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Live From...
Immigrant Smuggling Ring?; Israeli Troops Raid Palestinian Prison; Prison Gang Trial
Aired March 14, 2006 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, a developing story out of Houston, where police say they've stumbled into an immigration smuggling operation.
Tony Harris checking details for us.
What do you know so far, Tony?
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, a lot. We're getting more and more information on the alleged illegal immigrant smuggling house. That was the scene of a shooting in Houston this morning, 9:00 a.m. local time. At least two people were shot inside what is being described by authorities as your typical drop house.
Louisa Aquino of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUISA AQUINO, SPOKESPERSON, ICE: It looks like a typical condition when you arrive at a drop house. They looked hungry. Many of them don't have shoes. They're sitting in rooms without any furniture and rooms with boarded windows.
It's a very typical scenario. And they're waiting for either relatives or family members or friend to pay the smuggler fees so that they can get out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK. Let's talk to Lieutenant Robert Manzo of the Houston Police Department. He's on the line with us.
Lieutenant, thanks for your time.
LT. ROBERT MANZO, HOUSTON POLICE DEPT.: Thank you.
HARRIS: Describe the scene that your officers found this morning.
MANZO: Well, we received a call about 9:00 this morning regarding a shooting in progress. When our officers arrived, they saw a large number of males moving rapidly about the house inside. And they also saw at least six males who had made it out of the house jump into the back fence and into a bayou. Those males were chased and brought back to the scene.
HARRIS: Wow. How many have you arrested?
MANZO: Well, we have a total of 21 individuals who were turned over to the federal authorities with ICE and we have two other males who apparently had been shot inside the house. They both made it out.
One of them collapsed several blocks away from the house. He's in serious condition, appeared to have been shot multiple times in the chest.
HARRIS: Wow.
MANZO: Another individual running in the opposite direction have been shot once through the foot. And we have reason to believe that there may have been a third individual who was shot and was removed from the scene prior to the time we got there.
HARRIS: Lieutenant, did Immigration respond with you or was Immigration called in later?
MANZO: What typically happens is that whenever we receive a call like this and we determine that it involved some undocumented immigrants, then we notify the immigration authorities who then, in turn, respond to the screen.
HARRIS: Give us a sense of the countries where the illegals may have come from.
MANZO: Well, we have -- and this came from ICE authorities -- four individuals from El Salvador, Honduras, two from Mexico, and two from Guatemala. The nationalities of the other individuals is still being determined.
HARRIS: All -- all males? All adults?
MANZO: It appears that all of them -- yes, all of them are males. It appears that all of them are adults.
HARRIS: OK. What kind of a -- how would you describe this neighborhood?
MANZO: Well, it appears to be a quiet residential neighborhood in southwest Houston. We did find that the house did not show any obvious signs of what it was being used for on the outside.
Once you went inside the house, though, the conditions were deplorable. The windows were boarded up from the inside to keep these individuals from getting out. Several of the shots that were fired in the garage (INAUDIBLE) directly across the street from where these individuals were being held.
HARRIS: Does it concern you that this kind of activity apparently has found its way into this kind of a neighborhood?
MANZO: Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of this kind of situation occur in Houston. It does concern us, because any time individuals are being held against their will... HARRIS: Yes.
MANZO: ... we know that the situations can become -- turn dangerous, like they happened...
HARRIS: And Lieutenant, one more quick question. Were the homeowners home at the time?
MANZO: We are still in the process of determining who owns the house. The very preliminary information that we have is that the house had been rented by some individual or individuals very recently. And we don't know. All the individuals who were taken into custody are being questioned (INAUDIBLE), so whether they are smugglers.
HARRIS: OK. Lieutenant Robert Manzo of the Houston Police Department.
Lieutenant, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.
MANZO: Thank you.
HARRIS: And Kyra, we'll stay on it. I expect -- it seems, at least, that there will be more arrests to come. We'll continue to follow it.
PHILLIPS: All right, Tony. We'll keep checking in.
HARRIS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.
At least 11 people are dead, and a vast amount of land is covered in ash. But the battle isn't over in Texas, where wildfires that have scorched nearly 700,000 acres since Sunday are still burning.
Here's a computerized look at the big chunk of panhandle that's already gone up in flames. And firefighters say they have made headway, but they're bracing for the possibility of shifting winds and dropping humidity.
Eight Texas towns cleared out the flames approach -- as the flames approached, rather. Evacuees are now coming back, only to find that their homes have been burned to the ground.
Hot, dry, windy, a combination that can turn the slightest spark into a wall of fire. Is there any relief in sight?
Let's check in with meteorologist Bonnie Schneider at the CNN Weather Center.
What do you think Bonnie?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, I think today it's a little bit better than days past because the winds are not as strong.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Bonnie Schneider -- thanks so much.
Well, Palestinian rage after an Israeli raid on a West Bank prison. Israeli troops used tanks and bulldozers to storm the prison in Jericho and seize those prisoners, six of whom are militants wanted by the Israeli government. That raid triggered violent Palestinian protests, not to mention attacks on U.S. and European targets, and several kidnappings.
CNN's Guy Raz is following the story from Jerusalem.
Guy, is it getting any better?
GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the siege is now over, and all of those prisoners have surrendered to Israeli military forces, including Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a man who Israel says was the mastermind of the assassination of the Israel tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi, back in 2001.
Now, after a 10-hour siege at that prison, the facility in the West Bank town of Jericho, the Palestinian-controlled town of Jericho, it left about four people dead. But all of those prisoners eventually surrendered.
Now, at the same time, the Palestinian Authority president, we understand, has cut short a visit to Europe. He's just left Strasbourg, on his way back to the West Bank in response to this crisis, a crisis that triggered repercussions far and wide.
Western-affiliated offices and agencies were attacked by Palestinian rioters in Gaza and in the West Bank. At a certain point today, as many as six foreign nationals were abducted. Most of them were released, but some of them do remain in captivity as we speak -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Guy Raz, thank you so much. We'll stay in touch throughout the newscast, of course.
And a government attorney needs a lawyer of her own because of what she did -- or what she did in the Zacarias Moussaoui case. His sentencing trial is on hold while the judge hears from witnesses who were briefed and/or coached by attorney Carla Martin. At issue is whether their testimony has been tainted and whether Martin should be held in contempt.
Moussaoui's attorney wants the government barred from seeking the death penalty. If the judge agrees, the sentencing trial would end and the admitted al Qaeda conspirator would automatically go to prison for life.
Was Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the U.S. before 9/11? That's what an FBI informant is saying. He's testified that Ayman al- Zawahiri lived in Lodi, California, and attended a mosque there in the late 1990s. Residents, police and defense attorneys say otherwise. The informant is a government witness in the terror trials of 23- year-old Hamid Hayat and his father Umer. The son is charged with attending an al Qaeda-sponsored training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004. He and his father are charged with lying about it to the FBI.
News just in to CNN about the mega search engine Google. An investigation, that's just ahead.
The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you.
More LIVE FROM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A federal judge is reportedly siding with the government in its standoff with Google. Susan Lisovicz joins me now live from the New York Stock Exchange with a look at what that means -- Susan.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stopped traffic on the water and on the road, and it's easy to see why. An unmanned barge loaded with rocks drifted down a river near Annapolis, Maryland, and wedged against a six-lane highway bridge.
No sign of major damage to the bridge, which police had cleared of cars before the barge hit. Safety inspectors are still making sure. The barge is now being towed. No word on how it got loose.
Not giving up just yet. The search continues for three University of Rhode Island students who vanished after getting in a rowboat early yesterday in the icy waters of Narragansett Bay. The Coast Guard earlier had planned to suspend that search, but now they'll keep looking, telling CNN they want some sort of resolution. Early on, searchers found an empty rowboat, two oars, a ball cap, and a sandal, but no students.
What killed a Florida teen at a boot camp for young offenders? We don't know for sure just yet, but we do know -- well, we now know what didn't.
A second autopsy on 14-year-old Martin Anderson rejects the findings of the first autopsy which blamed the complications from sickle cell trait. Anderson died at the camp in January shortly after a videotaped confrontation with guards who beat him and forced him to the ground.
The coroner who did the first autopsy says he's rethinking his initial findings. Anderson's family says the cause of death is obvious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GINA JONES, ANDERSON'S MOTHER: I'm glad that I did make the right decision to pull my baby up, which I didn't want to, just to get the truth out. Now the truth is out and I want justice. I want the guards and the nurse to be arrested. It's time now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The guards say the teen repeatedly refused to follow orders. Prosecutors are still investigating the case.
Cross them or offend them and you wind up dead. That's the code federal prosecutors allege the Aryan Brotherhood has lived by for years, behind bars. Now they're trying to break that prison gang in court.
CNN's Kareen Wynter has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Federal prosecutors are going after what they say is one of the deadliest criminal organizations in the country. But they won't have to go far to find them, as the defendants are already behind bars -- a notorious white prison gang called the Aryan Brotherhood, allegedly headed by kingpins Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham, who are accused of waging a bloody war, primarily against black inmates.
LAURIE LEVENSON, LEGAL ANALYST: And when the jurors hear the indictment itself, I expect eyes to be opened, because it really tells the story of a prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood, and how they would conspire not just to deal drugs but to kill any of their enemies.
WYNTER: The group's alleged crimes span decades in state and federal prisons coast to coast. There are 40 Aryan Brotherhood members named in an indictment so large half of the defendants pleaded guilty.
Mills and Bingham are among those who pleaded not guilty. They're facing the death penalty.
JOHN MCDONALD, REPORTER, O.C. REGISTER: Murders and crimes that allegedly were masterminded by people who were in maximum security with almost no contact with each other and almost no contact at all with the outside world.
WYNTER: An attorney involved in the investigation discussed the graphic nature of the crimes.
GREG JESSNER, FMR. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: More than half of them involved stabbing with a prison-made knife of some sort. You also see some other types of murders, including some strangulations sometimes with instruments and sometimes with bare hands.
WYNTER: Witnesses for the prosecution include former Aryan Brotherhood members and inmates outside the gang. The attorney for Barry Mills says they plan to prove the witnesses' testimony is unreliable because, "The government is providing these informants with favors, freedom and cash to get their testimony. The defense will strongly suggest that the testimony is untrustworthy, lies and outright perjury."
The lawyers for Tyler Bingham did not return calls from CNN. Some legal analysts predict some people may fear sitting on the jury.
LEVENSON: Everybody is scared. These are very dangerous criminals. The indictment charges murders. Nobody wants to take a risk.
WYNTER: Authorities say it's the highest security level imposed in the region for one of the country's biggest capital murder cases.
(on camera): In fact, the defendants will be chained to the floor. A specially constructed table will hide that from the jury.
Four defendants go on trial here today. The others go to court later this year.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Orange County, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Missing persons or murder victims? The families of two young men who vanished in Florida are demanding answers and justice. A sheriff's deputy linked to both cases is fired.
CNN's on the story. Our LIVE FROM has it for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In Florida, two men are picked up by the same sheriff's deputy and never seen again. As our Deborah Feyerick discovered, there's no shortage of clues and some very suspicious contradictions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Somewhere along these busy streets in Naples, Florida, two men disappeared. Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos never met, yet, they're linked by this man, Sheriff's Deputy Steven Calkins.
He's the last person known to have seen either man, saying, after putting them in the back of his patrol car, he took them not to jail, but, instead, to Circle K gas stations.
They have not been seen since.
(on camera): Does that strike you as a little odd?
SHERIFF DON HUNTER, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: We have a very intriguing mystery on our hands, yes.
FEYERICK (voice-over): A mystery baffling Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter.
HUNTER: The fact that two men, their last known recorded contact was with a deputy sheriff of the agency, and they cannot be found, I find that more than troubling.
FEYERICK: Documents and tapes obtained by CNN reveal Deputy Calkins lied repeatedly to investigators, passing one lie-detector test, then failing another, and changing important details of his story.
Marcia Bugg was very close to her son Terrance.
(on camera): How could he just disappear?
MARCIA BUGG, SON IS MISSING: He can't. He can't, unless somebody did something to him.
FEYERICK (voice-over): So, what happened? Deputy Calkins says, January 12, 2004, he pulled Terrance Williams into this cemetery, saying the car Williams was driving appeared to be having problems.
But three witnesses, including this one, who asked that we not show his face, told investigators the car seemed fine. Rather, it looked to them like Williams was being arrested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police officer was asking for I.D. He patted his legs and said: "I have nothing. I have no I.D." He placed him against the vehicle, with his hands on the vehicle. He patted him down, and then eventually put him into the back of the car, and then left.
FEYERICK: Williams, a 27-year-old father of four, had recently moved to Naples to be near his mom, and was working as a fast-food cook. He had no driver's license and expired plates.
Yet, rather than write him a ticket or take him to jail, Deputy Calkins told investigators he simply decided to help Williams with his car troubles and give him a ride.
(on camera): This is where Deputy Calkins says he drove Terrance Williams, a gas station just a few miles from the cemetery. The only problem, investigators say no one who works here ever saw Terrance Williams be dropped off, and there's nothing on the surveillance video.
(voice-over): About three hours later, the witnesses tell investigators, Deputy Calkins returned to the cemetery alone. Surprisingly he then called in the car as an abandoned vehicle. CNN obtained the dispatch tapes on which you hear Calkins talking in slang.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DEPUTY CALKINS: I got a "Homie" Cadillac on the side of the road here. Signal 11, signal 52, nobody around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
CALKINS: The tag comes back to nothing. It's a big, old, white piece of junk, Cadillac.
FEYERICK: Calkins makes it seem as if he's never stopped or questioned the driver.
CALKINS: Maybe he's out there in the cemetery. He'll come back and his car will be gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, really. Mr. No Registration.
CALKINS: Well, he was blocking the road about an inch off the road, you know.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Yet, witnesses say the car hadn't been blocking the road until Calkins moved it to that spot before having it towed. Having just denied knowing the driver, Calkins then runs a background check on Terrance Williams.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last name?
CALKINS: Williams. Common spelling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Date of birth?
CALKINS: Four-1-75. Black, male.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Four days later when Williams' mom calls the sheriff's office frantically searching for her son, a dispatcher reaches Calkins at home. Listen to what he says now.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate to bother you at home on your day off, but this woman's been bothering us all day. You towed a car from Vanderbilt and 111th Monday, a Cadillac. Do you remember it?
CALKINS: Oh, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you remember? She said it was near the cemetery.
CALKINS: Cemetery?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people at the cemetery are telling her you put somebody in the back of your vehicle and arrested him. And I don't show you arresting anybody.
CALKINS: I never arrested nobody. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Eight days after the incident, Calkins finally filed this report saying he drove Terrance Williams to the Circle K. To investigators, this story sounded eerily familiar. Three months earlier, Calkins told them a similar story about Felipe Santos.
At 23, Felipe Santos was an undocumented worker who had a girlfriend and newborn baby at home. The morning he disappeared, Felipe was driving to work with his brothers, Salvador and Jorge, when he got into a minor car accident. Deputy Calkins answered the call.
In an incident report, he writes, "I placed Felipe under arrest for no driver's license and put him in my back seat. I then decided not to take him to jail as he was being very polite and cooperative."
Calkins says instead he took Santos to a Circle K, adding, he last saw him walking to this pay phone. Yet, his brothers never heard from him.
SALVADOR SANTOS, BROTHER IS MISSING (through translator): The first thing my brother would have done if he had left him at the Circle K is call our boss to come and pick him up.
FEYERICK: And as with Terrance Williams, no one at the gas station remembers seeing Felipe Santos.
JORGE SANTOS, BROTHER IS MISSING (through translator): That was the last time I ever saw my brother. Up until now, I haven't heard a word.
FEYERICK (on-camera): Do you think Felipe Santos is alive?
HUNTER: I act as though he is.
FEYERICK: Do you think Terrance Williams is alive?
HUNTER: I'm acting on that supposition, yes.
FEYERICK: Do you think Deputy Calkins had something to do with their potential disappearance?
HUNTER: I'm not permitted to speculate.
FEYERICK (voice-over): The only thing investigators know for sure is that Deputy Calkins, a 16-year veteran, a husband and father of three young kids, lied.
(on-camera): Did he ever give you any cause for concern either in his behavior or his demeanor or anything prior to these disappearances?
HUNTER: No.
FEYERICK: Never?
HUNTER: Never.
FEYERICK: He lied to authorities. Why not charge him with obstruction of justice?
HUNTER: There was no crime committed. There still has been no evidence of any crime committed.
FEYERICK: Did you search his vehicle?
HUNTER: Yes, we did.
FEYERICK: Did you find any evidence in that vehicle?
HUNTER: None.
FEYERICK: Did you search his home?
HUNTER: We do not have permission to search his home. We first have to establish probable cause.
FEYERICK (voice-over): The sheriff says investigators followed every lead. But in documents, CNN discovered blood was found in Williams' car. Investigators say it's not significant. But lawyers for the family say why not test it to be sure?
(on-camera): Have you done everything in your power to find these men?
HUNTER: In my view, we have. I am at a loss of what next to do.
FEYERICK (voice-over): After an internal investigation, the sheriff ultimately fired Calkins for lying, unprofessional behavior and not following proper procedures. Calkins appealed his dismissal and lost. He has not been charged with any crime.
It's unclear what Calkins is doing now. He never responded to repeated requests for an interview. On this day we spotted him working on his lawn.
(on-camera): My name is Deborah Feyerick. May we have a moment of your time?
CALKINS: No, thank you.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Yet he did talk to a local paper and is quoted as saying, "I didn't do anything wrong." He blames the coincidence of the missing men on "very bad luck."
Felipe Santos was an illegal immigrant. Terrance Williams had a criminal record. Both had impending court dates, Santos for the traffic accident, Williams for custody issues.
The families say, even so, they wouldn't have just walked away. As Marcia Bugg drives the street where she believes her son went missing, she wonders if maybe he's hidden somewhere in the underbrush.
(on-camera): Do you think he's dead?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. A mother knows, a mother knows.
FEYERICK (voice-over): The Santos family continues to hope that Felipe is OK and that he may one day see his young daughter.
S. SANTOS (through translator): It's very hard to go two years not knowing anything about him.
FEYERICK: As for the ex-deputy, he told a local paper he still wants a career in law enforcement. His house is up for sale. The investigation into Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos continues as a missing persons case.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Naples, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now, overseas, Slobodan Milosevic apparently is going home. Serbia's prime minister is giving his blessing to a Serbian funeral and burial for the former Yugoslav dictator who died in The Hague on Saturday.
But what exactly killed Milosevic is still an open question. His son who came to the Netherlands today to collect his body, insists that his father was poisoned. Preliminary autopsy results show Milosevic died of a heart attack, but his family doesn't believe it, and neither does Russia.
A Dutch expert says he believes Milosevic was taking a drug to create or aggravate a medical problem so he could be sent to Russia for treatment. He says the drug may have led to that heart attack.
Still to come, his coach gave him the chance of a lifetime and Jason McElwain delivered. We know you remember this story. Now the autistic teen's amazing performance has even captured the president's attention.
Straight ahead, J-MAC meets W. It's a LIVE FROM event you won't want to miss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, he was one of the least likely basketball heroes ever. And today, Jason McElwain went one-on-one with a famous fan. On a visit to New York state, President Bush met with the autistic high school senior, affectionately known as J-Mac.
Mr. Bush walked arm in arm with Jason and his mom, right near Rochester, roughly three weeks after J-Mac scored 20 points in four minutes in his first and only appearance for his team. The president says he just had to meet this kid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, it's great to be here in upstate New York. As you can see, a special person has greeted me at the airport.
Jason, mind if I call you J-Mac?
JASON MCELWAIN, "J-MAC": Yes.
BUSH: I call him J-Mac. You call me George W. But our country was captivated by an amazing story on the basketball court. I think it's a story of Coach Johnson's willingness to give a person a chance. It's the story of Dave and Debby's (ph) deep love for their son. And it's the story of a young man who found his touch on the basketball court, which, in turn, touched the hearts of citizens all across the country.
So I want to thank you for being here. You probably didn't realize the impact you were going to have on people all across America and around the world when you made those six threes in a row. I kind of have gotten off the courts these days because I'm getting old, because if I got back on the courts I'd need a lesson on how to rotate that ball.
But let me have that there, Coach. Thank you. There you go. Kind of looks like you. Anyway, thank you all for coming. God bless.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
BUSH: And I appreciate the wonderful story that's come out of your family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
BUSH: Thank you, all.
QUESTION: How did you hear about the story and...
BUSH: Saw it on TV. Saw it on TV and I wept, just like a lot of other people did. It's just one of those stories that touched a lot of people's heart.
QUESTION: Did somebody play it for you, or did you just see it?
BUSH: I can't remember exactly how it happened. Probably somebody played it for me, you know, being the president and all. But it's a wonderful tale. God bless.
MCELWAIN: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, appreciate it.
BUSH: Oh, thanks. Good luck to you, buddy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS; Well, the president isn't the only one calling on J- Mac. His family's gotten a flood of call from Hollywood. Well, how low can you go? That has to be a concern at the White House, with a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll showing the president's popularity at an all-time low.
Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport is standing by in Princeton, New Jersey.
Frank, just how bad are the numbers?
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Well, 36 percent. That's the current job approval rating, Kyra. By one point, that is the lowest of the Bush administration. We had one at 37 percent last November. Put this in context.
Of all the presidents that Gallup's ever measured, all of them except for two have been in the 30 percent range at least at one point in their presidency. Thought you'd want to know that. The two who haven't, Dwight Eisenhower never got down to the 30 percent range, and neither did John F. Kennedy.
One other point about the job approval ratings here. The president still enjoys strong support from Republicans, 75 percent, as you seen on the left there. However, that's the lowest support among Republicans that the president's had throughout his entire administration. Independents quite low, as well, and, of course, Democrats very low in their support for Bush. That's not surprising, given his low overall ratings, that the Democrats would give him very low ratings -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, how much is the war in Iraq to blame?
NEWPORT: Well, there's no question, based on all of our analysis, that that is a major issue of importance to Americans. Obviously, the president realizes that. That's why he's out making speeches about it, trying to explain about it to public.
How are things going in Iraq is one measure we track on the war. Right now, just 38 percent say things are going well. That's down, as you can see here from these data.
And of concern, of course, in an election year, Kyra, which party could do the better job handling the situation in Iraq, Democrats or Republicans. Well, you see the numbers here. An eight-point lead for Democrats over Republicans on Iraq. So for all those reasons, as I mentioned, it's not surprising the administration's really trying to talk to about Iraq to the American public.
PHILLIPS: So what do these numbers mean for the November elections?
NEWPORT: This is the biggest lead for Democrats that we have seen since 1982 in what we call the generic ballot. It's really large at this point. Sixteen points, 55 percent of American registered voters, said they would vote for the Democrat if the election in their district was held today. Just 39 for Republicans. And that's enormous. Have to say a lot can change, Kyra -- always have to throw that in -- between now and next November. This could collapse or get bigger. But right now, if the election were held for Congress, the Democrats would have a good chance of taking over the House.
PHILLIPS: All right, completely different subject. Baseball and steroids. Barry Bonds could break the all-time home run record this year, but this new book that's out, talking about the allegations about Bonds using steroids, how do fans feel about that?
NEWPORT: It's kind of mixed. About 35, 40 percent of Americans are baseball fans. We asked them a series of questions about Barry Bonds. Here's one I thought you would find interesting. Should he play or just get out of the game right now and retire, with all these allegations? Forty-six percent retire, 41 percent play. That's roughly about even.
And Kyra, we get the same kind of thing when we ask should he be in the Hall of Fame eventually, should his records be erased? All of that. Fans are mixed, I would say. No strong sentiment one way or the other.
PHILLIPS: All right, Frank Newport, thanks so much.
Straight ahead, entertainment news with Sibila Vargas of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." Sibila, what's on tap?
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, things got heated up on David Letterman last night. The king of all media, Howard Stern, gave CBS president a major verbal lashing on his own network. I'll have that and more when LIVE FROM returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Mike Wallace says his "60 Minutes" are over, for the most part. The 87-year-old CBS news correspondent has decided to retire from the show that he helped inaugurate in 1968. He'll still do occasional work for the network, though. Wallace's career goes back to the 1940s, when he announced the Lone Ranger and Green Hornet radio programs. Remember those? But he made his name at "60 Minutes," with explosive investigations, sometimes featuring on-air confrontations. As a joke once put it, if you show up at your office and Mike Wallace is waiting with a camera crew, you know it's going to be a bad day.
Sparks and barbs and heated words. A lot drama on the entertainment beat today. Sibila Vargas in Los Angeles with all the details.
Hi Sibila.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Can't we all just get along?
PHILLIPS: We know that story, don't we? Now we're really going back. VARGAS: Absolutely. Last night's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions were not without their controversy. Things got really heated when former and current members of rock band Blondie took to the stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK INFANTE, MUSICIAN: I'd like to play but -- Debbie, is that allowed? No? We'd like to play with you guys. Me and Nigel? Not tonight? Oh, pretty please? Pretty please, Debbie? I love you.
DEBORAH HARRY, "BLONDIE": Can't you see my band is up there?
INFANTE: Oh, your band. I thought Blondie was being inducted tonight. Sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Ouch. Former members Frank Infante, Nigel Harrison and Gary Valentine had hoped to play with current members Deborah Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke, but instead exited the stage in a huff. Blondie's current members performed their hits "Heart of Glass," "Rapture" and "Call Me" on their own.
Other musicians inducted last night included Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Miles Davis and Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Perhaps also feeling the effect of yesterday's full moon was the king of all media, Howard Stern. Complete with his I Hate Les Moonves t-shirt on, a very disgruntled Howard Stern told David Letterman and an audience of millions just what he thinks of his old boss.
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HOWARD STERN, RADIO HOST: I believe you are working presently for one of the biggest jerks on the planet, Lesley Moonves. We all can relate to you.
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VARGAS: Stern's gripe stems from a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in which Moonves and CBS claim he inappropriately used air time on his old radio show to promote his new one on satellite ratio. As for CBS reaction to Stern's appearance on Letterman, they call it quote, his desperate attempt to attract attention from the facts of the case.
Well the world of entertainment wasn't all about tensions and feuds last night. Golden Globe winner Natalie Portman was classy as ever at the premiere of her latest film "V For Vendetta." Warner Brothers rolled out the red carpet for the cast and crew in New York City to celebrate the action packed drama about a British freedom fighter and his unexpected ally.
Portman, who co-stars with Hugo Weaving, remembers one of the scariest moments from filming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE PORTMAN, ACTRESS: The head shaving scene, you know, that obviously a lot of people are talking about or whatever, we only had one chance to do that and we're so spoiled on movies that we always get another chance if we mess up. That was -- that was pretty stressful.
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VARGAS: "Vendetta" is rated R and opens in theaters this Friday.
For another good story tonight, tune in to "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." The South Park smackdown. Isaac Hayes, the voice of chef, quits the show over scientology. Hear what he has told "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" about the scientology controversy tonight at 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN Headline Prime. Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Sibila, thanks.
Listen up, if you can. Hearing specialists are concerned about a new survey on teens, technology and hearing loss. Here's what we found out.
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PHILLIPS (voice-over): New technologies may be giving American teens a head start on hearing loss. More than half of all teens in a new survey said they had experienced symptoms like ringing in their ears or having to turn up the volume on radio or televisions. Could this be the result of too much time on the cell phone or with the iPod?
There's no proof, but 82 percent of American teens say they use a cell phone regularly. That's slightly higher than the number of adults surveyed. Students are also more than three times likely as adults to listen to an iPod. Though strangely adults say they listen to their iPods for longer periods of time.
More than 42 million iPods have been sold in the United States. That means almost one out of every seven Americans has one.
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PHILLIPS: You know you need an iPod to play iTunes. Some in France are irate. This week, French lawmakers may force Apple Computer to let consumers download songs to other companies' players. Servers say that could prompt Apple to shut it's iTunes store in France.
You've heard the saying, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Now some ladies are turning their anger into a sort of community service. Our Jeanne Moos checks it out, coming up on LIVE FROM.
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PHILLIPS: Otis, all right, bumping it up with the music. Ladies, when does your man -- well, when your man does your wrong, is it right to post his bad behavior on a Web site? We all think it's a good idea.
CNN's Jeanne Moos logs on to a cheater's worst nightmare.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before you caress him, maybe you'd better caress the keys of your computer. Don't date him, girl.
TASHA JOSEPH, CREATOR, DONTDATEHIMGIRL.COM: Sort of how the FBI has their most-wanted criminals in a database, I wanted to put all of the cheating men of the world in the database and that's how it started.
MOOS: We can't show their faces, but there are nearly 1,200 alleged cheaters posted at dontdatehimgirl.com with warnings like, "Ladies, watch out, there's a dog on the loose," or "Run, run, as fast as you can."
(on camera): Think of it as a dating credit report. Just type in the name of any suspected cheater, say Jude Law. And if he's been reported, up pops a profile. But celebs like Jude and Kobe aren't the norm. Regular guys are, turned in by the women they supposedly wronged. "I caught him on my computer looking up other chicks. Found text messages to another girl about how he loved her and needed her and ew, puke."
Former journalist Tasha Joseph came up with the Web site.
JOSEPH: Well, I have been cheated on twice in my life.
MOOS (voice-over): Web site visitors can add a cheater or check out the cheater of the day feature. "I caught this man on many swinger sites." Another warned, "Danger, controlling psycho. He may be hot and well-endowed, but don't be next on his growing list of women scorned."
A Montana woman posted her guy on the Web site, only after first trying what Samantha did on "Sex and the City." The target of the Montana woman's flyers went to court and got them stopped. Samantha had better luck.
CHANDRA WILSON, ACTRESS: Ma'am, it's against city law to deface public property.
KIM CATTRALL, ACTRESS: This man said he loved me and I caught him (bleep).
WILSON: Carry on, ma'am.
MOOS: Men are invited to tell their side of the story, but only a few do. One said his accuser developed a crush and stalked him. Another claimed his tormentor was a psychotic neighbor who first tried to lure him into a threesome. So far no one has sued the Web site, though some irate man have set up a protest Web site, classaction- dontdatehimgirl. In a few weeks, cheating women will get a taste of their own medicine.
JOSEPH: We're in development with a Web site called dontdateherman.com.
MOOS: The one who's hand you're holding could hand you over to the dating police.
JOSEPH: I'm in a great relationship with a great guy and he knows exactly what's going to happen to him if he were to be caught cheating. He would be like the featured cheater on the home page.
MOOS: A home page for home wreckers, bless your cheating heart. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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