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Out in the Open
National Blackout Day; America's Most Famous Bounty Hunter in Hot Water; Oklahoma's Immigration Crackdown
Aired November 02, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We're using our Atlanta studios tonight in large measure because of a mass boycott now under way. We are all over that breaking news.
And this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): O.J. Simpson, back in the news. His alleged assault was planned and he wanted it to be televised. It's an FBI report. And we're on it. We will bring it to you live.
America's most famous bounty hunter didn't want his views about race to get him in trouble.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER: I'm not going to take a chance ever in life of losing everything I have worked for, for 30 years because some (EXPLETIVE LANGUAGE) heard us say (EXPLETIVE LANGUAGE) and turned us in to the 'Enquirer' magazine.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Oops. Too late. And it's his own son's doing.
Tonight, America's black community sending a message about their buying power, about racism. It's a national boycott. But what's the word on the street? National Blackout Day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I know it was today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just won't be spending any money today.
SANCHEZ: A startling response to something barely reported. So, how did they all find out?
Also tonight, the harshest immigration crackdown in the country taking effect in Tulsa, Oklahoma. OUT IN THE OPEN has followed it every step of the way. Tonight, we're there live. An OUT IN THE OPEN exclusive is now a viral video.
FRED PHELPS, PROTESTING AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY: You're just a hysterical nincompoop, like all the rest of them. SANCHEZ: He interrupts funerals, screams at grieving parents, and, with me, did not back down.
This man said Iraq would democratize the Middle East. This man said it would pay for itself in oil profits. How's that going? An update on your gas prices going up, up and away.
Stabbed in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had this huge knife sticking out of the side of your head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't know that until later.
SANCHEZ: A remarkable story of survival that's as painful to watch as it is inspirational. It will blow you away.
And so will this Friday edition of OUT IN THE OPEN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody.
We are going to begin tonight here in our Atlanta studios, the world headquarters of CNN. First of all, we have got some new information coming in, breaking news on the Duane Chapman situation that I mentioned to Wolf just a little while ago.
Let me read to you just the information that we're getting now. It appears that A&E has now pulled "Dog the Bounty Hunter" from the air indefinitely. That's the statement that they're putting out. They're saying, "In evaluating the circumstances of the last couple of weeks, A&E decided to take 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' off the network's schedule," this having to do with really a vile and hate-filled tirade on the phone with his own son.
We have been following the story throughout the day. We're expecting to get more confirmation and reaction to this in just a little bit. In fact, Brooke Anderson, is standing by for us. She's going to be joining us with the very latest on this story from our Los Angeles bureau in just a little bit.
Meanwhile, here in Atlanta, bringing you up to date, we're finding out that people are very serious now about getting the message out, the message about a very important boycott that they have been planning for quite some time. They tell me it's about Jena. They say it's about Genarlow, and they say, most of all, this is about respect.
But here's the question. Will a National Blackout Day actually get very busy people, who are living their lives, to really care about this? This is interesting, because just two days ago while I was in New York I went out on the streets and I asked people, do you know anything about National Blackout Day? And for the most part they said no.
Now, three days later, in part because of urban radio, in part because of the Internet, apparently that's changed. In Atlanta, every single person, every man and every woman to a man and to a woman said they did know about this. Here's what I found out.
Let's go to that tape now on the streets of Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What is National Blackout Day? National Blackout Day. Tell me about National Blackout Day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You patronize only African-American businesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some type of economic protest basically about everything that's been going on within the black community.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I know it was today, scheduled for today...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and that the primary method of communicating was the Internet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got an e-mail circulation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, this is my first time hearing about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Text-messages, forwards. I have been hearing about it for over a month now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard about it on the radio, e-mail, and obviously reading about it in print media.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a way for us for us to unite as a culture, as well, just to support each other.
SANCHEZ: But do you think it's a good idea to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has its good and bad points.
SANCHEZ: What's the bad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today being payday. A lot of people need to get bills paid.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It raises the kind of question who is money going through and what good they going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we do use it wisely, and I think that the potential to really use it to the maximum has not been fulfilled yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all right. I just won't be spending any money today.
SANCHEZ: You won't?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
SANCHEZ: Where did you buy those?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the gift shop.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: All right, joining us now, syndicated radio host Warren Ballentine. He's the founder and the organizer of National Blackout Day. He's also an attorney.
I got good news and bad news for you. The good news is, a lot of people are aware of this effort that you spearheaded. The bad news is, I'm not sure they're taking it all that seriously, Warren.
WARREN BALLENTINE, ATTORNEY AND RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, Rick, unfortunately, there's always going to be naysayers. There's always going to be people who don't participate. That's been the history of our country, from the Boston Tea Party to the civil rights movement.
A lot of people ridiculed Dr. King. And if you believe in Christ, a lot of people ridiculed Jesus Christ when he was on this Earth.
(CROSSTALK)
BALLENTINE: That's part of it.
SANCHEZ: Here's the question I got to ask you. Are we at the point right now -- I mean, famous philosophers have said to really get people riled up to the point of wanting to act, there has to be a perceived dysfunction. In other words, they have to really feel this thing is so screwed up we have got to do something about it.
Do you believe we're at that point in America right now as a result of Jena Six and Genarlow and those type of things?
BALLENTINE: Oh, yes, Rick. You have got the federal government who's not intervening here. And the history of the government has been to intervene when states' rights were actually being ignored and actually harming the people.
When you see what's going on with Genarlow and the Jena Six, I think it calls for federal intervention, but not just that, Rick. I think the American population is fed up. See, a lot of people want to perceive this as, you know, it's all African-American.
Yes, African-American plays a big part in this. But when you talk about Chrysler laying off 12,000 people, the outsourcing of our jobs, the United States of China, because that's what we are today, everything is coming from China exported and tainted or lead poison.
When you see all these people losing their homes in this country, I think this is affecting American people across the board. And I think a lot of people are upset.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Warren, hold your thought right there, because I know exactly where you're going with this. And I want to ask you more, but I think it's my job, as the host of this show, to put the responsibility back on all of us, as minorities.
So, I ask, are minorities willing to step up to the plate and do something about this? Or in this country are we too busy simply keeping up with the Joneses to know how to use our economic power for political power? That's what I want you to think about for 60 seconds. That's how long it's going to take to us come back and finish this segment.
Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is OUT IN THE OPEN.
This is where we're starting tonight. We have got a lot of ground to cover.
African-Americans, they spend $2 billion a day in this country, $2 billion a day. That's a big knot.
Two questions, though. Do they use the clout wisely? And do boycotts like the one that we're talking about today, this National Blackout Day, do they really work?
Allan Chernoff has been checking this out for us. Allan is good enough to join us now.
Allan, what have you found out so far?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, no question, as you mentioned, African-Americans certainly have major economic clout here. In fact, on the year, $845 billion is the number that African-Americans are likely to spend this year. That is a big chunk as you see, almost 8.5 percent of what we will spend as a nation.
However, that number is actually very disproportionate to African-Americans as a percentage of the American population. They make up about, as you see, 13 percent. So, it's a big number, but, nonetheless, it doesn't carry the same weight as their population in this country.
SANCHEZ: Let's talk real quick, if we can, Allan, about whether boycotts like this one spearheaded, by Warren Ballentine, actually work. And I know you have spoken to some people today who were able to shed some light on this. What did you find out?
CHERNOFF: Well, Rick, who are we boycotting against? Was Wal- Mart responsible for those nooses? Was McDonald's? The point is a boycott to be effective has to have a real target. We discussed this with professor Bernard Anderson, a professor at the Wharton School. Let's have a look at what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNARD ANDERSON, PROFESSOR, WHARTON SCHOOL: In order to be effective, the boycott has to be targeted. It has to have specific goals. It has to inspire broad support.
If those conditions are not met, then the boycott will not be effective. It won't hurt the companies involved. And it won't produce the changes that are intended by the call for the boycott.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Rick, there is no doubt that African-Americans certainly can engage in a very, very effective boycott. The issue is here, who's responsible? I mean, are they trying to hurt one company, all companies? They're not behind the nooses. It's a bunch of idiots -- that's all -- not a bunch of companies.
SANCHEZ: That's an interesting perspective.
Allan Chernoff, thanks so much for sharing that.
Let's go back to Warren Ballentine. He's the founder of this.
The argument seems to be that this boycott isn't directed enough, that it's too generalized. And, when things are general, people don't know which way to turn.
BALLENTINE: Rick, you know, I have to laugh at what he's saying and what the professor's saying. And the reason I'm laughing is because we're not directing this at any advertisers. We're directing this at the federal government, number one.
Number two, the boycott, the purpose of it, is to keep the momentum going. We're doing a march November 16 in this Washington, D.C. And, number three, for African-American people, look, I got a whole bunch of calls from young people, older people, saying, look, I have never went a day in this country without spending money. Today is the first day.
This worked because it taught our people discipline. See, everybody in this country wants to quantify something. Everybody wants to say, well, how do we measure this? We measure this by each person, by each individual who took part in it and who took pride in it and who felt part of a movement and keeps that momentum going.
These people who are trying to quantify it in numbers and stuff like that and saying, well, it was some idiots responsible for the nooses, I agree with that. But I disagree that it's not working.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But here's a question for you, Warren. Why does it take a boycott to do something like this? And I will ask you a question as a fellow minority. Shouldn't minorities find a way so that they can keep some of that money themselves and not be foolhardy in some of the ways that they often spend it in terms of materialism?
I'm not saying we're any worse than anybody else. But we certainly, certainly aren't mindful enough of where the money goes oftentimes. Would you not agree?
BALLENTINE: I agree with that 2000 percent. That was one of the reasons that I chose to do a one-day boycott, just to show people that they could do it, so they could have the discipline to do it, and understand that their money means something.
Now, you know, a lot of people will question, well, how effective is a boycott in these days and times? Look, I led the march, with the West Metro NAACP, for Genarlow Wilson in Douglasville.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BALLENTINE: I saw the people come out. That march made a difference.
I was down in Jena. I helped organize that. That March made a difference. Mychal Bell is in jail, still, but he's in juvenile jail. He's not in a major jail. And for us to think that us not spending our money wouldn't make a difference is...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BALLENTINE: ... ludicrous; $845 billion, you just heard the man.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You make a good point.
And let me add something to what you just said which I think is extremely important here. And that is the role of persons like yourself in urban radio and the role of the Internet.
BALLENTINE: Yes, sir.
SANCHEZ: Most of the people who I talked to today said they had either heard it from you or somebody else in urban radio or they said, I got five to six different e-mails from my friends telling me I had to do this.
So, this is a new way of communicating among people in the United States, and specifically in this case, many young African-Americans. It's a trend to follow. And we will.
Warren Ballentine, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.
BALLENTINE: Thank you, Rick. I appreciate you.
SANCHEZ: Up next, the very biggest local crackdown in this country to date on illegal immigrants, this is one we have been following. It's also worth a debate, so we're going to get into it here.
Also, this:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CHAPMAN: I'm not going to take a chance ever in life of losing everything I have worked for, for 30 years because some (EXPLETIVE LANGUAGE) heard us say (EXPLETIVE LANGUAGE) and turned us in to the 'Enquirer' magazine.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: People are shaking their heads in the television industry over this. It's a live report from Hollywood on why this famous TV personality would say something that sounds so incredibly racist and why his own son turned him in. It's a remarkable story. There's updates. And we will take you there to L.A.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
Now I want to talk to you about a story that we first told you about here on OUT IN THE OPEN.
Our nation right now -- and I don't think there's any doubt about this -- is in the grips of what is widely perceived as an immigration crisis. Nowhere -- nowhere is that more evident than in Oklahoma. There is a new November law -- that's what we're calling it -- it's tougher than any other law, at least any local law, in the country right now. Suffice to it say not only does it punish illegal immigrants, but it even punishes people who help illegal immigrants, even by just giving them a ride in their car, up to a year in jail.
Now, is this the right direction for our country? There are certainly plenty of questions about this.
Let's begin with our man on the scene, CNN's Keith Oppenheim, who filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Tulsa, a candlelight vigil to protest a new law. In the crowd, Manuel Morales, an undocumented Mexican who's lived in Tulsa for 11 years. MANUEL MORALES, UNDOCUMENTED WORKER (through translator): Right now I'm a little scared to go to work. I don't know if I'm going to return or we don't know what's going to happen.
OPPENHEIM: Morales is not alone. Many told us there is panic in the Latino community across Oklahoma.
(on camera): What are people talking about?
ALEX YOGUEZ, JUICE BAR OWNER: They're afraid that they're going to get deported. They're just afraid.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The fear is based on a new state law authored by state Representative Randy Terrill, who says Oklahoma is targeting employers, landlords, and anyone who assists illegal immigrants.
RANDY TERRILL (R), OKLAHOMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I'm convinced that illegal aliens won't come to Oklahoma or any other state if there are no jobs waiting for them.
OPPENHEIM: The rhetoric is hot. Advocates for illegal immigrants are accusing the backers of the law of discrimination.
REVEREND MIGUEL RIVERA, NATIONAL COALITION OF LATINO CLERGY: You are guilty of ethnic cleansing in this community.
OPPENHEIM: Supporters are calling on police to uphold the new law to the fullest.
RUDY WEINDORF, RESIDENT OF TULSA: If they're hiring illegals, or if they're harboring illegals, that's breaking the law.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): And you think police should look for people who are doing that?
WEINDORF: Yes.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): While both sides battle it out, police say they're getting little guidance about how to enforce this law.
(on camera): But will you be looking for people who are violating the law and people who are harboring and transporting illegals?
CAPTAIN STEVE ODOM, TULSA POLICE DEPARTMENT: I don't know if we're actively going to be looking for them. If we come across them in the course of a call or course of an investigation, certainly we will take the appropriate action.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Meantime, Latino neighborhoods appear empty, some say leaving an economic hole.
ANTONIO PEREZ, GROCERY STORE OWNER: We're losing a lot of business, a lot of business.
OPPENHEIM (on camera): How much?
PEREZ: I would say, between the four stores, we have lost, I would say, around 300-and-some-thousand dollars a month in sales.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): So far, the absence of Latinos on the streets may be the only clear result of this tough new law. The question is, what changes are coming next?
Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Tulsa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: This is an important debate that people all over the country should be having.
Talk radio host Dan Howard is the founder of outragedpatriots.com. He says it's long past time that illegal immigrants left Oklahoma.
Dan, I'm so glad you're here.
Let's start with the question about whether we should really have local governments dealing with something like this and doing so really in a knee-jerk fashion. Or should we have this dealt with by the feds at a comprehensive level?
Go ahead, Dan.
DAN HOWARD, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: First of all, whoever is going to deal with it has to deal with it.
And, right now, the locals, the state governments, that's who I say -- it's states' rights comes to issue here. The federal government has had their chance, Rick, and they have dropped the ball. All but a few of them up there in Washington, D.C., like Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and some of those folks, that are patriots, all of them have dropped the ball on this.
And I will not forgive them for it. Randy Terrill wrote some great legislation here, and I think he ought to run for governor in 2010.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, the emphasis then is on these immigrants, on these illegal immigrants, who, by the way, who, by the way, were essentially invited here by big business in this country, who recruited them, and our government that essentially left the front door wide open for them to walk in. So, shouldn't that be the target for guys like you and I?
HOWARD: You're right. You're right.
That's right. Let me tell you something. I'm upset about the illegal aliens. But I am more upset about big business and the federal government dropping the ball on this deal. And Ted Kennedy didn't do us any favors when he tried to give amnesty to 38 million people.
But I will tell you right now, you know, Randy Terrill and the Oklahoma legislature, they wrote these laws with compassion in mind and common sense. They gave these people six months to relocate and go elsewhere.
(CROSSTALK)
HOWARD: You know, that's kind of like the old whole story about the guy, it was flooding, and the helicopter came up on his roof, and he didn't get on the helicopter and he drowned. And God said, hey, I sent you a helicopter.
(LAUGHTER)
HOWARD: They had warning. They should have left. We have just got to save our security, our public safety, and our economy here, Rick.
SANCHEZ: By the way, I love that story. I have used it myself many times.
But we're talking about 12 million people. Reasonably speaking, you can't take 12 million people and move them out overnight. Should we not come up with some kind of plan that says, you go, you stay, and there's no ifs, ands or buts, rather than having nothing and having local governments just decide to have this blanket policy?
HOWARD: You know what, I don't have a problem with a plan, Rick.
And let me get straight with you, bud. That 12 million number is as old as my grandmother's broach.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I'm telling you right now, there are over 30 million illegal aliens in this country.
But that aside, that aside, I think -- I will tell you how I'm on this. I'm straight. I'm not here to be politically correct. I'm here to be just correct. Oklahoma people come from the heartland. And they just tell it like it is.
We don't have a problem with the color of these people's skin, and we don't have a problem that they come from other countries. But they have invaded us, and they hurt good friends of mine in the construction business, about to go broke. We have had a lot of crime. We have had a lot of social services funding that has just been...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I think reasonable -- hey, Dan...
(CROSSTALK)
HOWARD: But, hey, I don't have a problem with a plan. SANCHEZ: And I understand that. I think you're a good man. And I think reasonable people on both sides of the debates can make real good points and have conversations like the one that you and I are having tonight.
By the way, we will get you back. We have got a lot of breaking news.
HOWARD: Right.
SANCHEZ: So, we have got to go.
HOWARD: Let me tell you about the plan, though.
SANCHEZ: No, Dan, I swear...
HOWARD: OK. No problem.
SANCHEZ: ... cross my heart, we ain't got time.
Dan, appreciate it. Take care. We will get you back.
Coming up, our West Coast correspondent, Ted Rowlands, is standing by with new information on the O.J. Simpson assault case. This one involves the FBI, what they know, and what the real plan was all about.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There is breaking news coming in to us now.
"Dog the Bounty Hunter" -- it's a television show -- has been suspended indefinitely. CNN can now confirm Duane Chapman is the actor, or the real-life personality. We're going to be going to our correspondent Brooke Anderson with more on this in L.A. in just a little bit.
Meanwhile, here's another big development we're following, this one having to do with O.J. Simpson and his armed robbery case. Not only does it appear to have been planned weeks ahead, not a spur-of- the-moment thing, as Simpson would have had us believe at the beginning, but it now appears that he planned to televise the entire thing.
Simpson, as you remember, was busted in September for allegedly storming into a Las Vegas hotel room with five other men to take back sports collectibles that Simpson claimed were his at the time.
Well, now the Associated Press has got its hands on some FBI reports from August, apparently, which show that a sports memorabilia dealer tipped them off.
Ted Rowlands is here with the details on this. So, what really strikes me here right away, Ted, is that the original story as it came out was that these were a bunch of guys who all of a sudden decided to make a plan and they went up to this apartment. This FBI report refutes that, doesn't it?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes and no.
O.J. from the beginning never said that they just hatched this plan the day before, by any stretch of the imagination. It was in the works. And I think both sides freely admit that.
What happened today, as we have been able to independently confirm it through multiple sources familiar with this document which has surfaced, is that, three weeks before this took place, Tom Riccio, one of O.J.'s accomplices in this that was never charged -- but this was the guy that organized it all with Simpson, allegedly, originally -- went into the FBI office in Santa Maria, California, and basically detailed for agents what his plan was with O.J. Simpson, to go get back this memorabilia.
The FBI, according to this document and according to those who have seen the document, said, listen, don't do it. We're not going to be any part of it. And, if you do do it, you could be in trouble.
And that was it. They filed it away. Then, lo and behold, it happens. And, at that point, the FBI talked to Las Vegas and said, hey, you might be interested in this, faxed over a copy of that document, and Las Vegas police are saying today that did indeed happen. But they weren't told about it before.
SANCHEZ: Is it true that he was going to try and televise this and for what purpose?
ROWLANDS: What purpose? Who knows? But that apparently was discussed in this meeting with Tom Riccio and the FBI in Santa Maria and it was detailed in this report, and then it was later forwarded to Las Vegas after the incident took place.
SANCHEZ: So, there was a camera that went in there? I remember there was a recording. Was there an actual video camera that went in when they busted down the door on this thing?
ROWLANDS: No.
SANCHEZ: No?
ROWLANDS: No. Riccio did go through with the plan obviously with Simpson and the others, and he recorded it with an audio device, but no video.
SANCHEZ: Ah.
ROWLANDS: No video.
SANCHEZ: Ted Rowlands, thanks for being on top of this for us, the latest developments in the O.J. Simpson saga. We did the interview earlier this week. And this thing has all but become a viral video. It is all over the Internet. This is a pastor of a church who is convinced that he has a right to interrupt funerals where grieving parents are trying to remember their dead sons, even the ones who have come back from Iraq.
Here now our conversation with him earlier this year week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Mr. Phelps, if you will give me just a moment, I would like to ask you not about the law, but about any sense of decency that you may or may not have, by going and doing that at a man's funeral.
(CROSSTALK)
PHELPS: If you had any sense of decency, you wouldn't ask a question like that.
SANCHEZ: What is wrong with asking the question? Explain it to me.
PHELPS: Sense of decency, my foot.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Go ahead, sir. Tell me what is indecent about asking that question.
(CROSSTALK)
PHELPS: ... to spit in the face of God and tick God off, so that he's punishing this nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: After losing an $11 million lawsuit, many would have thought he would have stopped doing it. But, today, they announced they're going to continue so. In fact, they sound as if they're welcoming the lawsuit, because it says it gets their message out even more.
Their message? That somehow America's fascination with gays -- his words -- is what's causing the problems, including the problems in Iraq.
By the way, we're going to put our entire conversation with him on our Web site. You can also see the rest of our "Rick's Pics" at CNN.com/OUTINTHEOPEN, our Web site.
All right. Duane "Dog" Chapman, America's best known bounty hunter, apparently not just in big trouble tonight. But it's now affecting his show. We're all over it, bringing you the latest, when we go there to L.A. in 60 seconds. Count us down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Welcome back to OUT IN THE OPEN. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is the talk of the TV industry. Why would he say something so offensive, and why would his own son be in on it?
This man said Iraq would democratize the Middle East. This man said it would pay for itself in oil profits. How's that going? An update on your gas prices going up, up, and away.
Stabbed in the head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This knife is sticking on the side here.
SGT. DAN POWERS, U.S. ARMY: I didn't know that until later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A remarkable story of survival that's as painful to watch as it is inspirational.
And Britney. Her spending plans. We've got her monthly expenses on clothes, on cars, her mortgage. It will blow you away. And so will this Friday edition of OUT In THE OPEN.
All right, tonight we have a contentious audio to play for you. It's really the talk of the TV world. This is TV Bounty Hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman in hot water for what he said in a private phone conversation that was taped.
He uses some vile, some racist language, while he's discussing his son's girlfriend. Here, you can hear it for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN, BOUNTY HUNTER: "I don't care if she's a Mexican, a whore or whatever. It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word n****r sometimes here. I'm not going to take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years because some f**king n****r heard us say n****r and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's an unbelievable discussion. The "National Enquirer" got a hold of the tape and made it public. Chapman then apologized, but today Chapman's lawyer claims it was Chapman's own son Tucker who sold the tape to the "Enquirer." Also, A&E network has just yanked the show from the air. The quote is "indefinitely."
Let's go to entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson. She's been following the story for us.
First of all, what do they mean by suspended indefinitely? What are your sources telling you, Brooke? BROOKE ANDERSON, ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, the A&E network tells us they have suspended production for the foreseeable future, Rick. That they're not using the word cancelled at this point, but that it is suspended indefinitely. And they are taking this very seriously. And they tell us they will take the appropriate action after the inquiry is concluded.
SANCHEZ: Is there any way --
ANDERSON: I want to mention also...
SANCHEZ: Go ahead.
ANDERSON: ... that this show is one of the highest rated shows on the A&E network. So this is a big move for the network to do this in such a manner.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I know. I mean, this guy's got a heck of a following. He's been on LARRY KING. He's been all over the place. And I'm wondering what kind of relationship he has with his son for his son to record his conversation, and then sell it to the "National Enquirer" if that holds.
ANDERSON: Right. Chapman's attorney says that Chapman does believe it was his son Tucker who taped the conversation and sold it to the "National Enquirer." TMZ reporting he received $15,000 for the tape.
The attorney tells us the two had a very strained relationship.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ANDERSON: That Tucker wasn't following the conditions of his parole. Not complying with drug testing. And that created a lot of anger between the two. He said, you know, that Chapman is very sorry for his words and pledges never to use such inappropriate language in the future.
Also issued a statement to CNN saying much of the same thing. But also saying, Rick, that his words were taken out of context.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know, it's interesting because what he's saying is, I need to protect my reputation for possibly using any vile or using a slur against African-Americans. And then he continues to use a slur against African-Americans. I mean, to listen to the conversation, it seems terribly ironic, doesn't isn't?
ANDERSON: It certainly does. And he did say in the conversation that they use that word kind of freely.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ANDERSON: That he did say that they don't use the word in a derogatory or offensive manner. But you can hear on the tape he actually does refer to Tucker's girlfriend as the "n" word.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ANDERSON: So it is sadly ironic. And he is taking a page it seems out of the play book of Michael Richards and Don Imus, Rick, with his very quick public apology, and he's also reached out to a lot of civil rights leaders. Al Sharpton, he wants to speak to him in the future about this.
SANCHEZ: Yes, but he says, you know, don't bring her to my house because we're possibly going to use offensive language. Well, then, don't use offensive language.
ANDERSON: Right.
SANCHEZ: I mean, it just does seem somewhat bizarre in behavior and everything else.
Well, Brooke Anderson, thanks so much for hustling and getting us the results of that story or the results of this report from A&E, essentially saying it's suspended indefinitely. We'll follow it up. Thanks so much.
All right. Remember what oil and gas cost before the Iraq war? Next, what went wrong. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is an important story. We felt we needed to bring you with your gas prices at record prices and climbing, a look back now.
Paul Wolfowitz, remember him? He said we would democratize Iraq and the region and thereby stabilize oil prices.
Oil closed at a record $95.93 a barrel today. The region is not stabilized. Neither is oil. Why has the result been so different from the desired outcome? How much? Take a look. We've got it for you.
Let's go and put this chart. We'll take you back to when the war first started. And there it is. At $27.99. All right. That's the crude oil prices on a barrel. Then it continues to go up, takes a little bit of a dip right there. That little dip was, by the way, when we conquered Baghdad. And it seemed like things were headed in the right direction but then they continued to go.
As Iraq goes, so goes the price of oil, and now, we're all the way at $95.93. Again, it's a record that we've been following for you.
Joining us now to talk about this is Jim Surowiecki. He is a financial columnist for "The New Yorker." We were told Iraq would be good for us, good for the region, good for the stabilization of oil prices. Nothing could have been more different. Tell us why.
JAMES SUROWIECKI, FINANCIAL COLUMNIST, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, I think the first problem we had is simply that, you know, they actually suggested initially that Iraq was going to be able to pay for the costs of the war and the costs of rebuilding by selling oil.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
SUROWIECKI: It actually took Iraq a long time to get even back to where they were when Saddam was in power in terms of oil production both because of the damage of the war. Then also, just imagine trying to sell oil, pump oil, in the environment that Iraq has been like in the last couple of years. So that's been a big, big issue.
I think the other thing is that you combine the instability in the region as a whole, because obviously Iraq is kind of destabilized the region...
SANCHEZ: Right.
SUROWIECKI: ... with a lot of the tensions that have arisen in the last, well, let's say, it's really more explicit in the last two years with Iran, I think that has really generated a big -- what's usually called the risk premium in the price of oil. So, you know, the price of oil is not -- does not just reflect the fundamentals of supply and demand. It also reflects a lot of people's anxieties about...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Jim, let me --
SUROWIECKI: ... are we going to be able to get oil a year from now?
SANCHEZ: Jim, let me ask you question. A lot of our viewers are sitting at home right now. They're watching you, they know you're a smart guy and you know about this...
SUROWIECKI: Really?
SANCHEZ: ... and they're wondering is this thing going to go up, down, or stay the same? Where are we going?
SUROWIECKI: Well, if I knew that I'd be able to make a lot of the money. So I don't think you should make any investment --
SANCHEZ: Well, you probably but -- but here, let me put it to you this way. You probably have a better guess than most of us. Is there any other -- let me ask you a question this way.
Are there any signs right now that would lead us to believe that this thing is going to recover and get back to where it was a couple of years ago?
SUROWIECKI: Oh, I think I'd be surprised. I think what most people have decided is that the days of certainly $30 oil and arguably even $40 or $50 oil are probably in the past.
And to be fair, this is not only or even primarily necessarily the result of Iraq. A lot of it has to do with the booming global economy. I mean, China is just consuming huge amounts of oil. But I think that that problem has really been magnified by the instability in the Middle East.
So I'll say one thing. I'm surprised the price of oil is as high as it is. But given where it is right now, I would not be surprised to see it go over $100 before falling back.
SANCHEZ: Oh, my goodness. That's an awful big number. Jim Surowiecki, thanks so much for being with us. We're out of time.
SUROWIECKI: Thanks. I appreciate it.
SANCHEZ: But we'll get you back because we've got to talk about Iran as well.
All right. Look at this. And if you look at it you'll see that it can look pretty awful, right?
Did he live? I mean, that's something. It's a knife that went right through his brain. How do you survive this? We'll let you know in a minute exactly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back, and our business break segment. A volatile session ends with a modest gain on Wall Street. The Dow was up 27 points. The Nasdaq was up 15. The S&P nudged up just a point.
Good news for the day. The jobs report, usually a sign of the nation's economic health, so that the economy added 166,000 jobs in October. That's twice as many as accepted or as expected, I should say.
General Mills is recalling about 5 million frozen pizzas because the pepperoni may have had E. Coli. That's not good. Look for Totino's and Jeno's pizzas made since July. And if you find them, get them out of your refrigerator and throw them away. If you have them, also, you can contact the grocery store where you bought them.
Hollywood writers say they're going to go on strike first thing Monday, unless there is a last-minute deal with producers this weekend.
And this week's, "Life After Work" segment, Mary Snow brings us the story of a retired cosmetic executive, who's using the same skills that he used selling perfume, to help those behind bars plan for life outside of jail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prison. For those who enter, the odds are there will be a return visit upon release.
MARK GOLDSMITH, CEO, GETTING OUT AND STAYING OUT: The recidivism rate record is 66 percent. Two out of three guys end up going back who had been here before. In our classes, we talk to them about that. SNOW: Mark Goldsmith is the co-founder and CEO of Getting Out and Staying Out.
GOLDSMITH: And then we tell them our statistics. Of the 250 guys who have taken this program seriously, no more than 25 have gone back. So that's 10 percent.
SNOW: Is New York City nonprofit assists 18 to 24-year-old inmates with education and job training.
GOLDSMITH: They've entered a jail, and eventually some will be going to prison upstate. And within those confines, I'm talking to them about what it's going to be like when they get out. It's very future-oriented rather than past.
SNOW: Goldsmith's past was as an executive in the cosmetics industry where he worked 35 years prior to retirement. Volunteering as a principal for the day at a prison school opened his eyes to the revolving door problem. So Goldsmith designed a solution to work with prisoners while they're locked up and when they get out.
GOLDSMITH: We are there for them as they go through the process of applying for school. How do you apply for a job? What does that application look like? How do you handle the fact that you've been incarcerated?
We don't just tell them what's out there. We help guide them through the process. And when I get back from those guys, once that process starts to happen, are rewards that I never ever got in the corporate world.
SNOW: Mary Snow, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: All right. As we continue tonight, this is one of the most remarkable pieces of video. One of the most remarkable stories we've seen in a long time.
Stabbed in the head. How do doctors get a nine-inch knife out without killing this man? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back. This next story, this is amazing. We do want to warn you, though, that some of these pictures are kind of graphic and may be disturbing but from a medical standpoint.
This is a U.S. soldier who's on patrol in Baghdad when suddenly a man, an insurgent, comes up and stabs him in the head with a nine-inch knife. And he probably, all things considered, should be dead.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now with this amazing story. First of all, tell us about the condition. What happened to this guy? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What happened he's on the streets of Baghdad, he and his MPs, he's the sergeant of an MP squad, he's responding to this explosion and he goes in and he questions some people and he's walking back to his truck. He thinks everything's fine. Wham. He is socked in the head. This knife goes halfway through his brain.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So the guy escaped --
COHEN: I'm not exaggerating.
SANCHEZ: Halfway through what?
COHEN: Halfway through his head. Halfway through his head.
SANCHEZ: And the guy just --
COHEN: Came from behind him. Just went like that.
SANCHEZ: Well, how does that - but first of all, do you mind if I ask you, you're a medical person. How does that happen? How do you go through the skull with something like that?
COHEN: He was unbelievably lucky, and you'll hear later exactly how he got away from this and what shape he's in now. That's an important part of the story.
SANCHEZ: So he ends up with the situation where the knife is all the way through his brain. That's how the story starts. First of all, how did they get him there? Did they get him to the hospital or what?
COHEN: Oh, then, we'll tell you the story. They take him to a hospital via helicopter.
SANCHEZ: All right.
COHEN: He ends up back in the U.S. How he survived, that's what we're going to tell you.
SANCHEZ: All right. That's what we are going to do. Elizabeth's going to stay here. She's going to take us through this.
Look at that picture. I mean, how a doctor is able to take a patient in that condition and save their life. When we come back, stay exactly where you are. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Elizabeth Cohen joining us once again with what is, well, a remarkable story of, I believe, survival. But you're going to let us know.
COHEN: Right. It's survival. It's exactly how he survived that's the interesting story. And this guy, he's so incredible, Sergeant Dan powers. He'd done a tour of Kosovo. He was on his second tour of Iraq, and he says now he even wants to go back for a third tour.
SANCHEZ: Oh, my goodness.
COHEN: But you've got to hear. Listen to this and look at these pictures. Some of them are graphic, but listen to this story. It's an incredible story of an incredible man and his survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): If there are average days in Iraq, July 2nd of this year started out as one for the 118th military police company.
Sergeant Dan Powers led his squad of 13 men, to the scene of yet another explosion on the streets of Baghdad. They finished questioning the Iraqi police and were walking back to their trucks, when all of a sudden --
SGT. DAN POWERS, U.S. ARMY: It was like, bam. It was really loud, and I had blood all over my armor.
COHEN: At first Powers thought he'd been shot, but it was no bullet. It was this. A nine-inch knife had gone halfway through his head.
Another MP wrestled down the attacker and Powers kept doing his job.
COHEN (on camera): So you have a knife sticking out of your head and you're watching this guy who stabbed you --
POWERS: I was covering him with my M4.
COHEN: So you had a knife sticking out of your head, and you've got your gun aimed at this prisoner.
POWERS: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): Powers said he had no idea he had a knife in his head until his buddies pointed it out. After bandaging the wound, they whisked him to the Green Zone and then rushed him by helicopter to a state of the art military hospital, 50 miles north of Baghdad. They called ahead warning a stabbing victim was on the way.
LT. COL. DR. RICHARD TEFF, NEUROSURGEON: We had no idea that it was going to be such a big shiny German knife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our neurosurgeon's on his way down. OK.
COHEN: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Teff was one of the neurosurgeons in the operating room. And you're getting a first-hand look.
Here's Powers just as he arrived in the O.R. Amazingly, he chatted with his doctors.
POWERS: I'm very lucky to be alive, I know that.
COHEN: But an X-ray revealed his situation was really quite dire. The knife had miraculously just missed his brain, settling in his sinus cavity.
But the tip of the knife nicked his carotid artery, and it was like a finger in a dike. Remove it and he could bleed to death. The surgeons' only option was to slowly pull the knife out and see what happened.
TEFF: We just prayed and pulled it out. And frankly, I was a little surprised. I didn't think it was going to bleed the way it did. But when it started bleeding, we had to act quickly.
COHEN: Powers lost 40 percent of the blood in his body.
TEFF: That was the moment when I -- they call that a heart attack moment, when I was concerned that he might die right there on the table in front of us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What's amazing is the thing that they can do from a medical standpoint. I mean, a guy with a knife stuck in his brain and he survives. Did a bunch of doctors get together and figure this out?
COHEN: Well, they got together via telemedicine. One of the incredible parts of the story is that the doctor who you saw in the story who was in Iraq...
SANCHEZ: Right.
COHEN: ... he e-mailed some images to a buddy of his who's one of the top vascular surgeons, he was on the belt way in Washington, driving. He pulls over. He whips out his laptop. He calls up the e- mail on his hotmail account, and he guides him through the surgery on his cell phone from the beltway.
SANCHEZ: So they can figure out to make the carotid artery stop bleeding.
COHEN: Exactly. That was really the key. The brain was actually fine.
SANCHEZ: Right.
COHEN: That's what's amazing. It was the carotid artery that was the issue. I mean, 40 percent blood loss. That's incredible.
SANCHEZ: What's this guy going to do? Does he wants to get back in? Is he --
COHEN: I said, he's going to go back to Iraq? He said, if they send me, absolutely. And he says he's in perfect shape to go. He's ready to go.
SANCHEZ: Tough as nails.
COHEN: Oh, yes.
SANCHEZ: Thank goodness for guys like him.
COHEN: That's right.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Up next, 16,000 a month for clothes? What Britney Spears is doing with her money. We have the actual breakdown. It will startle you, folks. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Once again, there always seems to be one story that breaks just as we get ready to get on the air.
Today, it's the story of "Dog," the Bounty Hunter. He has his own show, you know. A&E is now saying that that show is suspended indefinitely. This has been breaking news we first brought you, apparently, because of some vile comments he made on the phone about minorities, African-Americans in particular.
In fact, he was targeting his son's girlfriend who happens to be African-American. It's a story that we will continue to follow up for you.
Meanwhile, another story that we're following tonight. Britney Spears back in the news. TMZ.com has tracked down documents from her divorce. And now we know where her money goes. This is unbelievable.
The docs say, she earns over $737,000 a month, 102,000 of that amount goes to entertainment, gifts and vacations. Compared that to 5,000 that her ex, K-Fed spends. $16,000 a month, she spends on clothing. K-Fed spends 2,000. Ten thousand a month, she spends on gas, electric, water, and trash. K-Fed spends $650. $4,900 a month on her mortgage. Apparently, K-Fed was renting 7,500 a month.
Obviously, something that is eye-startling to many people. More of our picks on CNN.com/OUTINTHEOPEN. That's it for us tonight. Thanks so much for being with us.
LARRY KING LIVE starts right now. Hasta mañana, everyone. Have a great weekend. Here's Larry.
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