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Gaza Area Rife with Tensions; Ohio Woman Attacked By Bear in Home
Aired May 23, 2006 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well stakes are high but expectations are pretty low. Americans and Israelis alike are downplaying the likelihood of drama or break-throughs as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visits the U.S. It is his first trip here since he was elected to replace an ailing Ariel Sharon.
And two pressing issues will likely come up when Olmert sits down with President Bush today: Iran's alleged nuclear threat and the stalled Mideast peace process. Olmert has already vowed to define Israel's permanent borders in the next four years with or without Palestinian talks. Many European and Arab allies oppose unilateral action. And Mr. Bush is expected to urge a more moderate approach. That meeting is taking place this hour. We're going to keep you in the loop.
Still no peace in Gaza. On one side, a police force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On the other, a militia bent on grabbing power for the Hamas-led government. As usual, it's the people who are caught in the middle; in some cases, dying in the line of fire.
CNN's John Vause was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest victim in this Palestinian violence, a Jordanian, an embassy worker in Gaza. His flag-draped coffin surrounded by a guard of honor and taken to the Israeli border. And from there, going home.
In the last month, internal fighting here has claimed eight lives. Dozens more have been wounded, including Mohammed Abu Asiya (ph). During Monday's shoot out, he was inside a nearby building when he was hit by a stray bullet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This (INAUDIBLE) with a gunshot injury to the right side.
VAUSE: He's now in a stable condition, but fears not only for his own safety, but also for his five young children.
"Once there was a reason to be proud to be injured by an Israeli bullet," he told me. "Now it is humiliation to talk about being wounded by my own people." And like many, he worries Gaza is edging closer to civil war. But the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who ordered the Hamas militia on to the streets a week ago, says that won't happen.
"There is no expression for civil war in Palestinian vocabulary. I assure the Palestinian people they're able to overcome these incidents," he said before a meeting with rival officials from the president's Fatah political faction.
Um Ahmed (ph) doesn't believe him. For almost two hours Monday, she was pinned down inside her home, not far from the worst of the shooting around the Palestinian parliament building.
"I'm afraid," she says. "I'm afraid for my children and my grandchildren. Look at them. They're still shaking." "Only god," she says, "can stop the violence."
(on camera): Palestinians have been close to the edge before but always managed to find a way out, united by a common enemy in Israel and a goal of building a nation. But many wonder if that will be enough this time.
John Vause, CNN, Gaza City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Bombers and gunmen out in force in Iraq today. A string of attacks has killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 30 others. Ten of the dead were in car bombings in two Baghdad neighborhoods. The mayhem elsewhere came from roadside bombings and a string of shootings.
We want to take a moment now to salute our fallen heroes, men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting in Iraq. For Specialist Daniel Sesker, being a gunner in the Iowa National Guard was a point of pride. He died when an insurgent bomb went off near his Humvee. Sesker has recently learned his fiance was pregnant and was hoping to leave Iraq as early as this year to meet his new son or daughter.
Specialist Shawn Creighton had what his mother described as an impish smile and was always up to something. He celebrated his 21st birthday during a trip home to North Carolina and Germany. In April, he was killed by a roadside bomb. His mother got phone calls from as far away as Alaska describing his generosity. One came from a waitress friend whom Creighton left $100 trip when she was in need.
Army Corporal Joseph Blanco was always eager to hear about his four-year-old nephew when he called or wrote home. The 25-year-old wanted to go to college and pursue a career in law enforcement after his military service. He was due home in March, but his stay in Iraq was extended. He was killed in April by an IED.
Just a few of the 2,455 men and women who have died in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: My mom is being attacked.
DISPATCHER: The bear is in your house?
CALLER: It's in my house.
DISPATCHER: OK, what's your address? Where is it right now?
CALLER: (inaudible). It's on top of her, it won't let her go.
DISPATCHER: It's on top of your husband?
CALLER: On top of my mom.
DISPATCHER: On top of your mom?
CALLER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: It's rare for a bear to attack a human. And when it does happen it's almost always on the bear's turf or at least outdoors. Here's the story of an inside job, an Ohio woman mauled in her own home as told by CNN's Carol Costello.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Fifteen-year-old Daphne Supplee was taking her dog for a walk on Monday when she was suddenly face to face with a 500-pound bear, right on her doorstep.
DAPHNE SUPPLEE, MOTHER MAULED BY BEAR: And I saw the bear, so I ran back into the house, closed the door. And after the door was closed, it knocked through the door, ran past me and grabbed my mom at the doorway and drug her over here into the walkway, and then I tried to pull it off of her. But it just wouldn't -- it just jumped right back on me.
COSTELLO: Daphne and her dog tried desperately to save her mother, 36-year-old Rachel Supplee, as she was being mauled by the bear.
SUPPLEE: And I was hitting it, and pulling it and throwing it and everything, and it just kept right on her. It didn't touch me. My dog was, like, biting the bear, like, it was barking and it started biting the bear. It just jumped right back on her.
So I grabbed lunch meat and got it to go into the kitchen so she could go outside. And after she was outside, I went in the bedroom and climbed out the bedroom.
COSTELLO: Turns out the bear had escaped from a commercial breeding farm nearby. The owner was attempting to clean the cage when the bear got away. He was able to lure the bear out of Supplee's house before shooting and killing it. State wildlife officials say a bear attack inside a home is extremely rare. But this wasn't your typical bear.
RENO RADA, STATE WILDLIFE OFFICER: A bear that's raised with humans is not going to have a fear of humans, and that's one of the big factors we count on with wild bears. They would much rather be away from humans. Well, this bear is acclimated to people, so it's going to interact much more readily.
COSTELLO: Rachel suffered numerous bite wounds. She was airlifted to a trauma center in Youngstown. At last check, she was in satisfactory condition.
STEPHANIE ORGOVAN, NEIGHBOR: A year-and-a-half ago, his bobcat got loose for two weeks, and they were hunting for it, and my cat mysteriously came up eaten. You know, half of the cat just laying underneath the vehicle because his bobcat ate it.
DAISY WELDY, VICTIM'S SISTER: It just really makes me mad that when the bear got away the people didn't, you know, go get it. The game warden should have been notified to get it. You know, whatever the story was, that's someone's bear, that owns that bear. They could have prevented this.
Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: By the way, that 15-year-old's mom did survive. And you can see more reports from Carol Costello on "AMERICAN MORNING." Join Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
Off to a good start. Barbaro's vet says that he couldn't be happier to see the Kentucky Derby winner scratching his ear with his left hind leg. That still means he is putting some weight on his injured right hind leg, and he's not feeling a lot of pain right now.
Barbaro shattered three bones after taking a misstep just out of the starting gate at the Preakness Saturday. He was in surgery for almost six hours and given a 50/50 chance for survival. Today, his owners expressed their love for the colt and their hope that he lives a long and painless life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETCHEN JACKSON, BARBARO'S OWNER: No, he will not come back to our farm unless he is not in pain and cannot stand as a stallion. Number one, not in pain. He has to be living a good quality life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: For now, Barbaro is in a special stall practicing standing comfortably. His vet says it may be weeks, even months, before he is able to do more.
Well, not easy being Bree. Not the cheese, the character of "Desperate Housewives." Actress Marcia Cross spills the dirt on her T.V. alter ego when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Operation meets opportunity at 30,000 feet. When an emergency broke out on board on an Austin to L.A. flight yesterday, Dr. Robert Rey, better known as "Dr. 90210," sprung into action. It wasn't a ruptured breast implant or a collapsed nose job that got his attention. It was an elderly man who had a panic attack and went after a flight attendant.
Rey, who practices martial arts, later said, "When you get a black belt, at that stage your brain just clicks into action." The 80-year-old man was hospitalized for mental observation and oh, yes, if you have never seen Rey on "Dr. 90210," he also does a fast food ad in which he advises a chicken to get breast augmentation.
So how is this for a predicament? You check in at the nervous hospital because you abandoned your blackmailing son and your daughter's birthday cake got knocked off the table. Then you realized you are the only one who can stop a murderer before he strikes again. Clearly, "Desperate Housewives" isn't your mother's soap opera. Actress Marcia Cross says it's not just fun for the fans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: You definitely landed the perfect gig. I mean, you must wake up every morning and pinch yourself. I mean, this is every actor's dream, to land something like this.
MARCIA CROSS, "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES": Yes. I'm one of the most grateful people on the planet, without a doubt. Yes, you just -- first of all, incredible show, incredible writing, then it's a hit. You know, then I meet the man of my dreams. I'm, like, whoa. This is all like a fairy tale right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, Cross also talked about her struggle with migraine headaches. We want to mention that she is traveling the country as a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Imitrex.
Well, hey, if you lived on beer and doughnuts, you would be fat too, just like this Sheltie -- so fat, she can barely stand up. But now, she is shedding the pounds with a lot of help from her new caretakers. The story from Kim Holcomb from our Phoenix affiliate, KPNX.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIM HOLCOMB, KPNX REPORTER (voice-over): Listen closely to the sound of an animal struggling to shed years of horrible nutrition, a dog who weighed almost three times as much as she should have when the Humane Society took her in.
MELISSA AMATO, HUMANE SOCIETY: This is quite unique to actually have a dog who can't even get up because she is so overweight. HOLCOMB: Her owners feeding her a strict diet of beer and doughnuts. It's not illegal, but the results are certainly immoral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good girl.
HOLCOMB: Weighing in at about 68 pounds on this day and that's an improvement.
AMATO: And it's a miracle that she is as healthy as she is.
HOLCOMB: Melissa Amato is fostering the dog, a Sheltie named Sessa (ph) who can barely support her own weight. So workouts are in the water at this East Valley animal rehab center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Usually I can end up getting a dog within a few sessions to start playing games in the pool.
HOLCOMB: Sessa isn't there yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good girl.
HOLCOMB: But after just five sessions, she has dropped seven pounds and can spend almost 20 minutes burning calories in the pool.
AMATO: I am just so proud of her. You know, I just think she is doing just awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good girl! You're getting tired already.
HOLCOMB: It may take a year before she sheds all the pounds. For now, progress is measured in even the smallest steps.
AMATO: She is going to sleep really good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Sessa has more to look forward to after her aquatic therapy. When she is ready, she will move onto cardio.
Well, this dog's name is Homeless, but he has a home and considering how well he treats his master, he always will. Just watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me a beer. Good boy. Good boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the Alabama spaniel will retrieve just about anything he is asked for. Homeless can even tell the difference between beer, water, and soda in the cooler. Next trick, learning to work the TV remote.
Well, not your typical backyard pet. This 400 pound gator crawled under a homeowner's fence in Missouri City, Texas. We have got the story from our affiliate, KPRC. The gator lunged at the family dog but was roped and wrestled into a cage before it could do any more harm. Love may have lead that gator to roam. Wildlife workers say it's breeding season.
Who wouldn't want to get a jab now and then in at pesky politician? What about a jib? Now's your chance to join the JibJab crowd, as LIVE FROM's got your ticket, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, they spent only one term in office, but Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale have now set a record for a former president and vice president. It's been 25 years and 123 days since they left office in January, 1981. That's a day longer than any other president and V.P. have lived after leaving office. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the only others to survive more than 25 years of retirement.
Roast a Republican, diss a Democrat. It's all fun and games for the JibJab guys. The online animators-slash-political satirists say business, as you might expect, is booming. And now you can get in on the act.
Our Daniel Sieberg went behind the scenes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 2004, their signature cartoon has been seen by hundreds of millions of people online and on TV.
SINGING: This land belongs to you and me.
EVAN SPIRIDELLIS, JIBJAB.COM CO-FOUNDER: We didn't hear directly from any of the top, top people, but we did hear through the grapevine that both of the candidates had seen the piece and laughed at it.
SIEBERG: Brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis work with a handful of staffers out of a modest office in L.A. They've recently launched an expansion to their site, jibjab.com. It's a departure from their political skewering, offering everyday jokesters a virtual locker. It's called Joke Box.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: The whole idea is about, you know, creating a place where it's easy for people to share. It's easy for people to discover new funny, jokes online and easy to share it with friends.
SIEBERG: A real time stream of jokes and video clips uploaded by JibJab users is projected on a wall.
(SINGING)
SIEBERG: But blasting barbs at politicos on both sides of the fence remains the brothers' bread and butter. No one in D.C. is safe.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: We definitely go out of our way to be bipartisan. And I think, you know, for us, when we make these shorts, it's not about, you know, pushing our political point of view. There's enough people out there that do that. And they're shouting from rooftops. For us, our goal is to make people laugh and you know, keep it even-handed.
SIEBERG: Each production is like a short film, Evan and Gregg providing the early inspiration and acting. They often make a Hitchcockian cameo, too. For the final cut, they get a little help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With "This Land", we have an actor named Jim Messman, who is a phenomenal impersonator.
SIEBERG: Both Evan and Gregg say the adage holds true. Dying is easy, comedy is hard. But they say they're in it for the long haul.
GREGG SPIRIDELLIS: Yes. I'm the guy above the jib and he's above the jab.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: Since I drew the logo, I gave him the cool mustache.
G. SPIRIDELLIS: Yes.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: He gets the curly mustache.
SIEBERG: So what keeps the JibJab founders grounded as they approach their seventh year of business?
E. SPIRIDELLIS: Yes, there's a piece of humble pie out there for everyone. And you just don't know when you're going to get it.
G. SPIRIDELLIS: When you're going to get served, yes.
E. SPIRIDELLIS: So I guess we live our lives like the humble pies right around the corner, you know.
SIEBERG: Daniel Sieberg, CNN, Santa Monica, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Let's check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, standing by "THE SITUATION ROOM." Hey, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra, thanks very much.
A very strange twist here in Washington. Republicans coming to the defense of a Democrat over a federal raid on capital hill. Find out why one politician accused of corruption is sort of bringing the parties together on a legal technical issue.
Also happening now, President Bush meeting with the Israeli prime minister. Can they reach agreement on dealing with the Palestinians and the Iranians? We'll hear from both of them live. That's coming up from the White House.
And is there price gouging at the pump? One government study says no. Some leaders in Congress aren't buying it. Find out why one of them is calling it a whitewash.
And live at the nation's busiest border checkpoint. Is getting into the United States as easy as driving right in? We sent Chris Lawrence down there to find out. All that, Kyra, coming up right at the top of the hour.
PHILLIPS: All right, sound good. Thanks, Wolf. So what's on your iPod? We've told you about the songs on the music players carried by President Bush and the first lady. New York Senator Hillary Clinton got an iPod from her husband, the former president. The thousand cuts include a lot of classic rock, including the Rolling Stones, the Beatles. She also listens to the Eagles' "Take it to the Limit" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect." The senator says she plugs in while doing paperwork at home.
Pearl Jam is giving fans a free show -- well, in a way. The band has done its first music video in eight years. "Live Wasted" debuted on VH1, but Pearl Jam fans, well, they want to get a free look. They're offering the video as a free download through Wednesday on several Web sites.
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