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Official Results Of California Recall Election Could Take Weeks; Interview With Teen Pop Idol Lance Bass; A Professional Animal Handler Is In The Hospital After Tiger Attack.
Aired October 04, 2003 - 15:00 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.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Today on NEXT@CNN, there are less than three days to go before the polls open in California's contentious recall election. But how fast will we find out the results? We'll show you why it might take longer than you're thinking it will.
Also, a well known showman and veteran animal handler is in a Las Vegas hospital. He was attacked by a tiger. We'll talk with an expert about the relationship between people and big predatory animals.
Also, your teenagers, they may know Lance Bass is part of a hugely successful boy band. He's also the only spokesman for world space week. We'll talk live with him about why kids should care about science and space.
First, though, election officials are expecting a heavy turnout in Tuesday's California recall vote. In fact, if the race turns out to be close, we may not know immediately who the winner is. Miguel Marquez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of California absentee ballots and thousands of voters already making their choices at touch screen stations around L.A. It adds up to an increase in voter interest.
Do you always vote?
MARIA DEELIAS, LOS ANGELES VOTER: I try to.
MARQUEZ: But not always?
DEELIAS: Not always.
MARQUEZ: Why was it important to vote this time?
DEELIAS: The recall.
MARQUEZ: Why? What's so important about the recall that you had to vote for the recall?
DEELIAS: Well, it kind of got everybody's attention. MARQUEZ: It sure does, statewide voter registration is up to a record high. More Californians registered than ever have for a governor's race. But the recall, of course, is not a typical race.
CONNY MCCORMACK, L.A. CO. REGISTRAR OF VOTERS: I think we're going to have a big turnout on election day, and I think that's great for the voters. I do caution people to think about the fact when millions of people do the same thing on one election day, there might be a couple of snafus.
MARQUEZ: Snafus, situation normal all fouled up. With less than half the typical number of polling places open statewide, voters may find long lines and parking shortages, that is, if they can first find their new voting place.
And bigger problems loom. If the vote is close, the eventual winner could come down to a few hundred thousand uncounted absentee ballots.
MCCORMACK Routinely every election in California, about 10 to 11 percent of the ballots aren't counted election night. They are added in on the day following election. So if an election is close, they could make a difference.
MARQUEZ: And counting absentee votes is labor intensive. It could take a few days. But if the vote is that close...
DRUCE CAIN, UNIV. OF CALIF. BERKLEY: If the election is within a few percentage points, and that's a possibility, either the recall part or the Cruz Bustamante versus Arnold Schwarzenegger section of the ballot, if either one of those are tight, then, it seems to me, the prospects for litigation are almost certain.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Well, how long could the vote count take? Each of California's 58 counties have 28 days to count their votes and the secretary of state has ten days to certify it. All that assumes, no lawsuits. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: So joining us now for more on all of this is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. I couldn't even get that out. Bill, so good to see you.
So how close do you think this is going to be? And how close is too close?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's no agreement on that. What I think doesn't matter, do we have facts? And the answer is no. There have been no authoritative polls at all since the stories broke in the "Los Angeles Times" about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past behavior, and then a story in the "New York Times" about his past references to Adolf Hitler. So we simply don't know.
We don't know that before those stories break, Schwarzenegger's lead was increasing and since then, most people's guess is that momentum has been stopped, and the race could end up being very tight. I think the only consensus is, most observers, and this is just buzz, that most observers believe that governor that these stories will not be enough to save Governor Davis from being recalled.
But in the replacement vote, Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, McClintock, that could get very, very tight.
STOUFFER: And what about those absentee ballots. What are your thoughts on that. Some of them have already been mailed. Is it going to be a problem to get all of them counted?
SCHNEIDER: Could be a problem to get all of them counted. Many of them will be coming in in the next few days. Remember, there was a week when the court said the election might have to be postponed.
And what happened in that week, as most absentee voters didn't simply turn in their ballots. They said well, why, should I vote, I don't know if there's an election now, it may be as late as March. So then, there could be a flood of late absentee ballots coming in and those will take a some time to count.
One other question about the absentee ballots, more than 1.6 million people voted by absentee ballot before the controversy over Schwarzenegger's past behavior and his comments, before those stories came out. California is one of a growing number of states that allows people to vote by absentee ballot early just for convenience, they don't have to have an excuse or a reason. It's just to increase voter turnout. So people will say, I don't have to go to the polling places, I can mail in my ballot.
No. 1, it doesn't necessarily guarantee the secrecy of the ballot. But even more important, people were voting, more than 1.6 million people voted, before the campaign ended, and before they got some very crucial information. They could make the difference, those early voters in the outcome of this race.
STOUFFER: See if we have shades of Florida by midweek next week, political analyst, Bill Schneider, thank you very much for joining us. Good to hear your thoughts on this.
The White House has ordered nearly 2,000 employees to come forward by Tuesday with any documents that might help the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity. A White House spokesman promises full cooperation and indicates that if the Justice Department wants to use, perhaps, polygraph tests employees will be expected to take them.
So we want to get some more on that. Joining us now to discuss the use of lie detectors, is former FBI polygraph program coordinator Paul Minor. Paul, thanks for being with us today. Good to have you with us today.
PAUL MINOR, FRM. FBI POLYGRAPH COORDINATOR: Thank you very much.
STOUFFER: First of all, for folks who aren't familiar with the technology, how reliable is the polygraph?
MINOR: The polygraph actually is very reliable, and valid. The validity rate is somewhere around 94, 95 percent, so long as you're dealing with clear, concise issues, and not something that really can't be handled by polygraph.
STOUFFER: But yet it's not admissible in court, why is that, there is some disagreement?
MINOR: It's not admissible, mainly because law enforcement and the federal examiners don't want it to be because they're getting so many confessions and admissions the way it is now, and those of course are admissible. So they don't want to compromise where they're now by going for polygraph admissibility in court.
STOUFFER: And, Paul, we don't yet know if anyone will even be asked to take a polygraph test out of this investigation into the leak, but could you go through some possible scenarios how a polygraph might be useful for investigators?
MINOR: Well, the polygraph, of course, has been used for many years to test leakers and sometimes potential leakers just to make sure that everybody is screened before hiring, and before being put into sensitive positions.
For instance, on the Ames spy case, he actually had problems on his first test, but he talked his way out of it by saying that he, of course, had had many contacts with Soviet agents, more than he had reported, he had done travel, that he hadn't reported, mainly because he had been in the business so long. And, of course, the supervisors bought off on it, cleared him, and he went onto work for the soviets if are a number of years.
STOUFFER: And, Paul, in this case, is it a likely scenario they would take a pool of people and try to narrow them down by use of a test like this?
MINOR: That's one possibility. They could do an initial screen, and those that had no problem, it would clear those and the others that had some problem, they would, after doing an extensive investigation, then go back for a follow-up testing, follow-up interview and so forth. And that way they could work through them without having any real serious problem.
STOUFFER: And inherent in this investigation is the fact that leaks happen in Washington. We just have a couple of seconds left. But is that going to be a difficulty trying to get people to narrow down their thoughts to this leak as opposed to other leaks.
MINOR: It's a very serious problem, because of the leaks that government of course runs large -- not largely on leaks, but significantly on leaks through the White House, State Department, Pentagon, CIA, FBI, they all suffer leaks in information. And, of course, that's how reporters make their bread by living off leaks that they get from government sources.
STOUFFER: Sometimes they do. Paul Minor, former chief polygraph examiner for the FBI. Good to see you. Have a great weekend.
MINOR: Thank you very much.
And when we come back right here, a giant blimp 25 times the size of the Goodyear blimp could be coming to the skies near you. We'll tell you what its for.
And then later in the show, with a tiger attack making headlines today. We'll talk to an expert about the relationship between people and big predators.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. NASA has set a new target date for the shuttle's return to flight. It is now September 2004. The shuttle Atlantis, which is being carefully inspected and refurbished, will probably be assigned to that mission. And the shuttle will dock with the International Space Station and test new safety systems. NASA backed off from a March target date, saying it just wasn't realistic anymore. The September date could also slide, possibly into 2005.
The Defense Department says Lockheed Martin has received a contract to design and build an enormous, unmanned blimp. The goal is to use high flying blimps for homeland security surveillance and eventually for distant theater operations. The remote controlled blimps would fly at 65,000 feet operating on solar power. They carry high tech surveillance equipment. They would be full of helium and 25 times as big as the familiar Goodyear blimp.
The chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq says two Iraqi scientists were shot in recent months, one of them fatally, after helping the U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction. But David Kay tells reporters, that in spite of the danger, his team is getting increased cooperation from Iraqis and he says that's really the key to finding weapons.
Our David Ensor has more on Kay's report to Congress this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No weapons yet found, evidence, says David Kay that Iraq's unconventional weapons programs is still alive.
DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: At this point we have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.
ENSOR: Kay says his team has found a major effort to develop biological weapons including live botulinum toxin. These test tubes hidden in a scientists home. Though much evidence has clearly been destroyed by Iraqis, they also found a network of hidden laboratories for biological and chemical weapons research. And a prison laboratory complex they suspect may have been used to test biological weapons on prisoners. They have found evidence too that Iraq was plotting to get its hands on much longer range missiles. Missiles that could hit targets a thousand kilometers away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is enough to reach Ankara, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh.
ENSOR: And, Kay said, they have 600,000 tons of artillery shells, bombs and other ordinance that have yet to be tested to see if they contain chemical weapons. Still, no smoking gun thus far. Some Democrats said that shows President Bush should never have gone to war.
SEN. JOHN ROCKEFELLER, (D-WV) VICE-CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There's plenty of blame to share on everybody, but you just don't make decisions like we do and put our nation's youth at risk based upon something that appears not to have existed.
ENSOR: Even the Republican chairman was disappointed.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS, (R-KS) CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I'm not pleased by what I heard today.
ENSOR: A key House leader argues though, that the new evidence only underscores that post 9/11 Iraq's dictator could no longer be allowed to experiment with such terrible weapons.
REP. PORTER GOSS, (R-FL) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We didn't make the decision about going to war, the terrorists made the decision about going to war. If anybody doesn't understand that fact now and that we are at war and we are trying to do our best to win that war as safely as we can for all Americans, then you better read this report again. Because what this guy, Saddam Hussein was up to, was pretty bad stuff.
ENSOR (on camera): Gruesome science experiments, illegal missiles efforts and piles of shells that may contain chemical weapons, but no weapons. David Kay wants more time, six to nine months, to keep looking. The administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions more to pay for it. David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And when we come back here, we'll find out what makes Border Collies so darn smart. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. Well, for hundreds of years it's been a partnership like few others. Shepherds and their dogs, working farms and ranches all over the world. Border Collies and other working dogs also compete in herding competitions. And our science correspondent Ann Kellan reports it's an amazing show of smart, agility.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a sign in England called "Class on Grass" because they've got the style and the class and they do all the work on grass.
ANN KELLAN, CNN SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: Some consider Border Collies the most intelligent breed of dog. You're looking at why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the fact that they've been bred for their intelligence for 300 years. No other breed of dog has ever been bred strictly for intelligence. They'll think on their own until they're told to do something.
KELLAN: This is a herding competition in Dawsonville, Georgia. Hubert Bailey has been training border collies for 30 years.
You say their name and do the command.
HURBERT BAILEY, BORDER COLLIE TRAINER: You can, you can. I'll ask the middle one to go over halfway. Sit down.
KELLAN: These dogs are trained to answer to as many as a dozen different whistles and voice commands, but Border Collies naturally know much more than what they're taught.
BAILEY: If you send one over the hill back over on the back pasture to get the herd of cattle or sheep, it's got to think on its own.
KELLAN: Do you love your dog?
BAILEY: Yes, love dogs, love sheep, love farming.
KELLAN: Mike Northwood, a judge at the competition, came here from his farm in England. He raises 5,000 sheep. He says these dogs are essential.
MIKE NORTHWOOD, SHEEP HERDER: For the livelihood, we couldn't get them in the table in our country, in our terrain without the dogs. The wife gets annoyed because we spend more time with the dogs but I said we've got better commands than you have. That's the beauty of the Border Collie.
KELLAN: Ann Kellan, CNN, Dawsonville, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And the herding competition continues throughout this weekend in north Georgia. Tomorrow, on Next, we'll talk with a veterinarian, an animal behavior expert, to find out more about the skills of these hard working dogs.
Hong Kong's famous harbor is smaller. It's not work of mother nature either. The harbor is gradually being filled in to make room for buildings and roads. and some environmentalists are trying to stop the process. They'll find out if they can get an injunction to put dredging on hold there. A final court ruling is expected in December. For more on this, here's Janine Graham.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANINE GRAHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 85-year-old retired Judge Simon Lee, it's time to sit back and relax on the ferry crossing Hong Kong's harbor. He's been taking these rides since childhood, but these days it is different.
SIMON LEE, RETIRED JUDGE: It has changed quite a bit. First of all the journey, used allows 10 to 15 minutes from one end to the other. And it was the harbor, the water is calmer then now than what it is.
GRAHAM: Today the trip only takes about five minute. It's a shorter and rockier journey because the harbor is narrower. Waters all around Hong Kong have been turned into vast tracks of new land. A way to accommodate millions of people pouring in. Reclamation has consumed as much as half the harbor and more is planned.
WINSTON CHO, HARBOR PROTECTION ACTIVIST: If they continue with the proposed reclamation, another 5 square miles, the harbor will become a river. We want a harbor, we don't want a river.
GRAHAM: Retire lawyer Winston Cho is on a war path against reclamation. In a battle that's already reached the courts, Cho is seeking an injunction to stop the government from dumping more sand into the waters.
Despite a court ruling in July that found officials were breaking their own harbor protection laws, the work continued until the decision to suspension dredging and the laying pilings for one week.
CHO: It is like this, other places have you police stopping bank robbery, but in Hong Kong, we, the citizens have got to stop the Hong Kong police from robbing the bank.
GRAHAM: The government declined to comment on CNN. Officials deny they're breaking the law, and argue as roads get more congested, extra land is essential. To stop now, they say, would waste millions of dollars.
(on camera): Most of the central business district used to lay in the sea, all this behind me. And where I'm standing now, a main thoroughfare, Queens Road, was once just a rough path that ran along the original shoreline. The harbor, once a shaggy coastline, and good for a dip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where they look across which and in the distance, Red China.
GRAHAM (voice-over): Then began the filling in and filling in.
Now Hong Kong wants to enhance its image abroad bringing in the Rolling Stones and offering to host next year's World Trade Organization meetings. But critics say this is the image that defines Hong Kong. One that officials should be pitching, not picking away at.
CHRISTINE LOH, CIVIC EXCHANGE: You can go and maybe say to the Swiss that you just discovered gold on the Matterhorn, all right, and say, why don't we chip just a bit of it off.
GRAHAM: Like Simon Lee's trip, it may be a rocky road ahead. Janine Graham, for CNN, Hong Kong.
STOUFFER: And, coming up in our next half hour, the Arctic Sea ice is melting. That is very bad news for the polar bears and the people who live near them.
Also singer Lance Bass. He hasn't made it into space just yet, but he's a spokesman for world space week. We'll talk live with him to get kids interested in space and science.
Those stories and a whole lot more right after a quick break. And a check of your latest headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
STOUFFER: Let me tell you what we are doing right now. Biologists call them predators. Hollywood screenwriters and novelists call them, man eaters. However you want to think of them, tigers, lions, sharks, crocodiles and the like bring us fear, fascination. They bring us much more too.
We have a very interesting interview here, David Quammen is an award winning author whose new book "Monster of God" looks at our relationship with the biggest animals in the world. And he joins us live right now from Minneapolis.
OK, I'm sorry to be interrupted with this right here. Let me take you to another event instead. We have a press conference on Las Vegas in about tiger attack. Here you go. Let's listen in.
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
STOUFFER: From Alan Feldman, there, the spokesman for the MGM Mirage after a tiger attack, last night. Roy Horn of the famous duo, Siegfried & Roy, was attacked during his Las Vegas show, last night, on stage by a tiger. And, if you were listening in, you heard several times, the update that his condition is stable, but critical. They call it a serious situation, and talked about the fact that we might not know for several days just what the prognosis is for Roy Horn. But, of course we'll keep you updated on the developments out of Las Vegas with that.
This comes on a day that we had a segment planned already with an author of a new book called "Monster of God." His name is David Quammen and we were just about to bring him in when that press conference started. So, David thanks for hanging with us, there.
So, how are you today? DAVID QUAMMEN, AUTHOR, "MONSTER OF GOD": I'm fine, Linda, good to be with you.
STOUFFER: Well, good to have you, here. You know, when we talk about lions, crocodiles, great white sharks, and of course this tiger attack. A lot of people use the term "man-eater," what do you make of that term?
QUAMMEN: Well, the term is a little bit incendiary; it's imprecise and somewhat misleading. Because, when we talk about man- eaters we're talking about a group of species that produce individuals that occasionally kill any human being. But, that's not routine behavior for these animals. That's not an ecological adaptation, only generally wounded, desperate, or angered individuals of these species ever kill and eat a human being.
STOUFFER: I guess occasional is the key word, there. Well, you're book looks at several creatures. And I want you first to detail, if you could, Asiatic Lions and how that the area that they thrived in for so long was so reduced. Can you talk about that a bit?
QUAMMEN: Yes, it's the Asiatic Lion is a subspecies of the lion that we know from Africa, Panthera Leo. It use to live all across Southwestern Asia, even in recent centuries, even into some recent decades. The Asiatic Lion can be found all across Iran, Iraq, Southern Pakistan, Northern India, and was wiped out over the last few centuries by transformations of landscape, for human agriculture, the growth of cities, hunting with modern firearms, and it survived only in one little forest reserve in Western India, a place called the Gir Forest, G-I-R.
STOUFFER: That is amazing; you have another really interesting story about a famous figure from history and how this relates to a bear in Europe. Tell us this story.
QUAMMEN: Well, the largest population of brown bear, in Europe, survives in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Now, Brown Bear, that's Ursus arctos, that's the same species as the Grizzly Bear, we know in the Western U.S. 5,000 Brown Bear is a huge population, and most people find it very surprising because they think of Romania as an industrialized blighted, struggling Eastern bloc post-communist country. And, it is that, it's industrialized in some areas, but it also has beautiful habitat in the Carpathian Mountains in which survived more than 5,000 Brown Bears.
I went there a number of times to find out how there could be so many Brown Bears surviving there. What's the answer to the question -- why these bears have survived? The answers are complicated, but part of the answer is that Nikolai Ceausescu, the dictator of Romania for 25 years, came to fancy himself a great bear hunter, so throughout his reign, he killed more Brown Bears than any single person should, but allowed almost no one else to hunt Brown Bears at all in Romania.
STOUFFER: What an interesting twist on that one. Now, your book, "Monster of God," also takes us to a place where the locals combine a real fear and respect together for an animal. Now, this is the saltwater crocodile. What have they developed there?
QUAMMEN: Well, the saltwater crocodile is crocodile, Crocodilus porosus, it's the largest and probably the most ferocious species of crocodile on the planet. It lives in Northern Australia, in the tropical areas of Northern Australia also in Southeastern Asia, even to the east coast of India. It was almost commercially exterminated in Northern Australia the decades after World War II because of hunting for its skin, hide hunting. It produces a very high-grade belly skin that's used in high-end leather products. If you -- somebody spends $15,000 on a Gucci crocodile skin hand bag, the chances are it's likely salt water crocodile and very likely from Australia. They were almost exterminated, but then the government gave them some protection, there was an international ban on trade in saltwater crocodile skin and they have recovered very well, because crocodiles breed quickly and the habitat is still good, so that now there's a beginning of commercial harvest of saltwater crocodiles, again.
STOUFFER: Wow. Stepping back for a minute, you know this tiger attack will be big news today and all weekend.
QUAMMEN: Yeah.
STOUFFER: What do you think fascinates us so much about the most fearsome creatures out there?
QUAMMEN: Well, first -- first of all, I want to say, it's really a bad thing that -- what we're hearing from Las Vegas and we hope that Roy Horn is going to be all right, and we hope, I think, that -- that that event will not cost the tiger its life, either. We hope Roy recovers quickly. It's a reminder, this event, to us, of the fact that these are very dangerous creatures and also that they're very charismatic. They're beautiful, they're thrilling, they're majestic, that's why Siegfried & Roy use tigers in their act, because people love to see these creatures, and yet, we're reminded that these are not -- these are not domesticated creatures these are -- these are wild, dangerous, but trained animals that -- that always carry the ability to tear a human apart.
STOUFFER: Well put, David Quammen, your book is "Monster of God." You're getting some good reviews. So, good luck, and thanks for talking to us, today, on CNN.
QUAMMEN: Thank you, Linda.
STOUFFER: We're going to need to head to a break right here, we'll have a lot more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. Cell phones with built-in cameras, they're just starting to catch on in the United States, but they are already the norm in Japan, and the trend has turned live the ordinary people into news hounds. Rebecca MacKinnon explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When a celebrity hits Tokyo, some fans bring their cameras. Others don't bother, they can capture history with a mobile phone. Mobile phones equipped with small, still cameras are now standard in Japan these days. You can email the pictures instantly to friends around the world.
Technology consultant, Uechi Coguda (PH) has been collecting mobile phones since the first ones came out in the late 80s. Remember those clunky old things?
UECHI COGUDA, TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MACKINNON: Coguda says mobile phones have already changed the way people in Japan relate to each other, collapsing boundaries of time and space in our lives. And as the phones get more advanced, the revolution continues.
The camera phone revolution is even starting to change the way the media here, reports the news.
(on camera): It used to be that going live on TV required satellite equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars, plus the help of several trained professionals. But, now here in Japan, all you need is one of these. I can dial a designated number, and here I am! Now, this camera phone actually has two cameras in it, one on the front and one on the side, so I can flip it around, like this, and show you a live picture what is happening around me in this plaza. Now, this is not by any means a perfect system at this point, but in breaking news situations, it's a heck of a lot better than nothing.
(voice-over): Experts believe about 50 percent of the cell phones in Japan, on the street, in the subway, now have at least still cameras built into them, and that means potentially any citizen at the right place and the right time can become a journalist.
This road accident shot by a truck driver was broadcast on the national news. At TV Asahi, engineer Wataro Mizuno believes that's just beginning.
WATARO MIZUNO, ENGINEER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MACKINNON: "Now, when something big happens," he says, "ordinary bystanders will take pictures or even video the on scene long before the journalists get there. We're thinking about ways to collect more news from ordinary people."
Who said the revolution would not be televised?
Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And more news when we come back, alert your preteen daughters, bring them into the room. We'll be talking live with Lance Bass of NSync fame. What he has to say just might get some kids more interested in studying science. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Well, you might not realize, but it was 46 years ago today that the Russians shocked the world launching the first artificial satellite Sputnik into orbit, it sparked the intense race in science and technology between the U.S. and Russia for decades, and today, the anniversary kicks off World Space Week. It's designed to inspire people enter the fields of science and technology. And, joining me, right now, from Los Angeles, is Lance Bass, who is the youth spokesperson for space week.
Lance, so good to see you. Thanks for being here.
LANCE BASS, SPACE WEEK SPOKESMAN: Thanks for having me.
STOUFFER: All right, you're a big pop star, girls love you, guys want to be you, why are you doing this?
BASS: Well, I mean, my passion is space. You know, I love music and performing also, but another passion is space, as everyone know, and I just want to share that enthusiasm with the youngsters out there and get them excited about math and science and future exploration.
STOUFFER: Tell us about space week and why it's so important?
BASS: It's very important, I mean, it's October 4 through 10 every year, and it's global, and it's great just to have the world, you know, enjoy and also look back on space exploration and what it's done for the world, how it's made the world just a better place.
STOUFFER: So, you want to tell kids to aim high, to think about the big picture, but in the meantime they still have to do the homework, that math and science homework, study.
BASS: Exactly, I mean, I can beat it with a stick. But, I mean, stay with math and science, I mean, it's such a key thing and it's also a fun thing. I mean, what I've done, what I've seen with what I've done with the space exploration and training in Russia, and all that, is so much fun, and there's so much out there that we can -- that we can find and there's so much exploration that we haven't even thought of yet.
STOUFFER: Yeah, and I was just going to ask you about that, for people who don't remember, you did train for a mission to the International Space Station, but that fell through because of funding. And a part of this week is Lance's Lab, a creation activity, tell us about that.
BASS: Yeah, it's a fun thing for -- it's ages kindergarten through seniors of high school and there's different levels of the competition. Well, what they've done is they're trying to create Lance's Lab, where it's a huge global thing, 50 countries are involved with this, and it's a competition where you build what you think would be enjoyable in space. If you were to live in space for about three months, what would you want up there? Would you want to record songs, what would you want to study, explore with, discover? New cures are disease, that type of stuff, so, it's going to be a huge competition.
STOUFFER: One of the huge headlines of space, this year, of course, is that Columbia accident. I'm just wondering you're personal thoughts when you heard about that, and how did it affect your thoughts on space travel?
BASS: Well, you know accidents do happen and when I did get call, it was early in the morning, they woke me up, and it was very sad. And -- the thing -- it definitely hasn't affected my opinion on traveling to space. I definitely want to, I still am going to go one day, and -- you know, we have to continue, I mean, there's no doubt about it. I mean, there's car accidents every day, there's -- you know, plane crashes, that type of stuff, but -- you know, we keep on going, and we have to get through that and keep exploring.
STOUFFER: Lance, when you talk to kids, when you go to classrooms, what do they say to you? What do they ask you about this?
BASS: They're very excited. I mean, it's nice to see that young kids -- because I remember -- you know, growing up I was always interested in going to see launches, that type of stuff, and it's kind of fizzled out -- you know, throughout the last years, and I want to bring that excitement back and when I do talk to kids, I mean, they're just so excited to hear about what it's like to live in space, what you do, the things that we've -- you know, learned and invented in space -- you know, that they had no clue about. You know, we wouldn't be talking on cell phones, right now, if it wasn't for space exploration.
STOUFFER: Well, I hope you get to outer space, yourself, and I hope you come back to us and talk about it.
BASS: Oh, definitely. I definitely will.
STOUFFER: Good luck with the activities, this week.Thanks a lot.
BASS: Thank you.
STOUFFER: And that's all the time we have for today, too. But, NEXT will be back tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern Time and among the stories we'll covering, this one: Uncle Sam may be looking over your shoulder when you check out library books. It's all in the name of Homeland Security. Some librarians want to know, is it a case of protecting you or invading your privacy? That story and a lot more, coming up tomorrow. We hope you'll be watching. Thanks for joining us today, on this Saturday.
And, ahead on CNN -- "CNN Live Saturday" coming up at the top of the hour, in "Dollar Signs," we'll take your phone calls and e-mail questions about how to get the most out of your company's benefits. And, that's followed by "People in the News" at 5:00 Eastern Time, profiles of Kobe Bryant and Dave Matthews on that one. "CNN live Saturday" at 6:00 Eastern, with a debate on all the issues in that CIA leak case.
First, we're going to take a quick break, we will tell you then, what's happening at this hour. See you in a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: He spent his life performing with tigers; a horrifying mauling now, has Roy of Siegfried & Roy in critical condition. We'll go live to Las Vegas in just a few moments.
The vote, it's days away and the scandals are in full swing, today. We are on the road with the two most controversial figures in the California recall, just ahead.
And welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Glad you could with us. Linda Stouffer.
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Weeks; Interview With Teen Pop Idol Lance Bass; A Professional Animal Handler Is In The Hospital After Tiger Attack.>
Aired October 4, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Today on NEXT@CNN, there are less than three days to go before the polls open in California's contentious recall election. But how fast will we find out the results? We'll show you why it might take longer than you're thinking it will.
Also, a well known showman and veteran animal handler is in a Las Vegas hospital. He was attacked by a tiger. We'll talk with an expert about the relationship between people and big predatory animals.
Also, your teenagers, they may know Lance Bass is part of a hugely successful boy band. He's also the only spokesman for world space week. We'll talk live with him about why kids should care about science and space.
First, though, election officials are expecting a heavy turnout in Tuesday's California recall vote. In fact, if the race turns out to be close, we may not know immediately who the winner is. Miguel Marquez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of California absentee ballots and thousands of voters already making their choices at touch screen stations around L.A. It adds up to an increase in voter interest.
Do you always vote?
MARIA DEELIAS, LOS ANGELES VOTER: I try to.
MARQUEZ: But not always?
DEELIAS: Not always.
MARQUEZ: Why was it important to vote this time?
DEELIAS: The recall.
MARQUEZ: Why? What's so important about the recall that you had to vote for the recall?
DEELIAS: Well, it kind of got everybody's attention. MARQUEZ: It sure does, statewide voter registration is up to a record high. More Californians registered than ever have for a governor's race. But the recall, of course, is not a typical race.
CONNY MCCORMACK, L.A. CO. REGISTRAR OF VOTERS: I think we're going to have a big turnout on election day, and I think that's great for the voters. I do caution people to think about the fact when millions of people do the same thing on one election day, there might be a couple of snafus.
MARQUEZ: Snafus, situation normal all fouled up. With less than half the typical number of polling places open statewide, voters may find long lines and parking shortages, that is, if they can first find their new voting place.
And bigger problems loom. If the vote is close, the eventual winner could come down to a few hundred thousand uncounted absentee ballots.
MCCORMACK Routinely every election in California, about 10 to 11 percent of the ballots aren't counted election night. They are added in on the day following election. So if an election is close, they could make a difference.
MARQUEZ: And counting absentee votes is labor intensive. It could take a few days. But if the vote is that close...
DRUCE CAIN, UNIV. OF CALIF. BERKLEY: If the election is within a few percentage points, and that's a possibility, either the recall part or the Cruz Bustamante versus Arnold Schwarzenegger section of the ballot, if either one of those are tight, then, it seems to me, the prospects for litigation are almost certain.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Well, how long could the vote count take? Each of California's 58 counties have 28 days to count their votes and the secretary of state has ten days to certify it. All that assumes, no lawsuits. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: So joining us now for more on all of this is CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. I couldn't even get that out. Bill, so good to see you.
So how close do you think this is going to be? And how close is too close?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there's no agreement on that. What I think doesn't matter, do we have facts? And the answer is no. There have been no authoritative polls at all since the stories broke in the "Los Angeles Times" about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past behavior, and then a story in the "New York Times" about his past references to Adolf Hitler. So we simply don't know.
We don't know that before those stories break, Schwarzenegger's lead was increasing and since then, most people's guess is that momentum has been stopped, and the race could end up being very tight. I think the only consensus is, most observers, and this is just buzz, that most observers believe that governor that these stories will not be enough to save Governor Davis from being recalled.
But in the replacement vote, Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, McClintock, that could get very, very tight.
STOUFFER: And what about those absentee ballots. What are your thoughts on that. Some of them have already been mailed. Is it going to be a problem to get all of them counted?
SCHNEIDER: Could be a problem to get all of them counted. Many of them will be coming in in the next few days. Remember, there was a week when the court said the election might have to be postponed.
And what happened in that week, as most absentee voters didn't simply turn in their ballots. They said well, why, should I vote, I don't know if there's an election now, it may be as late as March. So then, there could be a flood of late absentee ballots coming in and those will take a some time to count.
One other question about the absentee ballots, more than 1.6 million people voted by absentee ballot before the controversy over Schwarzenegger's past behavior and his comments, before those stories came out. California is one of a growing number of states that allows people to vote by absentee ballot early just for convenience, they don't have to have an excuse or a reason. It's just to increase voter turnout. So people will say, I don't have to go to the polling places, I can mail in my ballot.
No. 1, it doesn't necessarily guarantee the secrecy of the ballot. But even more important, people were voting, more than 1.6 million people voted, before the campaign ended, and before they got some very crucial information. They could make the difference, those early voters in the outcome of this race.
STOUFFER: See if we have shades of Florida by midweek next week, political analyst, Bill Schneider, thank you very much for joining us. Good to hear your thoughts on this.
The White House has ordered nearly 2,000 employees to come forward by Tuesday with any documents that might help the investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity. A White House spokesman promises full cooperation and indicates that if the Justice Department wants to use, perhaps, polygraph tests employees will be expected to take them.
So we want to get some more on that. Joining us now to discuss the use of lie detectors, is former FBI polygraph program coordinator Paul Minor. Paul, thanks for being with us today. Good to have you with us today.
PAUL MINOR, FRM. FBI POLYGRAPH COORDINATOR: Thank you very much.
STOUFFER: First of all, for folks who aren't familiar with the technology, how reliable is the polygraph?
MINOR: The polygraph actually is very reliable, and valid. The validity rate is somewhere around 94, 95 percent, so long as you're dealing with clear, concise issues, and not something that really can't be handled by polygraph.
STOUFFER: But yet it's not admissible in court, why is that, there is some disagreement?
MINOR: It's not admissible, mainly because law enforcement and the federal examiners don't want it to be because they're getting so many confessions and admissions the way it is now, and those of course are admissible. So they don't want to compromise where they're now by going for polygraph admissibility in court.
STOUFFER: And, Paul, we don't yet know if anyone will even be asked to take a polygraph test out of this investigation into the leak, but could you go through some possible scenarios how a polygraph might be useful for investigators?
MINOR: Well, the polygraph, of course, has been used for many years to test leakers and sometimes potential leakers just to make sure that everybody is screened before hiring, and before being put into sensitive positions.
For instance, on the Ames spy case, he actually had problems on his first test, but he talked his way out of it by saying that he, of course, had had many contacts with Soviet agents, more than he had reported, he had done travel, that he hadn't reported, mainly because he had been in the business so long. And, of course, the supervisors bought off on it, cleared him, and he went onto work for the soviets if are a number of years.
STOUFFER: And, Paul, in this case, is it a likely scenario they would take a pool of people and try to narrow them down by use of a test like this?
MINOR: That's one possibility. They could do an initial screen, and those that had no problem, it would clear those and the others that had some problem, they would, after doing an extensive investigation, then go back for a follow-up testing, follow-up interview and so forth. And that way they could work through them without having any real serious problem.
STOUFFER: And inherent in this investigation is the fact that leaks happen in Washington. We just have a couple of seconds left. But is that going to be a difficulty trying to get people to narrow down their thoughts to this leak as opposed to other leaks.
MINOR: It's a very serious problem, because of the leaks that government of course runs large -- not largely on leaks, but significantly on leaks through the White House, State Department, Pentagon, CIA, FBI, they all suffer leaks in information. And, of course, that's how reporters make their bread by living off leaks that they get from government sources.
STOUFFER: Sometimes they do. Paul Minor, former chief polygraph examiner for the FBI. Good to see you. Have a great weekend.
MINOR: Thank you very much.
And when we come back right here, a giant blimp 25 times the size of the Goodyear blimp could be coming to the skies near you. We'll tell you what its for.
And then later in the show, with a tiger attack making headlines today. We'll talk to an expert about the relationship between people and big predators.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. NASA has set a new target date for the shuttle's return to flight. It is now September 2004. The shuttle Atlantis, which is being carefully inspected and refurbished, will probably be assigned to that mission. And the shuttle will dock with the International Space Station and test new safety systems. NASA backed off from a March target date, saying it just wasn't realistic anymore. The September date could also slide, possibly into 2005.
The Defense Department says Lockheed Martin has received a contract to design and build an enormous, unmanned blimp. The goal is to use high flying blimps for homeland security surveillance and eventually for distant theater operations. The remote controlled blimps would fly at 65,000 feet operating on solar power. They carry high tech surveillance equipment. They would be full of helium and 25 times as big as the familiar Goodyear blimp.
The chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq says two Iraqi scientists were shot in recent months, one of them fatally, after helping the U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction. But David Kay tells reporters, that in spite of the danger, his team is getting increased cooperation from Iraqis and he says that's really the key to finding weapons.
Our David Ensor has more on Kay's report to Congress this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No weapons yet found, evidence, says David Kay that Iraq's unconventional weapons programs is still alive.
DAVID KAY, CIA CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: At this point we have found substantial evidence of an intent of senior level Iraqi officials, including Saddam, to continue production at some future point in time of weapons of mass destruction.
ENSOR: Kay says his team has found a major effort to develop biological weapons including live botulinum toxin. These test tubes hidden in a scientists home. Though much evidence has clearly been destroyed by Iraqis, they also found a network of hidden laboratories for biological and chemical weapons research. And a prison laboratory complex they suspect may have been used to test biological weapons on prisoners. They have found evidence too that Iraq was plotting to get its hands on much longer range missiles. Missiles that could hit targets a thousand kilometers away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is enough to reach Ankara, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh.
ENSOR: And, Kay said, they have 600,000 tons of artillery shells, bombs and other ordinance that have yet to be tested to see if they contain chemical weapons. Still, no smoking gun thus far. Some Democrats said that shows President Bush should never have gone to war.
SEN. JOHN ROCKEFELLER, (D-WV) VICE-CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There's plenty of blame to share on everybody, but you just don't make decisions like we do and put our nation's youth at risk based upon something that appears not to have existed.
ENSOR: Even the Republican chairman was disappointed.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS, (R-KS) CHAIRMAN INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I'm not pleased by what I heard today.
ENSOR: A key House leader argues though, that the new evidence only underscores that post 9/11 Iraq's dictator could no longer be allowed to experiment with such terrible weapons.
REP. PORTER GOSS, (R-FL) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We didn't make the decision about going to war, the terrorists made the decision about going to war. If anybody doesn't understand that fact now and that we are at war and we are trying to do our best to win that war as safely as we can for all Americans, then you better read this report again. Because what this guy, Saddam Hussein was up to, was pretty bad stuff.
ENSOR (on camera): Gruesome science experiments, illegal missiles efforts and piles of shells that may contain chemical weapons, but no weapons. David Kay wants more time, six to nine months, to keep looking. The administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions more to pay for it. David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And when we come back here, we'll find out what makes Border Collies so darn smart. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. Well, for hundreds of years it's been a partnership like few others. Shepherds and their dogs, working farms and ranches all over the world. Border Collies and other working dogs also compete in herding competitions. And our science correspondent Ann Kellan reports it's an amazing show of smart, agility.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a sign in England called "Class on Grass" because they've got the style and the class and they do all the work on grass.
ANN KELLAN, CNN SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: Some consider Border Collies the most intelligent breed of dog. You're looking at why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the fact that they've been bred for their intelligence for 300 years. No other breed of dog has ever been bred strictly for intelligence. They'll think on their own until they're told to do something.
KELLAN: This is a herding competition in Dawsonville, Georgia. Hubert Bailey has been training border collies for 30 years.
You say their name and do the command.
HURBERT BAILEY, BORDER COLLIE TRAINER: You can, you can. I'll ask the middle one to go over halfway. Sit down.
KELLAN: These dogs are trained to answer to as many as a dozen different whistles and voice commands, but Border Collies naturally know much more than what they're taught.
BAILEY: If you send one over the hill back over on the back pasture to get the herd of cattle or sheep, it's got to think on its own.
KELLAN: Do you love your dog?
BAILEY: Yes, love dogs, love sheep, love farming.
KELLAN: Mike Northwood, a judge at the competition, came here from his farm in England. He raises 5,000 sheep. He says these dogs are essential.
MIKE NORTHWOOD, SHEEP HERDER: For the livelihood, we couldn't get them in the table in our country, in our terrain without the dogs. The wife gets annoyed because we spend more time with the dogs but I said we've got better commands than you have. That's the beauty of the Border Collie.
KELLAN: Ann Kellan, CNN, Dawsonville, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And the herding competition continues throughout this weekend in north Georgia. Tomorrow, on Next, we'll talk with a veterinarian, an animal behavior expert, to find out more about the skills of these hard working dogs.
Hong Kong's famous harbor is smaller. It's not work of mother nature either. The harbor is gradually being filled in to make room for buildings and roads. and some environmentalists are trying to stop the process. They'll find out if they can get an injunction to put dredging on hold there. A final court ruling is expected in December. For more on this, here's Janine Graham.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANINE GRAHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 85-year-old retired Judge Simon Lee, it's time to sit back and relax on the ferry crossing Hong Kong's harbor. He's been taking these rides since childhood, but these days it is different.
SIMON LEE, RETIRED JUDGE: It has changed quite a bit. First of all the journey, used allows 10 to 15 minutes from one end to the other. And it was the harbor, the water is calmer then now than what it is.
GRAHAM: Today the trip only takes about five minute. It's a shorter and rockier journey because the harbor is narrower. Waters all around Hong Kong have been turned into vast tracks of new land. A way to accommodate millions of people pouring in. Reclamation has consumed as much as half the harbor and more is planned.
WINSTON CHO, HARBOR PROTECTION ACTIVIST: If they continue with the proposed reclamation, another 5 square miles, the harbor will become a river. We want a harbor, we don't want a river.
GRAHAM: Retire lawyer Winston Cho is on a war path against reclamation. In a battle that's already reached the courts, Cho is seeking an injunction to stop the government from dumping more sand into the waters.
Despite a court ruling in July that found officials were breaking their own harbor protection laws, the work continued until the decision to suspension dredging and the laying pilings for one week.
CHO: It is like this, other places have you police stopping bank robbery, but in Hong Kong, we, the citizens have got to stop the Hong Kong police from robbing the bank.
GRAHAM: The government declined to comment on CNN. Officials deny they're breaking the law, and argue as roads get more congested, extra land is essential. To stop now, they say, would waste millions of dollars.
(on camera): Most of the central business district used to lay in the sea, all this behind me. And where I'm standing now, a main thoroughfare, Queens Road, was once just a rough path that ran along the original shoreline. The harbor, once a shaggy coastline, and good for a dip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where they look across which and in the distance, Red China.
GRAHAM (voice-over): Then began the filling in and filling in.
Now Hong Kong wants to enhance its image abroad bringing in the Rolling Stones and offering to host next year's World Trade Organization meetings. But critics say this is the image that defines Hong Kong. One that officials should be pitching, not picking away at.
CHRISTINE LOH, CIVIC EXCHANGE: You can go and maybe say to the Swiss that you just discovered gold on the Matterhorn, all right, and say, why don't we chip just a bit of it off.
GRAHAM: Like Simon Lee's trip, it may be a rocky road ahead. Janine Graham, for CNN, Hong Kong.
STOUFFER: And, coming up in our next half hour, the Arctic Sea ice is melting. That is very bad news for the polar bears and the people who live near them.
Also singer Lance Bass. He hasn't made it into space just yet, but he's a spokesman for world space week. We'll talk live with him to get kids interested in space and science.
Those stories and a whole lot more right after a quick break. And a check of your latest headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
STOUFFER: Let me tell you what we are doing right now. Biologists call them predators. Hollywood screenwriters and novelists call them, man eaters. However you want to think of them, tigers, lions, sharks, crocodiles and the like bring us fear, fascination. They bring us much more too.
We have a very interesting interview here, David Quammen is an award winning author whose new book "Monster of God" looks at our relationship with the biggest animals in the world. And he joins us live right now from Minneapolis.
OK, I'm sorry to be interrupted with this right here. Let me take you to another event instead. We have a press conference on Las Vegas in about tiger attack. Here you go. Let's listen in.
(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)
STOUFFER: From Alan Feldman, there, the spokesman for the MGM Mirage after a tiger attack, last night. Roy Horn of the famous duo, Siegfried & Roy, was attacked during his Las Vegas show, last night, on stage by a tiger. And, if you were listening in, you heard several times, the update that his condition is stable, but critical. They call it a serious situation, and talked about the fact that we might not know for several days just what the prognosis is for Roy Horn. But, of course we'll keep you updated on the developments out of Las Vegas with that.
This comes on a day that we had a segment planned already with an author of a new book called "Monster of God." His name is David Quammen and we were just about to bring him in when that press conference started. So, David thanks for hanging with us, there.
So, how are you today? DAVID QUAMMEN, AUTHOR, "MONSTER OF GOD": I'm fine, Linda, good to be with you.
STOUFFER: Well, good to have you, here. You know, when we talk about lions, crocodiles, great white sharks, and of course this tiger attack. A lot of people use the term "man-eater," what do you make of that term?
QUAMMEN: Well, the term is a little bit incendiary; it's imprecise and somewhat misleading. Because, when we talk about man- eaters we're talking about a group of species that produce individuals that occasionally kill any human being. But, that's not routine behavior for these animals. That's not an ecological adaptation, only generally wounded, desperate, or angered individuals of these species ever kill and eat a human being.
STOUFFER: I guess occasional is the key word, there. Well, you're book looks at several creatures. And I want you first to detail, if you could, Asiatic Lions and how that the area that they thrived in for so long was so reduced. Can you talk about that a bit?
QUAMMEN: Yes, it's the Asiatic Lion is a subspecies of the lion that we know from Africa, Panthera Leo. It use to live all across Southwestern Asia, even in recent centuries, even into some recent decades. The Asiatic Lion can be found all across Iran, Iraq, Southern Pakistan, Northern India, and was wiped out over the last few centuries by transformations of landscape, for human agriculture, the growth of cities, hunting with modern firearms, and it survived only in one little forest reserve in Western India, a place called the Gir Forest, G-I-R.
STOUFFER: That is amazing; you have another really interesting story about a famous figure from history and how this relates to a bear in Europe. Tell us this story.
QUAMMEN: Well, the largest population of brown bear, in Europe, survives in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Now, Brown Bear, that's Ursus arctos, that's the same species as the Grizzly Bear, we know in the Western U.S. 5,000 Brown Bear is a huge population, and most people find it very surprising because they think of Romania as an industrialized blighted, struggling Eastern bloc post-communist country. And, it is that, it's industrialized in some areas, but it also has beautiful habitat in the Carpathian Mountains in which survived more than 5,000 Brown Bears.
I went there a number of times to find out how there could be so many Brown Bears surviving there. What's the answer to the question -- why these bears have survived? The answers are complicated, but part of the answer is that Nikolai Ceausescu, the dictator of Romania for 25 years, came to fancy himself a great bear hunter, so throughout his reign, he killed more Brown Bears than any single person should, but allowed almost no one else to hunt Brown Bears at all in Romania.
STOUFFER: What an interesting twist on that one. Now, your book, "Monster of God," also takes us to a place where the locals combine a real fear and respect together for an animal. Now, this is the saltwater crocodile. What have they developed there?
QUAMMEN: Well, the saltwater crocodile is crocodile, Crocodilus porosus, it's the largest and probably the most ferocious species of crocodile on the planet. It lives in Northern Australia, in the tropical areas of Northern Australia also in Southeastern Asia, even to the east coast of India. It was almost commercially exterminated in Northern Australia the decades after World War II because of hunting for its skin, hide hunting. It produces a very high-grade belly skin that's used in high-end leather products. If you -- somebody spends $15,000 on a Gucci crocodile skin hand bag, the chances are it's likely salt water crocodile and very likely from Australia. They were almost exterminated, but then the government gave them some protection, there was an international ban on trade in saltwater crocodile skin and they have recovered very well, because crocodiles breed quickly and the habitat is still good, so that now there's a beginning of commercial harvest of saltwater crocodiles, again.
STOUFFER: Wow. Stepping back for a minute, you know this tiger attack will be big news today and all weekend.
QUAMMEN: Yeah.
STOUFFER: What do you think fascinates us so much about the most fearsome creatures out there?
QUAMMEN: Well, first -- first of all, I want to say, it's really a bad thing that -- what we're hearing from Las Vegas and we hope that Roy Horn is going to be all right, and we hope, I think, that -- that that event will not cost the tiger its life, either. We hope Roy recovers quickly. It's a reminder, this event, to us, of the fact that these are very dangerous creatures and also that they're very charismatic. They're beautiful, they're thrilling, they're majestic, that's why Siegfried & Roy use tigers in their act, because people love to see these creatures, and yet, we're reminded that these are not -- these are not domesticated creatures these are -- these are wild, dangerous, but trained animals that -- that always carry the ability to tear a human apart.
STOUFFER: Well put, David Quammen, your book is "Monster of God." You're getting some good reviews. So, good luck, and thanks for talking to us, today, on CNN.
QUAMMEN: Thank you, Linda.
STOUFFER: We're going to need to head to a break right here, we'll have a lot more after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Welcome back. Cell phones with built-in cameras, they're just starting to catch on in the United States, but they are already the norm in Japan, and the trend has turned live the ordinary people into news hounds. Rebecca MacKinnon explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When a celebrity hits Tokyo, some fans bring their cameras. Others don't bother, they can capture history with a mobile phone. Mobile phones equipped with small, still cameras are now standard in Japan these days. You can email the pictures instantly to friends around the world.
Technology consultant, Uechi Coguda (PH) has been collecting mobile phones since the first ones came out in the late 80s. Remember those clunky old things?
UECHI COGUDA, TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MACKINNON: Coguda says mobile phones have already changed the way people in Japan relate to each other, collapsing boundaries of time and space in our lives. And as the phones get more advanced, the revolution continues.
The camera phone revolution is even starting to change the way the media here, reports the news.
(on camera): It used to be that going live on TV required satellite equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars, plus the help of several trained professionals. But, now here in Japan, all you need is one of these. I can dial a designated number, and here I am! Now, this camera phone actually has two cameras in it, one on the front and one on the side, so I can flip it around, like this, and show you a live picture what is happening around me in this plaza. Now, this is not by any means a perfect system at this point, but in breaking news situations, it's a heck of a lot better than nothing.
(voice-over): Experts believe about 50 percent of the cell phones in Japan, on the street, in the subway, now have at least still cameras built into them, and that means potentially any citizen at the right place and the right time can become a journalist.
This road accident shot by a truck driver was broadcast on the national news. At TV Asahi, engineer Wataro Mizuno believes that's just beginning.
WATARO MIZUNO, ENGINEER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MACKINNON: "Now, when something big happens," he says, "ordinary bystanders will take pictures or even video the on scene long before the journalists get there. We're thinking about ways to collect more news from ordinary people."
Who said the revolution would not be televised?
Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUFFER: And more news when we come back, alert your preteen daughters, bring them into the room. We'll be talking live with Lance Bass of NSync fame. What he has to say just might get some kids more interested in studying science. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: Well, you might not realize, but it was 46 years ago today that the Russians shocked the world launching the first artificial satellite Sputnik into orbit, it sparked the intense race in science and technology between the U.S. and Russia for decades, and today, the anniversary kicks off World Space Week. It's designed to inspire people enter the fields of science and technology. And, joining me, right now, from Los Angeles, is Lance Bass, who is the youth spokesperson for space week.
Lance, so good to see you. Thanks for being here.
LANCE BASS, SPACE WEEK SPOKESMAN: Thanks for having me.
STOUFFER: All right, you're a big pop star, girls love you, guys want to be you, why are you doing this?
BASS: Well, I mean, my passion is space. You know, I love music and performing also, but another passion is space, as everyone know, and I just want to share that enthusiasm with the youngsters out there and get them excited about math and science and future exploration.
STOUFFER: Tell us about space week and why it's so important?
BASS: It's very important, I mean, it's October 4 through 10 every year, and it's global, and it's great just to have the world, you know, enjoy and also look back on space exploration and what it's done for the world, how it's made the world just a better place.
STOUFFER: So, you want to tell kids to aim high, to think about the big picture, but in the meantime they still have to do the homework, that math and science homework, study.
BASS: Exactly, I mean, I can beat it with a stick. But, I mean, stay with math and science, I mean, it's such a key thing and it's also a fun thing. I mean, what I've done, what I've seen with what I've done with the space exploration and training in Russia, and all that, is so much fun, and there's so much out there that we can -- that we can find and there's so much exploration that we haven't even thought of yet.
STOUFFER: Yeah, and I was just going to ask you about that, for people who don't remember, you did train for a mission to the International Space Station, but that fell through because of funding. And a part of this week is Lance's Lab, a creation activity, tell us about that.
BASS: Yeah, it's a fun thing for -- it's ages kindergarten through seniors of high school and there's different levels of the competition. Well, what they've done is they're trying to create Lance's Lab, where it's a huge global thing, 50 countries are involved with this, and it's a competition where you build what you think would be enjoyable in space. If you were to live in space for about three months, what would you want up there? Would you want to record songs, what would you want to study, explore with, discover? New cures are disease, that type of stuff, so, it's going to be a huge competition.
STOUFFER: One of the huge headlines of space, this year, of course, is that Columbia accident. I'm just wondering you're personal thoughts when you heard about that, and how did it affect your thoughts on space travel?
BASS: Well, you know accidents do happen and when I did get call, it was early in the morning, they woke me up, and it was very sad. And -- the thing -- it definitely hasn't affected my opinion on traveling to space. I definitely want to, I still am going to go one day, and -- you know, we have to continue, I mean, there's no doubt about it. I mean, there's car accidents every day, there's -- you know, plane crashes, that type of stuff, but -- you know, we keep on going, and we have to get through that and keep exploring.
STOUFFER: Lance, when you talk to kids, when you go to classrooms, what do they say to you? What do they ask you about this?
BASS: They're very excited. I mean, it's nice to see that young kids -- because I remember -- you know, growing up I was always interested in going to see launches, that type of stuff, and it's kind of fizzled out -- you know, throughout the last years, and I want to bring that excitement back and when I do talk to kids, I mean, they're just so excited to hear about what it's like to live in space, what you do, the things that we've -- you know, learned and invented in space -- you know, that they had no clue about. You know, we wouldn't be talking on cell phones, right now, if it wasn't for space exploration.
STOUFFER: Well, I hope you get to outer space, yourself, and I hope you come back to us and talk about it.
BASS: Oh, definitely. I definitely will.
STOUFFER: Good luck with the activities, this week.Thanks a lot.
BASS: Thank you.
STOUFFER: And that's all the time we have for today, too. But, NEXT will be back tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern Time and among the stories we'll covering, this one: Uncle Sam may be looking over your shoulder when you check out library books. It's all in the name of Homeland Security. Some librarians want to know, is it a case of protecting you or invading your privacy? That story and a lot more, coming up tomorrow. We hope you'll be watching. Thanks for joining us today, on this Saturday.
And, ahead on CNN -- "CNN Live Saturday" coming up at the top of the hour, in "Dollar Signs," we'll take your phone calls and e-mail questions about how to get the most out of your company's benefits. And, that's followed by "People in the News" at 5:00 Eastern Time, profiles of Kobe Bryant and Dave Matthews on that one. "CNN live Saturday" at 6:00 Eastern, with a debate on all the issues in that CIA leak case.
First, we're going to take a quick break, we will tell you then, what's happening at this hour. See you in a few moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUFFER: He spent his life performing with tigers; a horrifying mauling now, has Roy of Siegfried & Roy in critical condition. We'll go live to Las Vegas in just a few moments.
The vote, it's days away and the scandals are in full swing, today. We are on the road with the two most controversial figures in the California recall, just ahead.
And welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Glad you could with us. Linda Stouffer.
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Weeks; Interview With Teen Pop Idol Lance Bass; A Professional Animal Handler Is In The Hospital After Tiger Attack.>
