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American Morning
Iraq Violence; Cyber Parenting; Road Warriors; Earl Woods: 1932-2006; White Collar Boxing
Aired May 04, 2006 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. A look at our top stories right now.
The formal sentencing this morning for Zacarias Moussaoui. He's going to be sent to prison for life. Moussaoui has one last chance to address the court. What's he going to say?
Mexican President Vicente Fox is now backing off a bill that the U.S. has warned would turn Mexico into a drug nation. The bill would have dropped criminal charges against people who've been caught with small amounts of drugs.
And there is something growing inside of Mount St. Helens. That volcano in Washington state. It's called a fin. It's about the width of a football field. The slab of rock is gaining about six feet every day. Apparently it's the result of a lava surge. The climbing season, of course, is the time when you can hike to the rim, begins later this month.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Be careful up there.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I know.
Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN: I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Some new developments out of Iraq to tell you about. The military says two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad this morning. Also we've been telling you about that bomb blast outside of a Baghdad courthouse. We've got some new video tape to show you in the wake of that bombing. At least nine people were killed. For all of that, let's get right to CNN's Ryan Chilcote. He's in Baghdad for us.
Hey, Ryan, good morning.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
As you say, two U.S. soldiers killed in the south of Baghdad. Happened about three and a half hours ago. They were killed by a roadside bomb. Not, obviously, the first this month. There have been several soldiers killed already this month by roadside bombs.
Also a bomb went off here in Baghdad outside of a courthouse killing at least nine Iraqis, wounding at least 46 more. The police say that a woman walked up to the courthouse wearing a suicide vest that she had concealed beneath her clothes. They wouldn't let her in, so she took the suicide belt, the suicide vest rather, off. She put it in a bag and that's when she detonated it. No clear motive for that attack whatsoever.
Also in Baghdad, a top general in the Iraqi military was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. And more bodies, 16 of them, found in the city of Tikrit. That's Saddam's hometown. All of them men who had been shot in the head.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It feels, Ryan, like there's an uptick in the numbers of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Is that fair to say?
CHILCOTE: Yes, it's difficult to say without any very precise statistics, but that is definitely the case. We had a lull as Iraq's politicians were able to form this unity government, at least decide on their prime minister. So we had about a week and a half, two-week lull. But it has come back.
We are seeing more insurgency violence, more attacks against government officials, more attacks against the Iraqi military and the police. And we're seeing more of this sectarian killing that's been going on since February. So, yes, there is an uptick.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad for us this morning. Ryan, thanks.
Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: Gripping testimony in Washington yesterday as a victim of a pedophile tells Congress how the Internet is putting our children at risk. Thirteen-year-old Masha Allen was sexually abused for five years by the man who adopted her in Russia when she was five.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASHA ALLEN, CHILD PORN VICTIM: He molested me all the time. He made me dress up in adult clothes and even pretended to marry me. Sometimes he kept me chained in the basement. But because Matthew put my pictures on the Internet, the abuse is still going on. Anyone could see them. People are still downloading them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN: So what is a parent to do? Testimony like that is just horrifying. The best way to learn about it is to learn from people who know a lot about what's going on, on in the Internet. CNN's Dan Lothian met somebody who is doing just that, trying to educate parents and everyone, for that matter, on the dangers.
Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Miles.
You know it's interesting that for some parents just going on to the Internet and typing in, for example, myspace.com and then tracking down their child's profile would be quite intimidating. That is what this education process is all about, to try to make parents feel very comfortable with the computer. And it all begins by showing parents how easy it is for their child to get in to trouble online in just a matter of seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE LECLERC, INTERNET SAVVY: Unbelievable the things that these kids are getting into online.
LOTHIAN, (voice over): Katie Leclerc is an Internet savvy 23- year-old holding the hands of parents as they take an eye-opening excursion through cyberspace.
LECLERC: So you can really know what's going on.
I don't take it lightly. It's not -- I do say I'm not trying to scare you but it's scary out there. So I'm honest.
LOTHIAN: With the explosion of social networking sites like myspace and growing concerns over online predators, more and more communities in places like Massachusetts and Florida are finding that parents, not just children, need to be educated.
ERIC WALTON, COMPUTER FORENSIC ANALYST: We want them to be as comfortable as they can be in order to be able to help their kids.
LOTHIAN: Walton is part of a team training parents in Florida. Leclerc works for the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.
TOM REILLY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: We had some cases and then we decided, you know, we better start some education here.
LOTHIAN: So Leclerc was hired full time to crisscross the state, offering more than just tips and talking points. She logs on to live chat rooms, poses as a 14-year-old blond girl with blue eyes and shows these Massachusetts parents how easy it is for chatter to turn dark and potentially dangerous.
LECLERC: See, I just got offered a cyber sex chat.
LOTHIAN: Then comes this offer.
LECLERC: Any sexy, petite blond or brunette females under 21 want to make a sexy 20-year-old male feel better? I'm really stressed out.
LOTHIAN: Leclerc then goes back and for instant messaging a 20- year-old male who jokes he doesn't mind that she's 14.
REILLY: And we show them and they realize what their children have access to. MARYANNE ELLIS, MOTHER OF TEENAGER: It was wild.
LOTHIAN: MaryAnne Ellis, a mom, says she now understands the potential online dangers facing her 17-year-old daughter and others like her.
ELLIS: All her friends have her pictures from a prom on the Internet and they can be tapped into in various places and it's out of your control.
LOTHIAN: This effort isn't aimed at pulling the plug on the Internet or myspace, just the tool to help parents make good decisions and ask their children the right questions.
LECLERC: What are you doing? Who are you're friends? What are you using? Show me how to use it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: All of these sites have restrictions, they have guidelines. Some have these age restrictions. And so that is something that experts point out that parents should pay attention to. And if your child is below the age limit, then that site should be blocked.
Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: All right, blocking sites, becoming familiar, all that is good stuff. Any other tips for parents?
LOTHIAN: Well, one of the things that your finding out more and more about now is that there are all these special programs out there, these packages that parents can attach to their computers. They can download them. And what they do essentially is that they can give parents a lot of information. They can track the footprint of whatever that user or where that user is going online and so it will help parents understand exactly what their child is doing every time they go on to the Internet.
MILES O'BRIEN: And another good tip is to always be around. Always make sure they're using the computer in a common area, not in their room, I think, you know.
LOTHIAN: That's right.
MILES O'BRIEN: Dan Lothian in Boston, thank you very much.
"Happening in America" this morning.
A follow-up on a story we brought you yesterday. He's the mayor and funeral director of a small Colorado town accused of stealing money from a Marine he helped bury. Well now the mayor, Jim Bostick, admits he made a big mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BOSTICK, FT. LUPTON, COLORADO, MAYOR: It's my fault.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what are you going to do now?
BOSTICK: Try to do whatever I can with Mrs. Sepulveda to get this issue put to bed. As soon as I get the money, it's hers. I mean, fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILES O'BRIEN: Since the story broke, the mayor's been getting death threats and we're told is receiving police protection.
That big warehouse fire in Brooklyn is finally out. It took firefighters about 36 hours to finish the job, but they're still keeping an eye on the situation. The fire broke out Tuesday morning. It was not contained until late yesterday afternoon. Fourteen firefighters suffering minor injuries in that. Arson is suspected.
Three of a kind times two. A New Jersey couple welcoming or bracing for their second set of triplets. The family says the children were conceived without any medical help. What are the odds in that one? But they're likely to need some help now. They have six children in diapers. How many Diaper Jennies do you need for that? And three of them are going through their terrible twos right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, that will be fun.
MILES O'BRIEN: God bless them. God help them.
A possible panda transfer could be costing a lot of bamboo. The bear who's name is translated into roughly "born in the U.S.A.," is now in San Diego. Chinese officials are considering moving it to New Mexico. It will cost the Rio Grande Zoo there nearly $2 million just for the first year.
And there's a clean-up underway this morning from this scene. Some heavy rain and hail in the Midwest. It happened yesterday. Kansas hit with hail that we decided was about the size of pennies, nickels, maybe quarters, but not golf balls. Some counties in Missouri, however, were seeing golf ball-sized hail. We do not have pictures of that though. Just take our word for it., though. It's out there. Chad Myers can attest to that.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Miles.
We prefer if do you not shoot video and try to give it to CNN if the severe weather is right around you.
MILES O'BRIEN: Good point.
MYERS: Get inside. Stay away from the windows.
MILES O'BRIEN: That's right. Kids, don't do this at home. MYERS: Right. Exactly. There are professional storm chasers who have no idea what they're doing and they give us the video. So, stay away from the windows.
Worst thing you want to do is get a wind gust, it picks up something from the street or from the yard and it blows into the window and you're standing there trying to videotape it and then the glass breaks.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Your Business."
What have you got?
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, fuel surcharges. Companies across the United States are adding them on. You'll be surprised when you hear about some of them, though.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right. We'll look forward to that. Thank you, Andy.
First, though, our series. It's called "Road Warriors." Business on the go aims to make your travels faster, cheaper and more comfortable too. "Business 2.0" writer Susanna Hamner now with some business travel advice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSANNA HAMNER, WRITER, "BUSINESS 2.0": If you're looking for a good last-minute hotel deal, just forget the third party sites. Discount travel sites are great for last-minute flights, but not so much for hotels. The best thing to do is just call the hotel directly, negotiate a price they're just trying to fill empty beds -- and get them down to the rock bottom price.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Sad news to tell you about this morning. Tiger Woods' father is dead of cancer. He was 74 years old. Earl Woods, of course, is credited with being the architect and the force behind his son's huge success in golf. He also was his son's best friend. Here's Larry Smith.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Earl Woods was the rock upon which Tiger Woods built his career. From the age of two, when the nation first got a glimpse of Tiger on "The Mike Douglas Show," Earl Woods knew his son was destined for greatness.
EARL WOODS: I saw the total package. I saw his intelligence. I saw his personality. I saw his creativity. I saw his athleticism. I saw his ability to learn so fast and rapidly and his desire, his competitiveness. He had all that stuff when he was two.
SMITH: And it was with that knowledge and belief that Earl Woods dedicated himself to turning Tiger into a golfing prodigy. The elder Woods was an athlete in his own right as a scholarship baseball player for Kansas State University. He was also the first African-American to play baseball in the former Big 8 Conference.
Upon graduating in 1953, Earl joined the Army and did two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Green Berets. He used his military training to toughen up Tiger physically and mentally. Once a fixture at Tiger's tournaments, Earl Woods became less and less visible as Tiger's career progressed and his own health declined. The effect his absence had on Tiger came into full view during the trophy presentation for Tiger's fourth Masters title in 2005.
TIGER WOODS: Every year that I've been lucky enough to have won this tournament my dad's been there to give me a hug. And he wasn't there today. I can't wait to get home and see him. To give him a big bear hug.
EARL WOODS: Yes, when I talk about Tiger, sometimes I do get emotional. That's the deep personal love that we have for each other, the respect and trust that we have, and we earned it. It's just a bond.
SMITH: It was a bond that helped turn Tiger Woods into the best golfer in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That was CNN's Larry Smith reporting. That's sad, isn't it?
SERWER: It really is. That was a nice piece. I didn't know some of those things about his dad. That he was a Green Beret.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Remarkable guy in his own right and really saw a lot in his son and encouraged it, you know, clearly and successfully to come out.
MILES O'BRIEN: What an amazing bond they had.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
SERWER: That's right, the closeness.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's not really often that people say their, you know, their dad is their best friend. It's kind of -- it's a nice thing.
Business news.
SERWER: Yes.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's talk about fuel, shall we? SERWER: Again and again. It is topic a, top of mind and there's just interesting ripple effects we want to talk about here. How are you being impacted by the high price of gasoline besides just at the pump? Of course, gas prices up 36 percent year-to-date. And businesses are staring to have to cope by adding fuel surcharges. Not nice stuff.
"The Wall Street Journal" has a great story today where they go through all the different businesses and examples across the country of companies adding a little bit here, $5, $10, $15. And here are some of them. Delivery companies, flowers, pizza, cruise lines, taxis, utilities, garbage services, landscapers, U.P.S. and FedEx are adding on charges now.
Charter fishing boats. They have an example of a guy who's charging $50 more for a couple hundred dollar cruise in Florida. The Post Office. Part of that three cent increase they're considering, that has to do with fuel. Truckers, railroads, a ferry in Milwaukee.
How about this one? The exercise company. I guess it's because they have to pay more to FedEx and U.P.S. to ship. They're getting charged. They're passing it on to you.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So you're going to pay more for your own gas and you're going to pay more for all the services that require gas. And you're going to pay more for any service that requires gas. So you're just going to be hit three or four times.
SERWER: They do it because they can. And they do it -- you know it's -- that's what's happening.
MILES O'BRIEN: Because they can.
SERWER: Yes.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's just ridiculous.
SERWER: It's tough.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you, I think.
SERWER: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer.
Coming up next, let's see, gloves, check. Headgear, check. Below the belt protection thing, yeah, you bet. You bet. We got that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Is that you?
SERWER: That's Miles. Hey, champ.
MILES O'BRIEN: Welcome to the world of white collar boxing.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You look scary, actually. MILES O'BRIEN: You never know who you might meet in the ring.
SERWER: There he is. Undefeated world record holder, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: I got a good look, don't I? And if you're going to float like a butterfly and sing like a bee, you need a solid set of dogs, don't you? But if your pups are aching, you'll feel like a heel if you stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MILES O'BRIEN: You getting old? Getting a little flabby? You looking for a way to get back in that fighting trim, quite literally? Check out this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, (voice over): They call it the sweet science. And if you want a Ph.D. in this field, you best get to Gleason's Gym in New York City. The ultimate school of hard knocks.
Check out the pictures on the wall. All the greats have laced up gloves and hit the canvas here. Iron Mike Tyson, the Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya and the Pecos Kid.
: Get that right hand up.
MILES O'BRIEN: That's him moving around in the ring with his sparring partner, Chris Engle (ph). And that's his trainer, Ricky Young, leaning on the ropes barking commands.
RICKY YOUNG, ODEN'S TRAINER: Protect the house. Protect the house.
MILES O'BRIEN: When the Pecos Kid is not in the ring protecting the house, that's your face, he's across town toiling in an entirely different arena, or so it may seem.
JOHN ODEN, WHITE COLLAR BOXER: So we're going to liquidate that portfolio.
MILES O'BRIEN: The Pecos Kid, a.k.a. John Oden, is also a heavy weight on Wall Street. A highly successful money manager. A white collar boxer.
ODEN: You look around this gym. You know, everyone's dressed like this. You can't tell what the circumstances are behind that person. That person could have been -- could be a CEO. He could have been -- he could have served time in prison. Or both.
MILES O'BRIEN: It began when he was just north of 40, flabby and sick of running and tennis and all the other things money managers do to work up a sweat. He was yearning for something different. Something with an element of risk and danger.
ODEN: And boxing is the ultimate sport. It's just you versus him. Mono a mono (ph).
MILES O'BRIEN: Man on man, the Pecos Kid didn't rope a dope for a minute. He pursued his new passion like a type a Wall Street guy should. And before long, he was on the card in some big-time white collar boxing matches. Including this one in London where he knocked out a hapless hedge fund attorney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he's down.
MILES O'BRIEN: You're the kind of guy that doesn't do anything half-assed, right? I mean that's basically what it boils down to, right?
ODEN: Thank you. I will describe myself that way.
MILES O'BRIEN: I mean you really pushed the envelope, didn't you?
ODEN: I do my very best.
MILES O'BRIEN: He sparred with some of the greats and even moved around with actress Hilary Swank when she was training for "Million Dollar Baby."
ODEN: I'm in the corner.
MILES O'BRIEN: Right.
ODEN: She's coming at me.
MILES O'BRIEN: Coming at you, right.
ODEN: And what I do I would (INAUDIBLE).
MILES O'BRIEN: Right.
ODEN: Which means you put your hands up like this.
MILES O'BRIEN: Right.
ODEN: And you lean back to the rope. She comes around with a hook and hits me twice. Two hard shots.
MILES O'BRIEN: So he popped her in the nose. He's even written a book about his experiences. And now this brand of boxing is booming. Two-thirds of the members here are white collar.
This guy, he's done a lot for the sport, hasn't he?
YOUNG: Phenomenal. John -- like, to me, John is like the Muhammad Ali of white collar boxing.
MILES O'BRIEN: Now this is the part of the story where the reporter is supposed to get involved.
This is the secret weapon. YOUNG: Vaseline 101.
MILES O'BRIEN: Vaseline.
YOUNG: Which is right under the eyebrow. Right. Right.
MILES O'BRIEN: No boxing experience whatsoever, I suited up for a few rounds with The Kid.
I've got a big head. There we go. Oh, yes. Now I get it.
When I dropped the gloves and exposed my jaw, the kid couldn't resist. Got to protect the house, and in my case, the mortgage.
ODEN: You OK?
MILES O'BRIEN: Um-hum.
ODEN: OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN: That's the point where I go, cut me, cut me, Angelo (ph), cut me.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Did that hurt when he -- I mean, did he really hit you hard?
MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It hurt.
MILES O'BRIEN: And I didn't even see it coming.
A quick little footnote here. Interestingly, the white collar boxing matches have been suspended here in New York . . .
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Really?
MILES O'BRIEN: Because it turns out they weren't being properly regulated under the same rules you would regulate a professional prize fight.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They should be and they weren't?
MILES O'BRIEN: Right. And so now what they're trying to do is give them an exemption to that rule. They're going to change the legislation. So hopefully these white collar fights will be back by the fall -- (INAUDIBLE) later part of the summer.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: There's a bunch of accountants and lawyers who, I'm sure, are crunching the numbers and doing all that litigation behind the scenes.
MILES O'BRIEN: Exactly.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That was neat. You looked pretty good, Miles. You can move.
MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, thanks, Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I'm impressed, man.
MILES O'BRIEN: You've done some boxing, too?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE). Not a lot.
MILES O'BRIEN: A little.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Short break. We're back with top stories right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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