Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Cheney Speaks Out About Hunting Accident; More Abu Ghraib Photos Surface; Bird Flu Fears in Nigeria; Televised Plea For Kidnapped Journalist; Protecting Children on the Internet

Aired February 15, 2006 - 14:58   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR We're finally hearing from Vice President Dick Cheney now. He's responding to that hunting accident that we've been covering, and of course, his friend wounded in that accident. Four days after that shooting of his friend during that hunting trip, Dick Cheney has decided to do an interview with a cable network. And we're starting to get bits and pieces of what was said in that interview.
Here's one of the quotes. "I pulled the trigger," Dick Cheney said, "that fired the round that hit Harry Whittington. You can talk about all the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. It was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It's a day I'll never forget." He went on to say, "it's one of the worst days of my life."

Harry Whittington, an Austin, Texas lawyer, 70 years old. We've been reporting he's in stable condition at the Corpus Christi hospital.

Suzanne Malveaux has also been covering this story. She joins us now from the White House.

We're finally hearing from Dick Cheney, Suzanne. We can talk a little bit more about Whittington. But first of all, I guess it's good news that he's come forward and decided to talk. A lot of questions to why he waited so long.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of questions, and we don't have a full context of the interview, but I did speak with the anchor who conducted that interview. And essentially, he said that initially, Cheney was very apologetic about the situation, about the shooting itself.

And as you had just read, one the excerpts from the interview, that he took full responsibility, saying, in fact, that it was one of the worst days of his life. He goes on to gesture at how he actually he used the gun and trained it on the bird, and goes through that kind of whole routine. We don't actually see that on tape, but that is something that he does.

We are also told as well that he is unapologetic when it comes to how this story unfolded, that he does not blame the press, the communications staff, Dan Bartlett or Scott McClellan. He says it was his call. He takes responsibility for that. And he emphasizes that, at the time, that evening of the shooting, that's all they were worried about, was how Harry Whittington was doing, his condition of his friend, that he had no problem waiting until the next morning to actually talk with Katharine Armstrong, the ranch owner, and to figure out a way that she would go to her local paper, give this story, the information.

They figured the wires would pick up on it immediately. So, he is unapologetic about that particular point.

I should also let you know, as well, there was one other issue that did came up, and that, of course, the issue of classified information and how does it become declassified -- a lot of controversy when it comes to the CIA leak investigation.

There was a -- a statement, a court document that came from the judge, the prosecutor -- from the prosecutor, rather, Patrick Fitzgerald, in the CIA leak investigation of his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, saying that Scooter Libby essentially said that he was authorized by the vice president to go forward with classified documents, of releasing classified information about Iraq's weapons program.

He did not specifically address the issue. But he did say that, as vice president, he has the authority, under executive order, to declassify information. So, he does not believe that he broke the law -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux, live from the White House -- thanks, Suzanne.

Well, from Halliburton, to the energy task force, to the CIA leak probe, Vice President Cheney has long been a lightning rod for the White House, but not a liability, at least not in the fervent opinions of administration insiders.

Now, though, the hunting accident is raising those questions again, as CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another political headache, another brushback with the media, and another round of a familiar question: Has Dick Cheney tipped the balance and become more trouble for this president than he's worth?

TOM DEFRANK, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": I think it's fair to say now that -- that the vice president has become a -- a political liability for the president. And the vice president knows that.

TODD: "New York Daily News" bureau chief Tom DeFrank has covered the vice president since 1974, when, he says, Dick Cheney was more accessible than his boss, a young White House chief of staff named Donald Rumsfeld. DeFrank believes Cheney's influence with President Bush had eroded -- too much cumulative political backlash, he says, starting with Cheney's secret meetings with energy executives while forming the nation's energy policy, his history with Halliburton, the company accused of questionable government contracts in rebuilding Iraq, the CIA leak scandal, and one seminal moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AUGUST 29, 2002)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Simply stated, there's no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFRANK: I think that the change for Cheney started with Iraq. I mean, he was a such leading proponent of going into Iraq, deposing Saddam Hussein, that, a things didn't work out in Iraq, Cheney became more and more of a lightning rod for critics.

TODD: But Republican strategists say that lightning-rod quality makes Cheney more valuable in rallying the conservative base, and the president who campaigned as a Washington outsider still needs him.

CHARLIE BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The vice president's greatest asset to the president is his Washington experience and the wisdom and insight that he brings to the president, because he spent all these years in Washington that George Bush didn't.

TODD (on camera): Those who know Dick Cheney, those who have covered him, say, in weighing all of those assets and liabilities, we should allow for one more consideration: that Dick Cheney does not care what the press and politicos think. He has no political ambition beyond January 2009.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, do you think you have seen the worst from Abu Ghraib, or at least the last? Think again. More revolting images from the Iraqi prison scandal of 2003 have turned up in Australia.

CNN's Kathleen Koch is watching it from the Pentagon -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, those very disturbing and graphic images starting airing on Australian television last night.

The producers would not say how they obtained them, who passed on those photos. But they do date to that same time frame, 2003, 2004, as the earlier Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos that -- that so outraged the world at large.

Now, these photos, as well as video that was shown on Australian TV, show wounded prisoners, prisoners engaging in sex acts, as well as dead bodies.

The Pentagon has not hidden the fact that it was very aware that -- that -- that these photos were out there, that they did exist, that they were -- they even were shown to members of Congress. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, himself, at a hearing in 2004 made reference to these additional photos, very disturbing. And he said that they showed acts that were -- quote -- "blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman."

Now, public interest groups have been trying to get these photos released. They actually won a court battle in September for them to be -- to be released to the public. But the Pentagon has argued that this -- they could incite violence in the Arab world, perhaps even provoke attacks on U.S. service members.

So, the federal government intervened, appealed that ruling, and, right now, the -- those are all tied up in court. So, they have not been released in the U.S.

We thought we might have the opportunity to ask the defense secretary himself about the photos today, but an earlier scheduled briefing, a previously scheduled briefing, was delayed and then canceled. The only reason we were given was that there were scheduling issues.

PHILLIPS: Kathleen, have you heard from anyone in the Pentagon or any response from over in Iraq?

KOCH: The only response from the Pentagon at this point did come from Iraq, from a spokesman there for the U.S. coalition, who called the timing of the release of these photos -- quote -- "unnecessarily provocative and irresponsible."

And he did go on to point out that the Pentagon says that this -- these photos do not, in any way, represent the current conditions at Abu Ghraib.

PHILLIPS: Kathleen Koch, live from the Pentagon, thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Now a quick look back at who has been held accountable so far for what happened at Abu Ghraib.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insists, several dozen courts-martial have been filed against people suspected in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and 91 other punishments have been handed down.

Many of the charges center around seven reservists from the 372nd Military Police Company. Army Specialist Charles Graner is serving the longest sentence, 10 years at Fort Leavenworth military prison. Private 1st Class Lynndie England is serving three years for her role. Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick got an eight-year sentence. Four other guards pleaded guilty. One received no prison sentence as part of a plea deal. The other three received sentences ranging from six months to a year. The investigation undertaken by the Pentagon was headed by Major General Anthony Taguba.

Among those he recommended for disciplinary action, military intelligence commander Colonel Thomas Pappas. Pappas allegedly gave authorization to use dogs in interrogations at the prison, without approval from his superiors. Pappas was reprimanded and fined.

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski oversaw Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities in Iraq at the time the photographs were taken. Karpinski was demoted to colonel and given a formal letter of reprimand. Now retired, she maintains that she was a scapegoat, and that the orders for prisoner treatment at Abu Ghraib came from Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Happy anniversary, Michael Chertoff. Today marks one year on job for the secretary of homeland security. But that wasn't exactly a party that he attended on Capitol Hill.

Chertoff went before Congress to explain his responses to Hurricane Katrina and to do a lot of listening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: The federal department that was supposed to lead, direct and coordinate the federal response to Katrina was time and again late, uncertain and ineffective.

A central purpose of this hearing is to learn why, in a crisis that called for decisive and speedy action, DHS was plagued by indecision and delay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Chertoff took responsibility for what he calls many lapses in Katrina planning and the aftermath. But he also blamed the man that he tapped to spearhead the government's response, former FEMA Chief Michael Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I have to tell you, it was astonishing to me to hear the testimony of Mr. Brown concerning his decision, apparently, by his own admission, as the PFO on the ground, to deliberately bypass the department and not to deal with us.

I had attributed the problems I had sometimes engaging with Mr. Brown to just the -- the overwhelming pressures of the situation itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Brown, you may recall, says it was DHS and the White House that dropped the ball.

Now, back to our top story this hour, facing the cameras, taking the blame -- after four days of silence, Vice President Dick Cheney is doing damage control, he hopes, in the wake of his hunting accident on Saturday. He gave a TV interview this afternoon, while the man he shot continues to recover in a South Texas hospital.

This is some of what he had to say. We just got these quotes in: "I pulled the trigger and fired the round that hit Harry Whittington. You can talk about all the other conditions that existed at the time, but the bottom line -- but that's the bottom line. It was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It's a day I will never forget."

He also went on to say, it was one of the worst days of his life.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Corpus Christi.

Wondering if you heard those quotes, Ed. I don't know if there's any type of response from there, people that know, obviously, Harry Whittington, but maybe we can start with his condition, what you know, and, then, if you have heard any reaction from the quotes.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we were told by a doctor here at the hospital in Corpus Christi a short while ago that Mr. Whittington did not have a television in his room in the intensive care unit of this hospital.

He has been placed there mostly for privacy reasons, because this case has become such a high-profile situation. Hospital officials here insist that they would do that for any patient that was in a high-profile situation.

But doctors say, Mr. Whittington is alert, eating regular food, in fact, was planning on doing a little bit of his law work from his hospital room here this afternoon.

Doctors also say that they were able to pinpoint exactly where the B.B. was lodged in his heart. But they continue to say that there are no plans to go in there and remove it, and that Mr. Whittington, if he is stabilized, as -- as he continues to be, over the next six or seven days, should be able to be just fine, and that they -- and that they will leave that B.B. lodged in his heart. And they're, frankly, quite not that -- not that worried about it.

PHILLIPS: So, he could go home in six or seven days?

LAVANDERA: That's the plan, as of now.

They -- they had said yesterday seven days. So, we are down to six days now. Then, the -- the anticipation is, he will go back home to Austin.

PHILLIPS: Got it. Ed Lavandera, live from Corpus Christi -- thanks, Ed.

Jill Carroll has appealed to her supporters via television. And now her family is communicating in kind. A televised plea for the life of a reporter held hostage -- when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Poultry farms quarantined, chickens slaughtered, workers tested -- a bird flu crisis looms in Nigeria. And there's fear it will spread to places where live poultry is still sold at markets.

CNN's Jeff Koinange has made his way to one of those affected areas. He joins us now via videophone.

Jeff, tell us the deal.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not too good, Kyra -- the prognosis not looking very good at all.

We have been to the farm all day today where they culled four- and-a-half thousand chickens. Now, they did, unlike in previous times, they didn't slaughtered the chickens. They basically stuffed them in plastic bags, and suffocated them, then bagged them, tagged them, and dumped them in open pits. On this day, the pit was about 30 meters deep.

And this is important, because, in previous times, when they dumped the birds in shallower pits, the local villagers wait for the officials to leave, and they go in, take armfuls of birds, take them home, cook them, and eat them. Why?

Because they are basically unaware. They don't see what the big deal is about killing birds and dumping them. And this is -- is what health officials are very, very fearful about. They keep saying that the public has to be informed.

In remote parts of Nigeria, like where we are right now, a lot of the people are impoverished. They're poor. They're illiterate. So, you can't just put television, radio and newspaper ads, because people don't have these luxuries, if you will. So, the word has to go out -- this is very important, Kyra -- and has to go out sooner, rather than later.

PHILLIPS: So, Jeff, is it controlled to -- to one area, or do you think this is sort of spiraling out of control, and it is going to get much bigger? And you are talking about how they're -- they're killing these chickens, or suffocating these chickens. What else are they doing to respond to a pot -- a potential bigger problem?

KOINANGE: Well, is it being controlled?

So far, it has been -- it has been concentrated in three states, and possibly maybe even five. So, we are talking about a 200-mile radius. And that's key here, because officials here, health officials, saying they just don't have the resources, no physical resources, and no money to contain these virus.

They are literally chasing it from state to state. What's to prevent it? Well, it is spreading. And that's the biggest concern. We understand unconfirmed cases in neighboring Niger. If it spreads across Africa, this could be a -- a huge problem of pandemic proportions. And officials here say it may not -- they may not be able to contain it here in Nigeria.

But they do say that they are trying their level best. Apparently, level best just isn't good enough, because the virus just keeps on spreading -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, what took so long, Jeff? Did they understand what they were dealing with? Has it just been the -- the attention around the world, and they finally figured out, this is bird flu?

KOINANGE: Very good question.

It took almost 20 days for officials to trickle down the information that the H5N1 virus was prevalent here in northern Nigeria. Why? According to the country's minister of information, he says they had to take the virus to the lab to determine that it was 100 percent H5N1. Otherwise, they didn't want to mislead the public, in their words.

It did take very long. People here are very, very concerned. And a lot of them Kyra -- again, we must stress, huge swathes of northern Nigeria, the people are illiterate. They don't know what's going on. They don't understand why their chickens, their poultry, are being culled. And this is a big concern, because they say, hey, these are our chickens. We can cook them. We will eat them. We will deal with later.

There have other priorities, like HIV/AIDS, and malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis. Bird flu, in their opinion, ranks very low on their priority list -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jeff Koinange, live from Nigeria -- we appreciate your reports every day, Jeff. Thank you.

And, soon, birds will migrate north from Africa to Europe, where several bird flu cases have already turned up. The latest victims are two dead swans on a Baltic Sea island in Germany. Dead swans have also been found in Denmark, Italy, and Austria. And that has the European Union scrambling to boost the surveillance of migratory birds and to stop importing untreated feathers from non-E.U. countries.

And now this message from supporters of American journalist Jill Carroll -- they have produced a PSA, a private service announcement, for Iraqi TV, in hopes that Carroll's kidnappers are watching and listening.

CNN's Aneesh Raman reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING ARABIC)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With no word on Jill Carroll's fate, a desperate attempt to save her life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING ARABIC)

RAMAN: This public service announcement made by "The Christian Science Monitor," with production help from CNN, started airing late Tuesday on state-run Iraqi air.

"The kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll loves Iraq," says the narrator, "and now she needs your help."

An Iraqi woman asks the hostage-takers to close their eyes and imagine if Carroll was their sister or daughter, a point hit home by a statement from Carroll's mother, translated into Arabic, a simple appeal, and for the head of Iraqiya, a simple choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We aired this video out belief that this cowardly terrorist act, which targeted this brave American woman, is a criminal act.

The long-shot hope is those holding Jill Carroll will see the video and have a change of heart. But the more realistic goal is convincing Iraqis with any information to come forward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What she wants is to -- to -- to say the truth about what is going here in our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Iraqi people, they have enough on their plate. But I think there is a desire in everyone to see her released.

RAMAN: The plight of Jill Carroll resonates for another reason: Iraqis are kidnapped on a near daily basis. Iraqiya, for some time, has have been airing another PSA.

The message reads, "We have to stop these villains for our future and the future of Iraq." It has numbers viewers can call. And it has an e-mail address, againsttheterrorists @yahoo.com.

(on camera): The Kuwaiti-based network Al Rai says it, too, will air the PSA. Al Rai is the station that aired the last hostage video of Jill Carroll -- those praying for her release now using the same platform as those holding her captive.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We are going to stay on the story. The news keeps coming. We will keep bringing it to you -- more LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) WILLIE NELSON, MUSICIAN (singing): Well, the cowboy may brag about things that he has done with his women. But the ones that brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, we always knew Willie Nelson was a bit of a softy. And now he's getting all "Brokeback Mountain" on us -- his new song, something of a departure from your standard cowboy fare, "Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other." It's Willie's new release, written and recorded before "Brokeback" made love on the range all the range.

The song debuted on Howard Stern's satellite show yesterday, Valentine's Day -- another line from the song: "Inside every cowboy, there is a lady who would love to slip out." The song is available only through iTunes.

Non-smokers in England puffing out their chests. Smokers are fuming -- well, that after the House of Commons voted by a huge margin to ban smoking in pubs, clubs, malls, offices, theaters, just about anywhere people gather in public.

If the House of Lords signs off, as expected, the ban becomes law by the summer of 2007. The British Medical Association says about 30 people die every day in the U.K. of secondhand smoke.

Well, we thought it was worth a check to see where smoking bans stand in the states and see how statistics are different across the pond.

Here is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): From California to New York, 15 states have enacted laws that ban smoking in either workplaces, restaurants or bars. Dozens of cities and communities in other states have enacted their local regulations. In the U.K., officials estimate about one-quarter of adults smoke.

In the United States, that estimate is a little lower. The American Heart Association says about 48 million Americans are still smoking. That's about 23 percent of adults. Another interesting fact from the American Heart Association, since 1965, about 40 percent of adults who have ever smoked have eventually quit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The first openly gay bishop in Episcopal Church history is back in the news.

V. Gene Robinson is being treated for alcoholism. He's not saying where, but, in an e-mail to fellow clerics, Robinson says he checked himself in February 1, having concluded that his drinking is a disease, rather than a failure of will or discipline. Robinson's rise to bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese three years ago sparked a heated debate over homosexuality in the church.

Well, if you walked into your kid's room and you found one of these, would you know what it is? What if I told you it could lead pedophiles directly to your child or your grandchild? Well, ahead on LIVE FROM, we are going to tell what you it is and show you what you need to know about what your kids are doing online.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're getting more from that interview that Vice President Dick Cheney gave within the past hour or so, responding publicly for the first time to the hunting accident, where he accidentally shot his friend, the attorney Harry Whittington, out of Austin.

Here's a couple of quotes -- the most recent quote, Cheney saying: "The image of him falling is something I will never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there's Harry falling. And I will have to say, it's one of the worst days of my life at that moment" -- the vice president also saying: "I pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry Whittington. You talk about all the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. It was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It is a day I will never forget."

We will continue, of course, to follow the condition of Harry Whittington. We're told right now stable condition, up doing work in the hospital in Corpus Christi, could go home within six days or so.

When the vice president of the United States goes hunting or anywhere else, it's not an ordinary gathering. Dick Cheney's hunting companions almost by definition have powerful connections. So was anything other than bird hunting on their agenda? CNN's Ali Velshi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Along with targeting quail were Vice President Cheney's fellow shooters hunting for dollars? This much we know. Cheney's group included the now injured Harry Whittington, a longtime Republican activist who owns a building in Austin, Texas, a building which has housed offices for President Bush's gubernatorial campaigns and for Karl Rove, among others.

Pamela Pitzer Willeford was also on the quail hunt. In 2003, the Bush administration appointed Willeford Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Well, they were all at the Armstrong ranch, owned by a family with deep ties to the Republican Party.

Daughter Katharine was the one who called a local newspaper to report the incident. Her mother was on the board of Halliburton Company in 1995, when the company hired Cheney as CEO. But it's Katharine Armstrong's own history as a lobbyist that has critics interested.

According to one group, Texans For Public Justice, Katharine Armstrong was a lobbyist in 2004 for Parsons Corporation, a company that has made a lot of money off of this administration. Parsons is a privately held, California based company. It's in the business of engineering and construction.

Parsons, like Cheney's former company, Halliburton, has won several U.S. government contracts to do work in Iraq. In fact, records from the Center of Public Integrity show that Parsons is the No. 2 working in Iraq with over $5.2 billion in contracts. That's second only to Cheney's former company, Halliburton.

Katharine Armstrong is not working for Parsons anymore and she's played down her role as a lobbyist, saying that the group did not talk business during Cheney's visit. She also contacted CNN saying, "I represented Parsons in Texas only. I have never represented Parsons in Washington D.C. or in any matter regarding Iraq contracts or defense contracts." Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Teenagers and online predators. Information age infamy, as in the case of a California man accused of molesting a 14- year-old girl he met through the Web site MySpace.com. That site and others provide online space for teens and adults to post profiles, pictures and other personal information -- information that can be catnip to pedophiles and other predators.

And before you say my kids or grandkids would never do something risky online, listen to this. A new study reveals more than half of teens who go online create content to share on the Web, 64 percent say they do things online that they wouldn't want their parents to know about.

But if you don't know a blog from a bitmap, what can you do to guard the children in your life against online predators? Our next guest says you're going to have to get tough and get smart. Psychologist and sexuality educator Sari Locker joins us now live from New York. Sari, great to have you with us.

SARI LOCKER, PSYCHOLOGIST/SEXUALITY EDUCATOR: Thanks so much for having me here.

PHILLIPS: First of all, we don't want to point out just MySpace.com. There are a number of Web sites out there that allow for this type of activity. And we did try to get in contact with MySpace.com. We didn't get our calls returned. But I just do want to read something quickly from their privacy policy, Sari, so we can move on.

And it says that "Users within a personal network communicate on MySpace.com with each other through the MySpace.com service, without disclosing their e-mail addresses. Users full names are never directly revealed to other members. Please be aware that whenever you voluntarily post public information to journals, Web blogs, message boards, classifieds, or any other public forums, information can be accessed by the public and can in turn be used to send you unsolicited communications."

Sari, when you're talking about such young kids, though, and you're talking about pedophiles looking for children, does it need to be stronger, the privacy policies or the actions?

LOCKER: Yes. And first let me just address what you just said about that particular Web site because young people, children and teenagers, are putting their first names only, but they're putting the full name of the school they go to. And they're putting the city and state where they live.

It's pretty easy nowadays to find out someone's last name with even that amount of information. So they say they have a policy to protect children and teens and they absolutely aren't from what I've seen on this site.

But more importantly in general, what I'd like to do today is talk about what parents can do to help protect their children and teenagers. There is absolutely no reason why young people should be getting solicited or abused or any of these things. It's only a matter of the parents limiting the young people's Internet use.

PHILLIPS: Well it's interesting, because when this came up, there were a couple parents in our meeting this morning that knew exactly what this was all about and they monitor what their kids are doing. But the majority of us had no idea that this was the big craze among teens to have these, I guess, what do you call them? These sites.

LOCKER: Personal Web pages.

PHILLIPS: Personal Web pages, OK, thank you. See? I didn't even know what they were called. All right, so let's talk about what you've written about. First of all, keep the computer in a central location, you say.

LOCKER: And most parents have heard that, right, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Right, and who's really going do that though, because parents sort of want a break from the kids, so the kids go up in their room and they do their own thing.

LOCKER: Yes, but parents need to realize that you wouldn't say to your teenager, "Go ahead, spend the night out with your friends who I've never met or go to that party where maybe they'll have alcohol or there are no parents supervising."

You wouldn't say that about real interactions. So why allow that with virtual interactions? Keep the computer in a public area in your home, in the living room, for example, and try to be there more often to supervise.

PHILLIPS: Should you know your kids passwords? One mom here told me, "I know my kids passwords. I check on it every now and then."

LOCKER: I believe that parents should. I also believe another tip that's very important is that parents need to help their children and teenagers create a screen name, because I see teenagers screen names that contain the word sexy in them or that have their birth date or their year or even their real name.

Instead, only screen names that a young person should have are neutral screen names. It should never say their gender or their age. It should never have anything that alludes it a youthful celebrity or young activity or, of course it should never allude to sex.

PHILLIPS: But these teens put their pictures on these personal Web pages. And I saw some these pictures of some of these teens and, I mean they look a lot older than their age and some of these are pretty sexy photos.

LOCKER: Yes, and they also post pictures of sexualized celebrities in order to show that that's something that they find interesting or attractive. I think it's incredibly important for parents to set a rule that there is no reason why anyone under age 18 should have a personal Web page. There's no reason why anyone under 18 should even be going into an online chat.

These are things that you just don't need to do. And if your youngster says, "But everyone has these personal Web pages," well you need to just say no to it. And also, you can also limit their amount of instant messaging. It's important that parents learn to use whether it's America Online, whatever their Internet service provider is, that parents need to learn how that works.

There's a very easy way to go on to the buddy list preferences and block the ability to instant message at all or at least block certain instant message screen names so that you can only allow ones that you know your child knows well, your child's best friends, for example. And I think parents really need to start setting these limits.

PHILLIPS: When you talk about the parents need to understand how the computer and the Internet service works, someone else here at work came up to us and said that, it's actually a really sad case. Their daughter committed suicide and when the cops came to the home, the first thing they asked, Sari, did she have a personal Web page, and she did, on MySpace.com. Now we're not saying that led to her suicide, but that was the first thing that cops asked, which I thought was very interesting.

LOCKER: Teenagers often do want to keep secrets from their parents. In the old days they'd keep a diary or a journal. Nowadays they're posting their feelings and thoughts on the Internet. Parents need to be open with their conversations with their teenagers about everything in the teenager's life.

And in order to really be understanding about what your teen or child is doing online, you do need to have knowledge about these things, understanding of the Internet. You also might need to do some checking up. Parents should learn how to check the temporary Internet files or the cookies on the computer to see where your youngster has been going and a lot of young people are savvy enough to know how to delete those.

But you need to really try your best to get them to be honest with you. Ask your child or teen today if they have a Web page like that. Ask them if they've ever e-mailed or instant messaged with people who they don't know? And really try to get to the bottom of what's going on on your youngster's computer.

PHILLIPS: Well another thing interesting also, some of the adults didn't even know what this was, a Web cam. Let's get it up there. I mean, when they saw this, they had no idea what this was. And it reminds me of the young teen, the story came out not too long ago, you might remember, the investigation of the teenager that started doing things with his Web cam. The next thing you know he was prostituting himself and he was under the age of 18. And the parents didn't even know. They didn't even know he had a Web cam on his computer.

LOCKER: And I just -- in all of these situations, I have to say, where are the parents? Why aren't they going and moving the computer into the living room? Learning how to detach any of these devices? Getting rid of the devices, finding out where their teenager or child has been on the Internet and really making changes.

As I said at the top of this segment, parents make rules about real situations, they're not going to let their child or teenager get involved in something that's dangerous in quote, "real life." But they don't see the virtual dangers. They think, oh, it's the Internet, what can it do? What damage can it do?

And you know, it's not even just these terrible stories about abuse and victimization or even the suicide story that you mentioned. It's also just simple things like teens harassing each other online. Teens who go to the same school. That's something parents need to be aware of and need to really look closely at your teenagers' online behavior and make strict rules about it.

PHILLIPS: Online advice with Sari Locker. Thanks, Sari.

LOCKER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to the newsroom on a developing story with Carol Lin -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the British man accused of killing his wife and his infant daughter, Neil Entwistle, has arrived in the United States. He had left England on a private plane. He is scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, tomorrow afternoon, in the Framingham District Court on two counts of first degree murder.

The Associated Press saying that a short while ago he had arrived in the United States. He's on his way to a small airport outside of Boston and he does now have a Boston defense attorney. His name is Elliott Weinstein. He's taking on the case pro bono, it appears, because apparently Entwistle is claiming that he is indigent, that he cannot afford to pay for a United States attorney. And this attorney stepping up to say that he's taking on the case for fear that Neil Entwistle might not get a fair trial because of all the publicity surrounding this case. Kyra, it's hard to even see these photographs and imagine the charges against this man right now.

PHILLIPS: Carol Lin, thanks.

What do skiing and football have in common for the U.S. Olympian? Everything. His event just ended. How did he do? And what's next for Jeremy Bloom? LIVE FROM has all answers after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Mastering the moguls. That's what Jeremy Bloom wanted, hoped and tried to do in Torino. He made it to the men's freestyle finals with maneuvers like this one, but he didn't medal. In fact, he finished last among finalist. His teammate Toby Dawson won the bronze. Now Bloom can focus on his other favorite sport, which he was forced to sideline so could represent the U.S. in Torino.

CNN's Larry Smith has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bloom at the 24. Got one block, 30.

JEREMY BLOOM, ATHLETE: The first time I touched the ball...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bloom to the 50!

BLOOM: ... I went for a touchdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeremy Bloom to the 20, to the 15, the 10, the five! Touchdown!

BLOOM: That experience will never be matched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventy-six yards for that one! I'm anxious to know where Jeremy thinks that's worth a gold medal or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if it's worth a gold medal, but I'm sure glad he's not skiing.

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeremy Bloom already knows what the highlights of his athletic life is. A former wide receiver and kick returner for the University of Colorado, Bloom believes not even winning an Olympic gold medal in freestyle moguls can top his very first college play. Very soon, he may find out soon for sure.

BLOOM: I could walk away right now from skiing with a huge smile on my face. And it's nice to have that, you know, going to the Olympics, because I feel like I've accomplished that everything that I want do in the sport.

SMITH: Bloom was barred from playing college after two years because he refused to give up the endorsements that allowed him to pay for his skiing career. He unsuccessfully sued the NCAA, and even testified before Congress on the topic, to no avail. His loss was followed by an unprecedented six straight World Cup wins and a title.

BLOOM: I think they took something that was very important to me away from me, and I think I could have played football last year and still had the same success that I had in skiing.

SMITH: Bloom is now determined to get his football career back. He will ski his Olympic event on February 15th in the Alps, but the real mountain he wants to scale is in Indianapolis seven days later, at the NFL scouting combine, where he will try to improve his chances of being drafted into the league.

BLOOM: Making it in the NFL is a huge goal of mine. Not really the medal in the Olympics.

SMITH: At 5'9", Bloom is small for an NFL receiver, but says his unique preparation for punt returning is one that nobody in the league can match.

BLOOM: In skiing, everything is coming at me at 35 miles an hour. Bumps, jumps, different depth perceptions, colors. Everything is coming so quickly. And I can just -- I have to react off of what I see. And in football, once that punt's into the air, everything is silent. But as soon as the ball hits me, that's when I look and everything is coming at me the exactly same way. Different colors, you have to react, go this way, go that way.

SMITH: As a multisport star with the looks of a Hollywood star, Bloom may find himself being pulled in more directions if ever if the color he ultimately seize around his neck at winter games is gold.

Larry Smith, CNN, Torino.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A low score on this test could mean you won't pass -- away, that is. Learn your longevity, maybe, when LIVE FROM carries on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Wait a minute, was that Jack Womack working the national desk? Robert (ph), go back there. Jack Womack, you don't understand, folks. This is one of our vice presidents here at CNN. He is working the desk today. We're going to have to find out, get behind that, find out what's really going on.

All right, if you're 50 or older, you may not want to know how much time you've got left. If you do, a new test can actually guesstimate based on a dozen risk factors. Look at this, are you mail or female? If you're a man, add two points. Had a cigarette this week? Two points. Difficulty walking several blocks? Two points. You probably gathered that the lower your score, the lower your risk of dying in the next four years. Researchers say it works best when your doctor helps you put the answers in perspective.

Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who's standing by in THE SITUATION ROOM to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. HE's going to live a really long time.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hopefully all of us will, Kyra, thank you very much.

The vice president calls it one of the worst days of his life. Dick Cheney speaks out about his hunting accident for the first time, we're covering all sides of this story.

Also, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice answering tough questions on Iraq, Iran and Hamas. How much progress has been made?

Plus disturbing images from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The military trying to deal now with new pictures on an old story. All that, Kyra, coming up right at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: All right, let me ask a quick question, Wolf.

BLITZER: Go ahead.

PHILLIPS: You still use words like groovy, neato, gnarly or far out?

BLITZER: Groovy, I haven't used that one in a while. Neat, I use that one.

PHILLIPS: You use neat?

BLITZER: Far out? Cool? Yes.

PHILLIPS: Oh, you use cool.

BLITZER: Cool, that's pretty cool.

PHILLIPS: You are still hip, Wolf. You ready for this? Listen. Stand by for hard news. Here we go. We have something really heavy to lay on you now. According to pop culture experts, those words don't make you hip, slick or with it. They actually make you square, which is also a pretty square word these days.

The "Associated Press" recently offered a list of words and phrases to avoid. And if you don't want to sound like Austin Powers, well first put the phrase "outta sight" out of your vocabulary and put "far out" far, far, far out.

Bill and Ted may want to stop describing their adventures as "excellent." "Right on" went right out with the '60s, which are over, in case you haven't heard. And "gag me with a spoon," if you ever hear me using that phrase, please gag me with a spoon. And so the word that's still cool? It's that word, "cool." It emerged with that meaning in the late 1940s and linguists say it's still going strong. One expert calls "cool" a charter member of the slang hall of fame, so if you just remember that, everything will be copacetic. We mean cool, stay cool. LIVE FROM's back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well this is a story of love lost and love found. Daisy Judy and John Franko got married on Valentine's Day, both 62. They met in a funeral home near Dayton, Ohio, in a grief support group after losing their spouses of more than 40 years. Well, John was looking for someone to go bike riding with. Daisy said yes. And after a couple of years of dating, they decided to tie the knot. And guess where? Right here in the funeral home where they met. Daisy says John has a lot going for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAISY JUDY, NEWLYWED: Considerate, fun to be with, good looking.

JOHN FRANKO, NEWLYWED: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Daisy just said there is one disappointment though. They won't be going to that grief support meeting anymore.

Well a high school student gets points for creativity and romance. But his math needs some work. Paul Kim decided to give every girl in his junior class at Cypress Bay High in south Florida a red rose. He used $900 he'd been saving since December and ordered 500 stems. The only problem? There are more than 600 female juniors at Cypress Bay. So Don Juan move fell a little short, about 17 percent by our calculations.

Closing bell about to ring, our Ali Velshi standing by in New York. Ali, yes, I knew you would like that story. Did you ever get that creative in school?

VELSHI: I'm hoping the guy got a date out of the whole thing.

PHILLIPS: What's the most creative thing you ever did for a woman at that age?

VELSHI: How old was he?

PHILLIPS: Let's see, it was junior high, so he had to be 14, 13, 14?

VELSHI: Most creative thing I ever did with someone of the opposite sex at that age was get up the nerve to say hello, probably. I had a full head of hair back then, though, let me tell you.

PHILLIPS: But things have changed. VELSHI: Kyra, the story -- the things people do, let me tell you. I don't know how to segue to this, but you know, Ben Bernanke, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a speech to -- not a speech, but you know, testified before Congress today, and what he said seemed to impress people a lot, and it caused the markets to be very strong earlier today.

We're coming into the closing bell and it's not as strong as it was, but the good news, Kyra, for you and for us, is he says that the economy, which was in a bit of a lull toward the end of last year, is actually doing OK. So that's, you know, good news for all of us.

PHILLIPS: Very good news, and we're getting ready for the closing bell, so I'll sign off. See you tomorrow, right?

VELSHI: Always a pleasure to talk to you.

PHILLIPS: Happy belated Valentine's Day, I didn't get to talk to you yesterday.

VELSHI: And yes, you weren't here, you weren't here. But, you know, we learned how to kiss in your absence.

PHILLIPS: Really?

VELSHI: That was one of the lessons that Tony and Betty and I went through.

PHILLIPS: I haven't learned how to do that yet, how exactly?

VELSHI: You do it with your hand. It's what you practice on.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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