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CNN Live Today

Bush Energy Plan; House Republicans Weigh Ethics Rule Changes

Aired April 27, 2005 - 10:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming into the CNN newsroom a whale- rescue team in Los Angeles has successfully freed a 300-pound sea lion. The behemoth had squeezed through a fence, it swam up a pipe at a Los Angeles water and power plant. Officials said it was too dangerous to live inside of a water intake tank, so he will be set free.
As the thermometer goes up, so do gas prices, but this spring's record jump at the pump cannot be blamed on the summer driving season, at least not yet. Excuse me. Fear and greed are among the drivers of this juggernaut. So today, President Bush will unveil ambitious ways to address the needs and try to soothe the nerves with bricks, mortar and even military bases.

Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with an advanced look at this proposed energy plan.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

That's right. Senior administration officials say that today in his speech this afternoon, President Bush will focus largely on how he believes technology can be better used in order to address America's energy needs. Now all of this happening, of course, against the backdrop of high gas prices and the summer driving season fast approaching. But taking a look at some of the proposals President Bush is set to unveil...

KAGAN: Elaine, I'm going to have to go ahead and jump in here. We want to go ahead and listen to Dennis Hastert from Capitol Hill on ethics changes.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And, you know, when we started this session, one of the things I thought was very important is to create a fairness -- a fairness -- for all members of the Congress. No matter what party you belong to, no matter if you're a senior member or a junior member, I felt it was important and members of the leadership felt it important, number one, that people should have due process. Every other court in this nation, whether it's a military court or a civil court or a criminal court, people can have due process. We thought that was important. We guaranteed that in the rules.

The second thing that we guaranteed was that, you know, you have a right to counsel, and usually the counsel of your choice. We think almost every person that has a proceeding in this nation, guaranteed by the Constitution has a right to counsel.

The third thing we thought that was important, that if there was, over a period of time, and it got hung up over 45 days or 90 days, I really didn't care about the time limit, number of days, but over a period of time if the Ethics Committee couldn't make a decision because they were tied, and we have an even number of Democrats and Republicans, that the member who was hanging out there, after 90 days or whatever period of time that the Ethics Committee decided, that issue should be dismissed.

Every other court in the land, if there is a tie, proceedings don't go forward.

HASTERT: We thought that was fair. We thought it was fair for all members.

I'm not sure if our friends on the other side of the aisle think that, that was the issue -- the substance is at issue or not. They took issue with process.

Well, I'm willing to step back.

We had a long discussion about that. I think we need to move forward in the ethics process. I think that there are issues out there that need to be discussed.

I think that there's a member, especially on our side, that needs to have the process move forward so he can clear his name. Right now we can't clear his name.

The media wants to talk about ethics, and as long as we're at a stalemate, that's all that is in the press today, is the ethics stalemate.

We need to move forward, we need to get this behind us.

And I will be issuing a letter later on today to Leader Pelosi expanding on this.

Thank you very much.

KAGAN: We were listening in there to House Speaker Dennis Hastert talking about a change once again to how the House Ethics Committee rules, and in terms if there is a deadlock between the two members of the party.

The name not mentioned here, of course, the name that is more important, is Tom DeLay, and the ethics cloud that hang over him and how the House chooses to deal with that.

Let's go back to the White House, to our Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, I think it was just yesterday that President Bush gave Congressman DeLay a ride back on Air Force One, from Texas going back to Washington D.C.?

QUIJANO: That's right, Daryn, exactly. In Galveston, Texas, we were told that Tom Delay, in fact, would be in the audience. President Bush, as he customarily does during these kind of events, acknowledging Tom DeLay and other lawmakers in the audience, bay also saying what we have heard him say before, and that is that he appreciates Tom DeLay's leadership. Of course, the president certainly would need that help, as the president looks ahead to ambitious legislative goals, performing Social Security, pushing through energy legislation as well.

The president earlier this month, in fact, said he believes that Tom DeLay has been a very effective leader, and that he has worked with him well in the past, that he looks forward to working with him on legislation, but the president, going so far yesterday, not having Tom DeLay on stage right beside him, but in the audience, acknowledging him, and also Tom DeLay riding back here to Washington aboard Air Force One with President Bush.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, let's talk about what we talking about before we went to the House speaker, and that is this energy bill, energy proposal that President Bush will talk about later today.

QUIJANO: That's right, Daryn. As I was saying, senior administration officials say really the focus of the president's energy speech, the second one, by the way, in just a week that the president is going to be delivering, will focus on his belief that technology can really help address some of the nation's energy concerns.

Now this, of course, coming at a time when gas prices are quite high and also the summer driving season is fast approaching, but we are not expecting to see any kind of initiatives put forth that would have an immediate effect.

Nevertheless, taking a look at some of what President Bush will be talking about, will be unveiling in his speech later this afternoon, the proposals include a plan to help speed up the rate at which new nuclear power plants are built. Officials say the last one came online years ago. The president will also propose building new oil refineries on closed military sites, and another initiative, the president will discuss ways to increase the nation's supply of natural gas and reduce prices.

Now, on the issue of oil refineries, you'll recall it was just a couple of days ago that President Bush came out of a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, and there was no promise made, nothing secured from the Saudis about them increasing their oil production, perhaps providing some of the leads from those high gas prices. And in fact after that meeting, Saudis themselves raised concerns, saying that even if they were to ship more oil to the United States, that the United States would not have this refinery capacity in order to turn that into gasoline.

Well, today the president is expected to call on federal agencies to work closely with local and state governments in order to try and explore some ways to expand America's refinery capacity.

But as to the short-term fix, President Bush himself said in the past there's no magic wand that he can wave in order to immediately fix these problems. The White House take on that simply is that these problems have been a long time in the making and will take a long time to undo -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

President Bush's speech today on the importance of diversifying America's energy supply is now scheduled for 2:05 Eastern, 11:05 Pacific, and CNN will have live coverage.

Let's take a look at other stories making news coast to coast. Rescuers had given up their search for a pilot whose plane crashed into Lake Michigan. John Zaleber (ph), his plane went into the water late Monday. The 20-year-old made a 911 call as the plane was sinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: Are you flying or are you on the ground?

CALLER: I'm on -- I'm in Michigan, Lake Michigan.

OPERATOR: You're in Michigan?

CALLER: Yes, my plane ran out of fuel.

OPERATOR: OK, you're in the air or on the ground?

CALLER: No. I'm on -- in the water.

OPERATOR: OK, do you know where in Michigan?

CALLER: About five miles east of Timmerman -- uh, not Timmerman, Milwaukee Airport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A Coast Guard officer says Leber could have survived in the 44-degree water for about four hours.

A fire at a vacant mill in Plain Field (ph), Connecticut has forced the evacuation of homes and a warning to those who are still in the area. Residents are being told not to touch debris from the fire, since it might contain asbestos. The fire started early yesterday evening and burned into the morning.

Well, a happy story for you now. Quintuplet boys born yesterday in Phoenix are doing well, although one will need heart surgery. Here now, a look at one couple's dream to start a family. Boy, did it finally come true, over and over, and over again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the surgical standpoint, it was -- we couldn't have done it any better, we couldn't have asked for a better procedure, and everything went well with the delivery. It came down exactly the way we wanted it, and we didn't lose anymore blood than we would from a regular C-section. So everything went perfectly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's your last one. We can't find anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I see my first baby, I start crying. I've been waiting for this moment for long, long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's something that we were waiting for 13 years it was. I can't describe how I feel when I see the first baby coming out of there. It's amazing. We're very thankful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quintuplets are very, very difficult to carry as a mother. The dedication, the pressure, the baby's kicking, the discomfort, the pain, not being able to sleep. It's one thing when they're your babies. And you know that you have to be successful, and get these babies as far as you can in order for your own family to be safe. To then say that another individual is going to take those same risks, and she was very willing to do that, and to do that for someone else is extraordinary. You just don't see that very often, in my experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So I don't know if you understood from watching that piece, but those baby was born to a surrogate mother. The couple were unable to have children. They used a surrogate. They implanted five embryos. All five took. And when the surrogate mother found out she was carrying quintuplets, she waived the fee, saying the parents will have a lot of expenses ahead of them. That story out of Phoenix, Arizona.

It won't be too long before those five boys might be watching Mr. Rogers. Millions of children have grown up watching him. He taught them all how to love and respect their neighbor. Now his widow continues his mission. Still to come, Mrs. Rogers joins me live.

Plus, the competition heats up for Apple's iTunes. We're going to tell you about the new kid on the block.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We have a development in from Iraq, a development as they move toward putting a government together, a process that has been slow and frustrating for a lot to watch, but today the prime minister- designate Ibrahim Jafaari announcing that they do believe there will be a vote on a proposed cabinet, having to spread power over Kurds, and Sunnis and Shiites. That is a development that's supposed to take place today, and hopefully as they move on can then get to work on forming a new constitution for Iraq.

We'll have more on that out of Baghdad straight ahead. Right now, another break, and more news in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Hope we will find some more peace and wisdom from Mr. Rogers neighborhood, which we're going to visit in a little bit. Still to come, his neighborhood may be dark, but his legacy is living on. Up next, Mrs. Rogers is going to join me. A very sweet book she's put out. It has some comforting, plain-spoken advice from her husband.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MR. ROGERS (singing): I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you, I've always wanted to live...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Well, he was the ideal neighbor. For more than 30 years, Mr. Rogers welcomed children to his TV neighborhood and a world as warm and welcoming as his trademark sweater and slippers. It has been more than two years since Fred Rogers passed away, but his nurturing message of encouragement and advice lives on.

A collection of his gentle wisdom is contained in a newly- released book. It's called "Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way." It is a sweet, sweet little book. Fred Rogers wrote the book through his speeches, songs, and notes, and now his widow Joanne wrote the introduction and she joins me now from New York City.

Mrs. Rogers, good morning.

JOANNE ROGERS, "LIFE'S JOURNEYS": Daryn, how are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing well and I'll tell you why. I got up early this morning to do my homework and started by reading this whole book and it started my day just on the right note.

ROGERS: I'm so glad! I love it very much. You know, it's a follow-up of a book that came out last year called "The World According to Mister Rogers," and that just was extremely successful, and on the best-seller list for several weeks. So we thought another book was in order, and this one is about people's life journeys.

KAGAN: Yes. And there's plenty of good nuggets. I wanted to share some with our viewers this morning, some that stood to me as I was reading it this morning.

ROGERS: Good!

KAGAN: To page 57, Mrs. Rogers...

ROGERS: All right.

KAGAN: ... where he talks about -- and he says "All I can say is that it's worth the struggle to discover who you really are, and how you in your own way can put together a life that means something the most to you." I thought that -- interesting point, but the idea that Mr. Rogers would ever struggled with the idea of finding out who he really was?

ROGERS: Oh, he certainly did, and all through college -- and I was with him, we both went to Rawlins College down in Florida, and all through college -- he really had a few too many talents, but he has been able to use them all, and -- but music was his major, and so he ended up with a program for children, in which he wrote all the music and all the words, and he did all the script-writing for it, for the program.

KAGAN: So he had a vision of what he wanted to do, even though it didn't exist at the time?

ROGERS: Exactly. It happened later on.

KAGAN: On page 92, he talks about what's really, really important, what really matters the most and he puts it so succinctly. Basically, he says, "All that really matters is how we live this life with our neighbors, and our neighbors are those who we happen to be living with at the moment." He said at the end the day, that's all that really matters.

ROGERS: Yes. May I -- there's one that I particular like.

KAGAN: Please do.

ROGERS: "Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of this jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal. We are intimately related. May we never even pretend that we're not." I think that's so important a message for us to hear, and these days when some of us think that we're alone in what we believe, or that we seem so separated.

KAGAN: Well, yes, there's another nice thing in this book and that's your own introduction that you wrote, where you talk about missing Mr. Rogers and the process of grief, and it was a little nugget I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed it and I was touched by it and I would encourage people to check it out for themselves.

Mrs. Rogers, thank you for the book and for sharing Mr. Rogers.

ROGERS: Daryn, thank you for having me.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. It's "Life Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way." Joanne Rogers, our guest this morning.

We do have some breaking news to get to and we're going to do that right after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Once again, we want to get to the developing story out of Baghdad. There does appears to be a development as they try to put together a government there. Let's go live to Ryan Chilcote, live from our Baghdad bureau. Hello.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we just heard from the prime minister designate, Ibrahim al Jaafari, suggesting that Iraq may be moving away from political stalemate. He said that he has decided on a list of candidates for Iraq's future cabinet and that he has submitted that list to Iraq's presidency council. Now, the presidency council is made up of Iraq's president and two vice-presidents. We actually phoned them, as well. They say that they have not received that list yet, but they're expecting to get it any moment now.

Now, assuming that the presidency council approves that list, it then goes on to Iraq's legislative body. That's called the National Assembly. And if it's approved there, then that cabinet will be sworn in and Iraq will have a government. Now, Mr. Jaafari provided very few details as to the composition of the list that he had submitted. All he said in detail was that the new government will have at least seven posts occupied by women.

The other interesting thing he said was that this government will be a government of national unity. And that's a very important thing right now here in Iraq. What that suggests, when you hear that phrase here, is that it will include representatives of the largely disenfranchised Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls by and large during those January 30th elections. And his suggestion that they will be included, that this will be a national -- a government of national unity, suggests that they will be included, but he did not elaborate -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ryan Chilcote with the latest from Baghdad. Thank you.

A lot of news still ahead, including a controversial new law in Florida. It's called "No Retreat" legislation. Will it bring a modern day Wild West to Florida or more personal security?

And a modern day buried treasure in Massachusetts. Just wait until you hear what two men dug up in their own backyard, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Here's a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert says he's willing to repeal new ethics rules that came under fire from Democrats. Democrats said the changes were designed to protect embattled majority leader Tom DeLay. Hastert made the announcement within the last half hour. You saw it live right here on CNN. A suspect has been arrested in a string of arsons in the D.C. area. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says the arrest was made in Maryland today. The serial arsonist is suspected in more than 40 fires in the area.

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 April 27, 2005 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming into the CNN newsroom a whale- rescue team in Los Angeles has successfully freed a 300-pound sea lion. The behemoth had squeezed through a fence, it swam up a pipe at a Los Angeles water and power plant. Officials said it was too dangerous to live inside of a water intake tank, so he will be set free.
As the thermometer goes up, so do gas prices, but this spring's record jump at the pump cannot be blamed on the summer driving season, at least not yet. Excuse me. Fear and greed are among the drivers of this juggernaut. So today, President Bush will unveil ambitious ways to address the needs and try to soothe the nerves with bricks, mortar and even military bases.

Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with an advanced look at this proposed energy plan.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

That's right. Senior administration officials say that today in his speech this afternoon, President Bush will focus largely on how he believes technology can be better used in order to address America's energy needs. Now all of this happening, of course, against the backdrop of high gas prices and the summer driving season fast approaching. But taking a look at some of the proposals President Bush is set to unveil...

KAGAN: Elaine, I'm going to have to go ahead and jump in here. We want to go ahead and listen to Dennis Hastert from Capitol Hill on ethics changes.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And, you know, when we started this session, one of the things I thought was very important is to create a fairness -- a fairness -- for all members of the Congress. No matter what party you belong to, no matter if you're a senior member or a junior member, I felt it was important and members of the leadership felt it important, number one, that people should have due process. Every other court in this nation, whether it's a military court or a civil court or a criminal court, people can have due process. We thought that was important. We guaranteed that in the rules.

The second thing that we guaranteed was that, you know, you have a right to counsel, and usually the counsel of your choice. We think almost every person that has a proceeding in this nation, guaranteed by the Constitution has a right to counsel.

The third thing we thought that was important, that if there was, over a period of time, and it got hung up over 45 days or 90 days, I really didn't care about the time limit, number of days, but over a period of time if the Ethics Committee couldn't make a decision because they were tied, and we have an even number of Democrats and Republicans, that the member who was hanging out there, after 90 days or whatever period of time that the Ethics Committee decided, that issue should be dismissed.

Every other court in the land, if there is a tie, proceedings don't go forward.

HASTERT: We thought that was fair. We thought it was fair for all members.

I'm not sure if our friends on the other side of the aisle think that, that was the issue -- the substance is at issue or not. They took issue with process.

Well, I'm willing to step back.

We had a long discussion about that. I think we need to move forward in the ethics process. I think that there are issues out there that need to be discussed.

I think that there's a member, especially on our side, that needs to have the process move forward so he can clear his name. Right now we can't clear his name.

The media wants to talk about ethics, and as long as we're at a stalemate, that's all that is in the press today, is the ethics stalemate.

We need to move forward, we need to get this behind us.

And I will be issuing a letter later on today to Leader Pelosi expanding on this.

Thank you very much.

KAGAN: We were listening in there to House Speaker Dennis Hastert talking about a change once again to how the House Ethics Committee rules, and in terms if there is a deadlock between the two members of the party.

The name not mentioned here, of course, the name that is more important, is Tom DeLay, and the ethics cloud that hang over him and how the House chooses to deal with that.

Let's go back to the White House, to our Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, I think it was just yesterday that President Bush gave Congressman DeLay a ride back on Air Force One, from Texas going back to Washington D.C.?

QUIJANO: That's right, Daryn, exactly. In Galveston, Texas, we were told that Tom Delay, in fact, would be in the audience. President Bush, as he customarily does during these kind of events, acknowledging Tom DeLay and other lawmakers in the audience, bay also saying what we have heard him say before, and that is that he appreciates Tom DeLay's leadership. Of course, the president certainly would need that help, as the president looks ahead to ambitious legislative goals, performing Social Security, pushing through energy legislation as well.

The president earlier this month, in fact, said he believes that Tom DeLay has been a very effective leader, and that he has worked with him well in the past, that he looks forward to working with him on legislation, but the president, going so far yesterday, not having Tom DeLay on stage right beside him, but in the audience, acknowledging him, and also Tom DeLay riding back here to Washington aboard Air Force One with President Bush.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, let's talk about what we talking about before we went to the House speaker, and that is this energy bill, energy proposal that President Bush will talk about later today.

QUIJANO: That's right, Daryn. As I was saying, senior administration officials say really the focus of the president's energy speech, the second one, by the way, in just a week that the president is going to be delivering, will focus on his belief that technology can really help address some of the nation's energy concerns.

Now this, of course, coming at a time when gas prices are quite high and also the summer driving season is fast approaching, but we are not expecting to see any kind of initiatives put forth that would have an immediate effect.

Nevertheless, taking a look at some of what President Bush will be talking about, will be unveiling in his speech later this afternoon, the proposals include a plan to help speed up the rate at which new nuclear power plants are built. Officials say the last one came online years ago. The president will also propose building new oil refineries on closed military sites, and another initiative, the president will discuss ways to increase the nation's supply of natural gas and reduce prices.

Now, on the issue of oil refineries, you'll recall it was just a couple of days ago that President Bush came out of a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, and there was no promise made, nothing secured from the Saudis about them increasing their oil production, perhaps providing some of the leads from those high gas prices. And in fact after that meeting, Saudis themselves raised concerns, saying that even if they were to ship more oil to the United States, that the United States would not have this refinery capacity in order to turn that into gasoline.

Well, today the president is expected to call on federal agencies to work closely with local and state governments in order to try and explore some ways to expand America's refinery capacity.

But as to the short-term fix, President Bush himself said in the past there's no magic wand that he can wave in order to immediately fix these problems. The White House take on that simply is that these problems have been a long time in the making and will take a long time to undo -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

President Bush's speech today on the importance of diversifying America's energy supply is now scheduled for 2:05 Eastern, 11:05 Pacific, and CNN will have live coverage.

Let's take a look at other stories making news coast to coast. Rescuers had given up their search for a pilot whose plane crashed into Lake Michigan. John Zaleber (ph), his plane went into the water late Monday. The 20-year-old made a 911 call as the plane was sinking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPERATOR: Are you flying or are you on the ground?

CALLER: I'm on -- I'm in Michigan, Lake Michigan.

OPERATOR: You're in Michigan?

CALLER: Yes, my plane ran out of fuel.

OPERATOR: OK, you're in the air or on the ground?

CALLER: No. I'm on -- in the water.

OPERATOR: OK, do you know where in Michigan?

CALLER: About five miles east of Timmerman -- uh, not Timmerman, Milwaukee Airport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: A Coast Guard officer says Leber could have survived in the 44-degree water for about four hours.

A fire at a vacant mill in Plain Field (ph), Connecticut has forced the evacuation of homes and a warning to those who are still in the area. Residents are being told not to touch debris from the fire, since it might contain asbestos. The fire started early yesterday evening and burned into the morning.

Well, a happy story for you now. Quintuplet boys born yesterday in Phoenix are doing well, although one will need heart surgery. Here now, a look at one couple's dream to start a family. Boy, did it finally come true, over and over, and over again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the surgical standpoint, it was -- we couldn't have done it any better, we couldn't have asked for a better procedure, and everything went well with the delivery. It came down exactly the way we wanted it, and we didn't lose anymore blood than we would from a regular C-section. So everything went perfectly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's your last one. We can't find anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I see my first baby, I start crying. I've been waiting for this moment for long, long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's something that we were waiting for 13 years it was. I can't describe how I feel when I see the first baby coming out of there. It's amazing. We're very thankful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quintuplets are very, very difficult to carry as a mother. The dedication, the pressure, the baby's kicking, the discomfort, the pain, not being able to sleep. It's one thing when they're your babies. And you know that you have to be successful, and get these babies as far as you can in order for your own family to be safe. To then say that another individual is going to take those same risks, and she was very willing to do that, and to do that for someone else is extraordinary. You just don't see that very often, in my experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So I don't know if you understood from watching that piece, but those baby was born to a surrogate mother. The couple were unable to have children. They used a surrogate. They implanted five embryos. All five took. And when the surrogate mother found out she was carrying quintuplets, she waived the fee, saying the parents will have a lot of expenses ahead of them. That story out of Phoenix, Arizona.

It won't be too long before those five boys might be watching Mr. Rogers. Millions of children have grown up watching him. He taught them all how to love and respect their neighbor. Now his widow continues his mission. Still to come, Mrs. Rogers joins me live.

Plus, the competition heats up for Apple's iTunes. We're going to tell you about the new kid on the block.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We have a development in from Iraq, a development as they move toward putting a government together, a process that has been slow and frustrating for a lot to watch, but today the prime minister- designate Ibrahim Jafaari announcing that they do believe there will be a vote on a proposed cabinet, having to spread power over Kurds, and Sunnis and Shiites. That is a development that's supposed to take place today, and hopefully as they move on can then get to work on forming a new constitution for Iraq.

We'll have more on that out of Baghdad straight ahead. Right now, another break, and more news in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Hope we will find some more peace and wisdom from Mr. Rogers neighborhood, which we're going to visit in a little bit. Still to come, his neighborhood may be dark, but his legacy is living on. Up next, Mrs. Rogers is going to join me. A very sweet book she's put out. It has some comforting, plain-spoken advice from her husband.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MR. ROGERS (singing): I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you, I've always wanted to live...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Well, he was the ideal neighbor. For more than 30 years, Mr. Rogers welcomed children to his TV neighborhood and a world as warm and welcoming as his trademark sweater and slippers. It has been more than two years since Fred Rogers passed away, but his nurturing message of encouragement and advice lives on.

A collection of his gentle wisdom is contained in a newly- released book. It's called "Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way." It is a sweet, sweet little book. Fred Rogers wrote the book through his speeches, songs, and notes, and now his widow Joanne wrote the introduction and she joins me now from New York City.

Mrs. Rogers, good morning.

JOANNE ROGERS, "LIFE'S JOURNEYS": Daryn, how are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing well and I'll tell you why. I got up early this morning to do my homework and started by reading this whole book and it started my day just on the right note.

ROGERS: I'm so glad! I love it very much. You know, it's a follow-up of a book that came out last year called "The World According to Mister Rogers," and that just was extremely successful, and on the best-seller list for several weeks. So we thought another book was in order, and this one is about people's life journeys.

KAGAN: Yes. And there's plenty of good nuggets. I wanted to share some with our viewers this morning, some that stood to me as I was reading it this morning.

ROGERS: Good!

KAGAN: To page 57, Mrs. Rogers...

ROGERS: All right.

KAGAN: ... where he talks about -- and he says "All I can say is that it's worth the struggle to discover who you really are, and how you in your own way can put together a life that means something the most to you." I thought that -- interesting point, but the idea that Mr. Rogers would ever struggled with the idea of finding out who he really was?

ROGERS: Oh, he certainly did, and all through college -- and I was with him, we both went to Rawlins College down in Florida, and all through college -- he really had a few too many talents, but he has been able to use them all, and -- but music was his major, and so he ended up with a program for children, in which he wrote all the music and all the words, and he did all the script-writing for it, for the program.

KAGAN: So he had a vision of what he wanted to do, even though it didn't exist at the time?

ROGERS: Exactly. It happened later on.

KAGAN: On page 92, he talks about what's really, really important, what really matters the most and he puts it so succinctly. Basically, he says, "All that really matters is how we live this life with our neighbors, and our neighbors are those who we happen to be living with at the moment." He said at the end the day, that's all that really matters.

ROGERS: Yes. May I -- there's one that I particular like.

KAGAN: Please do.

ROGERS: "Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of this jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal. We are intimately related. May we never even pretend that we're not." I think that's so important a message for us to hear, and these days when some of us think that we're alone in what we believe, or that we seem so separated.

KAGAN: Well, yes, there's another nice thing in this book and that's your own introduction that you wrote, where you talk about missing Mr. Rogers and the process of grief, and it was a little nugget I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed it and I was touched by it and I would encourage people to check it out for themselves.

Mrs. Rogers, thank you for the book and for sharing Mr. Rogers.

ROGERS: Daryn, thank you for having me.

KAGAN: Thank you so much. It's "Life Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way." Joanne Rogers, our guest this morning.

We do have some breaking news to get to and we're going to do that right after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Once again, we want to get to the developing story out of Baghdad. There does appears to be a development as they try to put together a government there. Let's go live to Ryan Chilcote, live from our Baghdad bureau. Hello.

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we just heard from the prime minister designate, Ibrahim al Jaafari, suggesting that Iraq may be moving away from political stalemate. He said that he has decided on a list of candidates for Iraq's future cabinet and that he has submitted that list to Iraq's presidency council. Now, the presidency council is made up of Iraq's president and two vice-presidents. We actually phoned them, as well. They say that they have not received that list yet, but they're expecting to get it any moment now.

Now, assuming that the presidency council approves that list, it then goes on to Iraq's legislative body. That's called the National Assembly. And if it's approved there, then that cabinet will be sworn in and Iraq will have a government. Now, Mr. Jaafari provided very few details as to the composition of the list that he had submitted. All he said in detail was that the new government will have at least seven posts occupied by women.

The other interesting thing he said was that this government will be a government of national unity. And that's a very important thing right now here in Iraq. What that suggests, when you hear that phrase here, is that it will include representatives of the largely disenfranchised Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs stayed away from the polls by and large during those January 30th elections. And his suggestion that they will be included, that this will be a national -- a government of national unity, suggests that they will be included, but he did not elaborate -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Ryan Chilcote with the latest from Baghdad. Thank you.

A lot of news still ahead, including a controversial new law in Florida. It's called "No Retreat" legislation. Will it bring a modern day Wild West to Florida or more personal security?

And a modern day buried treasure in Massachusetts. Just wait until you hear what two men dug up in their own backyard, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Here's a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert says he's willing to repeal new ethics rules that came under fire from Democrats. Democrats said the changes were designed to protect embattled majority leader Tom DeLay. Hastert made the announcement within the last half hour. You saw it live right here on CNN. A suspect has been arrested in a string of arsons in the D.C. area. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says the arrest was made in Maryland today. The serial arsonist is suspected in more than 40 fires in the area.

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