said some of them are so darn boring that he should be paid just to go and sit with some of these lobbyists.

So he's just trying to point out, I think, with a little bit of humor that, while, you know, certainly there have been abuses, not everybody does it. And you have to be careful not to go too far.

There are others saying, as well, wait a second, you don't need new laws and rules. They're already on the books. The problem is you need lawmakers who will follow the rules that are in place. Lobbyists are not supposed to be paying for travel. They were doing this, Jack Abramoff, through back door financing. And so it's not just about rules. You need to follow them, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, lawmakers talking about cutting off the flow of money completely, I mean, getting very strict about these rules, as in practically nothing. I mean, could that happen quickly? HENRY: I think there's clearly going to be reform. The question is, is this going to be meaningful? Is it going to be window dressing?

And just for one example, if you take a look at the fact that the lawmakers, as Lott was saying, they're saying, "Well, we don't want to accept gifts of more than $20 from lobbyists." But you know what? They're still saying they're willing to take $500 or $1,000 in campaign contributions from those same lobbyists.

So if these lobbyists are trying to influence legislation up here, as we know they are, and you can't take a $50 steak from them, you might be corrupted, why in the world can you take $1,000?

"The Washington Post" pointed out today, as well, you'll still be able to travel overseas or to, say, to a fancy place like Aspen, Colorado, with these lobbyists, as long as it's a fundraiser. If it's in connection with fundraising, you can go and have all the lavish trips you want.

So there's still going to be loopholes, despite what they're talking about now. And unless they change the campaign finance laws, some of this other stuff is just tinkering around the edges, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed, I'll treat you to McDonald's any day, you just let me know.

HENRY: All right. You name it. I don't care (ph).

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, K Street, revolving doors, pay per play. Like most other industries, the world of high stakes federal lobbying has a vocabulary all its own. But we know what you're thinking. Why do they call it lobbying?

CNN's Bob Franken knocked on some doors for "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where lobbyists got their name, right here in this lobby of Washington's Willard Hotel, where they plied President Ulysses Grant with cognac and sought favors.

Now, more than 130 years later, lobbyists, backed by the mother's milk of politics, money, prowl all the corridors of government. Hundreds are ex-White House aides or former members of Congress, like Bob Livingston, who left the House after 22 years.

BOB LIVINGSTON, PRESIDENT, THE LIVINGSTON GROUP: It's an adjustment from going from grovelee to groveler.

FRANKEN: The adjustment is made tolerable by the $10 million plus his Livingston Group billed last year, lobbying for about 80 clients, who felt that his connections were worth big money. LIVINGSTON: You wouldn't go to an ignoramus. One presumably would want to hire an expert.

FRANKEN: In addition to expertise, lobbyists provide campaign money in many different forms, including fundraising dinners. There's also the special treatment: travel for government officials on corporate jets and cut-rate prices. Choice seats at sports events. Cushy junkets like golf trips to St. Andrew's, Scotland, arranged on occasion by the now disgraced Jack Abramoff and his associates, gifts that House Republicans now want to make illegal.

LIVINGSTON: Abramoff was an aberration. He was -- he did some very terrible things. But he's going to go to prison for it because he was caught.

FRANKEN: Among the clients Abramoff has represented is Time Warner, parent company of CNN.

Livingston says he has no special seats to offer, does not arrange fancy trips, does not provide corporate jets. However, he and his clients do make campaign contributions.

LIVINGSTON: The money doesn't go to buy a candidate. The money doesn't go to buy a congressman.

FRANKEN: What it can buy, say watchdog groups is access, without accountability.

ROBERTA BASKIN, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: There is nothing wrong with lobbying, but it is -- it's become like the fourth branch of government, and the public doesn't get to see very much of what's going on.

LIVINGSTON: Lobbyist is not a curse word.

FRANKEN (on camera): Not a curse word maybe, but lobbying has certainly been the source of many scandals over the decades and many efforts at reform. But about the only thing that's really changed is that they don't operate so much out of the Willard Hotel.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: No comment from Tony Blair's office or London police about an alleged plot to kidnap Blair's 5-year-old son Leo.

Reports in the British media say that a group campaigning for better rights for divorced fathers planned the kidnapping as a publicity stunt. A British tabloid claims that the group, Fathers for Justice, planned to hold Leo Blair hostage for just a short period of time.

The group has a history of breaching security in the heart of the British government. Its founder denies any knowledge of such a plot and adds his group is in the business of uniting families, not separating them.

The sole survivor of the Sago mine disaster begins to awaken from his coma. An update on the condition of Randal McCloy Jr. We're live from West Virginia.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: West Virginia miner Randal McCloy Jr. is coming out of his coma and he's rewriting medical textbooks at the same time. McCloy is opening eyes and swallowing. One doctor says McCloy is probably the longest known survivor of this type of carbon monoxide poisoning.

CNN's Chris Huntington had a chance to question doctors earlier today in Morgantown.

And Chris, I guess when you hear doctors say the word "miracle" it's pretty darn encouraging.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is quite remarkable, Kyra. These doctors here, very sophisticated folks are using words like "miracle," "hopeful," "thankful." Words of emotion and passion, frankly that you would think would perhaps not be coming off the tongue of these doctors who, by profession and for very good reason, need to be cautious about being loose with speculation.

But nonetheless, they are very, very encouraged by the sign these are seeing in Randy McCloy. And here's how the chief of neurosurgery here at West Virginia University Hospital put it this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JULIAN BAILES, NEUROSURGEON: With great hope, we announce that Randy McCloy is awakening from his coma. He is opening his eyes. He has purposeful movements. He responds to his family in slight ways. He moves all extremities. His brain stem function, which has been normal, remains normal. Pupillary response, swallowing, facial movement. We consider him probably best described in a light coma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: So crucial to remember, still in a light coma. Has not fully awakened. He has not spoken yet. Doctors are saying that speaking on behalf of McCloy's family members, who have about in and around Randy's room as much as possible, that the family members say they believe that they're sensing an emotional reaction coming from Randy. The doctors a bit more hesitant to confirm that, saying that they want to see a bit more evidence.

You mentioned, Kyra, in coming to me, that the doctors are saying this is one for the record books. We questioned them on that several times during this press conference. They believe -- and it's interesting. This is the first time now in two weeks since the accident, but they've had a lot of time to consult with other doctors around the world and medical research. They believe that Randy McCloy may be the longest term survivor of this kind of carbon monoxide poisoning in history. They are not aware of anybody else who has survived this.

And as one of the doctors put it, and he was very careful to underscore that he is speculating, one the main factors that he has to believe was at play here is that somehow Randy McCloy had access to more oxygen during those 40 hours in the mine than the others did. He wouldn't elaborate on that. We have heard reports, unconfirmed, that maybe, maybe some of the other miners shared some of their emergency gear with Randy. We just don't know if that's the case.

But clearly, the fact that he survived for 41 hours in an environment that we know was laced with carbon monoxide means that somehow, some way, he did manage to get some oxygen during that period of time.

So the doctors, as you said, Kyra, are using the word "miracle" here. Still a long way to go for Randy McCloy, but they're very, very encouraged by his pace of recovery -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris, you said family members say that they feel like they're emotionally connecting to him. How is that happening?

HUNTINGTON: Well, again, none of the family members have spoken to us directly, today at least, or -- nor, for that matter, in the past week. There was a family representative here, not a direct member of the family, who has said to a certain extent that the family believes that Randy is able to -- you know, I mentioned, he's able to open his eyes and track to a certain degree.

You can imagine, if this was a family member of yours, you might be wanting to see as much as you could out of that. And the doctors said as much. They said clearly the family is hoping for best and wants to read each sign to its fullest. The doctors, a bit more cautious. They say they need to see more objective signs of Randy's recovery, but they are optimistic.

PHILLIPS: I can imagine just having that hand squeeze would be incredible. Chris Huntington, thank you.

HUNTINGTON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Former President Gerald Ford improving enough to go home soon. That word from his chief of staff who says that Ford could leave a California hospital tomorrow. We may hear for certain a bit later today. Ford has been in the hospital since Saturday with pneumonia. At 92, Ford is the nation's oldest living former president.

And we're waiting to hear from doctors treating baby Noor. The Iraqi infant went back into the hospital here in Atlanta this morning for what's described as a 10-minute procedure. It involves draining fluid from her back that has built up since her surgery last week for spina bifida. Earlier, doctors said they plan to keep her in the hospital for just a few more days just to be on the safe side.

Wet weather causing many airport delays in the northeast. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras has the forecast now at the CNN Weather Center. Hey, Jacqui.

If you can hear me, Jacqui, flip on your mic, my dear. There we go. She's going to have it in two seconds.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN WEATHER CENTER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: There we go, yes.

JERAS: There we go. Hello, hello! Sorry about that. I didn't want everybody to see me messing.

PHILLIPS: Playing back there adjusting. OK. No problem, we got you. What's it like? What's happening?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, thanks.

Straight ahead, a diabetic man out for a stroll in a cornfield with his trusty pets finds out how trusty they really are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BURNS, SAVED BY HIS DOGS: It's got to be just fate. Or faith. One or the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Fate or faith? Butch or Dusty? What saved Bill Burns' life? You decide in today's animal adventure later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, they've been credited with saving civilization. But now there's evidence that one Irishman may have populated a lot of it, too. Scientists at Trinity College in Dublin say they may have found the country's most fertile male.

Niall of the Nine Hostages, a fifth century warlord, is long dead, but as many as one in 12 Irishmen could still be expanding his gene pool. The scientists used DNA testing on 800 Irishmen and say that the results indicate Niall could have as many as three million male descendants worldwide. That puts him in the company of Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, whose descendants number 16 million.

If your last name is Bradley, Boyle, Gallagher, O'Dougherty, O'Donnell, well, there's a good chance that you're part of Niall's extended family.

Well, investors are in a good selling mood on Wall Street. Susan Lisovicz, live from the New York Stock Exchange, to tell us why.

Hey, Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has handed a limited victory to abortion foes. The ruling involves a New Hampshire law requiring parental notification before a minor can get an abortion, allowing no exception when the minor's health is at stake.

In what may be her last written opinion, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor voiced concerns about the absence of a health exception, but she said a lower court erred when it invalidated the entire law.

O'Connor wrote, quote, "Only a few applications of New Hampshire's parental notification statute would present a constitutional problem." The justices ordered the appeals court to reconsider whether the entire law is unconstitutional.

Tuesday's high court decision that allowed Oregon's assisted suicide law to remain on the books has reopened a very old and very emotional debate.

In a report first seen on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," CNN's Frank Sesno travelled to Oregon to hear from people on both sides of the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK SESNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a good day for Greg Yaden, so he's off to enjoy one of his favorite pastimes. But at 59, he knows he hasn't got much fishing left.

You see, about a year ago, Greg collapsed after a business trip. He ended up in the hospital. The diagnosis: acute myeloid leukemia. Chemotherapy bought some time, but doctors could not find what Greg needed most: a suitable bone marrow donor.

The disease is moving fast now, and Greg measures his future in weeks.

GREG YADEN, TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT (voice-over): As far as dying, yes, I'm scared. But I'm also accepting.

(on camera) I would be terrified if I didn't have some say in how this was going to end.

SESNO (voice-over): Greg is taking charge of his death. He showed me the room where he plans to die.

G. YADEN: All my friends can come up and visit and that sort of thing. We'll have hospice up here. There are a series of questions...

SESNO (voice-over): And read from this form he signed, requesting a lethal dose of barbiturates.

G. YADEN: I understand the full import of this request and I expect to die when take the medication to be prescribed.

Now, I'm not going to take it unless I'm really, really, really losing it. And so it's not going to be: Oh, gosh, I'm committing suicide. It's like: Oh, God, please release me from this. I just can't take this anymore, you know -- give me some help here.

SESNO (voice-over): Greg's help comes from his fellow Oregonians, who twice have voted for the state's Death with Dignity Act, the only such law in the country. It allows a doctor to write a lethal prescription if a patient is certified mentally competent and within six months of death from disease.

Between 1997 and 2004, 208 terminally ill Oregonians took their lives in this way -- the vast majority saying they wanted some autonomy at the end, as does Greg.

G. YADEN: If there was any question I could live, I'd be fighting tooth and nail. I would fight tooth and nail to live.

But, quirk of fate, whatever, you know, I don't. I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not what we need. What we need is to be...

SESNO (voice-over): Greg's prescription, Oregon's law, has triggered a debate as passionate as it is eternal. Who controls life and death?

For 38 years, Dr. Kenneth Stevens had been a radiation oncologist in Oregon. He believes the Death with Dignity Act breaks faith with patients and his profession.

DR. KENNETH STEVENS, AGAINST RIGHT TO DIE: What I see with assisted suicide is that the patient is basically saying: I want to die; breathing is my symptom, and the cure for that breathing is to cause my death. And that is not what medicine is about.

G. YADEN: I would just ask: What business is it of theirs? Do you know what I've gone through? Do you know what I'm going through.

SESNO (voice-over): Missy, Greg's partner for 12 years, is right there with him.

MISSY HECTOR, GREG YADEN'S GIRLFRIEND: And the ferns are doing good.

SESNO (voice-over): They face the disease and his decision together.

HECTOR: He's terminal. He's not changing what's going to happen to him. He's just hastening it in a manner to give him peace of mind.

DR. NICK GIDEONSE, SUPPORTS RIGHT TO DIE: Looking at today's patient list.

SESNO (voice-over): Dr. Nick Gideonse, director of a family health clinic with more than 2,000 patients, is not Greg's doctor. But he has written seven lethal prescriptions and been present at five deaths.

GIDEONSE: I won't deny that I've cried at times around this. But it's been a tremendous privilege. I feel that I've relieved suffering in a very palpable, real way for patients. And I think I've also helped families honor their family members' final wishes in the face of terrible illness.

SESNO (on camera): Gideonse is well aware of the legal and moral arguments and the Hippocratic oath, I noticed, that hangs on his wall.

I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel.

GIDEONSE: I can provide a patient aid in having the good death that they hope for. I don't feel I'm breaking any of the oath or ours goal to help patients in any way that we can.

STEVENS: I could not do it. I would become basically an executioner, rather than a healer.

SESNO (voice-over): Dr. Stevens' opposition to Oregon's law isn't just professional. It's also very personal.

Shortly before his first wife died of cancer in 1982, her doctor suggested an extra large dose of morphine.

STEVENS: As I helped my wife to the car, she said, "Ken, he wants me to kill myself." And it really devastated her that her doctor, her trusted doctor, would basically feel that her life is no longer a value.

SESNO: None of this changes the way Greg Yaden or those close to him, including his brother Dave see things.

DAVE YADEN, GREG YADEN'S BROTHER: For those who say we should be in the business of living -- well, my brother's dying, period. He's going to be dead. He ought to have a chance to do that in a way that gives him as much comfort than the rest of us as possible.

SESNO (voice-over): Greg doesn't know if he'll swallow the bitter liquid at the end. But he sees it as an insurance policy He'll use if he must.

G. YADEN: Then we'll call ahead and say we have an expected death. They won't then send ambulance with sirens screaming and bells ringing.

So the thing of it, my neighbors will know. We're close.

So I just will go to sleep.

SESNO: On your terms.

G. YADEN: On my terms.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That was CNN's Frank Sesno reporting. Greg Yaden's illness progressed very rapidly after Frank taped that report. Yaden died without taking the medication that he'd been prescribed -- but he maintained his right to that medication until the very end.

The war of words is intensifying over Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brushed aside suggestions about resuming talks with Iran. Her blunt response: There's not much to talk about.

A sentiment was shared by visiting European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana. His equally blunt response: There's nothing new on the table. The bottom line, Rice added, Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Both the U.S. and E.U. pushing for the issue to be taken up by the U.N. Security Council, a step that could lead to sanctions against Iran. The latest standoff erupted about a week ago when Iran broke U.N. seals at a nuclear plant and resumed reprocessing nuclear fuel after a freeze of two and a half.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful. The U.S. and E.U. fear Iran's ultimate goal is producing nukes.

In a related development, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed today it will hold an emergency meeting on Iran's nuclear program February 2nd.

A possible outcome: the dispute could be referred to the U.N. Security Council. As we mentioned, that, in turn, could result in sanctions against Iran.

Iran's president today denounced the move as politically motivated, and called on the U.S. and the E.U. to act with a little logic.

Next on LIVE FROM, a little pelican that could, an update on LIVE FROM's favorite sea bird. Will he ever head south to his forever home?

And remember these names -- Butch, Dusty. A pair of labs with brains, guts and loyalty worthy of headline status in today's animal adventure segment. LIVE FROM honors these two heroes of Centerville, Indiana, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So you hugged your dog today. You will after this story of a life-saving Labrador, the flashlight, a cornfield and a cop. Ben Morriston of our affiliate, WRTV, has the heart-warmer from the heartland. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL BURNS, BUTCH & DUSTY'S OWNER: You guys are good, ain't you? My babies. Yes, you're my babies.

BEN MORRISTON, WRTV REPORTER (voice-over): Bill Burns likes to take an evening stroll with his two best friends, Butch and Dusty. Thanks to them, and deputy sheriff, Bill is alive today.

BURNS: It's got to be just fate, or faith. One or the other. So it's unbelievable.

MORRISTON: The story starts with Morgan County sheriff's deputy Steve Hoffman, who was running nighttime radar along this rural road. After stopping a speeding car, Hoffman noticed something odd.

DEPUTY STEVE HOFFMAN, MORGAN CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: After conducting the traffic stop, I turned around to return back to my car, and out in the middle of the cornfield, I noticed what appeared to be an illumination or a light that was flickering, and it was facing my direction.

MORRISTON: Deputy Hoffman drove to the cornfield where he found Butch and Dusty and their owner.

HOFFMAN: Walked up and there was a large black dog sitting down with a flashlight, like the style he would hold a bone in his mouth. And there was another dog that was laying down and there was a gentleman laying in the field in what appeared to be an unconscious state.

MORRISTON: Dusty was stretched out across Bill as if to keep him warm. Deputy Hoffman saw Bill Burn's bracelet and knew he was a diabetic.

HOFFMAN: I'm extremely glad that you're OK. Take care.

MORRISTON: Hoffman got Burns breathing again and sent him to the hospital. Bill doesn't remember the ordeal, but he believes it's more than luck.

BURNS: It was just like a movie. Or, you know, it was like it was programmed to do such, him finding the speeder, catching her way down where it was, and him turning around, seeing the light that Butch had.

HOFFMAN: The dogs definitely, definitely are the heroes in this story. Had it not been for them, had he not had the dogs with him that evening, I think the outcome would have been a lot worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Bill burns is out walking with Dusty and Butch again after his four-day hospital stay. And we've heard word that those hounds have enjoyed a steak dinner too, along with the claim for their heroics. Well, not only has weather scrubbed the launch of that rocket to Pluto, it's also put Stinky's mission in Miami on hold. Remember Stinky the pelican? Well, he'll get a few more days to hang with his buds at the Possumwood Acres Animal Sanctuary in Hubert, North Carolina.

A pilot from Virginia had planned to pick up the captivating critter and take him to a permanent home, but his trip to the sun and fun capital of the world was canceled due to strong winds. We're told that Stinky's flight has been rescheduled for Sunday. Stay tuned to CNN's LIVE FROM for the most reliable news about Stinky.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Take it straight to Fredricka Whitfield in the CNN newsroom with a developing story out of Iraq -- Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is reporting that a convoy carrying U.S. civilian security personnel was targeted during a roadside bombing in Basra, just southeast of Baghdad.

Two American civilians were killed. The wounded were taken to a hospital. Four people in that vehicle worked for a private security firm, but we don't know the name of that security firm.

Now, this is just one of many things taking place throughout Iraq today. In all, some 19 people have died in scattered and various attacks. Eleven bodies were also found in a grave north of the capital. And it's also being reported that two Africans have been abducted. All this taking place in just one day in Iraq -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.

Straight ahead, do you own an iPod? The first lady does. Find out what Laura Bush is listening to next. LIVE FROM has all the news you need this afternoon. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So, we found out last year what President Bush has on his iPod: country star Alan Jackson, bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, R&B queen Aretha Franklin and the Beatles.

Now the first lady has revealed a little of what she's got in her iPod. Laura Bush told the "Washington Times" she has Tina Turner on her player. She says she's not much of a fan of country music like her husband, but she does have Dolly Parton's version of "Stairway to Heaven." What else is on her playlist? We're not quite sure.

Well, there's a photo exhibit at the Library of Congress in Washington that opens a vivid window on the past. It's titled "Bound For Glory." It's a collection of images taken by government photographers during the Depression and World War II. And unlike most of the photos we see from those eras, these pictures are in color.

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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Year by year, the '30s and '40s are disappearing from living memory. Americans who experienced the Depression and World War II are aging and soon we'll be left only with words and with pictures.

Most of the pictures are starkly black and white photos, stern images that surely reflect serious times, but seem strangely distant, remote from our era in more than just years.

Now the Library of Congress is offering a more accurate look at those days, with a photo exhibit that lets us see them the same way people experience them, in living color. It was a different time, to be sure, where you could buy a grapefruit for a nickel or an orange for a penny, where going to town on Saturday afternoon wouldn't necessarily mean jumping into a car, and where a two-lane road cut through barren hills was a sign of progress.

Some of the photos remind us of the hard times. Children outside a tenement in Massachusetts. Tenant farmers chopping cotton in Georgia. Surplus commodities handed out in Arizona.

But other images speak of good times -- even during the depression. A square dance in Oklahoma. A carnival barker at the Vermont state fair. Boys fishing in a bayou on a lazy summer day in Louisiana.

As the '30s turned into the '40s, the headlines posted in the windows of newspaper offices began to take on a different tone. Soon, children played at war. Men went to war. And women kept the home fires burning, taking over jobs previously considered men's work.

By the time World War II ended, America was on its way to becoming the nation we know today. The children who followed the war news at school would grow up to take color photos for granted. They'D also live to see superhighways, space travel and personal computers.

The children in those old photos are our grandparents, our parents. They are us. Their past is our past.

And as these color pictures remind us, it wasn't that long ago.

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PHILLIPS; And the "Bound for Glory" exhibition runs through Saturday at the Library of Congress in Washington. But you can also see the photos on the Library of Congress Web site at www.loc.gov.

But we're still a little worse for wear after celebrating Ben Franklin's 300th birthday yesterday. And you can see why. Here's a peek at some of the festivities in the City of Brotherly Love, Franklin's favorite town.

You probably all know that the fascinating Franklin was a busy man during his eventful life. Here's a quick look at some of the lesser known facts about him.

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DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Larger than life, Ben Franklin was about 5' 10." But the list of achievements is almost too tall to measure.

He lived by a personally designed set of 13 virtues, including everything from cleanliness to frugality. He definitely counted his pennies. Maybe that's why he appears on the $100 bill.

At 16, he even became a vegetarian -- for a time to save money, mostly to buy books. One book he read was titled "The Art of Swimming."

He wrote in his autobiography that he nearly became a swimming coach in London. Franklin didn't bathe only in water. He is said to have taken what he called cold air baths, many mornings in the nude. He believed the cold air was essential to good health.

He wrote under a few different pen names, everything from newspaper columns to "Poor Richard's Almanac," in which he coined many of his most famous phrases.

At one point, he proposed reforming the English alphabet, eliminating the letters C, J, Q, W, X and Y as redundant and replacing them with six of his more phonetically useful characters.

Well, that idea never took hold, but he did invent bifocals, the lightning rod, and more than a few other odds and ends.

Another interesting tidbit, Franklin's son William sided with the British in the Revolutionary War. And that caused a rift in the relationship that lasted the rest of Franklin's lifetime.

When Franklin died at the age of 84 in 1790, 20,000 people are said to have attended the funeral.

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PHILLIPS: All right, let's check the financial markets. Right now, it's been a down day on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow is down about 71 points right now.

Later on LIVE FROM, Japan's market jitters. Our Ali Velshi will explain what caused a shorter trading day at the Tokyo Stock Exchange and what it means to you.

And that's "Portfolio."

We'll keep bringing you the news. More LIVE FROM right after this.

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PHILLIPS: No matter what Steelers' faithful Terry O'Neill says he'll be in front of the television on Sunday, watching the AFC championship. This, from a guy who suffered a heart attack on Sunday just moments after his hero, running back Jerome Bettis, fumbled with a minute left in the game with the Colts. O'Neill, who was at his favorite watering hole, was revived by two off-duty firefighters.

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TERRY O'NEILL, STEELERS FAN: There aren't any words that I can put to it. It was pins and needles. I thought we had them and the fumble -- it just put me on my heels, literally. And from my heels to my back.

Whenever he dropped the ball, it just broke my heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally.

O'NEILL: Literally.

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PHILLIPS: Well, everyone it seems is telling O'Neill that this Sunday could be another heart-stopping game, including his hero. Bettis called him yesterday and said, we have another tough one this week. You might not want to watch.

Now, remember this Cleveland fan who ran onto the field and was eventually body-slammed by a Pittsburgh player? Nathan Mallett won't get a chance to repeat that stunt any time soon. A judge has sentence him to a weekend in jail -- Super Bowl weekend, to be exact. And get this: No TV, no radio. Plus, he can't go to any Browns' games for five years.

You already know teens and cars can be a very dangerous combination. Now, a new report finds the young drivers themselves aren't always the ones mostly at risk.

Soledad O'Brien from CNN's AMERICAN MORNING reports.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's an all too familiar scene in communities all across the country: twisted metal, broken glass and -- often -- broken lives.

Sixteen-year-old Alicia Betancourt was getting ice cream in Silver Spring, Maryland, in late 2004 when this crash happened. But the young, aspiring artist wasn't behind the wheel. Alicia was riding with another 16-year-old who, police say, was speeding and lost control.

He survived. Alicia did not. Car wrecks are the leading cause of death among teenagers, and AAA finds some 3,000 people each year -- of all ages -- die because of teenage drivers. Most of the time -- almost two-thirds of the time, in fact -- those killed are not the teenage driver, but their passengers or people in other vehicles. ROBERT DARBELNET, AAA PRESIDENT AND CEO: The teen drivers are more likely to be involved in a fatal crash in part because they are young and inexperienced; in part because they probably don't have the same sense of risk that older drivers might have; and they may also be more susceptible to distractions -- where we have noted that when there are other teens riding with them, the likelihood of a fatal crash increases substantially.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Those statistics hit home for those grieving, like Alicia Betancourt's father.

DR. ARTURO BETANCOURT, ALICIA BETANCOURT'S FATHER: I'm angry at the driver. He was doing something for which he was not prepared. And the fact is that my daughter is dead as a result of his negligence.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Soledad O'Brien, CNN.

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PHILLIPS: The second hour of LIVE FROM starts now.

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