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Religious Conservatives Rally Around Schiavo Case; The Science of Memories

Aired March 21, 2005 - 11:30   ET

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

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: There are more doctors that are adamant Terri is not in a PBS (ph). There was a woman in Kansas recently that woke up in a condition similar to my sister's. So this notion that people can't get better with the condition they're on is absolutely false. If you would see Terri, you would see absolutely how alive she is, how alert she is, how much she responds, how she's trying to speak with us.

There's a reason Michael and his attorney are doing everything they can to keep Terri hidden from the public. Terri could be sitting here right now, she could be the House floor during this debate in a wheelchair. But they will do everything they can so people cannot see what her true condition is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Schiavo insists his wife will never recover and he says it was her desire to die if she was left incapacitated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SCHIAVO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S HUSBAND: Terri can't communicate. She cannot swallow. This is Bobby Schindler's soapbox, OK? This is his way to pander votes from the Republican people up in Congress. He's not presenting the accurate facts. This case has been in front of the state courts for seven years. 20 judges have heard this case, including the Supreme Court justices. And Bobby Schindler is up there stating inaccurate facts and Republicans up there are feeding into it.

DEBORAH BUSHNELL, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: That statement is simply incredible. Terri does not respond. She has very little cerebral cortex left. The thinking part of her brain is simply gone and is replaced with liquid. Terri has not responded in the 15 years that she's been in this condition. Doctors, reputable doctors, agree there's simply no hope in Terri's situation and for Bobby Schindler or anyone to say otherwise is simply deluded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, will be a guest on CNN. You can see the live interview on "LARRY KING LIVE" at 9:00 Eastern. We want to go live now to pictures from Santa Maria, California. It appears Michael Jackson has arrived at the courthouse. There is the daily umbrella that goes up before Michael Jackson gets out. And there he is. We should say he's a few minutes late again today, but nothing like it was back on February 10th, when he was a no-show. It does appear -- Michael Jackson moving slowly, yet again. But as always, takes time to turn around and address his fans that show up there at the courthouse.

As has been the case in recent weeks -- recent days, actually, he is using bodyguards and it looks perhaps some of his brothers to -- for support. Moving slowly. We haven't had any word from the Jackson camp today about any ailments that Michael Jackson might be facing today, but back on February 10th, when he was a no show and the judge issued a bench warrant, he had complained of severe back trouble and had checked himself into a local hospital. And then previous to that he was a no show and had said he had the flu and went to the hospital.

But Michael Jackson has now appeared at the courthouse in Santa Maria, California. Big issue in front of the judge today, the judge deciding if previous allegations of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson will be allowed to be heard by this jury. It could have a huge impact on this case. Once again, Michael Jackson is on trial for child molestation. The jury has already heard from the 15-year-old accuser.

There's also been a former housekeeper on the stand and the lead investigator on the case, Sergeant Steve Robel of Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. He has also been on the stand, also letting the idea that the investigation still goes forward and that they still believe other people, other potential victims, might come forward in this case. So this is still an open investigation, as far as the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is concerned.

Michael Jackson stepping into the courtroom after the metal wand. And that case goes on in Santa Maria. Excuse me.

We head back, though, to Florida. That we do. Terri Schiavo case is what we're talking about. It is a rallying cry from religious conservatives. The evangelical base helped propel President Bush to re-election. Here is now is White House correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Listen to how conservative politicians are describing their quest to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has to do with the culture of life.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The society that is built on a culture of life.

BASH: Culture of life is a catch phrase for abortion opponents. Now Terri Schiavo is Exhibit A of an evolving movement and a broadening debate over how to define right to life. WENDY WRIGHT, CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA: This case really is mobilizing people and helping them to understand that the attack on the culture of life extends beyond abortion.

BASH: From researching stem cells to cloning to ventilators and feeding tubes, with each scientific development, new questions about when life starts, when it ends and who decides.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must strive to build a culture of life. Medical research can help us reach that goal by developing treatments and cures that save lives and help people overcome disabilities.

BASH: Some religious conservatives want the definition of life as broad as possible. For them, Schiavo is a rallying cry. In phone calls and on Web sites, groups urge activists to call lawmakers. GOP leaders, wading in uncharted waters to change Schiavo's fate, insist they're following the spirit of the constitution, not politics.

REP. TOM DELAY, (R) TEXAS: This is not a political issue. This is life and death. And this is a bipartisan attempt to save this life.

BASH: Though condemned by GOP leaders, Republican talking points circulating in the Senate suggest some see a potential upside against Democrats on the ballot next year. "This is a great political issue because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a co- sponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats," a GOP memo says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you? You look so pretty.

MARTHA BURK, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS: I think the Democrats are moving toward the right culturally. I think they're trying to look like junior Republicans. And in some cases, like this one, we see it most starkly.

BASH: Democrats, stung from a series of electoral losses among social conservatives, are, by and large, biting their tongues on the Schiavo matter.

(on camera): But some Democrats are criticizing Congress and the president for what they call overreaching, even abusing their power. The White House answers that by calling the Schiavo case complex and extraordinary, saying the president believes that life should be protected when there is doubt in all stages of life.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: With all the strong feelings about the Schiavo case, not surprising, the battle over Terri Schiavo is leading the board at CNN.com at this hour. Veronica de la Cruz joins us now from the dotcom desk -- Veronica.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we've been asking people to weigh in with what they think in the Schiavo case. In our quick vote, we've been asking who should decide Terri Schiavo's fate? Should it be politicians, judges, her parents or her husband? Well, our latest results -- almost 23,000 people have voted and 67 percent of people are saying that they feel it should be left to her husband. Now we've also been asking has the Terri Schiavo case become too politicized? 92 percent of people are saying yes, while only eight percent are saying no.

Now we should mention both these polls are unscientific and only reflect the opinions of the Internet users who do choose to participate. To participate in the quick vote, you can log on to cnn.com. There you will also find a timeline, a gallery and all the court documents in the Terri Schiavo case -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Veronica de la Cruz, thank you for that.

Memory question for you. Do you have trouble remembering, let's see, your wedding anniversary, where you put the car keys, even what you had for dinner last night? Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes in search of the answers to memory and the mysteries about that story, if we remember, we'll run that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. We are looking at live pictures. We just saw him walk in and now he is walking out. Michael Jackson leaving the courthouse in Santa Maria. Clearly it appears that he is having another day where he is not feeling well.

Our producers inside of the courtroom told us just after Michael Jackson went into the courtroom, he sat at the defendant's table, he put his head down in a pile of kleenex and both lawyers were summoned to talk to the court -- talk to the judge in his chambers. So we don't have the official word, but it would appear that Michael Jackson has been excused from the courtroom at this time. We will work on talking with our people on the scene there in Santa Maria.

Well, some memories are just too painful to recall. Others are too precious to forget. But in each case, why is it that sometimes the thoughts you want to keep fade away and the ones you want to lose stay put? Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on the failures of the mind in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Memories add an incredible richness to our lives. But they're not always accurate. We're pretty good at remembering the gist of what we've seen, but as we know the devil is in the details. And as it turns out, sometimes our memories let us down.

(voice-over): Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter has studied the ways our memories fail us, and he's written about them in, "The Seven Sins Of Memory."

Transience. DANIEL SCHACTER, PSYCHOLOGIST, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Memories tend to fade over time.

GUPTA: Absent-mindedness.

SCHACTER: Lapses of attention.

GUPTA: Blocking -- when a word is on the tip of your tongue.

SCHACTER: We can't get at the information at the moment that we want it.

GUPTA: Misattribution.

SCHACTER: This occurs when some form of memory is present, but it's wrong.

GUPTA: Suggestibility.

SCHACTER: This occurs when we remember things that did not happen, or we remember things differently from the way that they actually happened.

GUPTA: Hindsight bias.

SCHACTER: This occurs when our present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skews or distorts our memory for past events.

GUPTA: And persistence.

SCHACTER: Persistence occurs when we have a vivid memory, often an emotionally arousing or traumatic memory that we wish we'd forget but we can't.

GUPTA: So if you have forgotten your car keys or maybe you could not remember the name of a familiar face, perhaps you're just committing one of the seven sins of memory and you're not truly losing your mind. We're going to have a lot of memory coming out all week. In fact, tomorrow we're talking about boot camp for the brain, how to improve your memory and who couldn't use that? That's coming up tomorrow.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Something to remember. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explore how to stop the brain drain and increase your memory. It's a primetime special. "MEMORY BOOT CAMP" will air at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

And don't forget this, you can get your daily dose of health news with a mouse click. Logon to CNN.com/health for the latest medical news. You'll also find special reports and a health library.

When most people take a vacation, they usually go back to work and back to the daily grind in a week or two. But what if you needed to get away from it all for a really long time? We're talking like a year or two. And of course, you haven't won the lottery. So we're going to tell you how you can do that and why you might want to, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, he was there and now he is gone. Michael Jackson spending mere moments in Santa Maria and the courthouse today before leaving. Our Miguel Marquez is on the scene to tell us what's up -- Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he hasn't left the courthouse yet. He left the courtroom, though, to go to the restroom. He came into the courtroom just moments ago. And when he arrived here, he was in the worst shape that we have seen him yet. A couple of weeks ago he had a back problem apparently. Well, today it didn't seem to be so much his back, as it did just Michael Jackson, to be quite honest. He looked like he was completely out of it, and rather high at the time when he came in the courtroom. He came in completely disheveled. His hair, again, is not done. His clothes, obviously, were just pulled out of the closet, looks like the bottom of the closet.

He came into court supported by a bodyguard and his brother, Jackie. It took him about a minute, minute and a half to get from the courtroom door to his seat. He sat down incredibly slowly. His lawyers helped him down. The bailiff at one point tried to help him. He refused her help. The lawyers were all looking at him as though he was in incredible pain. And then he pulled out a wad of kleenex that were on the table there and started sobbing at the table.

Moments later, he got up and, again, another slow walk toward the door. It looked like he was about to vomit as he walked out of the courtroom. This is a man, it's sad to say, that just appears to be completely falling apart.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Miguel, what about the judge's patience with all this?

MARQUEZ: The judge has not taken the -- come out to address the court yet. We knew something was up about 8:20. Mr. Mesereau, Mr. Jackson's lawyer, came in. At about 8:25, his cell phone went off. Everybody in the courtroom started saying, uh-oh. Everybody knew what was going on. He is now -- Mr. Mesereau is back with the judge in chambers, chatting with him, and with the district attorney, trying to figure out what they can do at this point. But it appears at this point that Mr. Jackson is in no shape to handle a full day of this trial.

KAGAN: Miguel, what's supposed to happen today at the trial?

MARQUEZ: It's not clear. We're certainly going to hear more testimony. We've been hearing a lot from police officers, from sheriff's deputies about what they seized at Neverland Ranch. We also expect to hear from others making the case, about the sex crimes against Mr. Jackson, people like Dr. Stanley Katz, who initially saw the accuser and his brother, and then turned the case over to a lawyer, who then went to the police. So it's likely that we'll see a lot of that stuff building the case on the sex crimes and molestations themselves this week. But at this point, it's not clear that the judge would allow this thing to go on without Mr. Jackson present.

KAGAN: Miguel Marquez in Santa Maria, California, with the latest on Michael Jackson and his condition. Thank you.

All right, let's get right into our next segment. Tired of work, getting away for a year, perhaps two? We're not talking a couple of weeks here. Years. Plenty of people taking a long pause from the office to travel and refresh. What a great segment idea for a Monday morning. There is a handy guide to tell you how to do it. It's called the career break. Swap your briefcase for a passport and live your dream. Got to love this topic. The book is published by the travel experts at Lonely Planet.

Don George, see, he has this cool job. He's an editor at Lonely Planet. He doesn't want a break from his job, because he has the kind of job people dream of having.

Don, good morning.

DON GEORGE, LONELY PLANET: Good morning, Daryn. Nice to see you again.

KAGAN: Good to see you.

How are we defining career break?

GEORGE: Well, a career break can last anywhere from three months to three years. But it's taking time off from what it is you're doing professionally to refresh a little bit and re-energize.

KAGAN: Now back in the day, if somebody wanted to do something like that, they would be considered a slacker, not serious about their job. But this book makes the case that you might even get some respect for doing this.

GEORGE: Well, exactly. Attitudes toward this are changing tremendously in the past decade or so. Now, one-third of American employers actually offer sabbaticals as part of their ongoing program. So the attitude is different. You can come back with greater skills, with greater confidence. You can come back actually as a better employee. And it's possible to make that argument to your employer, before you make your career break.

KAGAN: And we're not just talking about being a master snorkeler. There's other things that you might want to do. How do you do it?

GEORGE: Well, the first thing ask to figure out what you really want to do. I mean, you may want to just -- it may be the perfect anecdote to burnout for you. You want to re-energize and re-inspire yourself to go back to your old job, but with new energy. That's great. Or you may want to change directions completely. And that's equally great. You need to figure out what it is you wanted to do and have not had the time to do. It might be writing a novel, making a film, or it might be teaching English in Japan or Studying Spanish in Central America.

Whatever it is you want to do, you can empower yourself to have the opportunity to go out and do that. So it's really up to you to figure out what it is that's going to fulfill your dream.

KAGAN: It sounds good, but it sounds like it takes some money in the bank to make this happen.

GEORGE: It's very important to have your financial house in order before you do this. A lot of these opportunities don't pay very well. The teaching English in Japan actually does pay, but a lot of them don't. You have to make sure that you've got everything lined up before you go. You're going to be able to pay all of your existing, ongoing bills.

But one to keep in mind is that living for a year in Asia, for example, may only require as much money as you spend in two months back here in the United States.

KAGAN: That's true.

GEORGE: So you can actually budget wisely but make sure you're basing that on the cost of the place where you're going to live.

KAGAN: And real quickly, what about that pesky idea that you want the job to come back to at the end of the fun?

GEORGE: It's really good to get in writing before you go that you're going to have the job waiting for you when you come back. But on the other hand, be open to the fact that you may change your life forever by taking this year, too. And that's a great thing.

KAGAN: Don George from Lonely Planet. It's called "The Career Break Book." You're not going anywhere, are you? Well, you're always going somewhere, because Lonely Planet people do.

GEORGE: I'm always going somewhere. That's a good profession to have, I think, always going somewhere. I love that.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Don George, thank you for that.

GEORGE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, some -- let's try that again -- some severe weather may be hitting portions of the country today. We're not just talking about the Midwest. A complete forecast is up next.

Plus, at the top of the hour, where's Wolf? he's reporting from Kuwait City today, how the region has changed since the Iraq war began. Can you believe it's been two years? That's coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: And that's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We thought Wolf Blitzer, he may -- we think he's in Kuwait City today. Judy Woodruff stepping in, helping us out.

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


Aired March 21, 2005 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: There are more doctors that are adamant Terri is not in a PBS (ph). There was a woman in Kansas recently that woke up in a condition similar to my sister's. So this notion that people can't get better with the condition they're on is absolutely false. If you would see Terri, you would see absolutely how alive she is, how alert she is, how much she responds, how she's trying to speak with us.

There's a reason Michael and his attorney are doing everything they can to keep Terri hidden from the public. Terri could be sitting here right now, she could be the House floor during this debate in a wheelchair. But they will do everything they can so people cannot see what her true condition is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Schiavo insists his wife will never recover and he says it was her desire to die if she was left incapacitated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SCHIAVO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S HUSBAND: Terri can't communicate. She cannot swallow. This is Bobby Schindler's soapbox, OK? This is his way to pander votes from the Republican people up in Congress. He's not presenting the accurate facts. This case has been in front of the state courts for seven years. 20 judges have heard this case, including the Supreme Court justices. And Bobby Schindler is up there stating inaccurate facts and Republicans up there are feeding into it.

DEBORAH BUSHNELL, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: That statement is simply incredible. Terri does not respond. She has very little cerebral cortex left. The thinking part of her brain is simply gone and is replaced with liquid. Terri has not responded in the 15 years that she's been in this condition. Doctors, reputable doctors, agree there's simply no hope in Terri's situation and for Bobby Schindler or anyone to say otherwise is simply deluded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, will be a guest on CNN. You can see the live interview on "LARRY KING LIVE" at 9:00 Eastern. We want to go live now to pictures from Santa Maria, California. It appears Michael Jackson has arrived at the courthouse. There is the daily umbrella that goes up before Michael Jackson gets out. And there he is. We should say he's a few minutes late again today, but nothing like it was back on February 10th, when he was a no-show. It does appear -- Michael Jackson moving slowly, yet again. But as always, takes time to turn around and address his fans that show up there at the courthouse.

As has been the case in recent weeks -- recent days, actually, he is using bodyguards and it looks perhaps some of his brothers to -- for support. Moving slowly. We haven't had any word from the Jackson camp today about any ailments that Michael Jackson might be facing today, but back on February 10th, when he was a no show and the judge issued a bench warrant, he had complained of severe back trouble and had checked himself into a local hospital. And then previous to that he was a no show and had said he had the flu and went to the hospital.

But Michael Jackson has now appeared at the courthouse in Santa Maria, California. Big issue in front of the judge today, the judge deciding if previous allegations of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson will be allowed to be heard by this jury. It could have a huge impact on this case. Once again, Michael Jackson is on trial for child molestation. The jury has already heard from the 15-year-old accuser.

There's also been a former housekeeper on the stand and the lead investigator on the case, Sergeant Steve Robel of Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. He has also been on the stand, also letting the idea that the investigation still goes forward and that they still believe other people, other potential victims, might come forward in this case. So this is still an open investigation, as far as the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is concerned.

Michael Jackson stepping into the courtroom after the metal wand. And that case goes on in Santa Maria. Excuse me.

We head back, though, to Florida. That we do. Terri Schiavo case is what we're talking about. It is a rallying cry from religious conservatives. The evangelical base helped propel President Bush to re-election. Here is now is White House correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Listen to how conservative politicians are describing their quest to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has to do with the culture of life.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The society that is built on a culture of life.

BASH: Culture of life is a catch phrase for abortion opponents. Now Terri Schiavo is Exhibit A of an evolving movement and a broadening debate over how to define right to life. WENDY WRIGHT, CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA: This case really is mobilizing people and helping them to understand that the attack on the culture of life extends beyond abortion.

BASH: From researching stem cells to cloning to ventilators and feeding tubes, with each scientific development, new questions about when life starts, when it ends and who decides.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must strive to build a culture of life. Medical research can help us reach that goal by developing treatments and cures that save lives and help people overcome disabilities.

BASH: Some religious conservatives want the definition of life as broad as possible. For them, Schiavo is a rallying cry. In phone calls and on Web sites, groups urge activists to call lawmakers. GOP leaders, wading in uncharted waters to change Schiavo's fate, insist they're following the spirit of the constitution, not politics.

REP. TOM DELAY, (R) TEXAS: This is not a political issue. This is life and death. And this is a bipartisan attempt to save this life.

BASH: Though condemned by GOP leaders, Republican talking points circulating in the Senate suggest some see a potential upside against Democrats on the ballot next year. "This is a great political issue because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a co- sponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats," a GOP memo says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you? You look so pretty.

MARTHA BURK, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS: I think the Democrats are moving toward the right culturally. I think they're trying to look like junior Republicans. And in some cases, like this one, we see it most starkly.

BASH: Democrats, stung from a series of electoral losses among social conservatives, are, by and large, biting their tongues on the Schiavo matter.

(on camera): But some Democrats are criticizing Congress and the president for what they call overreaching, even abusing their power. The White House answers that by calling the Schiavo case complex and extraordinary, saying the president believes that life should be protected when there is doubt in all stages of life.

Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: With all the strong feelings about the Schiavo case, not surprising, the battle over Terri Schiavo is leading the board at CNN.com at this hour. Veronica de la Cruz joins us now from the dotcom desk -- Veronica.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we've been asking people to weigh in with what they think in the Schiavo case. In our quick vote, we've been asking who should decide Terri Schiavo's fate? Should it be politicians, judges, her parents or her husband? Well, our latest results -- almost 23,000 people have voted and 67 percent of people are saying that they feel it should be left to her husband. Now we've also been asking has the Terri Schiavo case become too politicized? 92 percent of people are saying yes, while only eight percent are saying no.

Now we should mention both these polls are unscientific and only reflect the opinions of the Internet users who do choose to participate. To participate in the quick vote, you can log on to cnn.com. There you will also find a timeline, a gallery and all the court documents in the Terri Schiavo case -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Veronica de la Cruz, thank you for that.

Memory question for you. Do you have trouble remembering, let's see, your wedding anniversary, where you put the car keys, even what you had for dinner last night? Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes in search of the answers to memory and the mysteries about that story, if we remember, we'll run that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. We are looking at live pictures. We just saw him walk in and now he is walking out. Michael Jackson leaving the courthouse in Santa Maria. Clearly it appears that he is having another day where he is not feeling well.

Our producers inside of the courtroom told us just after Michael Jackson went into the courtroom, he sat at the defendant's table, he put his head down in a pile of kleenex and both lawyers were summoned to talk to the court -- talk to the judge in his chambers. So we don't have the official word, but it would appear that Michael Jackson has been excused from the courtroom at this time. We will work on talking with our people on the scene there in Santa Maria.

Well, some memories are just too painful to recall. Others are too precious to forget. But in each case, why is it that sometimes the thoughts you want to keep fade away and the ones you want to lose stay put? Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on the failures of the mind in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Memories add an incredible richness to our lives. But they're not always accurate. We're pretty good at remembering the gist of what we've seen, but as we know the devil is in the details. And as it turns out, sometimes our memories let us down.

(voice-over): Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter has studied the ways our memories fail us, and he's written about them in, "The Seven Sins Of Memory."

Transience. DANIEL SCHACTER, PSYCHOLOGIST, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Memories tend to fade over time.

GUPTA: Absent-mindedness.

SCHACTER: Lapses of attention.

GUPTA: Blocking -- when a word is on the tip of your tongue.

SCHACTER: We can't get at the information at the moment that we want it.

GUPTA: Misattribution.

SCHACTER: This occurs when some form of memory is present, but it's wrong.

GUPTA: Suggestibility.

SCHACTER: This occurs when we remember things that did not happen, or we remember things differently from the way that they actually happened.

GUPTA: Hindsight bias.

SCHACTER: This occurs when our present knowledge, beliefs and feelings skews or distorts our memory for past events.

GUPTA: And persistence.

SCHACTER: Persistence occurs when we have a vivid memory, often an emotionally arousing or traumatic memory that we wish we'd forget but we can't.

GUPTA: So if you have forgotten your car keys or maybe you could not remember the name of a familiar face, perhaps you're just committing one of the seven sins of memory and you're not truly losing your mind. We're going to have a lot of memory coming out all week. In fact, tomorrow we're talking about boot camp for the brain, how to improve your memory and who couldn't use that? That's coming up tomorrow.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Something to remember. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explore how to stop the brain drain and increase your memory. It's a primetime special. "MEMORY BOOT CAMP" will air at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

And don't forget this, you can get your daily dose of health news with a mouse click. Logon to CNN.com/health for the latest medical news. You'll also find special reports and a health library.

When most people take a vacation, they usually go back to work and back to the daily grind in a week or two. But what if you needed to get away from it all for a really long time? We're talking like a year or two. And of course, you haven't won the lottery. So we're going to tell you how you can do that and why you might want to, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, he was there and now he is gone. Michael Jackson spending mere moments in Santa Maria and the courthouse today before leaving. Our Miguel Marquez is on the scene to tell us what's up -- Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he hasn't left the courthouse yet. He left the courtroom, though, to go to the restroom. He came into the courtroom just moments ago. And when he arrived here, he was in the worst shape that we have seen him yet. A couple of weeks ago he had a back problem apparently. Well, today it didn't seem to be so much his back, as it did just Michael Jackson, to be quite honest. He looked like he was completely out of it, and rather high at the time when he came in the courtroom. He came in completely disheveled. His hair, again, is not done. His clothes, obviously, were just pulled out of the closet, looks like the bottom of the closet.

He came into court supported by a bodyguard and his brother, Jackie. It took him about a minute, minute and a half to get from the courtroom door to his seat. He sat down incredibly slowly. His lawyers helped him down. The bailiff at one point tried to help him. He refused her help. The lawyers were all looking at him as though he was in incredible pain. And then he pulled out a wad of kleenex that were on the table there and started sobbing at the table.

Moments later, he got up and, again, another slow walk toward the door. It looked like he was about to vomit as he walked out of the courtroom. This is a man, it's sad to say, that just appears to be completely falling apart.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Miguel, what about the judge's patience with all this?

MARQUEZ: The judge has not taken the -- come out to address the court yet. We knew something was up about 8:20. Mr. Mesereau, Mr. Jackson's lawyer, came in. At about 8:25, his cell phone went off. Everybody in the courtroom started saying, uh-oh. Everybody knew what was going on. He is now -- Mr. Mesereau is back with the judge in chambers, chatting with him, and with the district attorney, trying to figure out what they can do at this point. But it appears at this point that Mr. Jackson is in no shape to handle a full day of this trial.

KAGAN: Miguel, what's supposed to happen today at the trial?

MARQUEZ: It's not clear. We're certainly going to hear more testimony. We've been hearing a lot from police officers, from sheriff's deputies about what they seized at Neverland Ranch. We also expect to hear from others making the case, about the sex crimes against Mr. Jackson, people like Dr. Stanley Katz, who initially saw the accuser and his brother, and then turned the case over to a lawyer, who then went to the police. So it's likely that we'll see a lot of that stuff building the case on the sex crimes and molestations themselves this week. But at this point, it's not clear that the judge would allow this thing to go on without Mr. Jackson present.

KAGAN: Miguel Marquez in Santa Maria, California, with the latest on Michael Jackson and his condition. Thank you.

All right, let's get right into our next segment. Tired of work, getting away for a year, perhaps two? We're not talking a couple of weeks here. Years. Plenty of people taking a long pause from the office to travel and refresh. What a great segment idea for a Monday morning. There is a handy guide to tell you how to do it. It's called the career break. Swap your briefcase for a passport and live your dream. Got to love this topic. The book is published by the travel experts at Lonely Planet.

Don George, see, he has this cool job. He's an editor at Lonely Planet. He doesn't want a break from his job, because he has the kind of job people dream of having.

Don, good morning.

DON GEORGE, LONELY PLANET: Good morning, Daryn. Nice to see you again.

KAGAN: Good to see you.

How are we defining career break?

GEORGE: Well, a career break can last anywhere from three months to three years. But it's taking time off from what it is you're doing professionally to refresh a little bit and re-energize.

KAGAN: Now back in the day, if somebody wanted to do something like that, they would be considered a slacker, not serious about their job. But this book makes the case that you might even get some respect for doing this.

GEORGE: Well, exactly. Attitudes toward this are changing tremendously in the past decade or so. Now, one-third of American employers actually offer sabbaticals as part of their ongoing program. So the attitude is different. You can come back with greater skills, with greater confidence. You can come back actually as a better employee. And it's possible to make that argument to your employer, before you make your career break.

KAGAN: And we're not just talking about being a master snorkeler. There's other things that you might want to do. How do you do it?

GEORGE: Well, the first thing ask to figure out what you really want to do. I mean, you may want to just -- it may be the perfect anecdote to burnout for you. You want to re-energize and re-inspire yourself to go back to your old job, but with new energy. That's great. Or you may want to change directions completely. And that's equally great. You need to figure out what it is you wanted to do and have not had the time to do. It might be writing a novel, making a film, or it might be teaching English in Japan or Studying Spanish in Central America.

Whatever it is you want to do, you can empower yourself to have the opportunity to go out and do that. So it's really up to you to figure out what it is that's going to fulfill your dream.

KAGAN: It sounds good, but it sounds like it takes some money in the bank to make this happen.

GEORGE: It's very important to have your financial house in order before you do this. A lot of these opportunities don't pay very well. The teaching English in Japan actually does pay, but a lot of them don't. You have to make sure that you've got everything lined up before you go. You're going to be able to pay all of your existing, ongoing bills.

But one to keep in mind is that living for a year in Asia, for example, may only require as much money as you spend in two months back here in the United States.

KAGAN: That's true.

GEORGE: So you can actually budget wisely but make sure you're basing that on the cost of the place where you're going to live.

KAGAN: And real quickly, what about that pesky idea that you want the job to come back to at the end of the fun?

GEORGE: It's really good to get in writing before you go that you're going to have the job waiting for you when you come back. But on the other hand, be open to the fact that you may change your life forever by taking this year, too. And that's a great thing.

KAGAN: Don George from Lonely Planet. It's called "The Career Break Book." You're not going anywhere, are you? Well, you're always going somewhere, because Lonely Planet people do.

GEORGE: I'm always going somewhere. That's a good profession to have, I think, always going somewhere. I love that.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Don George, thank you for that.

GEORGE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, some -- let's try that again -- some severe weather may be hitting portions of the country today. We're not just talking about the Midwest. A complete forecast is up next.

Plus, at the top of the hour, where's Wolf? he's reporting from Kuwait City today, how the region has changed since the Iraq war began. Can you believe it's been two years? That's coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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KAGAN: And that's going to do it for me. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We thought Wolf Blitzer, he may -- we think he's in Kuwait City today. Judy Woodruff stepping in, helping us out.

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